Unpacked In Santa Cruz
"Unpacked in Santa Cruz" is a homegrown podcast hosted by Michael Howard that dives into the lives, stories, and salty moments of people who call this coastal community home—or have been shaped by it in some way. Whether it's a deep conversation with local surfers opening up about mental health, or a peek behind the curtain of someone who started a one-of-a-kind food spot right here in town, every episode brings something real.
You’ll hear from folks who found healing behind the lens, built businesses from scratch, or chased massive waves thanks to a lifetime spent around our local waters. These aren’t just interviews—they’re conversations that reflect the heart and soul of Santa Cruz. Raw, reflective, and rooted in community, Unpacked in Santa Cruz brings local voices to the surface.
Unpacked In Santa Cruz
Episode 64: Raffael Eboli: From Sao Paulo To Santa Cruz; Mercy, Trust, and Unity on the Mat
What happens when a kid from São Paulo lands in Santa Cruz and discovers a town where surfing, jiu-jitsu, and community can actually shape the way you live? We go deep with Rafael Eboli—longtime local, Cafe Brazil mainstay, and black belt professor at Claudio Franca Jiu Jitsu Academies—on how a six-month plan turned into a life built around waves, trust, and family.
Rafael shares why Santa Cruz clicked: the ocean as a daily classroom, in a culture that rewards respect over noise, and a gym where people are learning to kill each other, yet leave more connected. We unpack the sharp differences between judo and jiu-jitsu, how humility shows up because the mat tells the truth, and why tapping on time is a profound lesson in empathy. He explains the unwritten rules of the lineup, why regulation matters for safety, and how coming from a high-pressure city shaped his early edge—and the mellow he earned later from a town that embraced him.
This is also about balance and purpose. We talk hangovers punished by white belts, the quiet discipline of training three to four times a week, and the strange joy of pain that signals growth rather than damage. Rafael opens up about fatherhood, teaching, and building a life that prioritizes presence over performance. From West Side crowds to East Side community, from Cafe Brazil’s warmth to the hard warm-ups that make people swear and smile, you’ll hear what keeps him here: trust, mercy, and the people who practice both.
If you’ve ever wondered how surf etiquette meets self-control, or how a combat art becomes a safe haven, this conversation offers a grounded, human map. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves Santa Cruz or jiu-jitsu, and leave a review with your favorite takeaway. Where do you practice trust in your life?
You go ahead and take the picture. I'm gonna go ahead and start here. With a song that you know. There it is. Do I get to take a picture of you two at the same time? Everybody kept reminding me. Welcome to the Unpack and Santa Cruz Podcast. I'm your host, Michael Howard. And uh I'd like to welcome all of you. My sponsors are Point Side Beach Jack, located in the heart of Pleasure Point. I'd like to thank them for their support. Also, uh Santa Cruz Vice magazine, it's a great place to go to. You can check out the website, check out the magazine. You'll find most of the really cool shit that actually happens here in Santa Cruz. Is in that magazine or on that website? Anyways, I am sitting here today with a it's been about seven years that we've started to get to know each other. Uh but but someone I've known at a distance for a long time. Uh we have surfed together for years. I didn't really get to know him until I got on the jujitsu mat. Uh of course, when I showed up, I found out he was a black belt and all the shitty behavior that I had had before. Just kind of sunk in me in my lack of maturity as I walked in the door at 48. But I am sitting in front of uh Hafa Eboli.
SPEAKER_00:Is that Rafael Eboli Paixon?
SPEAKER_02:Okay, that's I'm never gonna be able to say it that way.
SPEAKER_00:Nobody can say that's why I was the eboli, because the paixon is impossible for anybody.
SPEAKER_02:Anyways, Hafa, thank you so much for showing up to the program. Uh I'm glad you're here. Uh, some of you may know him from uh Cafe Brazil on the west side. Uh you you guys were the first to bring Brazilian food to Santa Cruz.
SPEAKER_00:I've been there, we've been there like over 34 years. Yeah, I've been working there over 16 years. Yeah, and the general general manager there. Yeah, that's great. Great food.
SPEAKER_02:Come through, guys. Yeah, yeah, it's it it is very good food. And uh, anyways, Hafa, you got kids, wife married, what's going on?
SPEAKER_00:Got two kids, wife, got 10-year-old daughter, two and a half-year-old boy. My wife will be married 17 years. I hope I got that right so I don't get in trouble. Woo! And then we got French Bulldog, too. Kenny Powers.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you got to meet Charlie. Yeah, Charlie's starting to get famous on the Instagram profile.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, Charlie's uh is a real dog. My dog, I don't consider him a real dog. I don't know what he is, but that's a real dog.
SPEAKER_02:But it's your dog and you love it.
SPEAKER_00:That's why I can have it right now. That's uh you know.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that's great. So um, judging by the accent, you're not actually from here.
SPEAKER_00:No.
SPEAKER_02:Uh where where were you from originally?
SPEAKER_00:I was born and raised in Sao Paulo City, Brazil. Uh I moved here when I was 21 years old. So I I was still a big kid, but I was full grown when I moved here. Yeah. Then it was uh 2002 when I moved. I first came to Santa Cruz in 2002, stayed like four or three months, went back to Brazil, and then uh got all my stuff ready and signed up for exchange student to Santa Cruz. Planning on staying six months. It's been like what 24 years now.
