Rener Gracie talks about the possibility of making a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu reality show on the Oprah network. He mentions the fact that children all over the U.S. are constantly being tormented by bullies everyday. The goal of this reality show is to teach kids how to defend themselves physically, but also help them gain self-confidence.
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From Rener Gracie:
“We came up with the idea about a year ago. We’ve had kids coming to our academy that have been tormented by bullies. They’ve been afraid to go to school. Some have even been suicidal. Training them (in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) and working with them helped build their confidence and it has basically inspired us to want to do something on a much larger scale. The plan is to reach out to these kids and take them under our wings. We want to teach them how to defend themselves, but more importantly, we want to build up their confidence and give them the motivation to want to go to school. Bullying is one of the top factors behind suicide in young kids. They don’t need to be the victims anymore. We want to find those who are on the borderline and bring them back. Let’s show them that there is hope and that they have a bright future. If this happens, it’s going to be another shot in the arm for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It was my grandfather Helio’s dream to empower the weak and my family would love nothing more than to continue to make that a reality. We’ve achieved the mount so far with this contest. Now let’s go for the submission.”
