By Roberto Pedreira
The academy of
Sergio “Bolao” Souza is a short block down the street on Francisco Sá from
Sylvio Behring, and just around the corner from Kiko Velezo on Copacabana
and two blocks down Raul Pompeia from Richard Juca and about three blocks
down from Fabricio and DelaRiva.
Like Kiko, Juca,
Fabricio, and DelaRiva, Bolão is a former student of Carlson Gracie and he
looks it. Bolão was an instructor at Carlson's academy and his
students
included Mario Sperry and Carlão Barreto. There was a group picture on the
wall, with a young Barreto. "Carlão was tall even then, but skinny",
Bolão's assistant instructor, Guillmerie said. He asked me if I trained. I
said I did. He invited me to train. I thanked him but said I had just come
from training at Sylvio Berhing’s Corpo Quatro, a block away on Rua
Francisco Sá. "Bolão beat Marcello Behring,” he said. Marcello was
Sylvio's brother and Rickson Gracie's best student. Was that just
information, or was there a point?
Bolão was interested in the fact that I lived in Japan and with Guillmerie translating, asked many detailed questions: how much would it cost to rent an academy in Tokyo, about the size of the one he had here in Rio? What was the cost of living for a family of four in a nice neighborhood? Were Japanese people interested in jiu-jitsu? Who was teaching at Gracie Japan? How much did the students pay?
Was Bolão thinking
about opening a school in Japan? I told him everything would be extremely
expensive and also very complicated. Nothing is easy in Japan, with the
exception of spending money. To start any business in Japan he would need
a Japanese sponsor and business partner, someone with real money and lots
of it. And then to promote the school and actually teach, he would need to
be able to speak Japanese fluently. He didn't seem discouraged.
For more recent information about Bolão, see:
