Caio Terra Academy Closes In The Face Of $5,000 Fines

The Caio Terra Academy is a long-standing BJJ gym that has already produced multiple world champions like brother and sister, Mikey and Tammi Musumeci. The academy is truly one of the best gyms in America and is run by one of the best grapplers to ever compete, 12-time IBJJF World Champion Caio Terra himself. Sadly, the current Covid-19 pandemic and the corresponding government response doesn’t care how experienced or elite your gym and it’s owner is. Terra now finds his academy being one of many that are being forced to close and will no doubt suffer financially as a result.

He announced the news on his official Instagram page where he explained that he’d received a visit from public health officials in San Jose, California, who advised him that he would now face $5,000 fines for every single class they found him running. Terra revealed that the gym will be closed for a minimum of 45 days, at which point he will then re-evaluate the situation and update his students on where the academy will go moving forward. Of course, anything is possible, but it seems to be a relatively safe bet that a gym as prestigious as CTA will be able to weather the storm and open back up when the state allows.

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When I opened up my academy it was a dream come true. For the next 8 Years I poured my heart into it and built something truly special. Yesterday the county health officials came by and said this was our final warning. Moving forward we will be fined $5k per class per day. I talked to my lawyer and he said it does not look like we will win. It’s with a heavy heart to announce as of today the Caio Terra Academy is closed. We will re-evaluate where we are in 45 days and go from there. Thanks to everyone for the support, the dream isn’t over yet. #covidkillsdreamstoo Quando eu abri minha academia, foi um sonho se tornando real. Durante 8 anos eu coloquei meu coração nesse lugar para construir algo muito especial. Ontem o departamento de saúde me deu um último aviso de que se minha academia continuasse aberta eu iria receber uma multa de U$5000 por aula. Conversei com meu advogado e ele disse que acha que não conseguiríamos vencer. É com muita tristeza que venho anunciar que fecharemos a academia novamente. Em 45 dias iremos re avaliar a situação e ver o que poderá ser feito. Obrigado a todos pelo apoio contínuo, o sonho ainda não acabou!

A post shared by Caio Terra (@caioterrabjj) on Aug 27, 2020 at 2:48pm PDT

Elsewhere around the world, gyms in Scotland have been given the green light to begin preparations for their re-opening as the date for close contact sports to restart has been announced. While there’s been no progress in the rest of the UK and states in America are moving at different paces, the fact that somewhere that previously had a high number of cases is now scheduled to return to some normality should be positive news for BJJ gyms all around the world.

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