8 AM Registration begins

10 AM Competition begins

Cost: $35 for all participants
$5 for adult spectators

The children’s division will be run first, followed by women’s and then men’s.

Location:

Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center
550 Laura Lane,
Dunedin, FL 34698

Gi and No-Gi

Children’s: Ages 8-10, 11-13, 14-16

Women’s: One division, one level, no weight classes.

Men’s: Weight classes:

• 159 lbs and below
• 160-179 lbs
• 180-199 lbs
• 200 lbs and above

Three belt divisions:

• White
• Blue
• Purple, brown and black

Masters: All belts, all weight classes, 35 years old and up

All 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will receive medals.

There will be an absolute division for men. Absolute gi and no-gi winners each get a $200 gift card from Budovidoes.com.

Email: mgreery@gmail.com with any questions or 727-204-9731

Laid off? Purge your stress for free at gym

By Dalia Colón, Times Staff Writer

Getting laid off can make you want to choke somebody.

At Gracie Barra Clearwater, that’s okay.

The Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy recently began what it calls the Tough Times Training Program. Anyone who’s been laid off in the past six months is eligible for free classes three times a week. Just provide proof that you’re out of work — a bank statement or letter from your boss — and you’ll get free training for up to six months or until you find a new job, whichever comes first.

Owner and instructor Eduardo de Lima said he’s always given a break to students who couldn’t pay. The Tough Times program just formalizes the offer.

“I always said to my students, ‘If you lose your job, just come in anyway.’ It’s more important for them to work out, because it releases the stress of life,” said De Lima, 40, who’s been teaching jiu-jitsu for 16 years. “When (people) get stressed from money problems, they do dumb things,” he said, citing the Los Angeles man who recently shot his family and then himself after losing his job.

De Lima normally charges $110 a month for unlimited classes. Students in the Tough Times program can participate in Gracie Barra’s Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday classes, taught by De Lima and Matt Kirtley.

Chris Hartwig is one of the few to take up De Lima on his offer. Hartwig worked in the mortgage lending industry for more than three years and had been training with De Lima for almost two years. When he got laid off two months ago, Hartwig was prepared to quit martial arts, but De Lima told him not to worry about paying until he’s back on his feet.

“It was the only hobby that I had, and I was able to keep it, fortunately,” said Hartwig, 27, of Tampa, who no longer eats out and has cancelled a few vacations he’d planned. Jiu-jitsu brings stress relief and friendships that have been therapeutic during the job search process, Hartwig said. “You don’t have to go to a shrink when you have a bunch of guys in there that understand your situation.”

Tough Times Training Program

Bring in proof that you’ve lost your job in the past six months and get free hourlong jiu-jitsu lessons at 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, and noon Saturdays. Gracie Barra Clearwater, 1670 N Hercules Ave., Clearwater, (727) 204-9731

Eduardo de Lima

Dear Parents,

While my “job” is to teach martial arts, my desire is to help children (and adults) improve their lives and reach greater levels of health and happiness. This is why I am concerned about today’s youth. As a parent, you may share many of these same worries.

Today I see too many children in schools that try to cram their heads full of facts and figures so they can pass tests but never teaching them how to use what they are learning. The importance of physical education is undervalued and PE classes are being removed from schools.

When the kid gets home, they are planted in front of TVs, computers and videos games, staring at flashing screens for hours instead of spending time doing healthy activities like playing outside with friends, spending time with the family, playing imaginatively, reading, doing homework or doing chores. The average kid watches 3 hours of TV per day and sees tens of thousands of advertisements each year (mostly for junk food).[1. Your Child | Television | University of Michigan Health System]

America is facing an obesity epidemic unimagined in times before mass production and marketing of junk food. The percentage of overweight and obese children has more than doubled in the last 30 years,[2. Childhood Obesity Statistics and Facts, National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions] contributing to a rise in type 2 diabetes.[3. Type 2 diabetes, MayoClinic.com, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research]

These factors—too much TV, lack of exercise and poor diet—have been proven to increase the risk of serious health issues such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, heart disease, stroke and cancer as a child matures. There is also growing evidence of their role in depression, social anxiety, trouble sleeping, attention deficit disorders and developmental, behavioral and learning problems.[3. Your Child | Obesity | University of Michigan Health System]

I will tell you what I tell my all parents. Ultimately, I don’t care whether or not your child does Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. What I want is for them to find a passion that excites them and makes them happier and healthier. It could be anything, from playing piano to swimming to skateboarding or spelling bees.

