Carlson Gracie Amsterdam: 25 Years From Park Mat to Academy

Marcos Flexa built Amsterdam's Carlson Gracie academy from a mat in a park—he arrived from Rio with no English and no money. Marcos "Flexa" Neves Mello found jiu-jitsu at 14 in Carlson Gracie's Copacabana academy, where he slept on the mat for over a year and learned to teach from Carlson himself. He landed in Amsterdam speaking no English, cleaned restaurant kitchens to survive, and started teaching on a deck laid over park grass. Twenty-five years later he runs a 150-square-meter Carlson Gracie academy that he calls a family, not a fight club. In this episode: 🥋 From sleeping on the Carlson Gracie mat in Rio to running his own academy in Amsterdam 🌳 Building a gym from a deck in a park to a 150-square-meter space 💻 Why he Googled "BJJ software," found Gymdesk, and moved his whole roster over About Carlson Gracie Amsterdam: a Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy in Amsterdam West led by Marcos "Flexa" Neves Mello, a black belt under Carlson Gracie. Run your martial arts school with Gymdesk: ▶️ Start free: https://gymdesk.com/register ▶️ Built for martial arts schools: https://gymdesk.com/blog/best-martial... ▶️ Visit Carlson Gracie Amsterdam: https://marcosflexa.nl 0:00 Intro & arrival in Amsterdam 6:01 Growing up in Carlson's Copacabana academy 8:08 Nine years a blue belt 11:15 Sleeping on the mat — Carlson as a father 15:17 Starting jiu-jitsu on a park deck 18:05 From 80 to 150 square meters 22:37 Why the women's-only class works 24:57 Students who travel two hours to train 28:33 Surfing, injuries, and hard early years 37:36 Finding Gymdesk after Googling "BJJ" 41:05 Not a fight club — a family