The Marra Journey Continues…

My name is Leonel Marra; I was born in Brazil and moved to the U.S. almost three years ago. I’m now 40 years old, and I run my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in Texas. I’ve been training and competing in Jiu-Jitsu for the last 22 years. Jiu-Jitsu is my passion, and it has opened many doors for me. Through it, I've met good people, visited many different places, and even got a college scholarship.

I am 24/7 involved with Jiu-Jitsu. I'm either training, teaching, coaching, or hanging out with my training partners or students. However, it’s certainly not Jiu-Jitsu that defines my journey. It’s just part of it.

I believe that having a journey is something deeper than having a story. To have a journey is learning from your own mistakes; it’s assuming some risks while respecting your principles. It’s to seek knowledge and get stronger.

To immigrate to a new country is something interesting that makes us reflect about our own journey. You kind of lose your past. Nobody knows your family, the school or church you grew up in, the college you graduated from, your personal achievements, the jokes you tell, the Brazilian music you like, the food you eat. Even with your driver’s license, you have to take it out again.

Despite the fact that BJJ is my passion, I always had to work full time while finishing college and my post-graduation in the Science of Sports area. After, I started my own business, got married, had my son, and have always conciliated my regular life with training, coaching, and competing.

I had a good life in Brazil, but things started to change when my wife got sick. It was a very hard period. After almost three years of treatment, she was fine and healthy again, but she got retired at 32 years old. Because of it, we decided to take a sabbatical year to put our minds in order again. We saved money, rented our home, organized our business, and left our country with our 5-year-old son for a round-the-world trip that should last for one year.

Instead of visiting the five continents, as we had originally planned, we spent the year of 2018 driving through 29 American states and crossing Canada from coast to coast. We visited amazing places, trained in many different BJJ schools, and we shared some of our trip on YouTube.

When the moment to leave America and go to Europe arrived, we decided to stop the travel because it was a good time to immigrate to the U.S. and open our own BJJ school. So we started our Green Card process.

For my immigration process, I had to research my entire life, look at my personal journey, and gather documents and evidence of who I really am. When I look back, BJJ is a big part of it, but it’s not even the most important.

One day, I told my story to my friend  at the end of training, and he looked at me, smiled, and said, “You will not have problems growing your gym fast in the U.S. because you are genuine, and people can see it.” It touched me.

I had a very solid Christian base from my parents. My mother was a very serious and sweet woman, and my father was always very serious and righteous. I believe that to have a journey, you have to be truthful to your own principles and to what really matters to you.

We need to have values that shape our character and guide us to exceed our own limits. It is necessary to forge something inside yourself that makes you be GENUINE. You cannot be genuine just for a moment, but during your whole journey in any circumstance of life. Be genuine while you build your own journey—it’s worth it.

Today, I have a Jiu-Jitsu school in Fort Worth, TX, and I can say it’s been successful. My goal as a person is to be a genuine man of God, father, husband, and coach. It is to be someone who can teach more than Jiu-Jitsu but teach values and respect. Give my best to inspire people to be GENUINE.