UNIFYING JIU-JITSU

More than taking the magazine to the reader, GRACIE Magazine’s distribution system is going to help to tell the history of Jiu-Jitsu in the world
The plan is daring and very, very laborious. But it is also very stimulating. Instead of distributing the recently launched GRACIE Magazine in bookstores and newsstands out of Brazil, we decided to assemble our very own network of sales-points. Which, in the beginning, will consist of Jiu-Jitsu academies and a few related businesses.

The goal of this strategy is to go after the reader. But, in the course of the effort to accomplish the mission, we are going to do a much more important work: reveal the network responsible for diffusing the art abroad.

We know that Jiu-Jitsu is, today, one of the most practised martial arts in the world. Anywhere on the planet, be it in New York, London or Tokyo; Los Angeles, Melbourne or Vancouver; Miami, Rio de Janeiro or Paris, there are Jiu-Jitsu academies. What was never done is a meticulous work of listing, organizing and, most importantly, investigating, recording and divulging the story behind each school, each tutor, each person who collaborates with the growth of this martial art.

Creating the Association
The plan is daring and very, very laborious. But it is also very stimulating. Instead of distributing the recently launched GRACIE Magazine in bookstores and newsstands out of Brazil, we decided to assemble our very own network of sales-points. Which, in the beginning, will consist of Jiu-Jitsu academies and a few related businesses.

The goal of this strategy is to go after the reader. But, in the course of the effort to accomplish the mission, we are going to do a much more important work: reveal the network responsible for diffusing the art abroad.

We know that Jiu-Jitsu is, today, one of the most practised martial arts in the world. Anywhere on the planet, be it in New York, London or Tokyo; Los Angeles, Melbourne or Vancouver; Miami, Rio de Janeiro or Paris, there are Jiu-Jitsu academies. What was never done is a meticulous work of listing, organizing and, most importantly, investigating, recording and divulging the story behind each school, each tutor, each person who collaborates with the growth of this martial art.

Creating the Association
The plan is daring and very, very laborious. But it is also very stimulating. Instead of distributing the recently launched GRACIE Magazine in bookstores and newsstands out of Brazil, we decided to assemble our very own network of sales-points. Which, in the beginning, will consist of Jiu-Jitsu academies and a few related businesses.

The goal of this strategy is to go after the reader. But, in the course of the effort to accomplish the mission, we are going to do a much more important work: reveal the network responsible for diffusing the art abroad.

We know that Jiu-Jitsu is, today, one of the most practised martial arts in the world. Anywhere on the planet, be it in New York, London or Tokyo; Los Angeles, Melbourne or Vancouver; Miami, Rio de Janeiro or Paris, there are Jiu-Jitsu academies. What was never done is a meticulous work of listing, organizing and, most importantly, investigating, recording and divulging the story behind each school, each tutor, each person who collaborates with the growth of this martial art.

Creating the Association
Ally Almeida, Ricardo Cachorrão’s wife, warned us before we even landed in the United States: “Bring 50 magazines. They’re bought already.” She went beyond it. While about 40 students practised positions at the Hamilton, New Jersey academy, on the afternoon of April’s first Tuesday, we sat down to listen to the myriad ideas she had for setting up the system.

The class ended, the conversation was transferred to the couple’s house (with son Renzinho jumping on the piano) and went on to end only on the following dawn. We’d go to the West Coast with our first associate and a bunch of enhanced ideas for the new organization.

Indeed, when we arrived in Los Angeles, our list already had a new member: Renzo Gracie academy, in Manhattan, NY, where the magazine had started being distributed in advance, with no prior arrangements. Renzo was in Abu Dhabi, and would settle his enrollment on returning.

Coincidentally, the third to enlist was exactly someone who had lived for a few years in the capital of the United Emirates: Nelson Monteiro, who came back a couple of months ago to Encinitas, in Southern California, where he began teaching Jiu-Jitsu in the early nineties.

Still before the Pan-Americans, Jake and David, from Budovideos, joined the team. All right that they are not Jiu-Jitsu teachers (at least yet) and don’t own an academy. But what a reinforcement! First, for the credibility their company has in the martial arts market, with the most varied list of videos and books on the market. Second, because besides selling the magazine and subscriptions, they are helping us lower the price and raise the efficiency of our delivery.

A small chronologic jump, to include another founding member that’s not an academy. We are talking about Jiu-Jitsu Pro Gear, of Gilberto Faria, which made it official a few days later. But which in reality was GM’s first representative in the US, long before it was ever published in English. Besides reselling, Gilberto, along with Koral Kimonos, handles the bureaucracy of the magazine’s export from Brazil to the USA.

