THE RED CORNER: NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE NORTH STAR ACADEMY OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS WEEK OF 4.22.24 Happy Monday Team! Wow.. what a weekend. Three events over two back-to-back days and over a dozen competitors! On Saturday, Isis Toledo competed in the Place of Peace invitational BJJ event. She dropped a competitive decision […]
Happy Monday Team! We have some big events coming up in the next couple weeks! This weekend a crew of grapplers head to the Grappling Industries tournament in Broomall, PA in search of some new hardware as well as some of our up-and-coming strikers taking their initial steps into the competition ring in West Philadelphia. […]
THE RED CORNER: NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE NORTH STAR ACADEMY WEEK OF 04.08.24 Happy Monday Team! This past weekend we participated in the first USA Muay Thai East Coast National Championship tournament just a stone’s throw away in Delaware. Traditionally, there has only been one major tournament on the East Coast every year: […]
THE RED CORNER WEEK OF 4.01.24 Happy Monday Team! This week we see Joe Angelo and coach Bill Kirner make their Muay Thai debut at the USA Muay Thai Grand Nationals in Hockessin, Delaware. This 4-day tournament draws talent from all over the East Coast and beyond to compete for the title of National […]
THE RED CORNER: NEWS AND UPDATES AT THE NORTH STAR ACADEMY March 25th, 2024 Happy Monday Team! We are in the last week of March which means we’re wrapping up a bunch of our curriculum, as well as hosting our monthly Slamboree on Tuesday. For our Striking 101 students, Slamboree is an opportunity to […]
Happy Monday Team! Last week was a great teaser to the beautiful weather (and therefore amazing training conditions) that are right around the corner. As the world and we move into Spring, let’s take a moment to consider the ideas of cycles and rebirth. As a coach I truly believe that progress looks like […]
Happy Monday Team! This week finds North Star athlete Gianna Vadino once again representing the USA at the IKSA World Muay Thai tournament in Phuket, Thailand! Gianna’s previous international run ended in a grueling six fight weekend and two title belts. We are sending G a ton of good vibes this week as she steps […]
Happy Monday Team! February’s Slamboree was a great success — congratulations to both Mike and Coltrane on their advancement to blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu! Although technically only the second adult belt in BJJ, the blue belt is not easy to achieve. It demands a working understanding of the basic mechanics of the art, […]
MONDAY MINDSET: TOUGHNESS 02.26.24 We often confuse the ideas of “toughness” and “dominance.” We see the big, scary bully, with giant muscles and fists the size of cinder blocks, and we think to ourselves: “that guy looks tough.” What we really mean is, that guy looks dominant. Dominance doesn’t require toughness. I guarantee […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE 02.26.24 THE STRIPE CHALLENGE THIS WEEK IS red FOR fitness Students can earn a blue stripe this week by successfully completing the following workout (in one session): 30 Jumping Jacks 30 Situps 1-Minute Plank (no knees touch the floor) Repeat 3 times through (a total of 90/90/3min)
Happy Monday Team! We are more than halfway through February already, which means Spring is just around the corner (at least, on the calendar — who knows, we may be besieged by snow for another few months the way this year is going). 2024 has been off to an incredibly strong start and I am […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE 02.19.24 THE STRIPE CHALLENGE THIS WEEK IS blue FOr initiative Students can earn a blue stripe this week by successfully completing a chore (or chores/tasks) of their parents’ choice. Students must fully complete the task in order to be eligible for the stripe.
Happy Monday Team! Today is almost exactly seven years since we opened our doors here at the North Star Academy. On February 11th, 2017, I ran an open house out of our former location inside of Balance Chestnut Hill. This event featured two guest instructors (Sam Oropreza and Joe Stripling) with over forty people in […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE 02.12.24 THE STRIPE CHALLENGE THIS WEEK IS greeN FOR technique Students: teach your parent the guard position (remember, “small is STRONG and big is WEAK”). Then, drill 20 guard passes on your parent’s guard. A guard pass is when we clear the legs and secure the side mount, knee on […]
THE RED CORNER 02.05.24 NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE NORTH STAR ACADEMY Happy Monday Team! We are back from a quick trip down South for Gianna’s MMA debut. We didn’t pick up that Hollywood ending but in these combat sports, you go out there and play your hand and sometimes come up short. […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE 02.05.24 THE STRIPE CHALLENGE THIS WEEK IS RED FOR FITNESS Students can earn their red stripe this week by successfully completing 50 pushups a day for three days in a row. Must be consecutive!
