We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rodrigo Antunes. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rodrigo below.

Hi Rodrigo , thanks for joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

My first contact with martial arts was at a Judo school at the age of 4 years old. On the mats, I learned my first body movements and notions of balances and agility. Growing up in Rio de Janeiro in the 80’s, it was natural to be exposed to Jiu Jitsu, due to my family relationship to the Gracie family. When I turned 8 years old, I had my first Jiu Jitsu class and after 14 years of training, learning from some of the legends of the sport, I was promoted to black belt at the age of 23 years old and opened my first school at 25 and now, at the amazing age of 46, I still train and teach on a daily basis.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

The word Jiu Jitsu means “gentle art” due to its principle of giving in to win, using the weight and strength of your opponent against himself and also to create for each technique, a leverage that allows you to move an opponent much stronger and heavier. This guiding principle is to make the most efficient use of mental and physical energies.

Alliance Jiu Jitsu is considered by our community as the best jiu jitsu school in the world. It is not based only on the results in competition. We structured our programs, schools and its methodology to make sure values and commitment to the art are being passed from one generation to another with integrity.

It’s our commitment to empower our Miami community and offer a wonderful place to learn this amazing martial art in a fun and healthy environment.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Challenges are part of our lives. They way Jiu Jitsu was taught back in the day was way more painful, brutal and most of my friends quit after a few months. I decide to stick with that and kept training. It has been a very rewarding journey. I didn’t have much support from my family to pursue my Jiu-Jitsu career, as my parents preferred I would do tennis and golf, but I love my sport and kept doing even during the job, thru internships and even when I had a corporate job and the school at the same time. When my family and I decided to move abroad and live full time through martial arts, we had a cultural shock but again, it made us strong. In life, nothing comes easier. We have to work hard and be surrounded by positive people who encourage us to believe in our dreams and be able to empower our community.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

I believe success is a collaborative work. First, it is related to your personal achievements based on the challenges you decided to accept. Then, its relation on what type of example you are giving to the community. I try to accomplish and celebrate every step and look for new challenges to keep move on. This is how I keep going, succeeding and having some failures thru my journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.alliancegrove.com
• Instagram: alliancecoconutgrove

Image Credits
All pictures belong to Rodrigo Antunes