Happy Monday Team!
We just wrapped up an extremely successful weekend in NYC, and an extremely successful competitive Spring run. To say I am “woofed” is an understatement. What an incredible effort by the students, coaches, and competitors here at the academy!
Gianna Vadino definitively defended her Warrior’s Cup championship this past Friday against “The Queen of New York,” Carmen Corchado. Vadino/Corchado headlined the Warrior’s Cup card in NYC, one of the most prestigious Muay Thai events on the East Coast. In a five round domination from start to finish, Gianna cemented her place as the woman to beat at 130lbs on the East Coast and beyond. Congrats G!
This caps off successful outings at the ISKA National Tournament, Arena Grappling, The Place of Peace Invitational, the 8 Limbs MOC competition, Grappling Industries, and the USA Muay Thai National Tournament earlier this season. As I’ve said before, it takes an entire ecosystem to create successful competitors — from the administrative staff who keep things running smoothly behind the scenes (shout out to Joe, Sam, and Keysa!) to the coaches, students, and fellow competitors themselves maintaining a strict standard of behavior and an overall positive and productive environment.
So, thank you everyone! What a ride. We’ll be taking a few weeks off from competition but there are always new challenges on the horizon so the work is never done. But my weekends have opened up (a little) for the foreseeable future for which I am grateful 🙂
Don’t forget that this week we have our 101 Seminar Series return on Thursday with “Intro to Live Rolling” — this is a NOGI BJJ workshop geared towards the newer students to provide a holistic, top down approach to full live rolling. More advanced students may find some useful kernels here as well, but we will be running a BJJ open mat concurrently so participate in whatever activity suits your preference and needs on that day.
We will also be running an adjusted Memorial Day Weekend holiday schedule, with specifics TBD. At a glance we will likely have open mat times on Saturday with all classes cancelled on Monday, Memorial Day. Stay Posted!
Parents, our Muay Thai starter kit pre-orders will open up this week so keep an eye out for an e-mail with more information in the coming days. Muay Thai classes begin Monday, June 4th!
As always keep up the awesome work and I’ll see you on the mats!
–Coach J
P.S. Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 1st! We’ll be celebrating our 7th anniversary at Attic Brewing Company from 2-4pm (and beyond). Friends, family, everyone’s invited!
You can find this week’s Junior Samurai Stripe Challenge HERE