02/15
2011
2011
Andre Nunes on Interview
Andre Nunes is a Gracie Barra Black Belt 2.Grade. He is has been doing BJJ for more than 30 years and is right now in Germany to share with us all his knowledge. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, he has been living in Sevilla (Spain) for 10 years and during that time he has built up a team of about 60 people distributed over 3 academies. And everything started with a single student, Andre tell us, who was interested on BJJ and asked about it during a Judo lesson. That student, that many of you may know, is Samuel, a purple belt 4th stripes who is now instructor at Zanshin Dojo in Hamburg and at Sportschule-Hamburg.
We have the great opportunity to have Andre training us for a whole month at Zanshin and giving seminars in Kenpockan (Hannover), Sportschule Hamburg and Düsseldorf. Of course I could not let pass the chance to interview him and get to kow better this amazing person and professor.
1. Since when do you train BJJ?
I started at the age of 8, back in 1978, in the team Mello Tenis Clube (MTC)
2. And you don't get bored or tired after so many years?
There are two sports that I would never get tired of: BJJ and watching the Simpsons *laugh*
Now seriously... it helps me a lot to have many good friends within the BJJ world, travel around and train with many different people.
Another way for not only not forget what I already know but also learn new techniques and/or variants of known techniques is teaching. I teach not only my GB team in Sevilla but in the last years I have also imparted plently of seminars in Spain, Portugal and now Germany
Another way for not only not forget what I already know but also learn new techniques and/or variants of known techniques is teaching. I teach not only my GB team in Sevilla but in the last years I have also imparted plently of seminars in Spain, Portugal and now Germany
3. How did you find out this sport?
Actually it was not me but my dad who found out about BJJ. He was a big fan of the Gracie family and of BJJ in general. Back in the time in which I started to train, the Gracie family was already well known. And one day my dad just came home with a gi, my first gi, and got me into the closest academy to my house.
4. What make you to fall in love with this sport?
It was not love at first sight but a slower process over the years... when I started I was a child and like every child, I liked plently of things and not only BJJ. I remember that sometimes I went out of the house in my white Gi and came back in the evening in a black Gi. It was my white gi turned into black (dirty) after being playing soccer with the other kids.
5. Which other hobbies do you have, besides BJJ?
I love climbing, and ping-pong. I also like very much eating chocolate donuts... *laugh*
6. Do you like more with or without Gi?
For me it is easy to answer this question: with Gi. Fighting with Gi help you to develop a mental and physical speed and to understand the game of BJJ. You can use those knowledges in turn when you fight without Gi
7. How do you do to keep competing and winning competitions after so much time?
In my opinion, the problem is not the age itself but the health and physical condition you get when you reach a certain age. Of course, in order to get this you must keep yourself away from alcohol, drugs, cigarettes... and to have a big enthusiasm for this sport
8. Do you like to be in the guard or to pass it?
I like more to play in the guard, but passing it is cool too, and you get 3 points for that!!
9. You have built up a team from 0, and now your team is the spanish team with more medals at theEuropa Championship. How did you do it?
We have been the best spanish team in 2011 and in 2009 we were the second best novice team!
I am not famous, I am not particularly strong, I have long hair, wear glasses and have not cool tatoos... I look like more a nerd than a BJJ fighter! *laugh* but when I teach, either in my team or in a seminar, i took my job very seriously and my goal is not only teaching you a technique (you can find that inyoutube) but that you understand the game of BJJ, what is actually happening when you fighting and how to use this knowdlege in your favour
10. Samuel was your first student, right? he is now our instructor...and a very good one! do you remember any funny story?
Yes, he was my first student.... we have many funny stories to tell because we have lived much together since i first met him in a judo class asking about BJJ.
Once, when Samuel was still white belt and I was brown belt, we went for a competition to Rota, city on the south coast of Spain. The competion was organized by soldiers of an american military base that there is in this city and took place in the base itself. We signed up for the competion and drove all the way from Sevilla to there. When we arrived, they told us that we could not go into the base because we were not soldiers. We argued that we had signed up for the BJJ competition and they answer that in such case Samuel, as spaniard, could go in, but there was not way that a brazilian would get in the base. Only americans or spaniards. Samuel refused to go in without me, and we just went to the beach where we spent the day and eat some of the best fish in Spain.
Once, when Samuel was still white belt and I was brown belt, we went for a competition to Rota, city on the south coast of Spain. The competion was organized by soldiers of an american military base that there is in this city and took place in the base itself. We signed up for the competion and drove all the way from Sevilla to there. When we arrived, they told us that we could not go into the base because we were not soldiers. We argued that we had signed up for the BJJ competition and they answer that in such case Samuel, as spaniard, could go in, but there was not way that a brazilian would get in the base. Only americans or spaniards. Samuel refused to go in without me, and we just went to the beach where we spent the day and eat some of the best fish in Spain.
Thanks Andre for everything, for being here with us and sharing with us all your knowledge!
Abrazo fuerte
fica com Deus