June 25, 2025 • 26 mins
What happens when passion meets purpose through unimaginable adversity? Allan and Lauren Cazal, the husband-wife team behind Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu of Cooper City, take us on an emotional journey through their love for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and how it became their anchor during life's most challenging moments.
The Cazals pull back the curtain on what Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu truly is—a grappling martial art focused on technique rather than brute strength, making it uniquely accessible to everyone regardless of size or physical ability. "Jiu-jitsu makes men realize they're not as strong as they think, and women realize they're more capable than they believe," Lauren explains, highlighting how the sport creates an environment where egos must be left at the door.
Their story takes a profound turn as they share how they opened their academy just days after experiencing the stillbirth of their son Leo at 39 weeks. Instead of allowing tragedy to derail their dreams, they channeled their grief into purpose, opening their doors on February 3rd with a commemorative sign that reads: "We roll here in his honor." Their vulnerability in sharing this journey reveals the healing power of community and how the Cooper City residents wrapped their arms around them during their darkest hour.
Whether you're considering martial arts for yourself or your children, curious about the origins of BJJ, or simply drawn to stories of human resilience, this episode delivers powerful insights on building strength both on and off the mats. As Allan reminds us, "The best time to try jiu-jitsu is when you're 8, and then yesterday"—so what are you waiting for?
Visit Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in Timberlake Plaza, follow them on social media, visit their website www.renzograciecoopercity.com, or call 305-349-3815 to discover how this martial art might transform your life too.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello, hello, friends , family, great community,
mighty universe.
We are back for another episodeof the Good Neighbor Podcast.
I'm your host, of course,jeremy Wolf.
So question for everybody haveyou ever been intrigued by
jujitsu?
If you have, we got you,because today we're sitting down
(00:34):
with Alan.
It's a husband and wife team.
I'm excited to get into this.
We have Alan and Lauren Cazal,who both live right here in
Cooper City and they own RenzoGracie Jiu-Jitsu of Cooper City.
So right down in your backyard,you have no more excuses If
you've been looking intoJiu-Jitsu.
Now is the time.
Guys, thanks for joining ustoday.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Thanks for having us, thanks for having us Excited to
be here.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Pleasure is all ours, okay.
So, unless you've been livingunder a rock, you've heard
jujitsu before, and most peoplehave ideas of what that is.
But why don't we start there?
Tell everybody a little bitabout jujitsu and then we'll get
into your business specifically, yeah, most definitely so.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Jujitsu is a martial art specifically focused on
grappling, controlling anopponent and subduing them using
submission, for example, somestrangulations or some joint
manipulation locks.
So the whole idea is toposition your body in a strong
and controlling hold to controlor dominate another opponent.
(01:38):
So it's great for self-defense.
It's a great fun activity.
It's a physical and mentalbattle, so it's great fun
activity.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
It's a physical and mental battle, so it's fun.
Yeah, I, I've heard thatjiu-jitsu is incredibly,
incredibly humbling.
Like, like people can get into,get get onto the uh, onto the
mat for the first time and thinkthey're like big and bad and
tough, and then somebody likeyou're considerably less sizable
and I can take them down andtreat and throw, throw, throw
you down like a rag doll and putyou in a hole where you're like
, oh my God, yeah, so I've heardthat about it, which is what
(02:08):
intrigues me, I've witnessed mywife beat up and humble a lot of
big, strong men, all due totechnique.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
They say, jujitsu makes men realize they're not as
strong as they are, and womenthey're a lot more capable than
they think they are.
So we totally agree with that.
We always say there's no ego injujitsu.
You got to leave your ego atthe door, because if not you
won't survive.
It's definitely a very humblingsport, but in the best way.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, my entire my evolution in life.
I'm at 45 years old right now.
Like the older I get, the morehumble I get, just naturally
without the jujitsu.
But I definitely want to checkit out for sure.
So, so, and also, if you'veheard of jujitsu, if you've
followed anything I know for methe first I heard of it was the
first UFC fight back.
I don't even know, I was like12 years old.
It's going back what, 30, 30.
(02:55):
Yeah, 93.
So that was like where it wasactually hoist.
Gracie, I believe, was in thatcompetition.
I remember watching as thistiny little guy took them.
They had no like weight classesat the time.
There was like sumo, 600 poundpeople versus these.
It was craziness.
And I remember watching himjust take everybody down and I
was like, wow, this isfascinating.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe jujitsu.
(03:19):
The Gracie family Cause I knowyou hear it everywhere nowadays
right Started to tell us aboutthat, that kind of of course.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
yeah, if we could speak, we'd be in good shape.
Yeah, yeah.
So so it starts with um.
I mean, it kind of goes back alittle bit to the ancient
samurai era, so when the samuraiwould would fight on the
battlefield.
If they lost their weaponthey'd have to still keep going.
So they would practice a littlecombination of judo and they
would use their opponents uh, solet's say they lost their
(03:50):
weapon, so they would still haveto fight.
So they would try to take theiropponents down to the ground,
try to break their arm or disarmthem any way they could, so
that they could continuefighting.
And obviously, once that erastarted to end, there there was
less combat, less need forsamurai.
They didn't want those arts todie, so they started to practice
them as martial arts and that'swhen they started to set rules
(04:11):
around them and turn it intojudo, which was take them down
to the ground and control them.
And then from there the sport ofjiu-jitsu started to grow.
So there was this Japanese judoguy named Yutsu Maeda and he
traveled around the worldspreading judo.
He ended up in Brazil teachingthe Gracie family.
So he started to teach CarlosGracie and Helio Gracie.
(04:33):
And it was a little difficultfor the Brazilians to learn it
because they weren't as stockyas the Japanese.
So for the Japanese it was alot easier for them to perform
takedowns and these submissionholds from standing, but it was
a little tougher for theBrazilians.
So they found out that ifthey're able to take their
opponents to the ground andcontrol them on the ground, that
they had much, much moresuccess because they can pin
(04:56):
them between their body weightand the earth so they're not
going anywhere.
And then they can apply thesearm locks, choke holds and
submissions to end a fight.
And, as you saw in UFC 1,that's what Hoist Gracie did
Take down these big opponents,control them and submit and win
the fight.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
So jiu-jitsu actually originated from the Gracie
family, if I understand thatcorrectly.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Yeah, there's a little bit of a back and forth
right.
