A Message from Rickson Gracie
Master Rickson Gracie with the first class of certified RGU instructors.
To my friends, students, and the Jiu-Jitsu community around the world:
My father developed his expression of Jiu-Jitsu as a tool to give the weak a chance against the strong, and to give ordinary people the confidence to meet life'schallenges. For him, fighting in the ring was never about proving himself, but about showing people that—armed with this knowledge—even someone small and unassuming like him could face down and overcome giants.
In the decades since my father's time, Jiu-Jitsu has grown far beyond what he could have imagined. The sportive aspect of our art has become a worldwide phenomenon, and I celebrate its success. But with that growth, I have also seen the art shift from its original purpose. The Jiu-Jitsu I see being taught and practiced today is no longer designed to build up the weak and the timid: now it is a tool for athletes to express their prowess in competition against other athletes. Within this context, practitioners and instructors often develop tremendous knowledge of the competitive aspect of the art, but little to no knowledge of its core principles, techniques, and philosophy. Accordingly, they lose the ability to serve its original mission, and the substantial population of individuals who are not interested in competitions, but who would still like to learn how to defend themselves and overcome the "giants" they face in their own lives.
The need, as I see it, is even greater today than it was in my father's time. Nowadays, it is possible and even easy for the timid and the weak to retreat into devices and screens, and reduce their lived experience down to a steady stream of online exchanges, impersonal transactions, and perpetual distractions. Within this, their ability to experience their full humanness is being flattened and lost. And the issue is not just a theoretical one, as the skyrocketing rates of depression, anxiety, and feelings of social isolation among the youth reflect. In my view, Jiu-Jitsu is a powerful tool to combat this rising tide, and the modern expression of its original mission mustbe to help those suffering within this digital dehumanization crisis.
When I launched the Jiu-Jitsu Global Federation in 2012, it was with all of this in mind. Through the JJGF, my intention was to offer a series of educational programs and certifications designed to preserve the core aspects of the art—its techniques and its mission—that I felt were both vital to the moment and being lost within the sport's ascendancy. At the same time, I wanted to create a place of unification for the Jiu-Jitsu community: a place where practitioners from every affiliation and lineage could gather under one banner.
In the years since the JJGF's launch, however, it has become clear to me that this dual purpose created an unintended conflict: that a Federation designed as a place of unification for Jiu-Jitsu practitioners cannot also declare an official, preferred expression of the art. While I still believe strongly in the JJGF's mission of unification, I now feel that this other, more personal mission—the preservation and dissemination of the core art, and service to its mission in the modern world—requires my full energy and focus. Accordingly, I now intend to focus my efforts on building an affiliate program to help me pursue this more personal goal.
Rickson Gracie United will not be a federation or a competition team, but rather a worldwide network of certified instructors and affiliate clubs, schools, and academies dedicated to preserving and transmitting the core art of Jiu-Jitsu to students of every level and every need. It will also serve as a source for online instructional content and educational resources, Zoom addresses, "Ask Me Anything" sessions, and other programming which I will make available through the expanded online platform we are building at www.Rickson.Academy. These educational resources will be available to everyone, regardless of their rank, affiliation, or association with Rickson Gracie United.
For those who love the sport of Jiu-Jitsu, the knowledge I intend to offer through RGU will make you a better competitor. For those who are not competitors, it will help you understand Jiu-Jitsu as a path for self-defense and personal development, and as a means for reconnecting with your full humanness in an increasingly digital world. For instructors, the educational resources, certifications, and framework for teaching I intend to offer will help you better serve all of your students: not just those interested in competition, but anyone seeking to learn the art as a tool for life.
All my life, I have dedicated myself to developing and sharing the art that I learned from my father. Through Rickson Gracie United, I hope to pass on this expression andunderstanding to the next generation of instructors and students so that the art we love continues to serve and evolve, without losing its soul.
I invite all who share this passion to join me in this mission. Together, we can keep the art alive.
To learn more about becoming an affiliate, please visit www.RicksonGracieUnited.com.
With respect and gratitude,
Rickson Gracie
