This Saturday, April 21, from 3:00 – 6:00 pm, a one-of-a-kind seminar is taking place at the University Du Quebec A Montreal. A foundation called the Montreal Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Association (MBJJA) is putting the event on to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Seana Rossi, a grappler from Toronto BJJ who is currently fighting cancer.
The MBJJA was started about a year ago by Jiu-Jitsu students from different academies around the Montreal area. Their plan was to have at least one member from each school on board to help unify all the academies to support charitable events like this one. So far, they’ve raised over $5,000 with their first two events for the Red Cross and the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
The MBJJA votes before each event to decide which charity they will be donating the proceeds of their seminar to and they decided to give the money from the April 21 seminar to two charities. The first is the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Marie-Josee Caron, wife of BJJ Revolution’s black belt Nobuya Shimamoto, recently passed away from Cystic Fibrosis, so the group felt it would be fitting to donate half the funds in her name. The other half will be going to the Seana Rossi Foundation. Seana trains in BJJ at Toronto BJJ and is currently battling cancer. Her medication costs each month are over $3,500 and they’re not covered by insurance.
The MBJJA is offering a discounted rate to all university students to encourage them to participate in this inspiring event. The cost for the seminar is: $15 for students and $30 for non-students. Of course, 100% of all the proceeds taken in will go to the designated charities. The MBJJA will also be auctioning off some amazing prizes at the event that will also be donated to the charities as well.
One reason why this seminar is so unique is because of the number of black belt who will be teaching there. They have over 10 black belts signed up including, Bruno Fernandes (Gracie Barra), Mark Colangelo (Renzo Gracie/Gracie Barra), Mike Lee (H20), Dan and Sylvain Moroney (Bravado BJJ), Koji Murakami and Nobuya Shimamoto(BJJ Revolution), Ron Pattyn (West Island Jiu Jitsu), and Louis Ho (10th Planet Montreal) to name a few. Each black belt will show one Jiu-Jitsu based self defense technique for the beginners and one advanced technique for the advanced grapplers.
The MBJJA says they are truly humbled to have the support of all these great black belts at this charitable event, because without them there wouldn’t be a seminar. Each black belt asked to participate said, “Yes” without hesitation, which is one of the reasons why they are so respected in and around the Jiu-Jitsu community.
For more information on this great, inspiring event or to help with the cause, please contact Seana Rossi’s facebook page. They’ve already received well over $7,000 in donations before the seminar has even begun!
http://www.facebook.com/HelpSeanasFightAgainstCancer.
