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View ProfilesPublished August 16, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. | Updated September 1, 2022 at 2:55 p.m.
Julio César Fernandez Nunes has traded kicks, leg locks and choke holds with some of the world's fiercest Brazilian jiu-jitsu fighters. But on a steamy afternoon in his Williston gym, the 65-year-old "Foca," as he's known in his native Brazil, grappled with an unexpected challenge: Two of his instructors were delayed by car troubles, so Fernandez had to single-handedly hold the attention of a dozen rambunctious 4- to 6-year-olds for nearly an hour.
But the two-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion was more than up to the challenge of teaching the "Ninjas" class. As the young students ambled about, each in a white pajama-like kimono, or gi, occasionally poking each other with boxing gloves almost as big as their heads, Fernandez demonstrated a playful yet firm instructional style that's as persuasive as a half nelson. The students hadn't lined up as quickly as Fernandez had instructed, so he chirped a brisk "Atenção!" — Portuguese for "attention." The kids instantly fell silent and stood up, straight as rods.
As they quietly awaited further instruction, Fernandez laid a rope ladder flat along the padded floor, then demonstrated the first training exercise: hopscotch-like jumps between each of the ladder rungs. As the barefoot students completed the drill with varying degrees of proficiency, Fernandez encouraged each one with a smile and an enthusiastic "Very good! Very good!"
Next, Fernandez demonstrated a monkey-like crawl between the rungs of the rope ladder on his feet and knuckles, followed by a tumble at the end. He finished by slapping the mat loudly with one arm.
"That's called a shoulder roll," Fernandez explained, in his thick Brazilian accent. "You need to learn how to fall without hitting your head."
For more than 30 years, Fernandez has been teaching students how to fall down safely — then get back up again. As the founder and owner of Vermont Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, he's taught hundreds of children as young as 4 how to defend themselves and subdue an opponent using techniques that don't require superior size, strength or speed. Through this martial art — which blends elements of judo, ground fighting and Greco-Roman wrestling — students can improve their balance, flexibility and coordination while also building discipline, self-confidence, compassion and respect.
"Parents see the world is very confrontational," Fernandez explained later. "Politeness and manners are going downhill. There are a lot of bullies around. And lack of confidence makes people dependent."
Among the students training that day was Violet, a 4-year-old who sported a blond braid and purple boxing gloves. (Though Brazilian jiu-jitsu doesn't traditionally involve strikes, Fernandez, who's also a certified boxing coach, incorporates punches and kicks against padded targets into his training exercises.) As Violet squared off in a fighting stance opposite a girl several inches taller, she had a fierce look in her eye.
Violet's mother, Holly Bolsta, of Williston, watched through a doorway in the lobby, where a color monitor displayed the action in the gym via closed-circuit TV. (Fernandez doesn't allow anyone on the mats without a uniform.) When asked why she enrolled her preschool daughter in a style of martial arts whose maneuvers include the guillotine choke, the bicep slicer and the Peruvian necktie, Bolsta said it was actually Violet's choice.
"She wanted to do ballet, but I was too late for the sign-ups," Bolsta said. "And she was like, 'That's OK, Mom. I'll just do a fighting class.'"
Since starting Brazilian jiu-jitsu last fall, Violet has begun attending class twice a week and now practices rope ladder conditioning at home with her father.
"Julio has been amazing. He's so patient, consistent and firm," Bolsta said. "Definitely the games are her favorite part. He conditions them in such clever ways that they feel like they're just having fun."
Indeed, near the end of class, Fernandez unfurled a long cloth belt, then directed his students to stand in a circle around him.
"Ever heard of an anaconda?" he asked the group. "The anaconda is a snake that lives in the jungles of Brazil. If it gets your feet, it's gonna take you down!"
Fernandez gently swung the belt around at ankle height, requiring the students to jump over it as it passed by; those the belt touched were eliminated from the game. The kids giggled and yelled as each one tried to leap over the approaching "anaconda."
Tom Stuessy's 7-year-old daughter, Sawyer, was among the students playing the game. An only child, Sawyer began training at Vermont Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu last October and now attends classes three days per week. Stuessy said he's noticed his daughter practicing shoulder rolls at home and talking her way through the new moves she's learned in class.
"She's way into it," said the South Burlington dad, who used to train with Fernandez himself. "Every day she wakes up and asks if it's a jiu-jitsu day."
Vermonters who are curious about Brazilian jiu-jitsu would be hard-pressed to find an instructor with better credentials than those of Fernandez, who's been practicing the sport for nearly half a century.