But I have to say that in my two decades of practicing and teaching the art, I have come to see Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as an almost unmatched means of self-improvement. It offers all of the benefits of traditional sports, but as a martial art is also has a culture that encourages emotional and mental development.

On a physical level, the benefits of regular exercise include increased muscle and bone strength, increased lean muscle mass and decreased body fat and helps maintain weight.[4. Physical Activities in Children and Adolescents, Bright Futures at Georgetown]

Researchers are finding strong positive relationships between physical activity and improved academic performance. Regular exercise aids in brain development and improves concentration, motor skills and coordination and builds self-esteem. Studies have even found cases where devoting more time to physical activities and less to academic studies has lead to better scores in math and reading than study alone.[5. Does Physical Activity Influence Academic Performance?, American Heart Association]

Sports and martial arts have also been shown to improve critical thinking and problem solving, promote social interaction, cooperation and friendship and build self-discipline, trust, leadership and respect for others.[6. Sports and kids: Pathway to healthy development or to unhealthy competition?, NYU Child Study Center]

Sincerely,
Eduardo de Lima
Head Instructor
Third Degree Black Belt
Gracie Barra Clearwater

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0. Meet the Instructor and Sign a Waiver

Before class starts, you’ll want to meet with the instructor. He can tell you about the school and answer any questions. If you want to join the class, you’ll need to fill out a waiver and you be lent a gi and shown how to tie a belt.

1. Line Up and Bow In

The instructor will call everyone on to the mats to line up by belt rank and experience level. He’ll make any announcements then everyone bows to start class and warm-ups.

2. Warm-Ups and Conditioning

To prevent injury and build endurance, the class will do warm-ups that usually consist of running, push ups, sit ups, body weight exercises and BJJ-specific movements like breakfalls and shrimping. You’ll have a minute to get a drink then get back on the mats before the next part of class.

3. Instruction, Demonstration and Drilling of Techniques

Each night you’ll learn 3-4 related techniques from standing and on the ground (e.g. defending a standing headlock and three ways to escape a headlock on the ground that work in combination). Students will line up around the instructor as he demonstrates and explains a technique and answers questions. You’ll pair up with a training partner and drill the technique. The instructor will go around and fix any mistakes and tell you when to switch and let the other person drill. After drilling, you’ll have a chance to get another sip of water.

4. Live Positional Sparring

The instructor will arrange the students for a group drill. People will be told to hold certain positions on each other and be given goals. For example, you may be told to lay down and have someone pin you. Your goal is to escape using the techniques you learned that night; their goal is to stop you while trying to improve their position and get armlocks and chokes. If either of you succeed, you go back to the starting position and try again. The instructor will be running a timer and telling people when to switch and who to partner with so everyone has a chance to do both sides of the drill. (In advanced classes this positional sparring is followed by free sparring.)

5. Line up and Bow Out

When live drilling ends, the class lines up one more time and the instructor will make any more announcements and award promotions, then you bow out and shake hands with your training partners.

6. Sign Up for Membership

If you enjoyed class and want to join Gracie Barra Clearwater, now is the time to talk to instructor again and get the paperwork filled out to enroll in classes.

Still have concerns?

