Atos Jiu-Jitsu won the juvenile team title at the 2023 Brasileiros in impressive fashion. The team scored 97 points, more than doubling the amount of the next closest team. It was their group of female athletes who really shined, winning seven gold medals between them while defeating most of their opponents by submission. We caught up with IBJJF Hall of Famer Andre Galvao to get his thoughts on his juvenile teams’ success and what it takes to build a powerhouse juvenile competition team.

Your juvenile team won first at the Brasileiros, scoring more than double the points of the second place team. How do you feel about that achievement?

“I feel really proud of our team and it brings me a lot of satisfaction because it s a result of years of work and dedication. A successful juvenile team is a result of a great kids program and an anticipation of a successful adult competition team. That been said I can only expect great thing for the future.”

The female Atos juveniles put on amazing performances, winning 7 golds. Can you talk about some of the individual performances from these athletes?

“We brought 5 girls who won 7 gold medals. Our daughter Sarah Galvao, Lillian Marchand, Jadeya Reber, Emily Leva and Alexa Herse. Each one of them had an outstanding performance with a huge submission rate. Also, they scored 63 points for the team (total Atos JJ team points were 97). 

Alexa Herse is on her first year as juvenile. She was part of our kids program training at Atos HQ since 2018 when she was only 9. She got double gold Juvenile 1 winning all fights of her weight division (light) and absolute by submission. Emily Leyva joined the Atos HQ juvenile team training program a year ago. She overcame lots of set backs and was able to also win double gold in juvenile 2 with an outstanding performance submitting all opponents in her weight division. 

Jadeya Reber is also one of our students since the kids program. She’s trained at Atos HQ since 2016. Reber fought against tough opponents winning the gold medal on her weight division Juvenile 2 middle weight and was able to capitalize submissions using her incredible lapel game. Lillian Marchant is from Canada. She joined our kids program back in 2016-2017 and since then she comes every year to our camps. When she turned 15 she moved to San Diego, CA by herself just to dedicate 100% to what she loves most - BJJ. Lilian showed a solid game winning gold in her weight division, juvenile 2, all by submission. 

Sarah showed great improvement not only in her performance. She has often displayed an offensive and  beautiful game to watch but also showed to be a more mature competitor, moving up to super heavy for the good of the team and still winning the title against bigger opponents via submission.”

Building a strong juvenile team is a huge indicator of success at the adult level. What is the juvenile training program like at Atos? 

“Definitely the future is bright! Yes, they are juvenile still but they already train as professional athletes. Their intense training schedule and work ethic is a must. They care for themselves as if they were black belts already. Our juvenile training program consists of BJJ comp classes, drilling sessions, weight lifting, nutrition programs, and of course competitions. They have been competing a lot and most of them are about to achieve the 2023 IBJJF Grand Slam.”

Juvenile athletes depend on a lot of support from parents and teammates. What advice do you have for parents and teammates who want to help a juvenile athlete succeed?

“For sure! All parents have a huge role in their child success. At Atos HQ we believe parents must understand the importance of how to help and support in terms of mentality, which is linked with their child’s ego and self esteem. I always say “parents are the mental coach of their child”. Some parents can be toxic for their child because of their own ego as well. Parents must to know how to deal with positive and “negative” results. Not only parents but everyone involved: athletes, parents, coaches and the team. You can’t be unbalanced, you have to understand it. Why? Beause fighting is about training, discipline, dedication, power of will, etc, and 90% is mental. As a coach I also have to know how to do it. I love to include parents as part of the team. I just have to know how to show them what their main role is inside the team and child’s life. 

Most of teams don’t do that. But there’s a way to do it and we are having a lot of success with that. We build a whole guideline about that and parents can reach out to me if they want to know more about it. It will be my pleasure to help you. For teammates, it all falls off on the coaches’ shoulders. It’s not about the teammates only, you know? It’s about communication and good environment created by the leader, in this case, the coach. The coach is responsible for making sure teammates are having good relationships, creating a positive environment inside the team, training sessions, competitions, etc.  I love to build up people and help people to build up themselves and others. We believe this is key for the success of any team and for us this is one of our purposes of life.” 

Are there any other important factors that you feel are essential to a juvenile athlete's success?

"Yes! The athlete itself has to believe it. The athlete has to be responsible and take ownership of all results, positive or negative results. Also, having great parents and team as I mentioned before.”

You can watch replays of all the matches from Brasileiros exclusively on flograppling.com