SPEAKER_02:It's a familiar story. Well, you know, you know, I I I I think this is important for you know anybody certainly from Santa Cruz to understand, but but but for the listeners that are all around the world, there's something really special about Santa Cruz. I and I'm sure you went to Southern California also and and kind of kind of you know did did a run a little bit of California to to be before you decide to to plant your plant plant your roots here. What was it about Santa Cruz that that just stuck out?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, my me and my family in Brazil, we travel a lot growing up, and then we traveled to the US, like went to we did the whole Disney World, Florida, used to go to New York, then we came into the West Coast, LA. We did it all traveling. My my mom and my dad used to be big on traveling, so I I was fortunate enough that as a young kid I have a bunch of international traveling. And then uh, I just when I got to Santa Cruz, it was pretty much everything that I I like that when growing up. That sometimes wasn't like, you know, I grew up in a big city, so it was like everybody wants to be a lawyer, an engineer, nobody cares if you surf, nobody cares if you're good jujitsu. You know, that's just a side. You gotta be like something big. And I was kind of tired of that. So then when I came to Santa Cruz, like Santa Cruz, like people are like kind to you at first, like right away, and then you have a beautiful place, and then you have like perfect waves for all levels. So if you're just starting, you can find a spot, and once you get good at it, you can find another spot. You know, not gonna lie, the the girls too, you know. I was like, I was young, I was like, whoa, that's my type right there. You know, so then it was like a combination of everything, and then like the priorities that people have here were more aligned with my priorities than were people back home had it, even in my own family. So I came here to stay six months, and then I was like, well, I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life. Even though I'm the farthest I've ever been from all my friends and my family, that part used to get me sad. I was the happiest I've ever been, like, you know, like and then like every time I was like, for to just you know, like the first four months I live on the west side and I used to not like it. I usually I should live go to school. I used to go to school, not nothing against the west side. I like the west side. Make that clear. But I used to live like really close to downtown and just go from downtown to my school that was downtown as well. So I should just see that little part of the town, and I when you're international student, you have to do a lot of uh not a lot, but it's like you gotta be at least 12 units have to be running. So you have to pretty much school all day and then you have weekends off. You know? So I on my weekends I used to do normal stuff that the college kids do. And I was I was impressed on the first four months, you know. So I said I was like falling in love right away. It wasn't that. I was like, for first four months, like, yeah, I can't wait to go home, blah blah. And then after four months, I finished UC Extension and then I transferred to Cabrillo. I did a TOFEL and I transferred to Cabrillo. So then I was allowed to leave out of the UCSC extension building. So then I ran a place on Clarity Street, a couple blocks from here. Yeah, yeah, and that's when everything changed. When I got my bike, went to Pleasure Point. Yeah, that was like that. I was like, oh, that's what I'm talking about right here. You know, nice and mellow, cool people, cool place, waves, you know, everything that I like. Then I used to live there. I have my little bike, I got my surfboard, and like big old ugly board. And I was like, nowadays, I never forget I bought like it was like Nsp 66. They had the screws like this big for the things. I never forget. I saw a guy on the beach one time, and he's like, Oh, that's how that's a that's a weird board. I've never seen Kenaichi. And he's like, Oh, there's like real screws on the board. I was like, Yeah, it was the big deal. I never realized that it was like not a good board. It wasn't really a surfboard. Yeah, no, it was a surfboard, but it was so heavy that I was like, it was good because it was a steward's shortboard, but it was so heavy that like when I got to a normal surf surf uh shortboard, it was so light for me to dive when the set comes through and breaks in front of me. I was like, I can go so deep now.
SPEAKER_02:After having they're heavy and they float too much.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, too much. So every time you get you go to dive, you just be destroyed. I used to go to that's also how I met Claudio. Yeah, I used to know how to surf. So I I decided on my own, I was like, I'm gonna figure out how to surf. Because in Brazil, my buddies used to surf, so I used to go with them and I just get destroyed because it's all beach breaks, yeah. And then when they go, it was always big. So maybe sometimes I used to make it through and sit there and drop one wave straight, or just get destroyed and come out and try to go again. So I was like, when I got here, I was like, I gotta learn how to surf now. I live in California, I can't go back to Brazil without knowing how to surf. Yeah, so then uh I used to go to Mainries a lot. And if you know, Maurice is big, a bunch of closeouts, so I used to just go my 6'6, 7 in the morning, show up there.
SPEAKER_01:Doesn't matter, doesn't matter what you and Claudio just uh getting that morning gig in.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I know. Then I used to I used to surf there, like sometimes I was fully close out, there was nobody out, but I know I'm gonna make it there, I'm gonna get a wave. And then one time it was big, and then I I tried to drop a wave and I couldn't drop, and I just went belly down and I almost ran over Claudio. That's how I Oh that's how you met? Yeah, that's how you met Claudio. I almost killed him. Literally, like, was like this close. We wouldn't have a master right now. And then I and then I was scared too, because like I heard people they fight here, and I knew how to fight already. I was a blue belt, I knew how to fight, but it's still like I'm alone there. I was like, bro, I almost killed that guy. He's gonna try to fight me. So I went to try to say sorry to him. I was like, Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. And he's like, Are you Brazilian? I was like, Yeah, then he started speaking Portuguese, like, oh, then we start talking about it. Then Jiu Jitsu came came about and he's like, Oh, I have a gym, come train, come stop by one day. Then I was like, Oh, there's Jiu-jitsu here, too. Good. Yeah, you know, then I went training one day, and then has the rest is history.
SPEAKER_02:The rest is history, still there. Yeah, that's that's hilarious. Yeah, so so for the audience, you you know, the the little bit of interpretation here. So the west side is actually really different than the east side, just as far as the way things go here. You know, on on the west side you have the university, you know, there's now like you know, 30,000 students there. It's it's very impacted by a lot of different different people, which which which is great, but at the same time, it it it it really affects that side of town. You know, when Claudio moved here, when he moved here, it was the renaissance of downtown. Like like downtown was finally coming back after the earthquake. Yeah, you know, so it was a really lively area at the time. But the east side is is very different, you know. It it's it's it lives with a similar tension in the surf world, but on the west side, people are still fighting every day. Yeah, right. Like it's it's not not a not an easy group of people to be around at the lane and and eat anywhere else.
SPEAKER_00:It's just more crowded, like he's because of the university, like you say, is like I I feel like nowadays it's almost 60,000 students, but yeah, I and then plus you close downtown, so there's all the homeless too that mix, you know. He's like here we're kind of like a just far enough that you know, we're far enough. There's some I I I work with like UCSC students this whole time, and some people they go to CSC, they graduate and they've never been to the site. Yeah, they never, they never even knew they existed, they just stayed there, you know. And then like you said, Steamer Lane is like always crowded. There's way more.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, there's there's there's so many different pecking orders there of what time it is. Like it's just a unique, yeah. It's a unique crew.
SPEAKER_00:It's nice, believe me. I like it. Yeah, but but but uh Mitchell's call. Yeah, yeah. Love Mitchell's call.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you know, yeah. Mitch Mitchell's is is probably one of the best ways in California when it when it's going.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, like I broke I broke many boards there on the low pipe. You know, yeah. I love that.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I I love this story about Claudio. So um you know, you're coming really about you know 10, 12 years after this first rush of Brazilians. You know, what was that like to see a lot of a lot of Brazilians here already?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it was interesting because like I don't know how to say that, you know, sounding, yeah. It's like um it's like I like the I like uh for example Claudio, the guys that he's like more like things that you you do that you connect to people, yeah, you know. So Claudio, I connected well, you know, he does jujitsu, he's a nice guy, like surfing, and first of all, he's a nice person. Yeah, yeah, you know, but sometimes like you know, Brazil is a huge place. I think it's like now it's like over 250 million people. Wow. So sometimes people think, oh, because I'm Brazilian, he's Brazilian, we're gonna be best buds. Sometimes not the case. Yeah, you know, so sometimes like when I move here, at some point I was almost like a grumpy old guy that was like, There's too many Brazilians here.