Contact us with any questions you have about Gracie Barra Clearwater or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

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• Lose weight and get in shape while learning the most effective martial art in the world. Running on treadmills and endlessly lifting weights gets boring fast. Stay motivated by keeping your mind engaged as you master martial arts techniques unlike anything you’ve seen before.
• Break out of the same old routine and relieve stress as you master no nonsense fighting techniques. Don’t let yourself fall into this trap: you wake up, go to work, go home, watch TV, go to sleep, repeat tomorrow. Escape the rat race by finding a new and exciting passion in your life that 99.9% of the population doesn’t even have the guts to try.
• Gain a champion’s mindset by training under one of the best BJJ masters in the world. Courage, confidence, determination and dedication are defining traits of a BJJ champion. On your road to black belt you will cultivate these same virtues and find them spilling over into the rest of your life, helping you reach your goals, overcome obstacles and achieve whatever you desire.

Call 727-204-9731 or register for your FREE week of training.

At the heart of the Gracie Barra Family’s extraordinary success over the years is our strong philosophy and mission as a group, a foundation which our masters laid many years ago, but is constantly made stronger by all of the great people involved in our community.

Jiu-Jitsu is a beautiful art, and we have a vision of how it should be taught, as well as how our community should work together for common, powerful, and positive goals. To achieve this vision, we must remember to come together as a family, always putting the team in frong of oneself. For that, we will fight to the end for what we believe is right.

—By Master Carlos Gracie Jr and Professor Marcio Feitosa

The History of Gracie Barra

Professor Carlos Gracie Jr. is the founder and head instructor of the Gracie Barra Academy, the largest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in the world, located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The son of Carlos Gracie, the pioneer of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Carlos Gracie Jr., has produced well over 200 black belts in his tenure, which today includes numerous world class instructors and athletes.

At the heart of the Gracie Barra mission statement is the goal of training both the body and spirit, going beyond the ‘winning-losing’ or ‘contest’ philosophy present in other martial arts. Instead, Professor Carlos Gracie Jr. emphasizes the fundamental principle of Jiu-Jitsu: “Minimum effort for maximum efficiency,” a method of utilizing strength through gentleness, an expression exemplifying both the mental and physical aspects of Jiu-Jitsu. In Professor Carlos’ mind, Jiu-Jitsu was in fact a method of education, which could be used to foster one’s personal development. Professor Carlos considered the goals of Jiu-Jitsu to revolve around three aspects: physical education, personal achievement, and ethical growth. In other words, through the practice of Jiu-Jitsu, one would complete their personal development through the training of body and mind, becoming a person better able to contribute to society and the world. Recognizing the never-ending quest for self-perfection, even today Professor Carlos continues to study these techniques and principles with his students. The constant development of techniques demonstrates Professor Carlos’ adherence to these principles, continuously striving for further progress and knowledge.

In spreading the values of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Professor Carlos is also the head of the IBJJF (International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation) the largest international organization for overseeing the growth of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. The IBJJF is the organizer of the largest competition tournaments in the world including the World Championships of Jiu-Jitsu (“Mundials”), held in Rio every July, the Pan-American Championships held in Dominguez Hills, California, the European Championships held in Portugal, also held annually. This year also marks the first Asian Championships to be held in Japan

In the last days of the 19th century, some Jiu-Jitsu masters emigrated from Japan to other continents, teaching the martial arts, as well as competing in fights and competitions. Esai Maeda Koma, also known as “Conde Koma,” was one such master. After traveling with a troupe which fought in various countries in Europe and the Americas, Koma arrived in Brazil in 1915, and settled in Belem do Para the next year, where he met a man named Gastao Gracie. The father of eight children,among them five boys and three girls, Gastao became a Jiu-Jitsu enthusiast and brought his oldest son, Carlos, to learn to fight from the Japanese master.

