By Russell Bennett
Brazilian jiu-jitsu legend and coral belt Julio Cesar ventured to Pakenham’s Gracie Elite academy recently to take its members through their paces.
His phenomenal list of achievements and accolades speaks for itself – the founder of GFT (Grappling Fight Team), he’s an International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) world champion and Brazilian national champion in his own right.
He’s also the coach of five-time IBJJF world champion Rodolfo Viera.
Cesar earned his coral belt for his time served as a black belt in the discipline over a period of more than 30 years.
“I feel very humbled to come here and to share my love of jiu-jitsu with everyone,” he told the Gazette, standing alongside renowned Gracie Elite coach Jhunior Guarnido who has well in excess of 20 years’ experience in the discipline in his own right.
Cesar said he’d been encouraged by the number of younger people learning jiu-jitsu at Gracie Elite in Pakenham, adding: “It’s very important – that’s a kind of rejuvenation of jiu-jitsu.”
“I came here before in 2011 and since I came here for the first time jiu-jitsu has improved a lot in Australia and grown a lot as well,” he added.
“If people come here (to Gracie Elite) they’re going to feel very good physically and mentally as well.
“If you’ve got a lot of problems at work or in your life, when you come here to train you can’t think about them because you’re training.
“At every gym, fighting is just a little bit of it. You have 100 students and maybe two or three would be fighters and the other 97 would be there to train because they like training – they want to improve and they want to lose weight.”
Pakenham’s Gracie Elite academy recently shone in the bright lights of the international stage with two of its members, Tony Trimble and Steve Williams, walking away with a series of medals from the Asian Open in Tokyo.
Trimble, a 6’5” professional firefighter, took home a gold medal in the intermediate super heavyweight class (up to 100 kilograms) while Williams – a policeman – won the novice heavyweight class (up to 92).
Trimble also took home a bronze medal in the open division.
