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Today in the Rickson Interview: BJJ and the family unit – I don’t work for the family. I work for the individual. When they become a better individual then they become a better family.

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BJJ Legends: Family is the umbrella under which all that falls, whether it’s children or even a police officer who’s a father, a mother, as you noted. That’s a very important structure, unit structure, in American society and other parts of the world. What role do you feel, within the family unit, Jiu-Jitsu can offer?

Rickson Gracie: Man, you tell me how children can become better children, how the mother can become a better mother, how a father, executive, police officer. They will always have something to learn and to improve with Jiu-Jitsu, individually. So I don’t see the function in Jiu-Jitsu work in their relationships or the family itself.

I make the children become more respectful to their parents, more capable to control emotions, and more capable to handle pressure. So I make the father more confident, more peaceful, more empowered than he normally is if he don’t have that kind of self-confidence. I make the mother more…

Everything can be transformed positively. So I don’t work for the family. I work for the individual, and they become a family, and they become a better family.

I think by doing a good job in Jiu-Jitsu, they completely will fulfill that need, from police officers to mothers to children to executives and competitors. I think a good Jiu-Jitsu school can really present itself as a community service academy. So I feel very confident. A good Jiu-Jitsu school can provide a great service for the community as a whole.

Tomorrow: Rickson talks about making the transition from Jiu-Jitsu to professional MMA.