SPEAKER_02:Well, there was too many Brazilians.
SPEAKER_00:I know I was like, bro, there's too many. I I I came this far to stay away from you guys. Get out of here. Yeah, especially like you know, if you don't, because I I'm like uh I try to be a mellow guy, you know. I had my when I was young, I used to be more feisty getting fights, whatever. And then and it's like you said it the more you learn how to fight, the less you wanna be in a fight. Yeah, you know, so the more skill I got, the more mellow I got, that was like I don't want to anything to unless somebody's gonna hurt me or my family or someone, if they're just talking, you can talk as much as you want. I'm fine with it. Yeah, you know. So then, like uh coming back to the Brazilian situation, I was like, some of the Brazilians I like it, someone's like we have not much the same interesting, so it's kind of like yeah, I just like I just take I just take I like to be friends with anybody, doesn't matter where you're from. If I like you, if you can be Brazilian, American, German, rich, poor. If I like you, I like you. If I don't like you, I'm sorry. Everybody goes their own way. Nothing, I'm not gonna do nothing to you, you don't do nothing to me. We just you know just move on. Move on, bro. Life's too short to be like, you know, trying to try to make people like you or like worry that no bro, you don't like me, all good. We're good, we'll just move on. I have my I have my my law, they did twice as much. Whatever you do to me, I do twice as much. So if you give me love, I'll give you twice as much love. If you give me hey, you got it. You know, it's all good. The the original Ricky rule, you know, it's like, you know, it's like bro. So that's why I like it here because like people they know how to stay on their own areas. Mostly people don't cross lines, you know. And if you're line crosser, you have no problem checking it, but we put it in check. We don't we don't like doing it, but you have to, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you know, it and again for the audience, you know, just kind of as a mass uh a matter of histrionics, you know, at first in the late 80s when we experienced the first wave of Brazilians that showed up here, it it was pretty hostile. You know, they oftentimes they were hostile, you know, it was met with a lot of hostility, especially in the surf world. And and you know, there's a couple people that I I think of out in the water. Um, you know, one you know, one of the other Claudios who will leave the last name unnamed. And then we had another dude at Pleasure Point, which again we'll lay leave unnamed, who who ended up moderating the discussion that had elevated, which which was like there was just a lot of friction, you know, and then then half the west side was was training and like everybody started turning into bullies because they were all learning jujitsu, and then Claudios, you know, evacuating that group, and and like all the weird schisms that live in Santa Cruz that that you know, if you ever visit here, you can feel the tension of the place. Yeah, you know, but but it it's the more peaceful thing is what has ended up living on, which which is what I yeah, you know, I at first I didn't know how to how to calibrate myself to not being in this little kind of weird mobster town. Yeah, but now that now that even with all the money that's moving in here, I I do like how the temperature has changed, yeah, as far as that friction that that goes on out of the water, even though there's too many people, but whatever.
SPEAKER_00:And then just to make clear on the Brazilian side, it's just because you come for a very aggressive environment. You like where we come from is like different than here. Every aspect of the way, especially like if you're from a big city like São Paulo City, you're from Rio, you're from Salvador. Like there's big cities in São Paulo in Brazil that like they're very it's a very aggressive place the way we drive, the way like if you're in line, you mess up, someone cuts you in front, it's like it is what it is. So that happens sometimes with the waves because you're sitting there respecting the pack order, the guy goes, cuts in front of you, get one more, and then get one more, and then you're like, oh, what's up? And then like you know, then the trouble starts. So it's like it's more the background that we came from, it's very aggressive, and some people they don't want to sit and learn about the new environment you are. Yeah, yeah. They just wanna like, ah, where I come from is like this, so it's cool. And that's what the Santa Cruz, like, you know, you gotta you know, follow the rules. You're gonna earn your respect by being there on the big days, on the small days, not burning people, you know, respecting the pack order, know who is who, and then with time they find out who you are. Yeah, you know, then you find your spot. Even if they come to the free class one day and they found out your black bell, and you're like, Oh, I've been burning a black bell for 20 years, and you never beat me up.
SPEAKER_01:See how nice I am. That's you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you you guys didn't get to get this conversation, but right before we started the podcast, I was I was I was uh I was explaining that that you know when I showed up to the club and saw you and realized that you were one of about 20 people that were in there that could have just destroyed me, that we we've had words together, but you were just kind back. You know, like the these situations uh with people that you don't you don't realize like what they're capable of and how much mercy is being shown to you, yeah. You know, despite what the circumstances are, you know, that that you know jujitsu is just an odd moderating space, you know. It it has has a tendency to to bring a level of humility and it's humbling. It's very humbling. And and you know, my my you know, my my listeners have already already heard this story a million times, but what you haven't heard like when when I walked in the Claudia and I have gone at it a couple times. Yeah. And and when I showed up and like I I knew what I was walking into, and he saw it, he saw me, and like he was just he was so sweet. He just smiled, he said, My friend, you know, and gave me a hug. When I came in, it's like, oh, oh, okay, this this is nothing like I thought it was gonna be like. Yeah, you know, like I you know, that that whatever hostility was, you know, in those times, you know, it stays in the water in those moments, and and certainly on the mat, it's a it's a far more regulated space than the water is. What water is a lot of chatter. The mat brings a lot of humility.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's just that like they say, the mats don't lie. So when you get out of the water, you can say, Oh, I got this wave, I get three snaps, one air, got a barrel, blah, blah. It's like uh nobody saw now. There's cameras everywhere. But back in the day. Now, when you go training, you can go say, Oh, I just run the guy over, blah blah. It's like, uh no, we all saw you didn't have a number. Or like it doesn't really matter. Well, we're there to get better. So someone's gonna get run over, someone's gonna do the running over. But you know, like on the mats, like the truth always comes out. I can have I can have like a red belt and I go there, you know, yeah, and then if you know for real, it's gonna show.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's gonna show. So you you started doing jujitsu in Brazil. Yes. And and uh in in Rio, I'm presuming. São Paulo, San Palo. Oh, sorry, sorry about that. Uh what was that like when you first showed up? Is like was that that a kind of a just a fairly normal thing during that time?