Summertime at Gracie-Barra Andalucia
As August starts to wind down, we reflect a little on the great summer season we’ve had at Gracie-Barra Andalucia.
The academy has been growing like crazy, with new people showing up to train just about every week. Almost every training session we have to take down the partition, and take over the other training area, due to the large number of students. We’ve also now got three girls in the academy!
Just less than two years ago Edson arrived in Spain, and started in the determined work to build a world class academy. Since then, the academy students have won competitions at both the national and European levels, and Edson himself has won the KO Arena welterweight championship belt, and the recent superfight against Spanish top grappler, Tito Beltran. We’ve seen guys such as Pablo, Agusto, Leo and Mike progress from recreational training to near professional levels, becoming in the process top-class athletes winning BJJ, grappling and MMA events.
Last week, to help support the growth, our old friend Marcelo “Uirapuru” Azevedo returned to Spain, to take up the role of head instructor at the new Gracie-Barra Andalucia academy in Malaga.
A few weeks ago, we put on the successful first annual Open Grappling tournament here in Marbella, hosted on by the seaside at Soul Beach. Based on the feedback we’re getting from people, the event was a big success. It was great to see all our friends from other academies around Spain, and have the chance to spend a day in competition and socializing.
We’ve also had several visitors down, with whom we’ve had the opportunity to train, just a few of whom include Roberto Atalla (black belt instructor), Jude Samuels (black-belt from Roger Gracie), Leandro (Gracie-Barra black belt from Brazil), Lee Doski (UK-based MMA fighter), Nicolas (purple belt from California), and most recently Valencia-based MMA fighter “Titin”.
All in all, we’ve had a great summer, and look forward to continued growth and fun at the academy!