Terere Kids Project is happy to announce a new partnership
with Academia Gorila from Poland. Academia Gorila has agreed to monthly
donations to help support Gabriel Barcelar and Caue da Silva. In addition to
making sure that these two are cover on a monthly basis, they have also
committed to trying to raise additional funds amongst their clients! Its
through this type of support from the international BJJ community that Terere
Kids Project has been able to thrive, creating more and more opportunities to
the athletes from the Cantagalo Favela.
It is thanks to them and some friends from Bronx Jiu Jitsuthat we are able to end the year in bang! In the last couple of months we have
managed to:
Moicano, Professor Fabricio, and Gabriel Peixoto
1.Sponsor Jhonathan Marques (Moicano) to get his
Passport and Visa. Thanks to Artur Cantu from California, Jhonathan will be
spending up to a month in states and competing in PanKids!
2.Sponsor Professor Julio Nogueira’s visa so that
he can accompany Moicano as a Chaperone.
Gabriel Peixoto in Sao Paulo at his first IBJJF competition
3.Send Gabriel Peixoto alongside Professor
Birrinho to compete in IBJJF Sulamericanos in Sao Paulo.
4.Register Professor Birrinho in IBJJF BJJ Pro,
IBJJF Sulamerican, and and UAE Grand Slam (IBJJF and UAE are synonymous with
EXPENSIVE, we have never been able to sponsor athletes for these major comps!)
And lastly in the next couple of
days we will be
5.Registering a team of 20 athletes to end the
year competing in Copa America December 12th
Special feature written by Terere's student Andrew Morris, aka Moz, who spent a year training in the mecca of Jiu Jitsu living it up favela style in the Cantagalo community alongside his hero, Fernando Terere. Read more from Moz on his blog Tales from Deep Half.
After
spending an entire year training at Terere's Academy in Ipanema, Rio, I felt
very much part of the family. It had been a pleasure to train each day with the
children and teens of the social project as well as my adult counterparts. So
returning after a nine month absence I couldn't wait to get on the mats and see
the maturation of these young athletes. What I wasn't prepared for, was
spending an inordinate amount of time trying to kill one of them.
Terere’s
social project has a Jiu-Jitsu protégé, Jhonathan Marques or 'Moricano'
(mohawk) as he is affectionately known to his team mates and any unfortunate
gringo who happens to visit the FT academy. He is a fourteen year old orange
belt who lives with his Mum and sister in the Pavao section of the Cantagalo
favela. The same community which raised his mentor and mestre, Fernando Terere
as well as many other stars of the sport including Jackson Sousa and Alan
Finfou and Bruno Matias.
During
my first stint at the academy Moricano stood out as a young, hard working yellow
belt who already possessed a ridiculously difficult Miyao brothers-esque
guard. His guard retrieval was awesome and I used to love trying to pass this
tricky guard using the appropriate amount of pressure for a twelve year old who
weighs sixty kilos.
My
first night back, I was straight on the mats to witness him obliterate
competition level blue belts as well giving purple and brown belts a torrid
time. I wasn't able to roll with my young friend that night and due to a
competition at the weekend (which he won), I had to wait until Monday to try to
test his game. After seeing how devastating his game had become, my weekend was
spent wisely discussing with prior victims how to pass this guard. Admittedly,
I spent far too much time over those two days fathoming the game of a fourteen
year old and how I planned to kill it.
When Monday came, I
was primed and ready to go. I was then more than elated when I passed his guard
to the cheers of onlookers in the academy. With the awareness he was
essentially a child, I resisted the urge to jump up and bust out my victory
dance. However the balance was truly restored when I spent the next five
minutes trying to desperately avoid being swept in his Rubix Cube like guard
game. Then the inevitable occurred in the last 20 seconds, as I posted to
defend a sweep the little dude arm-barred me.
Whilst writing this,
I worked out that I had rolled with him six times, each round lasting seven minutes, so that is forty two minutes of combined mat time. During that entire time, I have passed
his guard on that sole occasion. Going back to that 'appropriate amount of pressure' I
mentioned previously, that has not factored in at all. Each time we roll, I
literally attempt to kill him, using every single bit of pressure I can amass
but to no avail! He is unquestionably a phenom with an outstanding all-around
game that doesn’t simply rely on this devastating guard, which he explains originates from studiously pouring over the game's of the Mendes Brothers and Keenan
Cornelius. He has rapid fire submissions coupled with tenacious passing which
he has achieved by studying another of his favourite competitors
Leandro Lo.
