THE RED CORNER

NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE NORTH STAR ACADEMY OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

WEEK OF JULY 29th, 2024

 

Happy Monday Team!

We had a great showing this past weekend at the PBJJF Summer Open just down the road in Bala Cynwyd.  Four of our athletes got right to work on the mats and we were in and out in record time!

Both Grant Boyd and Kelsey O’Brien came away with gold in their respective blue belt divisions.  Joe Angelo finished somewhere in the middle of a super tough bracket, and Jay Hilario put in a great showing in his first competition.

For the more seasoned athletes like Grant, Kelsey, and Joe, the emphasis on winning is more pronounced.  And each had some great matches that showcased the hard work they’ve been putting in regularly on the mats.

However, I want to give a quick shout out to Jay.  Jay put in a really great training camp for this event, dropped 18 pounds, went out there with a great attitude and most importantly, had a ton of fun.

99.999999% of all BJJ athletes will never be world champions.  So, why are we doing this?  To be healthy, to have fun, to be a better version of ourselves.

Jay accomplished all that and will be hitting the mats with a renewed sense of excitement and purpose.  You can’t really ask for anything more from your first outing in competition.  I’m super proud of, and happy for, him.

Now, competing is never necessary, and for many of us (myself included, currently) it is just not palatable.  However, we have to remember that there’s more to sport than winning.  There’s more to martial arts than being better than other people.  There’s more to all of this than what we can prove to other people.

What it’s really about is just doing something positive and enjoyable for yourself.

We don’t have any major events on the calendar coming up, with the exception of our Slamboree this Tuesday night (and our August Judo workshop the following Tuesday).

So, let’s move into the month of August with a renewed perspective, renewed sense of excitement, and a more focused purpose towards our training.  Let’s find ways we can do a little better than we have before.  And let’s find ways we can help others do that, too.

More than anything, let’s work hard and have a little bit of fun.

See you on the mats!

 

–Coach J

You can find this week’s Monday Mindset HERE

You can find this week’s Junior Samurai Stripe Challenge HERE