Because the idea is like hasjiu-jitsu always been around?
There's Japanese jiu-jitsu.
Did it evolve from judo?
So there's a little bit ofcontroversy of where exactly it
started, but you can say thatthe Brazilians invented
Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which iswhat the world knows now as BJJ,
bjj.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Really spread it throughout the entire world.
Honestly, they're responsiblefor that is the Gracie family,
so Henzo Gracie specifically, sothe Gracie family is huge.
They all had a ton of kids andso they all kind of spread all
over the country and really theworld and establishing.
So there's a lot of differentfranchise lineages, but we are
part of the Henzo Gracie family.
(06:00):
Our professor, stan Beck, whogave Alan his black belt, got
his black belt from Henzohimself.
So that's the lineage that wefollow is the Henzo Gracie
lineage.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
And Henzo was a legend, is a legend.
He was one of the best I know.
Well, the very first schoolsthat came from Brazil were
called Gracie Barra, so he wasthe prodigy child of Gracie
Barra.
From there he went on his ownto open up his Henzo Gracie
Cities Sorry, henzo GracieAcademies and that's where we
(06:34):
are today.
So there was a whole bunch ofGracie families, very big, and
there's a lot of cousins and alot of brothers.
So essentially it stemmed fromthen and spread out to the world
.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
So how did we get here today?
In your journey, obviously,husband and wife team, you
mentioned Black Belt.
Clearly you've been trainingfor quite some time.
Let's dig into your journeythat led you to open up this
business right here in CooperCity.
We're so happy to have you herein town.
Yeah, definitely I mean.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
it all started when I was a kid.
My parents called me Bam Bambecause I had too much energy
and I was crazy.
So they put me in all sorts ofmartial arts.
I did karate, taekwondo, aikido, but when I was 17, I found
jujitsu and I just fell in lovewith it and I was like, wow,
this is actually the real thing.
No spite against any othermartial arts, but this one just
seems very more applicable inreal life because most fights
(07:26):
end up grabbing each other andthat's where jujitsu thrives.
So I was sorry when I was 17and just never stopped that was
about 15 years ago and just fellin love with with the art and
always had the aspirations of ofopening a gym.
I remember that, that we met atthe academy and, and well, I'm
getting a little ahead of myself.
(07:46):
So that's, that was my journey.
On getting my black belt, uh,go ahead and tell yours, so I've
been training for almost 10years.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
I'm a brown belt in the sport.
Um, I started training down inmiami and moved up here to um
the uh davy area um prior um,and then I started, I shifted
gyms over to our old academy and, uh, I met Alan on the mats and
that's how uh we met and uh,our life has really just been
very much focused on jiu-jitsu,where our wedding had jiu-jitsu
(08:16):
themed everything uh he proposedto me at our old uh gym um.
so we were very much a jiu-jitsufamily, um, and it was always
our dream to open up a gymtogether.
We've seen firsthand howjujitsu can change people's
lives and we really wanted tobring that to our community now
that we are in Cooper City.
(08:37):
So that's really the long storyshort.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Love it.
So, prior to opening the gym,were your backgrounds in terms
of your professional careers?
Were they in a similar space?
Did you run a business before?
Tell us a little bit about yourjourney, your professional
journeys that led you to.
If it was your first businessyou opened, I guess, the
entrepreneurial leap, as theysay.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Yeah, I've always had that entrepreneurial spirit.
I remember when I was a kid Iwas living in Venezuela I would
walk over to the mall, buy somelollipops in bulk and then go to
school and sell them and I waslike that's a cool way to make
money.
So I always had that nature inme.
I did a couple of dropshippingbusiness during the pandemic,
but we worked in corporate andthis has just been our dream.
(09:24):
Business during the pandemic,but we've worked in corporate
and this has just been our dream.
But I do come from a salesbackground.
She comes from a marketingbackground.
Turns out, those skills arevery applicable when it comes to
running a business, and notjust jujitsu but any business.
So not just knowing how toteach and train jujitsu, it's
everything that surrounds thebusiness that actually turns out
to help us.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yeah, we always say that our professional background
has helped so much.
We coached for many years atour old gym as well, so we had
the, you know, besides training,we also had the coaching
background.
But the professional side ofthings like Alan said, he's in
sales, I'm in marketing, and sothat has been really a great,
great, great skill set to bringto the business now that we are
(10:04):
running it ourselves, as well asjust the general professional
background that we have, I meanhow to talk to customers, how to
draft emails, how to, you know,just represent your company as
a whole.
I mean we've been doing thatfor years in our own, you know,
professional sense, so it's beena great way to just bring that
over to the gym.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Now, did we know what we're doing?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
No, we figured it out .
Do we ever know what we'redoing?
Come?
Speaker 4 (10:29):
on, guys.
You know the things that youdon't know getting permits,
working with the city, workingwith contract just every day,
something new that you have toovercome.
But that's a nice thing ofbeing a husband and wife duo
that we can work together,bounce ideas off each other and
keep pushing forward.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yeah, absolutely, and I know it's an interesting
dynamic.
The husband and wife team.
I know when I used to work withmy wife way back when, we were
like the yin and the yang, right, we each handled different
things and it was really, reallya great compliment for the
business.
And it's great that you hadthat background in sales and
marketing, because a lot ofpeople they do what they do.
(11:07):
If you're a plumber, you're agood plumber and you decide to
open a business and now, all ofa sudden, not only do you have
to be a good plumber, right, youhave to be a good HR person, be
a good marketer, be a good allthese different things and it
can be very, very challenging,which is why so many businesses
out there, you know, open andthen they don't make it the long
run.
You know it's a tough, toughgrind.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Luckily, the jujitsu community is absolutely amazing.
We've had so many mentors ourprevious gym owner, our sensei,
stan Beck, and Santos and Adrian.
All these people have helped usout a whole bunch, so shout out
to them.
We're not alone here.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
So we have a lot of guidance which has helped us
incredibly the moment we decidedto open the gym.
I mean it's incredible thejujitsu community how strong it
is.
Everyone has differentbackgrounds, everyone comes from
different professions.