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, like uh I I I immigrated from judo. So I did judo like when I was a kid from like almost 10 years, on and off. Kind of stop and then be back, I'm stopping back. And then one of the guys, when I started getting better at judo, like uh was purple bell at judo almost brown. One of our guys there, uh he was a high-level jiu-jitsu guy too. He wasn't a black belt, but he was a high-level jiu-jitsu guy. And then judo has the the ground part, and I was getting really good on the ground part. And then this guy, he brought me and then four more guys to a jiu-jitsu class back in Brazil, back in Sao Paulo. Uh and then like he it was just like one of his buddies was teaching, I was close to our house, he picked everybody up, say to improve your guys' ground game. If you guys wanna go once a week with me, I train here, it's close to the gym. We can go there, do the ground game, and then after we go to judo on our regular school. And then I was in I was like blown away because I was already a brown uh purple belt almost brown, so it's kinda cocky, you know. I can't take people down. And I get there, there's a bunch of white and blue belts. I was like, uh, it's gonna be easy. No problem. Yeah, yeah. And that was one purple belt. I never forget. Then I was like, okay. Then I was like, we do the head class, the depositioning. I thought the position was like, yeah, I already seen iron bar before, nothing new here. You know, then we go to the sparring. And then I went to the sparring, then already with the white belts, I was already like, I took the white belt down, but then he gave me a really hard time. Like, I was like, whoa, white belt. Like, I'm a purple belt, almost brown belt. Like, what is this guy doing? But I took him down when I was able to finish. Then I was like, Well, that's a tough white belt, you know. Then I went to a blue belt. The blue belt I already have a really hard time to take him down. But I took him down, and then once I took him down, he put me in a triangle. I was like, what the heck is this? You know, why is he why is he got my eyes to my head on his mouth? Why am I choking? Yeah, and then I was like, I was like, at first I was looking around, like, what is this? Like, you know, and then I started almost passing out, then I then I tapped. And I was like, whoa, what was that? It's like a triangle. Never seen a triangle. I was like, no. Yeah, then it then we went again, he got me like three more times triangle. I think it was on purpose. You know, and then to finish it up, I went against the purple bell. Yeah, and then the purple bell was like purple against purple, I'm gonna go. No way. I couldn't even take him down. He did like the weird, like, because you know how jiu-jitsu. Judo have to do all clean, take it down, everything beautiful. Jiu-jitsu doesn't matter. Yeah, if you take the guy down on his head, on his back, if he goes down, he's down. It's the same, you know. So the guy just took me down all weird. I was like, that's not even legal. It's like just destroy me. He just tapped me like like you know, like every I don't know, 20 seconds, he tapped me, boom, boom, boom, like a bunch of stuff I never seen before. Then I was like, Whoa, I thought I was tough because in my school I used to be a tough guy because I was a judo guy. And then I was like, man, there's people there that can just destroy me. Like, even though I think I'm tough, they can just destroy me. And my judo used to be very restricted. Very, very I was like, my my Sensei used to be uh a full-on Japanese guy that migrated to Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo has one of the biggest Japanese uh populations in the world, yeah. In the world, outside Japan. I think it's the biggest one outside of Japan. Yeah, so he was a full-on Japanese guy, very restricted. You know, you can't you gotta train every time, every every train, you gotta compete every weekend, and as you get older, it gets tougher. You know, when you're a kid, it's more mellow. Once you got I was like 16, 17 at the time. Uh once you got to 16, 17, he gets really tough on you. And you know, I was just a kid, I like to party, you know, when I have fun. And then it's like every weekend, gotta wake up six in the morning, drive two hours with my dad, and go to the tournament. Yeah, you know, so then it started getting two things. And then I went to jiu-jitsu, I was all relaxed. You know, I got there, the guy like, you know, fish pumped me. He's like, Oh, no, no bowing. That was a little bow, a little bow, but way more relaxed, you know. There was definitely no yelling, yeah, you know, and then it was like, uh, what's your name? Raphael, there's another Rafael, what's your nickname? Then I said my nickname, okay. Like my my Sensei, I was with him like for 10 years. Like the most conversation we had, it was like, Yeah, why you not sign up? Why you doing this? You know, like wasn't like mellow like that. So I was like, I like the mellow, you know? Yeah. Then I was I started training, I started leaving judo and going more towards Jiu-Jitsu, you know, and then I was like one real close to my house, open up of like uh Hyan Gracie, you know, that was like a known guy. And I wanted to learn more to learn how to fight, fight, no for competition. Because I was already over competition because I was competing my whole life in judo, so I was kind of done. I just wanted to train, have fun, and then we can party, yeah, have fun with my friends, and if a fight shows up, I know how to fight. That was that was it, you know. So then I started training under uh my first professor was uh Vitor Faracini from Brazil, okay, under Hyan Gracie in São Paulo. Then I got my blue belt there. And then like I think two weeks after I got my blue belt, I got on this crazy fight, and then I broke my hand really bad. So then I couldn't train for a whole year. Uh almost a year and a half. So by the time I was coming back to train, I was already in Santa Cruz. I had my little fresh blue belt. Yeah, and then I was here, I was like, I want to go back to training. Then I started training here, and then here we are. Here we are training three years. Here we are.
SPEAKER_02:You're just smiling at Michael walking in.
SPEAKER_01:You're not the first one.
SPEAKER_00:One time we happen, I was working at the uh the Western Cafe Brazil, and this guy from Hawaii, he was like a douche the whole time he was there. You know, he was like being uh, you know, to everybody, and I was like, oh man, I gotta train tonight because someone is gonna pay for this guy. The time I was a I was a brown belt, you know. I was a I was a good brown belt, too. And then I was like, I I show up to training, I show up as usual, then I look at the map. Who is that with his little blue belt? Was it a was it a Hawaiian guy or a Santa Cruz guy? He was he I I think I don't know if he was he was a white guy, but he lives in Hawaii. He gets you. Yeah, and then I saw that and I was like, oh, it's gonna be a good training today. Then I I didn't even I didn't even acknowledge him then. You know, I just walked right by him.
SPEAKER_01:He thought, oh, the guy from the Google, no, no, no, no, you're not cool here.
SPEAKER_00:Not today. Not today. And then like when it was time to sparring the first sparring, oh let's go. Then I I did what the purple belt did to me. I did it to him.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, just for a little education for for all of you, you know, that there are some marked differences in the martial arts. And and judo is is more of a throwing uh uh uh art. You know, it's the art of a takedown mostly, and you know, there's there's a lot of really good finishes, certainly in judo, you know, to to complete a fight. You know, whereas in jiu-jitsu it's straight grappling. Yeah, not that there aren't takedowns, it's not necessarily how we train.
