We were lucky to catch up with Ryan Williams recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ryan, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

Sindalu Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu started with the goal to make Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu available hurdle-free to underserved communities in one of the most challenging neighborhoods to be a child in the United States.

The International District (ID) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is known to locals as the War Zone. A neighborhood utterly ravaged by drugs, homelessness, and violence. Children living in this neighborhood are exposed to all of these things on a daily basis, and many of them have a list of adverse childhood experiences as long as your arm. Children at Whittier Elementary, Wilson Middle School, and Voz Collegiate Preparatory Academy (a charter school in the ID) tend to fill out the statistics that make New Mexico the worst state in the nation to be a child.

The Church I pastor, City on a Hill, moved near this neighborhood in 2021. We wanted to help support the schools that were serving these kids, but soon we realized that if we were going to make a difference, we needed to be more relationally immersed in the lives of these families. Enter Sindalu Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Sindalu BJJ was started by three friends Joel, Emery, and Ryan in 2022. All three had been training together at the same gym in NE Albuquerque but wanted to take their passion for Jiu-Jitsu into the places where it is needed the most BJJ has been proven to help children with impulse control, reduce aggression, increase attention spans, and lessen the effects of trauma. So, in November 2022, we launched Sindalu BJJ in the basement of City on a Hill Church, making our memberships free to any student at Whittier Elementary. We saw a few students join us, but with the location of the school and the church being over 1 mile away, distance was a problem for students, especially since many of them had a parent who worked late.

We made the decision to move our gym into the heart of the neighborhoods where these children lived. Our gym was next to two stores frequented by drug addicts, and the store on the other side’s owner had been murdered in a gun fight with a robber less than 12 months previous. It was in this location we formed relationships with Wilson Middle School and Voz Collegiate Preparatory Academy.

In the next two years, we saw close to 80 children come in and try Jiu-Jitsu, some did one class and decided it’s not for them, some gave up because it was too hard, but for a few of these students they have found a community where they are known, valued, safe, and are being equipped with the tools to de-escalate potentially violent situations and to defend themselves if attacked.

Earlier this year, we had to move our gym location, but we are still seeing both new and old students coming from our relationships in the ID. These relationships we hope will continue to grow and transform the lives of these children.

Ryan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I worked as an Australian Federal Police officer in the Australian Outback for close to 5 years before feeling a call to serve in ministry work. My training for ministry led me to Seattle, WA, where I met and married my wife, Natasha. In 2019, an opportunity to be the Lead Pastor of a local church in Albuquerque, NM, arose, and we moved our family to Albuquerque.

I started training in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in 2020 and soon after met Emory Cruz and Joel Pignataro. They are both black belts in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, while at the time, I was just a white belt. We became friends, and in 2022, we began to talk about using BJJ to impact and support at-risk populations with the skills and community that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu provides. Having worked in non-profits for most of my career and having specialized in meeting needs for the community through non-profit partnerships, I enthusiastically agreed.

We serve not just at-risk children and youth but also the veteran community by providing free memberships to any veteran with PTSD. We also provide deeply discounted rates to active duty military and first responders because we want to take care of those who will one day, are currently, or have taken care of us.

We created a gym with a welcoming and non-threatening culture where everyone is welcome to come and learn about BJJ. There is a friendly and active environment where knowledge is shared, and we all embrace the challenge of this martial art. From brand new 55-year-old veterans to 4-year-old children, Sindalu BJJ is a place where we help each other. Our core principles are represented in the motto ‘Fight’.

F – Fortitude (We will face adversity with courage)
I – Integrity (We don’t cut corners because it destroys earned results)
G – Grit (When we’re down, we don’t give up)
H – Help (If we want to go far, we need to support one another)
T – Trust (We have confidence in the process because anything of value takes time to build)

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

Culture is everything.

At our gym, it is the primary responsibility of the leadership team to foster and guard the culture. Recently, we had a younger student feel unsafe with one of our older students. Immediately, we took action, talked with the other older student, and helped to protect the younger student. As a result if they are in the same training session they no-longer train physically with one another.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

High morale comes from a team that feels supported in its goals. When you, as a leader, are invested in the goals and success of your students, a natural fruit of that will be high morale.

If you are only interested in your individual or brand success, you won’t achieve it. But celebrating the victories of those around you will result in everyone growing together and supporting one another. Giving your time and energy to the success of others is the way to see you and your organization/business succeed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sindalubjj.com
• Instagram: @sindalubjj
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SindaluBJJ