Mike Calimbas
Founder of Sibol Foundation, Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, instructor, photographer, and community organizer based in Houston, Texas.
Building community through jiu-jitsu, service, and long-term relationships.
Mike Calimbas is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, instructor at Renzo Gracie Lake Houston, photographer, and nonprofit organizer whose work has centered around connecting people, resources, and opportunities through martial arts.
Over the years, Mike has built relationships across the global jiu-jitsu community through photography, coaching, event work, and international outreach. Those relationships eventually became the foundation for a larger mission: using jiu-jitsu as a vehicle to support underserved communities.
Before Sibol, the work grew through Groundwork Foundation.
Prior to launching Sibol Foundation, Mike helped lead and manage the outreach efforts of Groundwork Foundation under its parent 501(c)(3), DRC Memorial Foundation. Through that structure, he helped organize fundraising, donor communication, equipment drives, partnerships, web presence, outreach planning, and transparency efforts connected to the foundation’s mission.
Groundwork Foundation’s work focused on helping underserved communities through jiu-jitsu by providing training gear, supporting scholarship opportunities, connecting instructors and athletes, and building relationships with academies, coaches, and community leaders in the United States and abroad.
During that period, Mike helped collect and redistribute hundreds of gis and no-gi kits, support outreach efforts throughout the Philippines, coordinate charitable seminars, build sponsor relationships, and create public-facing reports, blog recaps, donor updates, and website content to document the impact of the work.
1,000+
Gis and no-gi kits collected and redistributed through outreach efforts.
Philippines
Supported communities in Davao, Cebu, Manila, and other developing jiu-jitsu regions.
Partnerships
Built relationships with academies, athletes, donors, sponsors, and local leaders.
From idea to execution.
Mike’s role in the work has often been hands-on: collecting gear, coordinating logistics, building web pages, writing recaps, communicating with donors, connecting partners, organizing seminars, and helping ensure that resources reached the communities they were intended to support.
His approach has been rooted in practical execution rather than symbolic charity. Whether helping coordinate gi distributions, supporting national team athletes, raising funds for local scholars, or connecting world-class instructors with developing programs, the goal has remained the same: create real opportunities through relationships that last.
A new name, the same roots.
Sibol Foundation represents the continuation and evolution of the work Mike helped build through Groundwork Foundation. The name “Sibol” means to sprout, grow, or begin again — a fitting reflection of a mission rooted in growth, service, and renewal.
While the name has evolved, the commitment remains consistent: supporting underserved communities through jiu-jitsu, mentorship, training access, equipment distribution, scholarships, and partnerships with local leaders already doing meaningful work on the ground.
For Mike, Sibol is not about starting over. It is about carrying the work forward with clarity, humility, and a deeper commitment to sustainable impact.
“The mission has never been simply to bring jiu-jitsu somewhere. It has been to help communities grow what is already taking root.”
Help continue the mission.
Your support helps provide training gear, scholarships, outreach programs, and community opportunities through jiu-jitsu.
Support Sibol