SPEAKER_00:It's more like judo is focused on the take it down when you're trying to throw your opponent flat on his back. And then once you hit the ground, if you don't throw them flat on their back, you have around like five to ten seconds to make something happen on the ground. You know, so like if you that's why judo submissions are very explosive, because you don't have a lot of time. If you start taking your time, they they have free stops and you go back up. You know, in in jiu-jitsu, no, it's everything. You can't be you can you can have a fight in jiu-jitsu that's gonna be the whole time take downs, or you can have a fight that guy's gonna shake hands and sit down and then gonna be the whole time on the ground. And that's why I think jujitsu is more complete.
SPEAKER_02:Because you yeah, and the there's a strong connection between the two, and you know, like guys like Joel Tudor, who who Caleb trained with here the last few years, um you know, won all of his world champs, you know, in his class, you know, for for years, and then just disappeared from jujitsu. Where'd he go? He came back with a black belt from judo, you know, and he was like, fucking Joel, like like when are you gonna stop? You've been world champ, longboard world champ jujitsu guy, and now you're world champ judo.
SPEAKER_00:He came here for the US Open one time. I lost, I lost a bet on him one time because he was gonna find my buddy, and I was like, there's no way that Joe Tudor world champion longboard is actually really good at jujitsu. So I didn't realize I never seen him before. I just was a fan as he of his surfing.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and he only weighs 135 pounds soaking wet, too.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, my buddy was small too. My buddy was like tiny, yeah, but he was really good guy, and I was like, when they got matchup, one of the the you know, technique, yeah. So they were they were there, and I was like, Oh, your buddy's gonna find my buddy? Let's let's bet, let's bet, you know, and then I was like, There's no way Joe Turi is gonna, you know, do anything to my buddy. My buddy's from Brazil, stuff, and Joe Turi is a world champion long board, you know. He just got his black belt. Yeah. Uh Joe finished my buddy in tank seconds.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, he's you know, he cracks me up because like, you know, when you're at his club, he'll be in the middle of doing something, and somehow, like, like, you know, Tim's side control, which is a monstrous side control, right? He's just sitting on you. But for all of you, this guy weighs 250 pounds and he looks like the rock. Yeah, you know, like you can kind of explain Tim holding someone in place talking. But Joel will be over in the corner with a guy twice the size, telling you what to do, as it appears like he's just barely laying on a guy, and the guy can't move. Yeah, like I don't know what his little voodoo is, but I've sat and watched it multiple times where he's just having this full-on discussion with somebody, basically not looking and holding things around and moving to the next spot. And you're just like, Where how does this guy know everywhere where the person's gonna move to the point his focus is entirely somewhere else?
SPEAKER_01:It'll work.
SPEAKER_02:That's why just full instructions the whole time, just talking to the other guy the whole time as he's in a full grappling match with another brown belt.
SPEAKER_00:I must say, I lost money with him one time when he was here in Santa Cruz, but then at the nationals later on that year, I made money because he was gonna fight Honey Aya. That was like a world champion, really good guy, but nobody knew who Joe Tudor was. Then I was there watching the finals, and I said, I put the books on Joe. Everybody's like, Oh, okay, okay, okay. And then he finished, was one of the biggest. I I don't know, I don't know his whole career, but was one of the biggest wins that Joe Tudor has against Honey Aya and then US Nationals finals. I he threw a triangle, I think, and then finished Honey Aya. It was huge, but nobody there was like I was in the same spot. Nobody knew that he was like, I know he was good, but like the other guy was like he made to the MMA, he was world champion, and I was like, Oh no, I know their games. Joe Toro's gonna win this one. Then I was like with the guy next to me, he's like, You gonna bet? He's like, Yeah, give me two anything. Boom. I was like, so a few years later, I lost money on Joe. then I maybe got a backbone.
SPEAKER_02:That's how it's supposed to work. Well y y you know, uh since since we're on the subject of of jiu-jitsu and particularly you know jujitsu here in town, you know, which is where you got your black belt, you know, in my experience being at Jiu Jitsu, I i it it's unique. You know, I came very late in life, you know, at at 48 is is a pretty weird time to decide to pick something up like that because it's so physical. Yeah. You know, for me, Jiu Jitsu has has the you know I like to describe it as mercy. You know, because you know we're literally trying to kill each other there. Your only padding is your brain and deciding to say, you know, tap tap no. You know, like there's no next thing. All the fighting I did was all on the kickboxing taekwondo side before that. And and the amount of anxiety that I had coming into the gym, you know, from that fighting background, coming from a town like this. Yeah. Like you you know what I'm talking about. Like I was a small kid that ended up being really tough and scary.
SPEAKER_00:Done by your kids.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And and I just you know there's there was a way you had to behave out in the water and and and that was a that was an approach that I adopted. But jujitsu for me has I I don't I you know I think other than my belief in God and and those you know and ha having the family that I've had I don't think that I've been in a more merciful kind place than a jiu jitsu mat. And that's a strange contradiction. Like I I I don't you know it's like I you know I have hundreds of clients you know I have lots of friends and you know they look at me like why are you doing this? And it's like you don't understand the pain is so worth the kindness and the experience of just being with I mean it's a crazy group of people.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I I mean you you you got cops you got criminals everybody you got attorneys you know computer programmers you know you got practically homeless people like it it's it's this crazy diverse democratic culture and we're all there for the same thing and just to improve as humans eventually I mean that that's kind of the weirdest thing is like I didn't expect jujitsu to be a place where I improve as a human like what has jiu jitsu been like for you you know you know is that a relatable oh very very very much so because uh for me in my life like I said when I was in Brazil I used to give myself a lot of trouble as a young kid like you know trying to improve myself trying to be the tough guy try to be the you know and then for me I started connecting the dots the when I wasn't training I got a lot of trouble.
