The Atos Jiu-Jitsu training camp in San Diego

Last updated on 05.05.2020 by

Atos Jiu-Jitsu is a Brazilian Jiu-JItsu team that was formed in 2008 by Andre Galvao and Ramon Lemos. Today, they’re one of the best teams on the planet. They’ve typically got around twenty competitors in the world championship black belt division at the least. People often say something along the lines you’re only ever as good as the people you train with, and yes, the better your training partners are, the better you are.

While their headquarters had originally been in Rio Claro, Brazil, they are now based out in San Diego, California. Andre, Keenan and the Mendes brothers are always there, but during training camp for the world’s people from all over the world fly in to train. Just imagine, having the opportunity to roll with JT Torres, Guto Campos, Claudio Calasans, Michael Liera and many others.

Although active for a relatively short period of time, exactly ten years in fact, Atos have come out with medals in the black belt world championships enough times to leave quite a ripple effect in BJJ communities. I remember when I was starting out just around five years ago, I’d seen what Keenan could do with the lapel. I’d been amazed. The guy looked like a human-spider-thing, rolling people into balls with ease and a savvines that impressed the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as some type of blend between the physical and the intellectual that really appealed to me. I’d always shied away from physical sports. Now, I can’t imagine a life without it.

In this last paragraph, I’ll just go ahead and talk about the team’s game a bit. They get the most credit for going around the knee reaping rule with the 50/50 position. The Mendes brothers are, that is. These things come and go, but it takes many successive wins to kill the ‘that %#$% doesn’t work mentality’, and they’ve gone and done that. Kudos to this amazing team.