Alan Phillips of Legacy BJJ In Burbank, California, is now 71 years old. He has been training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for four years under Alberto Crane. He considers his BJJ Academy as his home.
“Jiu-Jitsu has definitely made me a better person. It gives me the advantage to look at other human beings get the chance to understand more.”
Alan says that he has overcome anger and fear issues through Jiu-Jitsu, and has been competing for the past 4 years. He acknowledges that he’s been humbled by the mats. He trains very hard and also had some skin-cancer complications. He’s got scars to remind himself daily.
Cancer has made him think deeply about what he does with his life.
“Going into the gym is like walking into a church or a temple of any type. It’s almost a religion as far as I’m concerned.”
Here is Alan’s story below:
He feels like he has to do something that he wants to do every day and Jiu-Jitsu makes him happy every day. That sport has replaced work as his passion and purpose.
Once, after the tournament had ended, a guy in the crowd came up to him and said he lost his son who used to train Jiu-Jitsu. The guy was about to begin to train BJJ too, to be closer to his son. They both cried and shed some tears as they spoke to one another.
Alan speaks about the brotherhood of Jiu-Jitsu and the caring that goes on which makes it different from other martial arts.
Toward the end of the video, Alan receives his brown belt from Professor Alberto Crane.
He wants to be seen as an example if anything is to be remembered of his life.