I mean we had so many peoplehelping us along the way that
really we wouldn't be herewithout that support.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
It's wonderful to have such a great support system
because you can really lean onthem when things might not be
working.
You can go to them, sit down,they'll tell you what does work.
And now, is this a franchisemodel, model, the business, or
how does it work?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
so not necessarily well, kind of, in a sense yeah,
it's a franchise model wherethey franchise out them yeah, so
you do need to have aconnection to, uh, so for us,
henzo, so we do have thatconnection to henzo.
You can't just come off thestreet and say, you know, you
want to open a henzo gracie'spajamas.
You have to have thatconnection directly to him,
which we do.
As I mentioned, alan got hisblack belt from someone that got
(12:40):
his black belt from Henzohimself.
So so that's the first step.
And then, yeah, we we doessentially pay a fee to the
Henzo family themselves to tokeep the name, but they have
been incredible to work withHenzo and his daughter Cora
working really closely with them.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Very cool.
So one of the reasons why we dothis show, aside from getting
to know local businesses and theowners, is also about education
.
A lot of people clearly havemisconceptions and
misunderstandings about variousindustries out there.
Like I said, I know a littlebit about jujitsu.
What are some of the biggestmisunderstandings or myths or
(13:22):
misconceptions that folkstypically have about jujitsu?
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Yeah, it could be intimidating.
It's a contact sport, so a lotof people think that they're
going to walk into a gym andthen get beat up or tossed
around and get hurt, but that'sreally not the case.
Jiu-jitsu people are one of themost friendliest people you'll
meet.
This is a place that we, forexample for us, we focus on
(13:48):
safety, on having fun, onleaving your ego at the door,
like Lauren said.
So it's a place that you'regoing to come learn.
We want to build you up, notbreak you down.
So you're going to come learn.
We want to build you up, notbreak you down.
So you're going to come.
You're going to have fun.
Of course, like any sport,there's always a risk of injury,
but we do our best to mitigatethat.
You know it starts from the topdown, so we tell everyone to
have fun, enjoy yourselves.
(14:09):
We're not competing for theworld title here.
We're learning how to defendourselves, so you're not going
to get.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
With safety and controlled environment, you'll
be okay, and we take care of ourtraining partners and we.
That's a big value of ours is,you know, we, we want to take
care of each other in order tohelp ourselves grow as well.
Right, so that's a big aspectof it and that's a big part of
our culture.
Is that safety piece of it?
Because we understand it isintimidating if you've never
(14:38):
trained before, or if you'rebringing your child to come
train, you obviously want tomake sure that they are in a
safe place.
So that's really the biggestfocus for us is safety first,
making sure that we'rerespecting each other and taking
care of our training partners.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah, speaking of child, I'm going to have to make
this a family affair and comein and bring at least one of my
kids.
I think they're ready to.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
It's a great we find that we have a lot of parents
that train with their kids.
Whether the kids are youngerand they do the kids class, or
even if they're in their teensand they want to train alongside
with their parents, that's alsoa really great opportunity.
We find it's a really great wayto bond with your child and
share.
You know, in this day and agewhere you know your kid is glued
to a screen all the time, it'sa really great way to get them
off the screen and really findsomething to bond with your
child that is also going tobenefit them significantly in
(15:30):
the long run.
I always love, love, love to seeyou know when people bring in
their teenage daughters, forexample, or young daughters,
because by the time you know ifthey're starting at 12, 13 years
old by the time you send, ifthey're starting at 12 13 years
old by the time you send themoff to college you don't have to
worry about them um.
You know, they can handlethemselves exactly, exactly and
obviously same goes with boys,but obviously as a as a female
(15:50):
myself, I am really adamantabout that, bringing that, that
that safe space to women as wellyeah, 100.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
I know, I know my son he was.
He was on a cobra kai kickrecently and he got into the
whole karate and I had thisconversation with him.
I was like you've got to dojujitsu and it doesn't have the
same glamour as the karate right, the kicks and the punches and
the movements.
And I was trying to explain tohim but I've never done it so I
don't know.
But I've heard about it and Iwas trying to explain all this
to him and just like you'recoming to this thing, yeah, the
(16:19):
best way to do it You're goingto be blown away.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
And you know the UFC I mean the UFC just rolled out
UFC BJJ, which is going toreally bring even more attention
to jiu-jitsu as a whole.
I mean UFC has grownsignificantly and also the
people, celebrities there's somany celebrities now that are
talking about jiu-jitsu and howthey train and how it's, you
know, really benefited for themas well.
So the sport of Jiu Jitsu isreally just growing and we're so
(16:44):
excited to see all of thepositive momentum that is there
for it.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Absolutely so.
Just opened basically this year, both coming from corporate
America.
Obviously it's been I'm sureit's been a wild journey thus
far.
It's been, I'm sure it's been awild journey thus far.
What would you say was one ofthe biggest challenges in kind
of going out on your own andstarting that entrepreneurial,
(17:09):
entrepreneurial journey?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
And on the other side of that, what's been one of the
most the biggest rewards thusfar.
Yes, I can take that we startedbuilding up the gym, or we
started the idea of the gym anddoing the research and
everything last year around July.
We were very newly pregnant atthe time and so the entire
process of building out the gymwas me being extremely pregnant
I was nine months pregnant onthe ground, staple gunning mats
(17:39):
to the-.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Trying to keep her.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
She's a hustler I can't just watch, so I got to
contribute.
I had him yelling at me to stop, but you know we were.
Yeah, it was, it was ourpregnancy was a big part of, you
know, of building the gym.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Your baby wasn't born with a black belt, was it?
Speaker 3 (17:59):
So that's what everyone always said.
We were due end of january, um,and it was.
We knew it was going to be atight squeeze of how we were
gonna, you know, have the babyand then, you know, launch the
gym.
We knew it was going to be verytight around that same time
frame.
What we didn't expect was thatour baby would be stillborn at
(18:19):
um 39 weeks and and so we lostour baby, leo, thank you, on
January 22nd of this year, andit was totally unexpected.
It was a perfect pregnancy.
There was no signs at all forany lost moms or lost parents
listening.
(18:39):
He died of a true knot in hisumbilical cord.
So it was a total freakaccident and unexpected.
The day after we delivered him,we were still in the hospital.
