News
“Charity” Shouldn’t Have to Mean “Cheap”
Photo by Kat Yukawa on Unsplash I speak in metaphors a lot. My wife hates it. But bear with me, please. Let’s say you love basketball. You’re 6’ 7” with some semblance of...
Why do so many BJJ tournaments suck?
It’s one of the worst kept secrets in all of BJJ, but very few people talk about it and even less do anything about it. We take the tournament experience VERY seriously at Tap...
Tap Cancer Out Funds $465,000 in New Grants for Childhood Cancer Research
Grants awarded through Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation support young scientists making strides in developing treatments and cures for childhood cancers. Tap Cancer Out (TCO) is...
R4R Podcast Episode 001: Alex Ecklin, Masterskya
In our first ever episode we had the honor of chatting with Alex Ecklin. A Vitor Shaolin black belt, Alex has been a longtime supporter of Tap Cancer Out. In 2016 he made waves...
4 Reasons You Can’t Miss our 2019 Connecticut BJJ Open
I'm not going to name them here, but just think about how many tournaments are out there now... It's funny. When I started training nearly ten years ago, we didn't have many...
Mark Vives Raises $13,371 Hosting 12 Charity Seminars in 12 Days
From left to right: Lee Zeidman (Zeidman & Associates), Jon Thomas, Mark Vives, Nick Mitria (BJJ Tees) It was November when I received an email from black belt Mark Vives out...
Wrapping Up the Grappling for Good Tour
It was late October of 2017 when it hit me—an idea that would change Tap Cancer Out, and my life. I messaged Adam, at the time one of our most dedicated volunteers, and told him,...
The Grappling for Good Tour is Coming!
On the surface, BJJ is a martial art. But at its core, BJJ is much more. We bump fists before we berimbolo, learn as we lasso sweep, and forge friendships as we foot lock. Tap...
Winter Grapplethon Wrapup
2017 was an amazing inaugural year for our Grapplethon program where we saw seven Grapplethons hosted across North America in Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Upstate New York, Virginia,...
How to Raise $700 in a Single Day of Fundraising
I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not great at asking people for things. Whether it’s asking my wife for more of the covers or asking friends to donate to my online fundraising...
Presenting Our Newest Beneficiary: Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation
It all started with an idea and a passion to take the fight to cancer. Alex Scott was just one when she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. After defying so many odds, at 4 years...
Tap Cancer Out Awarded $25k Grant from Starbucks
A few weeks ago you might have seen us post a video we made as an entry into Starbucks Upstanders contest hosted on Indi.com. The contest marked the release of Season 2 of...
More than $5,500 Raised at the New Jersey Grapplethon
On September 9th at Connected BJJ, the Northern New Jersey Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu community came together in force for a day full of rolling, drilling, learning, eating, and fun,...
For Her Dad: An Interview with 3x Fundraiser Jessica Bal
Jessical Bal is a white belt who trains at Macarra BJJ/Gracie Sports in Norwalk, CT. She first popped onto my radar when I was looking at some of our fundraising reports and...
Tap Cancer Out Named in $300K Pancreatic Cancer Research Grant
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) is driving research progress by targeting precision medicine and early detection methods for the world’s toughest cancer. The...