Moricano
is a shining example of the incredible, transformative program at the FT
Academy. He came up through the children's program before training in the
adults class. Furthermore he balances full-time schooling with a full-time
commitment to Jiu-Jitsu. This hard-work has paid dividends as he has amassed an
awesome amount of medals. This past April, he traveled to Sao Paulo and became
a Brazilian Nation Champion at the IBJJF Brazilian Nationals which is one of
the most prestigious competitions in the Jiu-Jitsu calender. This is in
addition to a whole host of other titles including back to back victories in
the last two weekends in the the FJJD Mineirio & CBJJO Mundials
respectively.
The perils of the
favela and the street life which tempts so many of its youth is not something which is a concern for Moricano. He sees his future as traveling the world
competing in Jiu-Jitsu, his ultimate goal is to become a world champion. As
well as one day settling down in his own academy. As a good looking and
successful young dude, the only thing I could see standing in his way is the
allure of the opposite sex. However when I questioned him on this, he reassured
me that he was in a committed relationship with Jiu-Jitsu, this might be the best answer I have
received for any question ever!
A special debt of
gratitude to BJJ Hacks for putting this together putting this technique video
of Moricano's favourite technique the Berimbolo.
Get Sponsored in BJJ is an Ebook recently released by HT, founder of BJJ Hacks. Its a step by step guide that can show even lowly white belts how to approach companies and get sponsorships.
You’ll find a ton of great info including how to use your existing social media to convince sponsors to back you, the surefire method of persuading people to give you money for training and competing, and much more.
ALSO you’ll hear directly from brands such as Shoyoroll, Q5 supplements and Meerkatsu about what they look for in a sponsored athletes. And we’ve included interviews with NINE sponsored grapplers from blue to black belt where they share their stories of success and advice for getting sponsored.
Who wrote the book?
Author Hywel Teague (HT), the driving force behind jiu-jitsu video makers BJJ Hacks, knows a thing or two about getting sponsorship. He’s not even a competitor, yet he counts three top brands as his own personal sponsors with even more helping him out along the way with everything from free gear to supplements and even travel expenses.
HT spent a fair amount of time hanging around the Cantagalo Favela and Terere Kids Project when he filmed his mini-series on Terere. Since he's a resident of Ipanema, and only lives a few blocks from the social project, he often stops by the academy to roll or donate kimonos to the cause.
Check out some of the videos he did on Mestre Terere.
Fabricio Da Silva is a 30 year old brown belt and cousin of Mestre Fernando Terere.
He is a quiet guy that is known for keeping to himself. Most days he arrives at the academy with one or two small children in tow; he often has to juggle the responsibilities of caring of a new born child on top of handling our morning classes and kid's program here at the academy.
Birrinho has been teaching Jiu Jitsu here in the Cantagalo community since he was an 18 year old blue belt. Naturally, coming from the Favela, life hasn't always been easy for him, but Jiu Jitsu was a way for him and his friends to escape the drama in the favela. When his cousin, Terere, began to struggle with drugs and he also took a small hiatus from the sport.
He spent his days working to make ends meet, taking small jobs like parking cars for less than minimum wage and trying to stay out of trouble. When Terere re-opened his gym at the base of the Cantagalo favela, Birrinho starting training seriously again. Together with Terere, Birrinho began teaching Jiu Jitsu to the kids of Cantagalo/Pavao/Pavaozinho free of charge. With the help of donations sent from abroad the project is beginning to thrive. Birrinho arrives at the academy to find a wild bunch of kids waiting for him to open the doors so they can tumble onto the mats with soccer balls before class starts.
Now as Terere Kid's Project continues to grow, Birrinho hopes that his career as a competitor and instructor will grow along side of it. His goal this year is to develop his Jiu Jitsu curriculum by competing in more high level IBJJF competitions. Birrinho will be representing FT academy this month at Rio Open as well as taking two of our sponsored athletes to compete Brasileiros in Sao Paulo at the end of April.
Before breaking for the holidays, FT academy held their annual graduation ceremony. Friends from the community stopped by to watch and take pictures as students were called up to receive new belts or strips. We would like to give a special congratulations to our student Alexandre, who finally received his brown belt and to Professor Nogueira for receiving his first stripe on his black belt.