We got confirmation that wewere approved by the city to
open and I remember looking atAlan in the hospital and being
(18:59):
like how are we going to do this?
This is like the hardest momentof our entire lives.
And now we have to open abusiness and run a business.
And, yeah, it was incrediblychallenging.
We gave ourselves one week togrieve because we had no choice.
We had to open.
You know, we had rent to pay,bills to pay and we had to open.
(19:20):
Um, you know, we had rent topay, bills to pay and we had to
get the ball rolling um.
So we, we, we pushed it and weopened on february 3rd, um, and
it was incredibly challenging,as you can imagine.
Um, we really just had to puton a strong face and just
survive and push forward.
Um, just survived and pushedforward um, and it has brought
(19:46):
us significantly closer um.
And yeah, going back to thejiu-jitsu community, I mean the
moment you know that our friends, that we let our friends know
about what happened, I mean setup a food train for us meal
train.
We had flowers every day comingto the house.
We we had food being droppedoff.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
We had candles, people coming over.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
And just the wind chime, everything Like.
I mean, people were just.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
They showed up.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
It was.
The support was absolutelyincredible and we really would
not be here without the supportof that community, from our
family and our friends.
And, yeah, so you.
So we're pushing through.
By no means are we over it.
Obviously, it's only been aboutsix months or we're still
(20:31):
grieving every day, but the gymhas been such a blessing for us
in that sense because it hasgiven us something to focus on
and move forward with and helpbuild in our baby's honor.
His name was Leo Gracie andthis gym is for him.
(20:52):
So we've got a sign on the wallthat says we roll here in his
honor.
And, yeah, definitely it was achallenging start and I'm sure
10 years from now, we're goingto look at each other and say I
have no idea how we did that.
I still don't believe.
I still can't believe how we'redoing it.
But, um, you know, the kidsclasses have been extremely
(21:15):
therapeutic for us.
Teaching the kids and just thatenergy they're, they're just
such so great to have, um, andseeing them grow on the mats as
well, has been so much fun forus and something we really look
forward to, and it's been goodfor us.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
It's given us a genuine appreciation for life,
see how delicate life can be.
So now, when you ever see thosekiddos just like, it's a
blessing just to have them here.
That could be taken for granted, but helping them out has been
absolutely amazing.
These kids are adorable.
They're so smart.
So we may have lost one, but wegained many, many more kids.
(21:50):
So we're giving back to them inhonor of Leo.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Thank you so much for sharing that and being
vulnerable.
I know that that will behelpful for people because it
reminds you of whatever you'regoing through right now,
whatever struggles, whatever.
Whatever you're dealing with,that seems like the end of the
world.
That seems like you can't getthrough it.
Uh, with hindsight, lookingback, like it really does just
(22:17):
make us stronger when you pushthrough these things.
Um and and really thanks forsharing that story and I'm truly
sorry for what happened andyeah, yep.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
We don't want to hide from it.
We want to honor him, speakabout him and share his memory
and bring him forward with us.
He helped build that gym withus.
So we honor him every day.
We show up.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Yeah, awesome.
So I know you mentioned youlive right here in Cooper City.
How long have you lived inCooper for?
Speaker 3 (22:47):
We moved here about two years ago now, so we came
from Davie, so we weren't toofar away.
But you know the Cooper Citycommunity, we talk to each other
Amazing we say this every day.
I mean we love the Cooper Citycommunity.
We every day.
I mean we love the Cooper citycommunity.
We live in Timberlake as well,so very close to the gym, and I
mean we couldn't say betterthings about Cooper city.
(23:07):
It's a small town feel, but youknow everyone.
Everyone just takes care of oneanother.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
It's awesome.
We have no nothing negative tosay about it, and the gym has
given us an opportunity to bepart of the community.
So it's we.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
yeah, we walk we'll, it's funny We'll.
We're walking and someone will,you know, be like oh, you guys
own the gym.
We have no idea even who.
They're not even members but,they, they, they know who we are
.
You know or um?
Speaker 4 (23:33):
you know our students will be at.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Publix and someone will say something to us and
we're like we don't know who youare.
But thank you, we appreciatethe support you know.
So it's been so great.
It's been really really great.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I love it.
We are all about supportinglocal businesses and you tick
all the boxes not only a localbusiness, but you also live here
in the community, so let ourlisteners know how they can
support you.
What's the best way to find outmore information?
Maybe share your location, yourcontact information, let
everyone know how to connect.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Yeah, for sure.
So we are located off ofGriffin Road and Pine Island, in
Timberlake Plaza.
We are again.
We're Henzo Gracie Jiu Jitsu,cooper City, and our website, if
you're interested for moreinformation, is
wwwHenzoGracyJiuJitsu or sorry,henzogracycoopercitycom.
You can also find us onInstagram and Facebook as well,
(24:29):
and then we have our.
If you are interested intexting or calling 305-349-3815.
If you would like to get moreinformation, or just show up or
just walk on in, just walk on inbaby, let's go.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Are you open seven days, monday through Saturday.
Monday through Saturday, yepand we what hours?
In case anybody is in theneighborhood they want to drop
in.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Yeah, yeah.
So Tuesday, Thursdays we'rethere a little bit earlier, from
like 6 to 8 am, and then lateron in the day around 4 to 8 pm
and day around 4 to 8 pm, andthen that's Tuesday, Thursdays.
And then Monday through Fridaywe're there basically 4.30 to 8
pm.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
And then Saturday we have a class, and Saturday,
mornings.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
We'll be there until about noon.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Okay, if you need the hours go check the website.
That's a little.
We'll drop a link in thedescription to all of your
contact information.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Perfect.
And then we also, regarding thekids' classes we have kids'
classes and adult classes.
Kids as young as six at themoment will be adding more
classes in the future for thoseyounger children, and then as
well adults of all levels andabilities.
So you're never too old.
We always say the best time totry jujitsu is when you're eight
(25:41):
, and then yesterday.
So we've got someone as old as63 that trains with us.
He's super consistent, strong,blue belt.
There's no excuse.
Anyone of any age can trainjujitsu.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Very cool, all right.
Well, everyone now, if you'vebeen thinking about checking
jujitsu out and you live herelocally now, you have absolutely
no excuses.
Get your butt down to see them,let's go.
