As Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu continues to grow in popularity, the legendary Marcelo Garcia is calling for the sport to preserve its core values – amid increasing commercialization.
He shared his thoughts in a recent conversation with Luke Thomas:
Money is great.
But as the sport grows, it doesn’t mean we have to change our characters.
His philosophy on respect stems from the demanding nature of BJJ itself:
Our sport is really, really tough.
When I say really hard, I mean someone can come in, jump on your face, push your face, and just be really tough on you.
If you’re not able to feel respect while training hard like that, it’s going to be really, really difficult to enjoy the process.
Garcia’s thoughts on respect also connect to his strong advocacy for gi training, which he sees as an essential part of a practitioner’s development.
He explained how training in the gi can make the early stages of learning more accessible and less intimidating for newcomers.
We try to make it convenient for normal people to go through that first phase, where everything is very new for them.
I feel like the gi helps with that. It slows down their learning so it’s not too rough on them when they’re just starting.
That has a big impact.
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