Born and raised in Copacabana, a neighborhood in southern Rio de Janeiro, he got into Brazilian jiu-jitsu through his first love — surfing — which he learned at age 5; by 16, he was surfing professionally. Fernandez earned the nickname "Foca," which is Portuguese for "sea lion," because of how much time he spent in the ocean.
He was no sea lion in physical stature, though. Fernandez, who stands five foot eight and weighs 150 pounds, was often physically attacked by much bigger surfers, who were territorial about whom they allowed to surf on their favorite beaches.
So, at 16, Fernandez began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under the late Carlson Gracie, a grand master whose family developed the sport in Brazil in the early 20th century before spreading it worldwide.
A strategic form of self-defense that's been likened to chess, Brazilian jiu-jitsu emphasizes brains over brawn. A smaller but better trained opponent can easily subdue a larger one simply by using choke holds and leverage applied to limbs and joints to their advantage.
"Jiu-jitsu gave me the confidence that I could walk around with my head up and my shoulders back," Fernandez said. By age 17, he was competing nationally. Fernandez went on to become a three-time Rio de Janeiro state champion, then Brazil's five-time national champion and, eventually, a two-time world champion. The last time he competed, at age 57, Fernandez won the international title of grand master.
Fernandez moved to the U.S. in 1989. He and his American wife settled in Vermont because his in-laws, who were avid skiers, had a house in Stowe. Though Fernandez already had a college degree in economics from Brazil, he needed to learn English before getting a professional job in Vermont. In the meantime, he washed dishes at Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, where he took on his first Brazilian jiu-jitsu student in the U.S. — a sous chef who worked in the kitchen with him.
While attending Champlain College to earn a degree in finance and accounting, Fernandez began offering his martial arts services to local karate and tae kwon do schools; none was interested. "They didn't want any competition, you know?" he said.
So Fernandez opened Vermont Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 1993, just as the sport was taking the world by storm. In November of that year, Royce Gracie, a member of the famed Gracie family and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, won the first Ultimate Fighting Championship, a mixed martial arts competition, defeating his opponent in under two minutes.
Though Fernandez initially trained only adults — many of his students are current or former military and law enforcement personnel — he began offering instruction to children about 13 years ago. Today, with 80 to 90 kids attending his classes every week, youths comprise about half of his students and are the fastest-growing segment of his student body.
But while Fernandez and his 10 instructors teach self-defense and physical fitness, a mental component is omnipresent. Patience, discipline, self-control, and respect for one's instructors and opponents are part of every class, Fernandez said.
Instructor Chad Borofsky drives an hour each way from his home in Waitsfield several days a week just so he and his 7-year-old-son, Eli, can train with Fernandez. On the day we met, Eli was taking a class while Borofsky waited outside with his 3-year-old son, Alden.
Though Borofsky acknowledged that for younger kids, most of the training is about developing basic body control, hand-eye coordination and agility, there's a strong mental component to the classes, too.
"For Eli, I think it builds some serious self-confidence," he said.
Naja Masada said that's been her experience, "100 percent." The 17-year-old from St. Albans has been training with "Mr. Julio," as she calls Fernandez, since she was 5. Now a blue belt, Naja comes to the gym three days a week to practice and help train younger students.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu, she said, "has definitely given me a strong sense of confidence. But a good thing I've been taught over the years, especially at Mr. Julio's gym, is not to be overconfident."
Naja also addressed a concern some parents may have about the potential dangers of the sport. She pointed out that neither the training nor tournaments involve any kicking or punching between opponents, so no protective gear is necessary.
"And when you spar," she added, "you don't go 100 percent, so that you don't injure your partner or yourself. Mr. Julio wants to make it a sport that, no matter how old you are, you can do it, and you don't have to be afraid of injury."
That much was evident from watching a couple of his youth classes. Fernandez has posted 14 training rules at the entrance to his gym. The first reads, "Students are not to misuse the knowledge of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu." That means they're actively discouraged from practicing jiu-jitsu techniques outside the gym and must never use them in real life unless it's absolutely necessary. (In 48 years, Fernandez said he's had to use jiu-jitsu just twice in self-defense.)
"I teach the kids that the first thing they have to learn is self-control," he added. "I teach discipline. I teach skills. But I also teach them to be humble."
Tags: Kids VT, Sports, Julio César Fernandez Nunes, jiu-jitsu, martial arts, Vermont Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Kids VT, Kids VT
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