All right, guys, it was apleasure getting the opportunity
to meet you.
It's always nice connectingwith other members of the
(26:14):
community, especially when theyown a business in the community,
so we're happy to have Jan andsupport you.
Thanks for joining us, thanksfor having us been great.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Thank you so much.
See you guys soon.
See you on and support you.
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Thanks for having us.
It's been great.
Thank you so much.
See you guys soon.
See you on the mats.
Yeah, everyone, take care andhave a lovely day.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast
Cooper City.
To nominate your favorite localbusiness to be featured on the
show, go to GNPCooperCitycom.
That's GNPCooperercitycom.
That's gnpcoopercitycom, orcall 954-231-3170.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hello, hello, friends , family, great community,
mighty universe.
We are back for another episodeof the Good Neighbor Podcast.
I'm your host, of course,jeremy Wolf.
So question for everybody haveyou ever been intrigued by
jujitsu?
If you have, we got you,because today we're sitting down
(00:34):
with Alan.
It's a husband and wife team.
I'm excited to get into this.
We have Alan and Lauren Cazal,who both live right here in
Cooper City and they own RenzoGracie Jiu-Jitsu of Cooper City.
So right down in your backyard,you have no more excuses If
you've been looking intoJiu-Jitsu.
Now is the time.
Guys, thanks for joining ustoday.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Thanks for having us, thanks for having us Excited to
be here.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Pleasure is all ours, okay.
So, unless you've been livingunder a rock, you've heard
jujitsu before, and most peoplehave ideas of what that is.
But why don't we start there?
Tell everybody a little bitabout jujitsu and then we'll get
into your business specifically, yeah, most definitely so.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Jujitsu is a martial art specifically focused on
grappling, controlling anopponent and subduing them using
submission, for example, somestrangulations or some joint
manipulation locks.
So the whole idea is toposition your body in a strong
and controlling hold to controlor dominate another opponent.
(01:38):
So it's great for self-defense.
It's a great fun activity.
It's a physical and mentalbattle, so it's great fun
activity.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
It's a physical and mental battle, so it's fun.
Yeah, I, I've heard thatjiu-jitsu is incredibly,
incredibly humbling.
Like, like people can get into,get get onto the uh, onto the
mat for the first time and thinkthey're like big and bad and
tough, and then somebody likeyou're considerably less sizable
and I can take them down andtreat and throw, throw, throw
you down like a rag doll and putyou in a hole where you're like
, oh my God, yeah, so I've heardthat about it, which is what
(02:08):
intrigues me, I've witnessed mywife beat up and humble a lot of
big, strong men, all due totechnique.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
They say, jujitsu makes men realize they're not as
strong as they are, and womenthey're a lot more capable than
they think they are.
So we totally agree with that.
We always say there's no ego injujitsu.
You got to leave your ego atthe door, because if not you
won't survive.
It's definitely a very humblingsport, but in the best way.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, my entire my evolution in life.
I'm at 45 years old right now.
Like the older I get, the morehumble I get, just naturally
without the jujitsu.
But I definitely want to checkit out for sure.
So, so, and also, if you'veheard of jujitsu, if you've
followed anything I know for methe first I heard of it was the
first UFC fight back.
I don't even know, I was like12 years old.
It's going back what, 30, 30.
(02:55):
Yeah, 93.
So that was like where it wasactually hoist.
Gracie, I believe, was in thatcompetition.
I remember watching as thistiny little guy took them.
They had no like weight classesat the time.
There was like sumo, 600 poundpeople versus these.
It was craziness.
And I remember watching himjust take everybody down and I
was like, wow, this isfascinating.
So tell us a little bit aboutthe jujitsu.
(03:19):
The Gracie family Cause I knowyou hear it everywhere nowadays
right Started to tell us aboutthat, that kind of of course.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
yeah, if we could speak, we'd be in good shape.
Yeah, yeah.
So so it starts with um.
I mean, it kind of goes back alittle bit to the ancient
samurai era, so when the samuraiwould would fight on the
battlefield.
If they lost their weaponthey'd have to still keep going.
So they would practice a littlecombination of judo and they
would use their opponents uh, solet's say they lost their
(03:50):
weapon, so they would still haveto fight.
So they would try to take theiropponents down to the ground,
try to break their arm or disarmthem any way they could, so
that they could continuefighting.
And obviously, once that erastarted to end, there there was
less combat, less need forsamurai.
They didn't want those arts todie, so they started to practice
them as martial arts and that'swhen they started to set rules
(04:11):
around them and turn it intojudo, which was take them down
to the ground and control them.
And then from there the sport ofjiu-jitsu started to grow.
So there was this Japanese judoguy named Yutsu Maeda and he
traveled around the worldspreading judo.
He ended up in Brazil teachingthe Gracie family.
So he started to teach CarlosGracie and Helio Gracie.
(04:33):
And it was a little difficultfor the Brazilians to learn it
because they weren't as stockyas the Japanese.
So for the Japanese it was alot easier for them to perform
takedowns and these submissionholds from standing, but it was
a little tougher for theBrazilians.
So they found out that ifthey're able to take their
opponents to the ground andcontrol them on the ground, that
they had much, much moresuccess because they can pin
(04:56):
them between their body weightand the earth so they're not
going anywhere.
And then they can apply thesearm locks, choke holds and
submissions to end a fight.
And, as you saw in UFC 1,that's what Hoist Gracie did
Take down these big opponents,control them and submit and win
the fight.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
So jiu-jitsu actually originated from the Gracie
family, if I understand thatcorrectly.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
Yeah, there's a little bit of a back and forth
right.
Because the idea is like hasjiu-jitsu always been around?
There's Japanese jiu-jitsu.
Did it evolve from judo?
So there's a little bit ofcontroversy of where exactly it
started, but you can say thatthe Brazilians invented
Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which iswhat the world knows now as BJJ,
bjj.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Really spread it throughout the entire world.
Honestly, they're responsiblefor that is the Gracie family,
so Henzo Gracie specifically, sothe Gracie family is huge.
They all had a ton of kids andso they all kind of spread all
over the country and really theworld and establishing.
So there's a lot of differentfranchise lineages, but we are
part of the Henzo Gracie family.
