When you’re a kid, there’s not a whole lot that you have under your control. Everyone around you is making decisions on your behalf and, for the most part, you’re growing up in an environment that has been “handed” to you.
That’s why it’s so important to find ways for all children to have access to martial arts… Which is exactly what the Guardian Project does.
The Guardian Project is a non-profit organization operating from Oakland (CA), that provides kids and teens free training sponsorships at their Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academies.
Brian Stann, a former MMA fighter, spoke about the Project and its importance on the Jocko Podcast:
Ben [executive director of the Guardian Project] has a vision that every kid should have the opportunity to train martial arts.
Every child… There are a lot of young men and women who don’t have much going on after school. And the chips are stacked against them, you know? There’s not a lot that they have.
Their families are having a hard time getting money and there’s a lot of trouble that they can get into.And they [Guardian project employees] go find them and they bring them in. Then, they train martial arts, they train Jiu-Jitsu, they do their homework.
The goal is to take Guardian, brand it, and get it into gyms across country.