SPEAKER_00:Everything started going wrong with my life I get in fights I get car crashes I get all kinds of troubles and then when I'm training only good things happen to me you know I get healthier the crowd that is around me it's a different crowd. I don't want to party on the weekend because what happened to you when you start when you start training you go you start training and you like to party then you go party on the weekend you guess what's gonna happen on Monday? Yeah a guy that's not supposed to beat you is gonna beat you yeah and he's gonna have he's gonna make his day and I used to have a guy like that every Monday he used to a white belt I used to be white belt too almost blue and he has a white belt and I never forget every Monday he should be all excited when he said how to meet everything the one time I say bro why you always excited like on Monday when I show up bro because I know you party on the cliff it's my one day I get you beat you up and then tomorrow you just beat the c beat the crap out of me. I was like what the fuck and he was right I started notice every Monday I show up hangover you know like from party from doing whatever and then I go there I get destroyed by a bunch of guys they're not supposed to be beating me and then start making me well like I when it was time to party and I was training I was like do I want to go party or I wanna make those bastards pay on Monday you know then I was like the reward you know I was like then I start dozing my party less or choosing more or even I started doing my technique the in Brazil party really late. So I started doing my technique well instead of showing up at the party eight o'clock and staying till five and six in the morning I show up at two in the morning everybody's uh was already buzzed yeah you know the girls everybody is everybody's already happy the main fights are already happy and if fights break I'm sober they're drunk yeah you know so then I and I and I spend way less money because I drink two beers yeah I see what's going on if it's looking like a good party I keep going yeah if it doesn't look good I give a couple hours and I leave you know and then the guys they've been partying since eight in the because in Brazil they party all night it's like not like here that at one o'clock let's call it two it closes no it starts at 10 you go to seven in the morning seven in the morning they find an after party and then go and go. Sometimes you leave your house a Friday you come back Sunday almost dark and then on Monday you go to school help and then you're gonna pay the white bells are gonna be like drooling when you walk in oh he looks messed up it's time you know so that that helped me a lot to like kind of like see that like oh I'm way weaker person and my life is way worse so I'm not training. And then when I'm training I'm a stronger person physically and in my head my mind too and then uh the people that around me you surrounding you don't know how it goes you surround yourself by better people gonna make you better you surround yourself by crazy people you're gonna be crazy you know so then I start connecting the dots that like every time I was training my life was really good every time I was not training my life was good too but a lot of trouble yeah in the mix a lot of injuries a lot of a lot of stuff so yeah you know I don't know if you can say yeah a lot a lot of stuff happened yeah yeah no no I I you've described it pretty well you know it it it again be because it's such a um you know the combat arts are not really anything I'm attracted to just so you know it's it's not you know once I learned I could fight got in fights didn't like it I already had a reputation didn't need to fight surfed well enough to be able to avoid the whole thing and you know however it works in the sequence of things here the younger guy is going to protect the older guys like just all all the weirdness that is Santa Cruz but it is part of the fabric of how things work back then. And and like I must say it makes it work it works too because like we don't need it to be super aggressive in the water but we need do need people I appreciate the guys that check on people in the water.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah yeah I mean it's it's you know how how to regulate surfing you know that's that's a problem I think after the pandemic. Yeah no it's it's it's a it's a it's a weird moment it'll flesh out I trust these kids and they're heckling. Yeah they don't fight but they they know how to make you feel dumb. Exactly it's it's uh like uh yeah I I'm feeling my age right here oh nice turn bro shut up uh you know surfing ends up taking care of itself but but you know to your earlier points you know uh about you know this reality you know the physicality of being in a combat sport you know where your job is to learn how to harm somebody to death and the amount of respect that it takes to to to do that on a mat because you want your partner to show up the next day too because you can't do the thing without a partner. And this this you know you're a far more competitive person on that mat I I you know I get to approach it as a near el elderly person you know on the tail end of something to to climb you know you you did it as a young man you know with with with all the competitive aspects that do come with it. Yeah uh that that is is it is part of jujitsu and and part of why it's exploding so much you know being being able to approach it in my end as a non-competitive thing. Like I I I this first place I haven't had to be competitive. You know I just I'm gonna get better if I just show up.
SPEAKER_00:But that's how I started because the judo was so competitive and I felt that for jiu jitsu you can do both. You can be a competitor full on competitor 24-7 guy or you can be just a normal guy. Even if you're young when I started jiu jitsu that's how it was for me. I was over judo all the competition all the pressure this make weight whatever I just want to be a good fighter. So I just go there train and I don't compete I only when I was a which is I pay the price later as a white belt I never compete in jiu jitsu. I start competing as a blue belt. And then when I went to compete in a blue belt it's way harder so for you guys especially down there. Yeah it started always always competing is good. Competing is good jujitsu don't put too much pressure on it but it's good. And then adding to what you're saying we the jiu jitsu brings trust and you gotta trust your partner you know because like if you give me an arm bar and I tap and you hold I split second more yeah I'm on the ER next day or next on the same night or like uh if you if you gotta choke on me and I tap and you don't I sleep. So you gotta have that trust like you have to trust like you said there's cops there's gangsters there's far right far left there's everybody there but somehow we all work together and we all trust each other because when you're rolling it doesn't matter what beliefs or whatever I have to believe that when I tap you're gonna let go. And same way for you. You know so that that trust in jiu jitsu that's why it makes us like even though everybody's so different sometimes you don't even hang out with people out of the gym but sometimes you feel much closer than people that you see all the time because we're going through that every day we try to kill each other and we trust each other not to cross the line that is gonna actually hurt you put you to sleep or give you a really bad injury.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah yeah and and and I I really want to just take a moment to focus on this that that you know I I don't want to get too macro but as as humans right now I think especially during this time there is a real lack of trust and now I haven't heard it put this way yet you know in front of the microphone that you know I didn't even think about the trust aspect of it like like you know like it's weird to me right now I'm like sitting there going oh yeah that's what I'm doing is I'm trusting people. Yeah that trusting people that can't be trusted but they're trustable like in this format you know on this padded square there's this rule set of like yeah I want you to come back tomorrow so I can work on this again. It doesn't matter whether you're getting beat or whether you're winning no like everybody wants to be there tomorrow. And that the trust is built into that and and uh you know I I think it's an element of what we're missing you know and you know I had no intent in starting this podcast to necessarily roll through the black belts you know at my club you know my intent with you know even you know as I expressed to you before we interviewed that you know you're just a good guy and I I'm I'm pulling people in that I like you know that that you just just to hear from them like like that's a very diverse community. I love my town you know you're part of the diversity of of a space that I feel the safest which is weird. Like how do you feel safest at jujitsu? Like these people want to fucking kill you. Except they don't as long as you're dead you know you know it's it's it's it's the weirdest paradox that I've ever experienced and and yet it brings so much joy I come home completely in pain you know I up all night and you know rolling around like you know because I just came back you know a couple weeks ago after taking a breather this year to reassess. And like you know I knew what I was coming into but I'm like dear God I forgot like I forgot how much this hurts every night yeah you know after rolling but like I can't enjoy pain enough like it like like I did not know that pain was like such a joy in my life.
SPEAKER_00:Because like obviously you know I'm a jiu jitsu guy so I pulled to jujitsu but it's like man if you train jiu jitsu three times a week it's pretty much complete already yeah like you don't have like obviously you can lift you can go do your running you can do your cardio but for a normal guy normal person that just and you go there and you do the whole warm-ups you do the position you do everything three maybe four times a week you don't need anything else you're gonna be in good shape you're gonna be ready you're gonna be sored yes okay so so you have to put up with my soliloquy here just for a minute but I have a hoffa story.