(06:00):
Our professor, stan Beck, whogave Alan his black belt, got
his black belt from Henzohimself.
So that's the lineage that wefollow is the Henzo Gracie
lineage.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
And Henzo was a legend, is a legend.
He was one of the best I know.
Well, the very first schoolsthat came from Brazil were
called Gracie Barra, so he wasthe prodigy child of Gracie
Barra.
From there he went on his ownto open up his Henzo Gracie
Cities Sorry, henzo GracieAcademies and that's where we
(06:34):
are today.
So there was a whole bunch ofGracie families, very big, and
there's a lot of cousins and alot of brothers.
So essentially it stemmed fromthen and spread out to the world
.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
So how did we get here today?
In your journey, obviously,husband and wife team, you
mentioned Black Belt.
Clearly you've been trainingfor quite some time.
Let's dig into your journeythat led you to open up this
business right here in CooperCity.
We're so happy to have you herein town.
Yeah, definitely I mean.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
it all started when I was a kid.
My parents called me Bam Bambecause I had too much energy
and I was crazy.
So they put me in all sorts ofmartial arts.
I did karate, taekwondo, aikido, but when I was 17, I found
jujitsu and I just fell in lovewith it and I was like, wow,
this is actually the real thing.
No spite against any othermartial arts, but this one just
seems very more applicable inreal life because most fights
(07:26):
end up grabbing each other andthat's where jujitsu thrives.
So I was sorry when I was 17and just never stopped that was
about 15 years ago and just fellin love with with the art and
always had the aspirations of ofopening a gym.
I remember that, that we met atthe academy and, and well, I'm
getting a little ahead of myself.
(07:46):
So that's, that was my journey.
On getting my black belt, uh,go ahead and tell yours, so I've
been training for almost 10years.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
I'm a brown belt in the sport.
Um, I started training down inmiami and moved up here to um
the uh davy area um prior um,and then I started, I shifted
gyms over to our old academy and, uh, I met Alan on the mats and
that's how uh we met and uh,our life has really just been
very much focused on jiu-jitsu,where our wedding had jiu-jitsu
(08:16):
themed everything uh he proposedto me at our old uh gym um.
so we were very much a jiu-jitsufamily, um, and it was always
our dream to open up a gymtogether.
We've seen firsthand howjujitsu can change people's
lives and we really wanted tobring that to our community now
that we are in Cooper City.
(08:37):
So that's really the long storyshort.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
Love it.
So, prior to opening the gym,were your backgrounds in terms
of your professional careers?
Were they in a similar space?
Did you run a business before?
Tell us a little bit about yourjourney, your professional
journeys that led you to.
If it was your first businessyou opened, I guess, the
entrepreneurial leap, as theysay.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Yeah, I've always had that entrepreneurial spirit.
I remember when I was a kid Iwas living in Venezuela I would
walk over to the mall, buy somelollipops in bulk and then go to
school and sell them and I waslike that's a cool way to make
money.
So I always had that nature inme.
I did a couple of dropshippingbusiness during the pandemic,
but we worked in corporate andthis has just been our dream.
(09:24):
Business during the pandemic,but we've worked in corporate
and this has just been our dream.
But I do come from a salesbackground.
She comes from a marketingbackground.
Turns out, those skills arevery applicable when it comes to
running a business, and notjust jujitsu but any business.
So not just knowing how toteach and train jujitsu, it's
everything that surrounds thebusiness that actually turns out
to help us.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yeah, we always say that our professional background
has helped so much.
We coached for many years atour old gym as well, so we had
the, you know, besides training,we also had the coaching
background.
But the professional side ofthings like Alan said, he's in
sales, I'm in marketing, and sothat has been really a great,
great, great skill set to bringto the business now that we are
(10:04):
running it ourselves, as well asjust the general professional
background that we have, I meanhow to talk to customers, how to
draft emails, how to, you know,just represent your company as
a whole.
I mean we've been doing thatfor years in our own, you know,
professional sense, so it's beena great way to just bring that
over to the gym.
Speaker 4 (10:23):
Now, did we know what we're doing?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
No, we figured it out .
Do we ever know what we'redoing?
Come?
Speaker 4 (10:29):
on, guys.
You know the things that youdon't know getting permits,
working with the city, workingwith contract just every day,
something new that you have toovercome.
But that's a nice thing ofbeing a husband and wife duo
that we can work together,bounce ideas off each other and
keep pushing forward.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yeah, absolutely, and I know it's an interesting
dynamic.
The husband and wife team.
I know when I used to work withmy wife way back when, we were
like the yin and the yang, right, we each handled different
things and it was really, reallya great compliment for the
business.
And it's great that you hadthat background in sales and
marketing, because a lot ofpeople they do what they do.
(11:07):
If you're a plumber, you're agood plumber and you decide to
open a business and now, all ofa sudden, not only do you have
to be a good plumber, right, youhave to be a good HR person, be
a good marketer, be a good allthese different things and it
can be very, very challenging,which is why so many businesses
out there, you know, open andthen they don't make it the long
run.
You know it's a tough, toughgrind.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Luckily, the jujitsu community is absolutely amazing.
We've had so many mentors ourprevious gym owner, our sensei,
stan Beck, and Santos and Adrian.
All these people have helped usout a whole bunch, so shout out
to them.
We're not alone here.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
So we have a lot of guidance which has helped us
incredibly the moment we decidedto open the gym.
I mean it's incredible thejujitsu community how strong it
is.
Everyone has differentbackgrounds, everyone comes from
different professions.
I mean we had so many peoplehelping us along the way that
really we wouldn't be herewithout that support.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
It's wonderful to have such a great support system
because you can really lean onthem when things might not be
working.
You can go to them, sit down,they'll tell you what does work.
And now, is this a franchisemodel, model, the business, or
how does it work?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
so not necessarily well, kind of, in a sense yeah,
it's a franchise model wherethey franchise out them yeah, so
you do need to have aconnection to, uh, so for us,
henzo, so we do have thatconnection to henzo.
You can't just come off thestreet and say, you know, you
want to open a henzo gracie'spajamas.
You have to have thatconnection directly to him,
which we do.
As I mentioned, alan got hisblack belt from someone that got
(12:40):
his black belt from Henzohimself.
So so that's the first step.
