After having trained in multiple countries all over the world doing BJJ, I have met a lot of great people.
What stuck with me the most is that at every place I trained — from Bangkok in Thailand, to Perth in Western Australia, to Tokyo in Japan — every location had a strong sense of community.
What I also noticed was that I didn't know what that blue belt did, or where the female purple belt worked, when travelling. It was just one big community.
In just the last several months, I have met gym owners from LA, musicians from Brazil and random travelling businessmen.
I thought to myself — wouldn't it be great to know where to go, where to get a good massage, what I need to do as advice from locals, or even other guys in the same gym?
Need a dentist? Check the network! There is a Brown belt training one town over who is a dentist.
That idea — that the BJJ community already has everything it needs, it just needs a place to connect — is what became NEWAZA Network.
The name says it all. Newaza means ground work in Japanese. It's the patient, strategic, connected game. That's how we're building this — on solid ground, for the long run.