On November 2nd and 3rd, Professor Pedro Valente returned to Cantu’s Self-Defense to visit VB black belts Roy Cantu, Calvin Carter and all students. On Saturday, Professor Pedro taught and evaluated three youth classes. On Sunday, Professor Valente taught the traditional adult five elements workshop.
Professor Gui Valente visited our Valente Brothers study group in Sheffield/Chesterfield, England once more.
Last week Professor Pedro participated in an education fair, organized by the Brazilian Consulate, in Boca Raton. He spoke about the 753 Code and how it can help parents and teenagers as they prepare to enter college life.
On October 1st, Valente Brothers celebrated the Hélio Gracie day. Since Grandmaster Hélio left us on January 29th, 2009, the VB family has celebrated Grandmaster Hélio’s birthday in all its locations throughout the world. This year, at our headquarters in North Miami Beach, Professor Pedro, Gui and Joaquim have taught some of their Grandmaster’s favorite techniques and details.
The Self-defense challenge was very successful and brought together VB students who demonstrated great technical skills. The finalists are: Jessie Worbington, Tony Andre, Emanuella Grabarnick, Jason Propsom, Daniel Levin and Harrison Rosenthal.
This past month Valente Brothers hosted the first ever 753 Code conference. Topics that were covered included the history and definition of the 753 Code, conflict de-escalation, self-defense law, active shooter drills, a scientific explanation of why we need sugars, fruits as medicine, weapon retention and the importance of stretching.
The Ashi Waza workshop was a success. Professors Ramon Sanchez and Pedro Valente focused on the Deashi Barai and the Kouchi Gari techniques.
Over the last 70 years, three generations of the Valente family have trained in the martial art of jūjutsu. Pedro, the oldest member of the third generation, started his martial arts journey at the tender age of two. Along with his younger siblings, he was a direct disciple of Grand Master Helio Gracie who is internationally recognized as one of the greatest exponents of jūjutsu in the modern era. For the last 25 years the Valente Brothers have been teaching self defense in Miami. They own and operate a beautiful free standing building dedicated exclusively to teaching the techniques and philosophy of jūjutsu to students of all ages. Their student body includes leading professionals, celebrities, business notables and professional athletes from leagues such as the NFL, NBA and the NHL. In addition, they instruct federal and local law enforcement agencies, the US Army, Navy Seals and other military units. Pedro also holds a Bachelors and a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Miami. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
In 1999, Valente Brothers first offered the famous and original Fundamentals 27 Lessons, today known as Fighting Foundations. At the time, Professor Pedro Valente decided to pioneer the development of a curriculum for group classes.
Grandmaster Hélio Gracie, who visited Valente Brothers more than once a year from 1997 until 2007, always felt that the group class format, developed in the 1970s primarily to prepare students for point tournaments, did not did not effectively transmit his system. At this time, Grandmaster Hélio often stated that students could only learn the complete self-defense program through private classes. With the organization and development of the Fighting Foundations he changed his mind. After testing and approving the program, he began to recommend it to all schools associated with him and often participated in Fighting Foundations Lessons when visiting Miami.
In the last fifteen years, inspired by the Fighting Foundations, many schools began to implement standardized curriculums in their group classes. Through the development of an organized and efficient methodology called the VB method, we have assisted in the success of many schools around the world. Currently all VB schools, affiliates and study groups continue to offer Fighting Foundations, which has already reached its fifth version.
On June 3rd, the 2019 Summer Belt Ceremony was held in our headquarters in North Miami Beach. Students were awarded blue, purple, and brown belts. The ceremony ended with a great surprise. A US Special Forces operator awarded Valente Brothers a beautiful plaque for our school’s contributions in assisting the training of, arguably, the most elite unit of the United States military.
