IBJJF Brazilian Nationals Campaign: We Did It!

It’s really happening! Seventeen kids are traveling from the Cantagalo Favela to São Paulo on an all expense paid trip!

Thank you to everyone that donated and helped share information about our IBJJF Kid’s Brazilian Nationals Campaign on social media!

Within a week we were able to reach our goal of $450 to pay for food expenses and new competition gis!

Coming out of a pandemic, competition may seem kind of trivial, but it plays a major role in the socio-emotional development of our little ones! Our students can’t afford to pay for classes, they can’t afford to buy new gis, and if it wasn’t for sponsorship, they couldn’t afford to compete in one of the biggest and

most prestigious kids competitions of the year. That’s A LOT OF CAN’TS to live with at a young age!

For many of them, this competition is the first time they’ll leave Rio! Some of them might even get their first NEW GI for competition instead of sharing with a friend. On May 13th, 17 kids will pile into a van for a 6 hour drive with their closest friends, creating memories, and most likely a lot of tic toc content because they love to dance! This trip creates the motivation that kids need to keep them motivated throughout the year, and it inspires others to work hard to earn their place on the competition team as well.

Did you know that prior to starting our Go Fund Me in English, our team in Rio raised over $US 1,500 to pay for IBJJF Affiliation, tournament registration, and transportation!

That’s the most money we’ve ever raised in Brazil for a competition campaign! Historically, competitions are funded through international donors, but Instructor Vinicius and one of our student’s parents have been working hard to get support from the local community!

Stay tuned for more updates on our kid’s competition team and sign up for our Patreon for more content from the FT Academy in Ipanema!