Milton Campis

Milton Campis is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt whose twelve years on the mats have been shaped as much by personal adversity as by technical growth. His journey reflects a practitioner who transformed difficult experiences into purposeful action — both for himself and for the broader BJJ community.

For eight years, Campis trained at a single academy before departing after learning of alleged misconduct by the owner. That decision marked a turning point in his relationship with the sport and laid the foundation for his advocacy work. His commitment to community safety deepened further following a medical emergency: at age 43, Campis survived a heart attack after a training session, subsequently discovering that his main artery had been 80% blocked. Rather than stepping away from the sport, he channeled that experience into championing concrete safety standards — including the requirement for on-site automated external defibrillators at accredited academies.

Drawing directly on his firsthand encounter with misconduct at a former training facility, Milton Campis founded Academy Safe, a nonprofit organization dedicated to systemic safety reform across martial arts academies. The organization's mission centers on protecting children and other vulnerable students who train in close-contact environments where power imbalances and limited external oversight can create serious risks.

A central pillar of Academy Safe's advocacy is the position that background checks must extend beyond head instructors to encompass all academy owners and staff. Campis argues that limiting screening to lead coaches leaves significant protection gaps, particularly given the varied roles that support staff and co-owners play in daily operations involving minors.

As of February 2026, the initiative was gaining meaningful momentum, with accredited academies reporting positive responses from parents once specific safety measures were clearly communicated. For Campis, that growing receptiveness signals a broader cultural shift toward accountability in combat sports — one that Academy Safe aims to accelerate.

Academy Safe accreditation is built around eight concrete requirements designed to address the most consequential safety risks in a martial arts training environment. Together, these measures establish a baseline of institutional accountability that Campis argues should be standard across the industry.

The Eight Requirements

1. Background checks must be completed for both coaches and academy owners — not instructors alone.
2. SafeSport training — all staff must complete training through the U.S. Center for SafeSport, the organization established to address abuse in athletic settings.
3. Concussion awareness training is mandatory, acknowledging the neurological risks inherent in contact-based sports.
4. CPR and first-aid certification is required for all staff members, ensuring trained responders are present at every session.
5. Active business insurance — academies must provide verification of current coverage.
6. Security cameras must be operational on the premises.
7. Instructor lineage and credentials must be verified, directly addressing the widespread absence of formal credentialing standards in BJJ.
8. On-site automated external defibrillator (AED) must be present — a requirement Campis ties directly to his own experience surviving a cardiac event following training.

Each requirement targets a specific vulnerability in the martial arts environment, and together they form a coherent framework for institutional accountability rather than a checklist of isolated measures.

Academy Safe administers its background checks through SportsEngine, an NBCUniversal platform that also serves USA Wrestling and other sports operating within Olympic pathway structures. Partnering with an established, widely trusted system lends institutional credibility to the accreditation process and positions Academy Safe within a recognized framework of athlete-protection infrastructure.

As of February 2026, Academy Safe expanded its offerings by adding a standalone background-check option for individual coaches and staff members whose academies had not enrolled in the full accreditation program. This option lowers the barrier to entry for safety screening, allowing individuals to pursue compliance independent of their academy's participation status.

Published annual membership costs are USD 99 for coaches and USD 75 for staff. Campis has stated that financial assistance is available to participants who face economic constraints — a policy that reflects the organization's nonprofit orientation and its commitment to making safety infrastructure accessible rather than exclusionary.

Beyond his organizational work, Milton Campis has built a public platform as a vocal advocate for safety reform in the martial arts community. He hosts a podcast that addresses BJJ topics with a particular emphasis on institutional accountability, and has appeared on external programs including the Forever White Belt Podcast, where he examined oversight gaps across martial arts academies.

Campis uses his platform to discuss specific cases he presents as evidence of systemic risk, illustrating how the absence of standardized safety requirements creates conditions in which misconduct can go undetected and unaddressed. His media presence positions Academy Safe not merely as an accreditation body but as part of a broader cultural movement toward transparency in combat sports.

Through podcasting, public appearances, and direct community engagement, Campis has worked to shift the conversation around academy safety from isolated incidents to structural reform — arguing that consistent, verifiable standards are the only durable solution to the risks that students, particularly children, face in unregulated training environments.