THE RED CORNER
NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE NORTH STAR ACADEMY OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
WEEK OF MARCH 30th, 2026
Monday Mindset, Junior Samurai Stripe Challenge, Membership Updates, and Facility FAQ Links all available at the bottom!
Happy Sunday Team!
Apologies for the dated e-mail that got sent out this morning. I’m not going to hire a digital forensics expert but I think I may have scheduled that e-mail for the wrong month (it was from February). Whoops. Mea culpa!
So, rather than wait until tomorrow, I figured I’ll address that now and send out this week’s newsletter.
Every week I include a few links at the bottom of this e-mail: our Junior Stripe Challenge for the week, a link to some billing/membership info, some info on our “new” location, and the “Monday Mindset” article. I’ve been writing this article for about 4 years now (maybe more) — most of the time they are new entries, but occasionally I’ll re-circulate one from the archives. After all, we still take advice from the ancient Greeks, so something written in 2024 should still be relevant I hope!
In the spirit of the above, and because we don’t have a ton of new stuff coming up this week, I’ll include this week’s Monday Mindset article in the body of this newsletter as well 🙂
By the way, our stripe challenges, monday mindsets, and Red Corner newsletters are all archived on our blog: www.northstarmma.com/blog
I think we have over 500 blog posts at this point. Something I’m proud of, and something my SEO guy says is “pretty helpful” 🙂
But before I get to the article, reminder that our BJJ TEAM OPEN MAT is this Tuesday night! This will be a more structured version of an open mat so make sure to arrive on time and bring your gi and nogi gear as well.
We’ll also continue with our Sunday Sprints at the Roxborough High School track this coming Sunday as well despite the Easter holiday. For those who can make it, come out! We had a huge and diverse crew today.. it’s always both a really good, and a really bad time 🙂
Ok, on to the article:
THERE IS NO SUMMIT – MONDAY MINDSET 3.30.2026
I make an effort to keep these articles positive and encouraging, but every once in awhile I have to “keep it real” and speak my peace as a coach.
I have spent half of my life 100% invested in the mixed martial arts community. This doesn’t necessarily make me great at MMA, smart, or particularly important. But I have met a lot of people and seen a lot of patterns emerge.
Across the board, the very first big effort in BJJ and Muay Thai is just survival. It’s mapping out the basic territory, getting a sense of the pace of the training sessions, and learning enough to move through the process in a way that doesn’t totally throw you for a loop. At the beginning, this sense of comfort and control seems so far away, and it is. It’s high above the clouds, and you have to climb some of the steepest terrain you’ve ever encountered to get there. In the right environment, and given enough time, everyone does. Which is great!
But that is not the summit. In fact, there is no summit.
Once you reach this plateau, it’s time to take another climb, up steeper and more dangerous terrain, towards another frustratingly high goal. Rinse, and repeat, ad infinitum.
There is nothing special about reaching the first plateau. The view will open your eyes to a new perspective on many things, but this vantage point does not provide insights into the deeper truths of the world or even into yourself. There is much more terrain to overcome, much higher places to explore.
It is a foolish pitfall to perceive any point as the pinnacle of the journey. We tend to not believe in what we can’t see, and we tend to be unable to comprehend what we can’t imagine. Our lack of vision or understanding does not preclude the existence of those things outside of our perception. That is to say, things exist whether you experience them or not.
One of my main frustrations is seeing people slow down or quit once they reach that first summit. “I’ve made it, coach!” they say. And then they stay there. And stay there. And stay there. And then they get bored, or complain that there’s nothing else left to learn.
And in some ways, they’re right.
There’s nothing left to learn if you stay where you are. There’s no growth if you refuse to challenge yourself. There’s no knowledge to glean if you think you’ve learned it all. And no growth to be had if you misappropriate emotional boundaries to fence yourself in from potentially difficult, but positive, lessons.
I am still a beginner. I am still learning. But the most important piece of knowledge I’ve picked up over the last 21 years is this: the belief that there will always be more to learn, more room to grow, and more amazing experiences to have, even if they exist beyond the horizon of my perception.
Double down. Keep going. There are some incredible things ahead for you if you stay on the path and can keep moving forward. This is the North Star Academy for a reason, after all. Aim upwards and stay oriented.
Phew! If you made it this far, congrats! Here’s our upcoming event calendar:
- 3.31 TUESDAY – BJJ TEAM OPEN MAT. No fluff, no nonsense. Just rounds on rounds. Come get it in! Gi and nogi. Open to all students.
- 4.18 SATURDAY – Freedom Fighter Promotions feat. Tim Green.. More info TBA!
- 4.25 SATURDAY – Grapple at the Chapel: Fit Jitsu and Junior Samurai showcase and awards!
- 5.8 – 5.10 WEEKEND – ISKA National Tournament.
See you on the mats!
–Coach Jackson
You can find this week’s Monday Mindset HERE
You can find this week’s Junior Samurai Stripe Challenge HERE