SPEAKER_02:Okay so the first class of hoffas that I showed up to was on a Friday I didn't know but I was about to get the flu and you put us through a circuit and I did 35 pull-ups in that circuit I hadn't done a pull up in in two decades I was stunned but you know you were you were pushing everything along and so I threw up that whole night in the kind of pain that I had never been in before. So so I never went to one of Hoffa's classes again. Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I know I know so so I I have this little piece of PTSD from your class from from your class right because it never showed up another Friday again and the first time that I decided to do a whole week I had done it the week before took a one day pause was in my second attempt to go a whole seven days in a row and I was doing a double day so I was going to try to squeeze you know eight to nine classes out in a week. Nice and you don't remember this I almost fled because you were filling in for Nate on a Thursday night I had already been in the morning and I had a full panic attack and almost started crying because I showed up to class I'm like I'm going to morning class on Friday I'm not going to even like I'm talking I for it was Dawn that was in front of me. I'm like I got to get the fuck out of here can I bail here people gonna freak out if I leave it's like just just wait let's wait see what he does. I'm like we're gonna die I'm gonna die I was like on on training session six that week on a on a Thursday like oh no this is hell that's why I stop announcing when I go when I go over anybody's class I don't announce anymore.
SPEAKER_00:Before I should stay I should post on Facebook or like back in the day Facebook now more Instagram I used to post oh I'm covering Master Claudia today COVID day and no that before anybody shows the hand you gotta get you guys in you know ready you think it's gonna be a nice melon yeah no half's warm-ups are notorious I think it I think it is nowadays yeah no well you know you're you're aging into it a little bit so I appreciate that about you I I think I've survived a couple of your classes here no sometimes I pull hard but like nowadays it's more it's very when you think about you die it stops and goes to how nobody dies in my class yeah you unfortunately like when when I'm halfway through one of the exercises you're always like stop looking at the clock at the clock no it makes it worse then it doesn't go just focus like on what I'm saying I'm telling you just keep going and then like swear to God every time you speak about your Paisao you switch something else you can get your breath back and it's all for the greater good too everything that I'm doing there you do a jiu jitsu. Yeah so yeah that's great but what what what um you know when you look to the future what what keeps you here in Santa Cruz like like what what's the you know I I asked Claudio this question you know I I want to ask it to you you know what feels more like home now uh here definitely yeah yeah and and what and what it what is it about here in San Francisco I just love it here just love everything about it like you know like I've been 20 like 20 I started I moved here 2002 so what 23 years you know I just love it the culture you know some stuff I don't like it obviously but I don't have to go through that you know but yeah I love the surfing culture I love the fighting culture you know I love like how it can be mellow but also can be you know it can be the mellowest place like we have everything here we have a supermodel you know that the lady that was the Victoria's Secrets and we have a UFC champion yeah yeah you know all came from here like a tiny town like that's like you say that's so unique about here we have so much talent it's like in a tiny little place like what how many people are here 300 000 yeah yeah I don't even know how many but and then it's like we have everything so much talent you know there's a lot of improvement to be done yes there is but I just feel like it's like we're we're in this little bubble even in the US US has a good life better life than most places sometimes in the world but Santa Cruz has a better life than most places in the in anywhere I travel a lot when I was young and then like especially to live like if you're gonna live every day obviously it's expensive and there's you know all kinds of stuff but I don't know I don't change this for anything like I could be in Brazil there trying you know living the more luxurious life you know like my my friends in Brazil they all have really good jobs have like make a bunch of money I like my life better than the lifestyle they have there. So I don't change this for anything. So I have my family here my wife's born and raised got my kids here you know I've been living on the east side pretty much the whole time yeah we just found out we were neighbors yeah I put on I was trying not to be late you know trying to not be the Brazilian guy late and I found out that he lives two minutes from my house. Yeah I I was late wasn't the Brazilian guy this time I was 10 minutes. So yeah I love this place I love it you know like even the surfing culture that people say is too much everything has to have a limit but you have to be surfing is a is a dangerous sport you know like when you're out there especially in the waves are big we have surfboards there's fins there's cuts that people can drown we need people to be checking who's doing dumb stuff out there you know it's not like you just show up and go doing like there because surfing because it's on the open there's no control. Yeah you know if you go play any sports people run you down to the rules yeah and then everything even you go to the gym to train jujitsu you show you how to tie your belt to show you like no slamming no punching do this do that be respectful as surfing no you go there on 41st you rent a board you get a wetsu and you pedal straight to the pick at the hook surpick you know and then you do some you can do something dumb and then you can hurt someone your board can go someone's face your fin you know so I do appreciate the guys that regulate on the on the water the guys that surf good and they regulate make sure everything is going well obviously gotta have a limit you know you don't want to be like yeah you know you don't want to go to jail or you hurt someone really bad yeah but also like I do appreciate the guys that take care you know and then you know sometimes I and I try not to burn anybody that's like if I ever burn anybody out there I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_02:You do let us know when you're leaving that that was always your infamous thing is like hey I gotta go to work so I'm going on the next wave like yeah but Hob's going that's because I have a time to be was that when you were already late to work so we don't let you go.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah it was jiu-jitsu was Juju that's right the jiu jitsu class always on Fridays always on Friday and Thursdays I was like I gotta go to Watson V right now so guys turn it it's my turn sorry but that's the only time that's the only time it was always the funny announcement you know I was like well you know we gotta get them to class sometime so and nobody wants to mess with them so just just let them let them go. If they want to mess just sign up just follow me to the gym sign the waivers and you get your crack at all I just cannot be late you know it's like anything other time we can do it here but that's the only time I got my priority was like when I have to I teach Thursday nights in Watsonville and the classes should be a seven yeah so it's perfect I could get off work surf pleasure point and then when the time was get my wave go go with me with all those scary fast dudes down at Watsonville man. That's a hole yeah it's uh yeah those those guys scare me they're good they're good they're really good Watsonville Santa Cruz San Jose we have is everything different style Scots Valley we got everywhere we got tough guys if you want to train train hard you know that's the one thing that we always had it throughout the years I don't know how the other gyms are but I always heard how sparring is pretty good like you know doesn't matter like uh if you Santa Cruz Watsonville when it's sparring time you always have you're gonna have fun there.