Today the Mixed Martial Arts Youth Foundation (MMAYF) announced their first scholarship award recipient for 2011. Congratulations to 16 year old Nelson Barrera of Dallas, TX who lives in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas and attends the Dallas CAN! Academy. Out of numerous nominees Nelson was selected because of his outstanding work ethic and wonderful personality. Each nominee was also required to submit an essay to the MMAYF which helped the Board of Directors decide that Nelson was the most deserving. “Nelson is a really great kid. I knew that he was the perfect kid to be our first scholarship recipient as soon as I met him,” said Sayif Saud, MMAYF Chairman of Board of Directors. “He will be training with myself, Jiu-Jitsu World Champion Bruno Bustos & Olympic silver medalist Jamill Kelly at OctagonMMA. We are all really excited to make this announcement and start working with him (Nelson). Hopefully, this will be the first in many scholarships that the MMAYF give away.”
A special thanks to Ms. Behr, Nelson’s teacher who nominated him. She said, “When I heard about the great opportunity that the MMAYF was presenting, Nelson was the first student that came to mind. I know he will respect the opportunity presented to him and get a huge benefit in working with Sayif and the MMAYF. I am just so excited for him.”
ABOUT MMAYF
The Mixed Martial Arts Youth Foundation (MMAYF), a non-profit organization, was created by the board of the directors because of their passion for the sport and their passion for giving back to their community. The goal and mission of the MMAYF is to help build character, integrity, confidence, self- respect, discipline and physical fitness through training in martial arts and to help provide access to youth, who otherwise, may not have the financial means to be exposed to this martial art.