Two coaches at a local Brazilian jiu-jitsu gym recently returned from Brazil with black belts in the competitive martial art.
That feat is impressive enough on its own. But Kerry Sweat and Justin Guise, who operate Gracie Barra Ellijay with fellow coach Paige Galitello, received their black belts directly from Master Carlos Gracie Jr., founder of the Gracie Barra style.
The Gracie name has long been synonymous with Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the development of which is credited to Carlos Gracie Sr. and his brothers Hélio, Oswaldo, Gastão Jr. and George.
“Carlos Gracie Sr., who is called Grand Master Carlos, took Japanese jiu-jitsu and applied it to ground fighting,” said Guise. “Master Carlos Gracie Jr. created the Gracie Barra style, which is the style that we do in Ellijay.”
Gracie Barra (pronounced “ba-ha”) jiu-jitsu is named for the family, as well as Barra da Tijuca, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro where the original Gracie Barra academy was located. It’s become the world’s most prominent Brazilian jiu-jitsu franchise, with more than 1,000 gyms worldwide including the one here, noted Guise.
Another member of the family, Rorion Gracie, was instrumental in the founding of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which incorporates submission-based Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Carlos Gracie Jr. and other Gracie-Barra alumni have trained numerous UFC fighters, as well as other mixed martial arts competitors, Guise noted.
“UFC was designed to show Brazilian jiu-jitsu as the best martial art. You have to have Brazilian jiu-jitsu if you want to fight in UFC,” he said. “It’s a grappling based martial art. All the stand-up techniques are designed to get the fight to the ground. We wrestle, but you have to make the other person submit. In wrestling, you want to pin the other person, but we operate off our backs and can do all kinds of submission techniques.”
It took both Guise and Sweat a little over 10 years to reach the milestone of receiving their black belts. With that accomplishment, the two were promoted to professors of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
“We started together and got promoted together,” Guise said. “A lot of people get to the blue belt level, and feel like they can kick anybody’s butt, then quit. But it usually does take about a decade or more before you can (reach the rank) of professor.”
So how did a group of grapplers from Ellijay find themselves in Florianópolis, Brazil alongside a jiu-jitsu icon? As Guise and Sweat explained, a colleague of the local school, Professor Fabio Costa of Gracie Barra Acworth, had a lot to do with the once in a lifetime opportunity.
Costa, a fifth degree blackbelt who’s originally from Brazil, was trained by Carlos Gracie Jr., said Sweat.
“We had a total of seven people go (to Brazil) — me, Kerry, Paige and the Lamey family, which is two parents and two kids,” said Guise.
“Instead of (Professor Costa) giving us the black belts himself, which is normally how it would go, there happened to be a summit at the Gracie Barra headquarters scheduled for right at the time we were to be promoted. He encouraged us to go to Brazil and get the promotion directly from Master Carlos, who knew we were ready because of Fabio’s recommendation.”
Sweat, Galitello and student Kristopher Lamey won their divisions in tournament competition held at the summit. All three returned home with gold medals.
“It’s part of being a Bobcat. The wrestling tradition is so steep here. Everybody is just prone to wrestling,” said Sweat, a Gilmer High School alum who also runs his own plumbing company.
In the tournament, Sweat, 60, faced two Brazilian brown belts and emerged victorious in his last matches as a brown belt.
“There was nobody my age in the tournament, so I had to drop down two age brackets. You can’t go up, but they’ll let you drop down,” he said. “I dropped down and surprised those two guys, who were in their 40s. Of course, they were both tough guys.”
When Guise and Sweat first started the local jiu-jitsu school in 2012, it was more like “Fight Club,” kidded Guise in reference to the movie that features guys clobbering each another for the fun of it. The school eventually gained more structure, and a program for kids was started. It was accredited as an official Gracie Barra academy in 2017. Today, its students range from the age 3 to 4 “Tiny Champions” division up to senior citizens, Guise noted.
“(Teaching) those kids, that’s where my focus is,” he added. “We have more kids than adults, but not very many. It’s about 60/40. We’ve got a great adult program and a great ladies program with classes only available to women. We have some elderly folks who come and do it for fitness.”
The takedown style of Brazilian jiu-jitsu has made it not only a popular competitive fitness option, but also a popular form of self-defense, Guise confirmed.
“We train for self defense and for tournaments. We know (there’s) a difference,” he added. “We want to take it to the ground and immobilize the other person, which is what we teach our students.”
When starting each class, members of the Gracie Barra Ellijay team bow to a picture of Carlos Gracie Sr. that hangs from a wall of the gym. Having several team members personally learn and receive honors from Carlos Jr. brings added significance to that ritual.
“The fact that seven people from Ellijay had the opportunity to meet and train with Master Carlos was very cool. It was also kind of surreal,” said Guise. “It was like a dream, and Kerry and I kept joking that we hoped nobody pinched us and woke us up before we got the black belts. I’m not married, and I don’t have kids, so nobody gets mad at me when I say it was the best experience of my life.”