The Pan-Americans’ list

While athletes fought on the mats of Dominguez Hills University, during the three days of the Pan-Ams, GRACIE Magazine International’s stand was crowded, with the presence of Royce, Pé de Pano, Saulo, Márcio Feitosa and a few dozen athletes who seized the chance to subscribe to the new publication or buy issue #110. It was also a place to find potentially new associates.

Former King of the Cage champion Albert Crane didn’t even bother to read the contract. He signed it and grabbed the pack of magazines and the display to take them to his Santa Fe, New Mexico academy. Amal Easton followed his example and didn’t hesitate in putting Colorado on GRACIE Magazine’s map.
Luis Limão comes in a hurry. He has just arrived from Maui island, in Hawaii, and wasn’t signed up to the competition. There was some time, however, for that man, who for many years was Rickson Gracie’s main instructor, to stop by our stand, fall in love with our new magazine in English and join the crew. Right after that, Marcão, teacher of Gracie Barra Springfield, was arriving. After filling in the blanks, he pulled his credit card: it had The Simpsons’ characters. Saturday the 9th was a busy day.

Fábio Costa, who teaches in the huge Knucke-up academy, in Georgia, was the following associate, and just after him came Tim Shears, from Vancouver, Canada – who, besides subscribing, worried about lowering our expenses: “I’ll give you guys an address in Washington for you to send my packages monthly. If you cross the border, the shipping gets more expensive.”

Former UFC fighter João Pierini, from São Paulo, was bringing his students from Half Moon Bay, in Northern California. He subscribed and complained about the politics involved in Jiu-Jitsu. From San Diego, Marcelo Pereira was next. He settled everything that very Sunday, after becoming Pan-American champion for the fourth time.

Many other tutors chose to close the deal at the end of the Pan-Ams’ last day. But, as the open-weight decision took place long after dark, the association had already closed its doors for the day. Lake Forest, CA, the Monday right after the Pan-Ams. Time for the Gracie Barra run by Carlos Gracie Jr. and Márcio Feitosa to sign up as well; Roberto Maia, who owns an academy in Boston and was visiting the matrix, followed the example.

On the same day there was a graduation ceremony, and new black-belt Rafael Ellwanger grabbed his own magazines to take them to the capital of the United States. Maurício Gomes and Bráulio Estima, who would fly to England within a few hours, seized the chance to be the first to take the publication to the Old Continent.

Wow, now GMA takes a breath. A quick one, since it’s already time to hit the road.

From Hell’s Angels to Outback’s drive-in

The hot air warns, as you get out of the airport. You are in Phoenix, Arizona, a place where, in the summer, the temperature goes over 105.F. Way over, actually. At least this early spring the situation is a lot cooler. Although the heat is scary, the city was chosen as a home by the leader of motorcyclists’ group Hell’s Angels, Sonny Barger, and by the greatest participant in World Jiu-Jitsu Championships as black-belt, Wellington Megaton. No, Barger did not sign up, but Megaton did, and you can know all about his story on GRACIE Magazine #112, maybe even with some connection with the Angels. What matters right now is that he signed up. And that nuclear doctor Demetrius Ramos, from neighboring city Tucson, also did.

Now run to California, for we need to put a pin on Ohio (huh?). Don’t think it’s weird, dear reader – it’s just that Saulo Ribeiro, who teaches way up North, will be enjoying the sunny San Clemente for one more day before he gets back to work. But, in the time between subjects discussed with former rival Paulo Guillobel, he joined our founding members’ group.
Now before getting back to Brazil, our last stop: Florida. For quite a farewell, we might say. Invited by Pedro Valente, we met that which is possibly the most successful Jiu-Jitsu academy in the United States, with over 600 students. It’s in a commercial center in a noble area of North Miami Beach, it’s got an impeccable organization and some pretty good marketing tactics. You will get to know the details on our next issues, but suffice it to point out one outstanding trait of this founding member of ours: many know it from the queue outside the close-by Outback. It’s that, while they wait on the car to get a table, they can watch, on a big-screen TV, scenes from some fighting event. A free drive-in, how does that sound?
Back to Brazil, we were more than glad to welcome Ted Stickel, from Alaska, and Rafael Lovato, from Oklahoma, closing our group of 24 founding members. After we taste the fresh (and cold) salmon and watch a Hornets game, we’ll talk about some traits of those academies. Oh, by the way, Ted, I hope you don’t mind if we only drop by in the summer.