The jiu-jitsu school just outside Philadelphia had been staring at Sam Oropeza for years.
During that time, Oropeza was driving back and forth to school, learning
the tools that would help him become a refinery worker. The pull for
martial arts training was strong enough that Oropeza was often tempted
to simply turn around on his way to work and become a full-time
practitioner.
But first he had to take the first step and enter the school. Luckily,
he says, one of his older brothers in a family raised by his mother
following his father’s early death told him the school was actually
there.