And then, yeah, we we doessentially pay a fee to the
Henzo family themselves to tokeep the name, but they have
been incredible to work withHenzo and his daughter Cora
working really closely with them.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Very cool.
So one of the reasons why we dothis show, aside from getting
to know local businesses and theowners, is also about education
.
A lot of people clearly havemisconceptions and
misunderstandings about variousindustries out there.
Like I said, I know a littlebit about jujitsu.
What are some of the biggestmisunderstandings or myths or
(13:22):
misconceptions that folkstypically have about jujitsu?
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Yeah, it could be intimidating.
It's a contact sport, so a lotof people think that they're
going to walk into a gym andthen get beat up or tossed
around and get hurt, but that'sreally not the case.
Jiu-jitsu people are one of themost friendliest people you'll
meet.
This is a place that we, forexample for us, we focus on
(13:48):
safety, on having fun, onleaving your ego at the door,
like Lauren said.
So it's a place that you'regoing to come learn.
We want to build you up, notbreak you down.
So you're going to come learn.
We want to build you up, notbreak you down.
So you're going to come.
You're going to have fun.
Of course, like any sport,there's always a risk of injury,
but we do our best to mitigatethat.
You know it starts from the topdown, so we tell everyone to
have fun, enjoy yourselves.
(14:09):
We're not competing for theworld title here.
We're learning how to defendourselves, so you're not going
to get.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
With safety and controlled environment, you'll
be okay, and we take care of ourtraining partners and we.
That's a big value of ours is,you know, we, we want to take
care of each other in order tohelp ourselves grow as well.
Right, so that's a big aspectof it and that's a big part of
our culture.
Is that safety piece of it?
Because we understand it isintimidating if you've never
(14:38):
trained before, or if you'rebringing your child to come
train, you obviously want tomake sure that they are in a
safe place.
So that's really the biggestfocus for us is safety first,
making sure that we'rerespecting each other and taking
care of our training partners.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah, speaking of child, I'm going to have to make
this a family affair and comein and bring at least one of my
kids.
I think they're ready to.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
It's a great we find that we have a lot of parents
that train with their kids.
Whether the kids are youngerand they do the kids class, or
even if they're in their teensand they want to train alongside
with their parents, that's alsoa really great opportunity.
We find it's a really great wayto bond with your child and
share.
You know, in this day and agewhere you know your kid is glued
to a screen all the time, it'sa really great way to get them
off the screen and really findsomething to bond with your
child that is also going tobenefit them significantly in
(15:30):
the long run.
I always love, love, love to seeyou know when people bring in
their teenage daughters, forexample, or young daughters,
because by the time you know ifthey're starting at 12, 13 years
old by the time you send, ifthey're starting at 12 13 years
old by the time you send themoff to college you don't have to
worry about them um.
You know, they can handlethemselves exactly, exactly and
obviously same goes with boys,but obviously as a as a female
(15:50):
myself, I am really adamantabout that, bringing that, that
that safe space to women as wellyeah, 100.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
I know, I know my son he was.
He was on a cobra kai kickrecently and he got into the
whole karate and I had thisconversation with him.
I was like you've got to dojujitsu and it doesn't have the
same glamour as the karate right, the kicks and the punches and
the movements.
And I was trying to explain tohim but I've never done it so I
don't know.
But I've heard about it and Iwas trying to explain all this
to him and just like you'recoming to this thing, yeah, the
(16:19):
best way to do it You're goingto be blown away.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
And you know the UFC I mean the UFC just rolled out
UFC BJJ, which is going toreally bring even more attention
to jiu-jitsu as a whole.
I mean UFC has grownsignificantly and also the
people, celebrities there's somany celebrities now that are
talking about jiu-jitsu and howthey train and how it's, you
know, really benefited for themas well.
So the sport of Jiu Jitsu isreally just growing and we're so
(16:44):
excited to see all of thepositive momentum that is there
for it.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Absolutely so.
Just opened basically this year, both coming from corporate
America.
Obviously it's been I'm sureit's been a wild journey thus
far.
It's been, I'm sure it's been awild journey thus far.
What would you say was one ofthe biggest challenges in kind
of going out on your own andstarting that entrepreneurial,
(17:09):
entrepreneurial journey?
Speaker 3 (17:17):
And on the other side of that, what's been one of the
most the biggest rewards thusfar.
Yes, I can take that we startedbuilding up the gym, or we
started the idea of the gym anddoing the research and
everything last year around July.
We were very newly pregnant atthe time and so the entire
process of building out the gymwas me being extremely pregnant
I was nine months pregnant onthe ground, staple gunning mats
(17:39):
to the-.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Trying to keep her.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
She's a hustler I can't just watch, so I got to
contribute.
I had him yelling at me to stop, but you know we were.
Yeah, it was, it was ourpregnancy was a big part of, you
know, of building the gym.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Your baby wasn't born with a black belt, was it?
Speaker 3 (17:59):
So that's what everyone always said.
We were due end of january, um,and it was.
We knew it was going to be atight squeeze of how we were
gonna, you know, have the babyand then, you know, launch the
gym.
We knew it was going to be verytight around that same time
frame.
What we didn't expect was thatour baby would be stillborn at
(18:19):
um 39 weeks and and so we lostour baby, leo, thank you, on
January 22nd of this year, andit was totally unexpected.
It was a perfect pregnancy.
There was no signs at all forany lost moms or lost parents
listening.
(18:39):
He died of a true knot in hisumbilical cord.
So it was a total freakaccident and unexpected.
The day after we delivered him,we were still in the hospital.
We got confirmation that wewere approved by the city to
open and I remember looking atAlan in the hospital and being
(18:59):
like how are we going to do this?
This is like the hardest momentof our entire lives.
And now we have to open abusiness and run a business.
And, yeah, it was incrediblychallenging.
We gave ourselves one week togrieve because we had no choice.
We had to open.
You know, we had rent to pay,bills to pay and we had to open.
(19:20):
Um, you know, we had rent topay, bills to pay and we had to
get the ball rolling um.
So we, we, we pushed it and weopened on february 3rd, um, and
it was incredibly challenging,as you can imagine.
Um, we really just had to puton a strong face and just
survive and push forward.
Um, just survived and pushedforward um, and it has brought
(19:46):
us significantly closer um.