For a naturally frail fifteen-year old Carlos Gracie, Jiu-Jitsu became a method not simply for fighting, but for personal improvement. At nineteen, he moved to Rio de Janeiro with his family and began teaching and competing in the martial arts. In his travels, Carlos would teach classes, and also proved the efficiency of the art by beating adversaries in competitions who were more physically strong. In 1925, he returned to Rio and opened the first school, known as the “Academia Gracie de Jiu Jitsu.” Since then, Carlos started to share his knowledge to his brothers, adapting and refining the techniques to the naturally weaker characteristics of his family. Also, Carlos taught them his philosophies of life as well as his concepts of natural nutrition. Eventually, Carlos became a pioneer in creating a special diet for athletes, “the Gracie diet,” which transformed Jiu-Jitsu into a term synonymous with health. Having created an efficient self defense system, Carlos Gracie saw in the art a way to become a man who was more tolerant, respectful, and self-confident. With a goal of proving Jiu-Jitsu’s superiority as well as to build a family tradition, Carlos challenged the greatest fighters of his time, as well as managing the fighting careers of his brothers. Fighting opponents fifty or sixty pounds heavier, the Gracies quickly gained recognition and prestige.

Attracted to the new market which was opened around Jiu-Jitsu, many Japanese practitioners came to Rio, but none were able to establish schools as successful as the Gracies. This was due to the fact that the Japanese stylists were more focused on takedowns and throws, and the Jiu-Jitsu the Gracies practiced had more sophisticated ground fighting and submission techniques. Carlos and his brothers changed the techniques in such a way that it completely altered the complexion of the international Jiu-Jitsu principles. These techniques were so distinctive to Carlos and his brothers that the sport became attached to a national identity, and is now commonly known as “Brazilian Jiu Jitsu,” practiced by martial artists all over the world, including Japan.

With the creation of a official body overseeing the administration of the sport, the rules and the ranking system started the era of sport Jiu-Jitsu competitions. Today, Jiu-Jitsu is much more organized, with an International and National Federation, founded by Carlos Gracie Jr. Through his work with the Confederation of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Carlos Gracie Jr. contributed to the growth of the sport by holding some of the first organized competitions. Currently, the Confederation holds competitions in Brazil, the United States, Europe, and Asia, realizing Carlos’ original dream to spread Jiu-Jitsu around the world.

—By Steve “Sakuriba” Kim

Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Philosophy

The application of traditional Gracie Jiu-Jitsu transcends the practice of chokes, joint locks immobilizations, throws and strikes. A true Gracie philosophy prepares men, women and children for life, showing them paths to a healthier life and the most effective use of physical, mental and spiritual strength. Eating well is Jiu-Jitsu, taking care of your body is Jiu-Jitsu, saying no to cigarettes, alcohol and drugs is Jiu-Jitsu, as well as keeping a close bond with relatives and friends. This philosophy, which can be called a “way of life”, has been propagated by Grand Masters Carlos and Helio Gracie for almost a century.

Self-discipline and Focus

To master the martial art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a student must pay attention and train diligently to perfect their technique.

Respect For Their Teachers and Friends

Martial arts instructors are in a unique position to teach children about respect and honor. Students must follow instructions and orders. A martial artist understands that training partners are there to learn and improve alongside them.

Leadership and Team Spirit

Training at Gracie Barra Clearwater, a child finds himself joining a team of successful martial artists, and as they move up the belt ranks they’ll find newest students looking to them for help and guidance.

Responsibility and Self Control

With the ability to fight and defend themselves comes the responsibility of using their knowledge wisely. In class, students learn how to apply techniques with control to ensure their training partners’ safety.

Determination and a Will to Succeed

There is no easy road to black belt. We can show them the way and encourage them, but your child must make the journey on their own two legs. Along the way, they will experience what it’s like to be tested and pushed to perform. Sparring and tournaments will expose your child to healthy competition and bring out the champion in them.

A Clear, Uncluttered Mind

The modern world bombards kids from every angle. TV, video games and the internet are all vying for their attention, each eager to fill your child’s head with their special agendas, ad campaigns and nonsense. Give your child a chance to unplug and really interact with fellow human beings.

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