On January 4th, Professor Gui returned to the VB Study Group in Veesp, Netherlands led by Eric van Looijen for the annual Valente Brothers Seminar. Professor Gui taught two specialization seminars, focusing on headlock defenses and the closed guard.
Professor Gui Valente visited our Valente Brothers study group in Sheffield/Chesterfield, England once more.
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.
The Fudoshin Challenge promotes competition for development and not for ego. We could not be happier with the level of respect and discipline that exists on our mats. Congratulations to all who accepted the challenge and a big thank you to our students and friends who supported the event.
Once again Valente Brothers had the honor and privilege to be selected by the United States Military to teach combat skills to service men and women of the US Army.
According to the US Army’s own words:
“Our Soldiers enhanced their technical abilities, and gained confidence while receiving words of wisdom. We would like to send a special thanks to the Valente Brothers for taking the time to train, develop and motivate our soldiers. And we will be honored to have them again.”
The Army also added that:
“We have the responsibility to plan and resource the best training for our Soldiers who deploy in defense of our Nation. Whether it’s complex rocket intercepts, or JiuJitsu trained by world class instructors, our goal in 2-44 is the relentless pursuit of readiness and lethality.”
We are extremely proud and humbled by this recognition and motivated to continue our mission.
On April 20, Professor Royler Gracie returned for another great Seminar at VB Headquarters in North Miami Beach.
Pedro, Guilherme and Joaquim Valente on the February cover of the renowned martial arts magazine, Gracie Mag.