And yeah, going back to thejiu-jitsu community, I mean the
moment you know that our friends, that we let our friends know
about what happened, I mean setup a food train for us meal
train.
We had flowers every day comingto the house.
We we had food being droppedoff.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
We had candles, people coming over.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
And just the wind chime, everything Like.
I mean, people were just.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
They showed up.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
It was.
The support was absolutelyincredible and we really would
not be here without the supportof that community, from our
family and our friends.
And, yeah, so you.
So we're pushing through.
By no means are we over it.
Obviously, it's only been aboutsix months or we're still
(20:31):
grieving every day, but the gymhas been such a blessing for us
in that sense because it hasgiven us something to focus on
and move forward with and helpbuild in our baby's honor.
His name was Leo Gracie andthis gym is for him.
(20:52):
So we've got a sign on the wallthat says we roll here in his
honor.
And, yeah, definitely it was achallenging start and I'm sure
10 years from now, we're goingto look at each other and say I
have no idea how we did that.
I still don't believe.
I still can't believe how we'redoing it.
But, um, you know, the kidsclasses have been extremely
(21:15):
therapeutic for us.
Teaching the kids and just thatenergy they're, they're just
such so great to have, um, andseeing them grow on the mats as
well, has been so much fun forus and something we really look
forward to, and it's been goodfor us.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
It's given us a genuine appreciation for life,
see how delicate life can be.
So now, when you ever see thosekiddos just like, it's a
blessing just to have them here.
That could be taken for granted, but helping them out has been
absolutely amazing.
These kids are adorable.
They're so smart.
So we may have lost one, but wegained many, many more kids.
(21:50):
So we're giving back to them inhonor of Leo.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Thank you so much for sharing that and being
vulnerable.
I know that that will behelpful for people because it
reminds you of whatever you'regoing through right now,
whatever struggles, whatever.
Whatever you're dealing with,that seems like the end of the
world.
That seems like you can't getthrough it.
Uh, with hindsight, lookingback, like it really does just
(22:17):
make us stronger when you pushthrough these things.
Um and and really thanks forsharing that story and I'm truly
sorry for what happened andyeah, yep.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
We don't want to hide from it.
We want to honor him, speakabout him and share his memory
and bring him forward with us.
He helped build that gym withus.
So we honor him every day.
We show up.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Yeah, awesome.
So I know you mentioned youlive right here in Cooper City.
How long have you lived inCooper for?
Speaker 3 (22:47):
We moved here about two years ago now, so we came
from Davie, so we weren't toofar away.
But you know the Cooper Citycommunity, we talk to each other
Amazing we say this every day.
I mean we love the Cooper Citycommunity.
We every day.
I mean we love the Cooper citycommunity.
We live in Timberlake as well,so very close to the gym, and I
mean we couldn't say betterthings about Cooper city.
(23:07):
It's a small town feel, but youknow everyone.
Everyone just takes care of oneanother.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
It's awesome.
We have no nothing negative tosay about it, and the gym has
given us an opportunity to bepart of the community.
So it's we.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
yeah, we walk we'll, it's funny We'll.
We're walking and someone will,you know, be like oh, you guys
own the gym.
We have no idea even who.
They're not even members but,they, they, they know who we are
.
You know or um?
Speaker 4 (23:33):
you know our students will be at.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Publix and someone will say something to us and
we're like we don't know who youare.
But thank you, we appreciatethe support you know.
So it's been so great.
It's been really really great.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I love it.
We are all about supportinglocal businesses and you tick
all the boxes not only a localbusiness, but you also live here
in the community, so let ourlisteners know how they can
support you.
What's the best way to find outmore information?
Maybe share your location, yourcontact information, let
everyone know how to connect.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Yeah, for sure.
So we are located off ofGriffin Road and Pine Island, in
Timberlake Plaza.
We are again.
We're Henzo Gracie Jiu Jitsu,cooper City, and our website, if
you're interested for moreinformation, is
wwwHenzoGracyJiuJitsu or sorry,henzogracycoopercitycom.
You can also find us onInstagram and Facebook as well,
(24:29):
and then we have our.
If you are interested intexting or calling 305-349-3815.
If you would like to get moreinformation, or just show up or
just walk on in, just walk on inbaby, let's go.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Are you open seven days, monday through Saturday.
Monday through Saturday, yepand we what hours?
In case anybody is in theneighborhood they want to drop
in.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Yeah, yeah.
So Tuesday, Thursdays we'rethere a little bit earlier, from
like 6 to 8 am, and then lateron in the day around 4 to 8 pm
and day around 4 to 8 pm, andthen that's Tuesday, Thursdays.
And then Monday through Fridaywe're there basically 4.30 to 8
pm.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
And then Saturday we have a class, and Saturday,
mornings.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
We'll be there until about noon.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Okay, if you need the hours go check the website.
That's a little.
We'll drop a link in thedescription to all of your
contact information.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Perfect.
And then we also, regarding thekids' classes we have kids'
classes and adult classes.
Kids as young as six at themoment will be adding more
classes in the future for thoseyounger children, and then as
well adults of all levels andabilities.
So you're never too old.
We always say the best time totry jujitsu is when you're eight
(25:41):
, and then yesterday.
So we've got someone as old as63 that trains with us.
He's super consistent, strong,blue belt.
There's no excuse.
Anyone of any age can trainjujitsu.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Very cool, all right.
Well, everyone now, if you'vebeen thinking about checking
jujitsu out and you live herelocally now, you have absolutely
no excuses.
Get your butt down to see them,let's go.
All right, guys, it was apleasure getting the opportunity
to meet you.
It's always nice connectingwith other members of the
(26:14):
community, especially when theyown a business in the community,
so we're happy to have Jan andsupport you.
Thanks for joining us, thanksfor having us been great.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Thank you so much.
See you guys soon.
See you on and support you.
Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Thanks for having us.
It's been great.
Thank you so much.
See you guys soon.
See you on the mats.
Yeah, everyone, take care andhave a lovely day.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast
Cooper City.
To nominate your favorite localbusiness to be featured on the
show, go to GNPCooperCitycom.
That's GNPCooperercitycom.
That's gnpcoopercitycom, orcall 954-231-3170.
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