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah it's great you can you can you can find your partner that's necessary these these days for me it's uh it's every new white belt you know but that's good because you you take them in you know yeah well I'm you know I I I gotta get my worm-ups in there here the first two months then then I'll then I'll start moving around a little bit that's the beauty of jiu jitsu man because there's everybody there and then people they show up there so scared thinking he's gonna be so aggressive and we always want to you to stay we need people to you know to practice yeah I I have the same lecture to every white belt you know I'll see a new guy and it's just like don't judge me by my face if I'm smiling I'm mad if I look like this I like you everything's fine they're like okay you're just big it's like no it's it's fine we're we're we're gonna be very gentle i'm I'm your I'm your ookie I'm I'm your big trash test dummy to work on your stuff you're brand new come work on your stuff you know and it's just beautiful yeah yeah and then if you don't learn to go slow we have guys to teach you to go slow you know yes you're gonna be the crazy guy we got plenty of crazy guys there's a whole group they're in the front of the it's all good it's like uh I uh Nate said one time that's it sound is perfect is like uh people are gonna match our gene people are gonna match your energy if you go mellow you try to be mellow and trying to learn we're gonna be mellow and try to teach and everything if you want to guy if you are a young guy that just is always strong and then you think you have background in fighting and want to fire one of our guys and go hard it's gonna go hard too and then it's gonna be what it's gonna be but normally they mellow out after a while. Yeah you know I I I view every jujitsu mat as Mavericks. Mavericks takes care of itself.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah you know you know it's it is what it is like I like it but if you're gonna come this way thinking whatever you think it the Matt will take care of you in some way it's it it happens fast and and with the long with the it's uh it's not a sprint it's a marathon so in the long run they you ended up weeding them out you know if they want to go hard all the time even the body doesn't take you know that they get injured they you know it's like you gotta learn even I had a hard time when I was young I was to go really hard I used to like every every match was a world championship you know I because I came from judo they go super hard too so I was like every every time I was going 100% hard hard hard and then it started going that either I get injured and or you injure someone and then either way you feel bad. Yeah because that was your buddy now he's like not gonna show for training or now everything is good and now I have a yeah there's there's sounds that there's sounds that just don't get out of your head that happen.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah and uh whenever you're around that it's like that's not what we're here for. It's what happens but it's it's not what you want for anybody. So I got one more question for you. You know what drives you now? You know you you you you you got your kids you got your wife you know you're doing the things your schedule's pretty set you know at at this moment in your life but you know with everything that's going on in the world you know I I I trying to leave people with a little bit of hope right now and and uh you know what is it that really gets you up in the morning right now?
SPEAKER_00:Ah man right now like I'm not gonna lie to my kids you know like like just like I wanna do the most to have more free time with my kids. And that's like you know I get up I want to do everything make enough money so I can have like the more money I make the more free time I have with them and then trying to be a good example you know trying to see the struggles I had when I was a kid and when I was young trying not to be super like a hard dad you know like because hard dads they they work really well too like it works to be a I've seen a lot of guys a lot of friends that had the hard parenting and they turn out very good but also it scares the kids away too sometimes and push them away. And then I want to be like I have a really good relationship with my mom and she's like my best friend pretty much even though we're far from each other. So then I'll I'm trying to be like the best father I can be best husband and then uh give my kids a good future good example and then spend the most time with them. That's why sometimes it's hard to surf for me because like oh it's Saturday the waves are good and then my little guy two years two and a half year old is like dad let's go do this let's go do that and then I say I'm gonna go serve it's like oh don't go that's like okay let's not go right it's all good you know so my main right now is like trying to give a good life to my kids and then uh be a good dad and then like try to improve the world the place the way I can do it is throw jujitsu you know because I I put a lot of work in jiu jitsu so like you know I've been training for over 20 years been black belt for over 12 years competing the high level I never like won like a huge tournament but I got close to some good ones you know I've been training with high level guys the whole time after I had my kids I had to slow down because of the injuries you know you gotta pay bills and you know you have an injury then you cannot work but then I that's when I transfer more to teaching you know I wanna more like you know I want to pass my little bit of knowledge on jujitsu and and defend yourself and then being like confident being able to talk to people respect people all that you learn a lot in the math and then I try to forward that to people you know and then mainly obviously my kids are the first ones to get it because you know kids do what they see you doing they don't do what you tell them to do. They see like you tell them to eat well and you eat crappy they're gonna copy what you're eating that you know so that's why I've been trying to and it's also I'm a my my daughter is 10 years old my boy is like two and a half so I'm a fresh dad like I not like I have the formula or anything I've just been trying to learn as I go you know and trying to improve and then like also moves and start to stay here in Santa Cruz because it's hard you know it's expensive you know so like you gotta be always hustling always trying to make more money trying to get the you know to be here in a little piece of paradise for me if I stay here my whole life I'm good. Yeah I don't need a I I I go to Brazil I love Brazil don't get me wrong I love Brazil for vacation to leave that the routine I cannot adapt anymore to that routine me stressed out with traffic how dangerous it is and that like you can't trust anybody like we talk about trust there like you trust who you know if you don't know someone you don't you don't make like new friends almost maybe they do there but when I'm there I don't I just keep it to myself and my friends you know yeah I my main goal now is trying to set up my family good set up a good example and then help my students to achieve the best they can achieve like you have students they started older we have guys like Travis that's like started fresh I've been teaching him since he was like 12 or 13 now he's like 24 full on killer yeah you know and and the kindest kindest guy human yeah yeah yeah just you you'd never you'd never suspect you know just super sweet super metal guy boom you know then but then you feel nice for everything yeah you know well listen thank you so much for coming on the program I r I really appreciate you taking the time and and uh you know I just want you to hear from me just how grateful I am to have you in my life.
SPEAKER_02:You know we've we knew each other surfing long be long before and you know that there's that that respectful great relationship we had before that but to be able to live in the presence of you guys you know you black belts the culture you've created the a space where an old guy can show up and learn how to do things I don't know if they're new things I think they're all they're old things but but just being able to have a space to be my age to to be present has meant a lot to me and to be able to have this kind of relationship with you at this part of my life has been really valuable.
SPEAKER_00:So so thanks so much for all that thank you brother appreciate you appreciate your family and for you guys that don't know Michael has like the three sons that are three studs if I can make my son become like them I'm good.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah we we we we had a lot of input but we've had a lot of luck with those guys that they they really are good humans and and hopefully one day Aiden I know you're listening to this podcast you'll actually come on it but anyways uh love y'all thanks for listening and uh we will we will leave you with uh elite technique Mr. Nathan Mendelson here Nathan hey yeah what he's a rapper anyways you all have a good rest of your day take care we got 10
unknown:I ain't no way no G in the key. Now homie, I'm being me and me. Ain't no way no G in the key. Not homie, I'm being me and me. I ain't no way no G in the key. Not homie, I'll be a me and me. Ain't no way no G in the key. Now hold me, I'm being me.