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With the tragic events taking place in Texas, Roots Athletics is organizing a charity seminar to raise money for those who have been effected by Hurricane Harvey. All of the money raised will be donated to the "Red Cross Hurricane Harvey Relief" program. Our goal is to bring the Philadelphia community together to help those in need. The seminar will be from 1pm-3pm and will have multiple local instructors sharing their Jiu Jitsu knowledge in exchange for a small donation. All …

Big congrats to our long time friends The Jimenez Family.  After years of living and building their Academy in Spring, Texas.  The Jimenez family decided to chase their dream and move out west to Las Vegas, Nevada.  Heading the instruction is Raul Jimenez (Blackbelt- Team Gacho/Alliance), Raul has a solid competition background winning major tournaments such as; IBJJF Worlds Championships, Pan Ams and European Open.Assisting Raul, is the kid Phenom himself Worlds, Pans and Europea …

Douglas Bueno came to the United States from Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2015 to teach Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and compete in competitions. He found Jiu-Jitsu when he was only 16 years old, but now he's come a long way. He received his black belt from Gustavo "Guto" Campos and is part of the ATOS team. So far this year, he conquered at the IBJJF Austin Open, winning both his division (Master 1) and the open class. He also placed 3rd at the IBJJF American Nationals in the Master 1 divisi …

Arnaldo Oliveira's grappling career started at only 16 years old with Coach Gilberto Gabas in his hometown Aracatuba, São Paulo. Gabas supported him ever since, guiding his career until he received his black belt on December 2013. Shortly after, he moved to the United States to be more involved in the BJJ community and become a professional athlete. He became a competitor under the world famous Leonardo Vieira at Checkmat HQ (Long Beach). Arnaldo also became an instructor at Gooch' …

They say hard work pays and it sure does for this Southern California native. Training under Cobrinha from Bluebelt to Blackbelt the Jiu Jitsu World Champion Hector Vasquez has not only made a name for himself on the Competition scene, but also as a World Class Instructor and Gym Owner.In 2015, with the blessing and full support of the Cobra himself, Hector quit his day job and packed his belongings and moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in order to chase his dream of opening his own Academy and t …

We here at MOYA are excited to add the newest addition to our family:  Rudson Mateus (Manacapuru - Amazonas Brasil).  Rudson is an absolute terror on the mats, with his slick sweeps and submission mindset.  Recently coming off a Double Gold Win at IBJJF World Championships 2017 (Brown belt Div), where he beat some of the best big named Athletes in his division and in the Absolute Division.Rudson will be making his Black Belt Debut at Copa Podio on August 12th, 2017, after recently …

We first saw Rolando Samson back in 2011 as young Juvenile Blue Belt, he was fast and crazy athletic, win or lose you were guaranteed to be awed.  One of the things that attracted us the most to this young man was his humility and respect toward others, a true sign of a young person upbringing and values instilled by his parents and loved ones.Through the years we have gone through the Journey together, one match at a time, one stripe at a time, through Blue belt, Purple belt, Brown belt an …

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is quickly catching fire all around the world. Although it's still making its progress in some areas, it's received dedication from prominent athletes, one of them being Asena Melike Agansoy. The 25-year-old is Turkey's first female brown belt under Burak Deger Bicer. She found BJJ while in college in 2012 by the persistence of her brother. They first began with Muay Thai, but felt that there was something missing. Knowing that her brother wanted to train MMA, A …

Another wave of victory set in for our surfing prodigy, Eli Olson. WSL hosted the Hawaii Regionals event this past November 6, which accumulated the athletes' scores from 5 different events they held this year (3 in Hawaii and 2 in Tahiti).   Eli managed to score the best overall run for 2016. This earned him the trophy over a couple hundred other surfers, undeniably proving that he's been the most consistent surfer of the year! Our surfer has kept up a pretty stable train …

We're completely aware that all of our athletes are talented in areas beyond Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. And some of them are lucky enough to share these passions with another, like Jeff and Veronica Messina. In 1997, Jeff began doing BJJ, Muay Thai, and boxing, but gravitated more towards BJJ. Now he's a second-degree black belt under Rodrigo Medeiros. He began his first gym in 2005 with Yves Edwards and Tim Creduer. Jeff has since opened his location in Katy and moved the original locat …