Shortly after the ceremony, we had a special visit from Eduardo Telles, founder of 99 academy, who stopped by to visit his old friend and teacher. In 2002 when the Alliance team split, Telles and Terere formed the TT Jiu Jitsu team, unfortunately, despite their early success, the team broke up when Terere started to experience personal problems in 2004.
Since then, Telles moved to San Diego and started the 99 academy. The name 99 is symbolic of being one step away from perfection, or 100%, something that every jiu jiteiro strives to achieve in the endless hours that they put in on the mats mastering techniques. Although he is a successful gym owner, Telles has been waiting for the return of his long time friend and teacher, Terere, to graduate him and finally give him 3 stripes on his black belt.
We also have to give a big thank you to Cascagrossa kimonos from Sao Paulo and I Aint No Saint Tattoo Studios, in England, for providing kids kimonos for the academy. We received a total of 20 kimonos from Cascagrossa in Sao Paulo so that we can provide uniforms to kids in the Cantagalo community that want to start training Jiu Jitsu. Our sponsored athlete, Caue, has recruited in several of his friends from the soccer fields.
Lucca, Moicano, Professor Nogueira, Vinicius, Gabriel
Although we are only 2 weeks into 2015, the FT team has already started competing. Thanks to donations sent from abroad, 5 kids entered into CBJJO's Rio Open tournament that took place Saturday, January 10th, all of whom brought home medals!
Although it is summer time here, and kids are on break from school our athletes don't mess around. Moleza, Moicano, Lucca, Gabriel, and Vinicius have been training twice a day in order to prepare for the first competition after their belt promotion. They will be returning to the mats again with our younger students for FJJD Rio's first ranking competition of the year on January 1st and February 2nd.
Lastly, we are proud to announce the release of the first set of technique videos, Favela Jiu Jitsu, that was filmed by Budo Videos. The first set of videos covers all of Master Terere's guard passing secrets so be sure to buy your copy today.
Although we do not celebrate Thanksgiving here in Brazil, November is definitely turning out to be a month to give back and be grateful. We have had an amazing opportunity to work with international sponsors in order to provide more services to the students at Terere Kids Project.
We would like to thank all of the people that have been supporting the kids here in the Cantagalo Favela.
DeuS fight company is a religious, based fitness brand that out of California that puts their faith into action by supporting social projects in the favelas of Brazil. Find out more about the work they have been doing in the communities here in Brazil through their Favela Kids Project.
DeuS Fight currently provides on-going financial assistance from the sales of their products by giving 10% to social projects. This support not only provides our students here at Terere Kids Project with the equipment, food, and supplies they need to keep their programs going, but it also allows them to participate in local competitions here in Rio.
I Ain´t No Saint Tattoo studios is run by Iaint (pronounced Ian) a Jiu Jitsu practitioner who recently spent some time training with Terere in the Cantagalo community. Since his visit to Brazil, Aint has made several generous donations to help kids compete in the FJJD Ranking Competitions here in Rio and well as to start up our new kimono closet initiative that will allow us to keep a set of kimonos to lend out to new students here at the academy!
When he is not on the mats or generously donating to our kids here it Terere Kids Project, you can find Iaint tattooing in Abbots Langly just 20 minutes outside of London. Check out his website or Facebook page to find more information on how to get some of the best tattoos in the London Area.
You can also follow him on: - Twitter @IAintNoSaintTat - Instagram @IAintNoSaintTattooStudio - Pinterest I Aint No Saint
Academy Fernando Terere recently had the pleasure of hosting Budo Jack and the Budocrew here in Rio while they filmed 9 technique DVDs and a new episode of Rolled Up. What started off as an amazing business endeavour ended up as a strong friendship with Mestre Terere! Even after completing their work here in Rio Budo videos continues to support the Terere Kids Project through charity events like this one!
BJJ Hacks
Last, but most definitely not least, we have to give a big shout out to Hywel Teague better known as HT from BJJ Hacks. BJJ Hacks is a video company that tracks down and films some of the biggest names in Jiu Jitsu. Unlike normal technique videos, BJJ Hack´s objective is to inspire Jiu Jiteiros to "hack out" their own style of Jiu Jitsu by using the ideas, philosophies and favorite techniques passed on by the best athletes in the game.
HT came through the academy to film a 3 part mini documentary on Terere. He has since then offered his advice, his friendship, and his cameras to help support the kids from the project!
You can find the rest of the 3 part documentary series under
