The History of CompNET
Our organization was founded to further the competitive spirit of Gracie Barra team members through professionally organized Jiu-Jitsu Tournaments for everyone. Master Carlos envisioned a competitive environment that will embrace the core values of our team by encouraging the development of generations of fierce and respectful athletes while igniting the competitive spirit within each GB student.
In the early days of Gracie Barra, students would come together across Brazil for the chance to compete with each other for the opportunity to represent GB in major tournaments. Eventually, so many students started participating in these internal trials they had to rent out gymnasiums. This was how Gracie Barra’s Competition Network began.
Professor Marcio Feitosa is a 6th-degree black belt who started with Master Carlos at the age of twelve. He shares with us how,
“In the beginning, Master Carlos understood the need to support our professors with instruction and relationships, which became GB Franchising Systems. We needed to provide instructors with gear, so we created GB Wear, but we also needed to support instructors with tournaments, and now we have CompNET. It’s all a continuation of the work of Master Carlos who identified these main activities to provide a solid foundation of support. If we don’t provide the CompNET tournaments for the students, we will leave a gap. When teaching BJJ for everyone, a need arises inside the schools, and we should not leave a gap. Just like participation in other federations and professional tournaments are a need of our students. It is a bigger need to participate in the GB tournaments.”
All these components are essential and dependent on the success of each other to continue growing. Competition is a foundation for the sport of Jiu-Jitsu, making it clear that a healthy tournament program contributes to building our foundation.
Professor Marco Joca is a 4th-degree black belt who started training with Gracie Barra at ten years old. He shares some background on the early stages of CompNET:
“As we grew, we had GB competitors from other schools traveling to the regional school in Barra da Tijuca to compete against each other to see who would be most qualified to represent Gracie Barra in tournaments, originally known as the internal trials. As Gracie Barra continued to grow, these got very popular, and the number of competitors wanting to try out increased. We had to start renting out local gymnasiums. I participated in many of those and was very lucky to experience it and to see the growth. It started with Master Carlos training his first generation of competitors and turning to local Rio De Janiero schools and eventually throughout Brazil. Now fast forward a decade or two, we have a global environment to continue the legacy and motivate students to go the extra mile and become competitors to compete within Gracie Barra. It always existed, but now we are becoming a more professional organization with a league and more features. Continuing a legacy and tradition that started with Master Carlos, continuing to grow, making it more professional with new tools and resources that we have.”
CompNET is designed to embody “The Spirit of Competition” through a Tournament League built on the values of Gracie Barra: brotherhood, integrity, and development.
Our mission is to become the preferred competitive stage for every GB member. By creating a positive competitive culture of high-level Jiu-Jitsu, mutual respect, and sportsmanship, meeting the needs of every level of Jiu-Jitsu athlete while contributing to the establishment of GB CompNET’s Global Ranking.
The learning experience provided by well-organized events makes each participant better. When we learn, we get better, and when one of us gets better, we all get better.
The development and growth of Gracie Barra are related to our ability to elevate our way of thinking and how we do things—overcoming challenges that otherwise would prevent us from advancing towards our potential as students, instructors, athletes, or school owners.
When we acquire new knowledge and put it into action, we advance as individuals and consequently contribute to the development of Gracie Barra, helping the organization move forward on its mission of teaching Jiu-Jitsu for Everyone.
Stay tuned for upcoming CompNet Tournaments in your region.
Blog Written by Veronica Street - Gracie Barra Blue Belt