THE RED CORNER 01.29.24 NEWS AND UPDATES FROM THE NORTH STAR ACADEMY IN PHILADELPHIA Happy Monday Team! As always you can find the Monday Mindset and Junior Samurai articles linked at the bottom here (and make sure to follow us on Instagram as well, we post everything there as well). We are wrapping […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE 01.29.24 THEME OF THE WEEK: INITIATIVE Our Junior Samurai stripe challenge this week is blue for initiative. Students can earn a blue stripe by taking it upon themselves to clean their room. The extent of the cleaning is up to the parent or parents’ judgment. Students will have until Monday, February 5th, […]
Happy Monday Team! We are fresh off a successful weekend of competition, seeing striking coach Trevon “Beast Boy” Scales pick up a dominant decision win over a very game opponent at Freedom Fighting Championships’ first event here in Philadelphia. Trevon has consistently leveled up fight after fight and was able to put his hands together […]
JUNIOR SAMURAI STRIPE CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK OF 01.15.24 Students can earn a red stripe for Physical Fitness this week by successfully completing the following workout: 25 pushups 25 monkey crawls 25 squats Repeat 4 times in a row. This workout must be completed from start to finish in one session and cannot be broken down […]
THE RED CORNER || 01.15.24 || NEWS AND EVENTS AT THE NORTH STAR ACADEMY IN PHILADELPHIA Happy Monday Team! We are finally back to our regularly scheduled programming here every Monday! In October, we were told that our gym management software — which basically runs scheduling, tuition, e-mails, and everything in between — was literally […]
Z THE RED CORNER RETURNS ON MONDAY! CLASS REGISTRATION AND ATTENDANCE TO BEGIN ON FEBRUARY 1ST Hey Team! Coach Jackson here — Wanted to give you all a few quick updates on what we’ve been cooking up in the back room (or, more appropriately, how we’ve been putting out the kitchen fires for […]
MONDAY MINDSET: THANKSGIVING Mental tips, tricks, and new perspectives Just want to give a shout out to everyone reading this that I am incredibly grateful that you are all part of this academy!. Visitors regularly compliment me on how awesome the gym is, and I am quick to tell them that it’s the people that […]
THE RED CORNER || 11.27.23 || JIU JITSU CLASSES News and updates from North Star Mixed Martial Arts Happy Monday Team! Sadly this will probably be the final Monday newsletter with this format — we are transitioning over to a new software and its e-mail editor kinda stinks. As with all good things, […]
MONDAY MINDSET: GRATITUDE MENTAL TIPS, TRICKS, AND NEW PERSPECTIVES Short one for you today. I just want to share a moment I had earlier this month: I had just parked outside the venue in Hatfield for the Tap Cancer Out tournament. The weather was beautiful. I had just trained a bit earlier in […]
THE RED CORNER || 11.20.23 || MUAY THAI CLASSES NEWS AND EVENTS FROM NORTH STAR MIXED MARTIAL ARTS Happy Monday Team! Big props to coach Tre who put it on the line this past Saturday night, fighting for the Gut Check Championships 115lb belt. Tre came up short in a 5 round full […]
MMA, JIU JITSU, AND MUAY THAI CLASS SCHEDULE FOR THE THANKSGIVING 2023 HOLIDAY WEEK Please note the following class lineup! Hey Team! With Thanksgiving on the horizon next week, I wanted to send over our adjusted holiday schedule. Beyond the schedule, I’ve included a copy of the billing update email I sent […]
MONDAY MINDSET: BE THE PROBLEM, DON’T SOLVE THE PROBLEM Mental tips, tricks, and productive perspectives. Monday Mindset: Be The Problem, Don’t Solve The Problem When stepping onto the mats or the ring canvas for the first few times, it’s easy to view the upcoming fight as a problem that you need to solve. I suppose that, objectively, there’s some truth to that: each opponent will […]
THE RED CORNER || 11.13.23 || PHILADELPHIA MUAY THAI News and updates from North Star MMA in Philadelphia Happy Monday Team! We are fresh off a long and productive competitive weekend with both our Jiu Jitsu team and our Striking Team putting in the work. On Saturday, we participated in the Tap Cancer Out Charity Tournament in […]
The Jiu Jitsu Competition Team headed up to Hatfield, PA for an afternoon of BJJ at the Tap Cancer Out Charity Tournament! Congrats to Dashaun Kimp, Ryan DeRobertis, and Kelsey O’Brien for their gold medal finishes. Action and silly shots below 🙂
MONDAY MINDSET || 11.06.23 || PHILADELPHIA MMA Mental tips, tricks, and productive perspectives Monday Mindset: You’re Both The Driver — And The Mechanic Imagine this scenario: you’re behind the wheel of an F1 race car in the most important race of your life. You pull into the pit stop and the lead mechanic slaps a few things together then offers you a thumbs up. “Hey […]
THE RED CORNER || 11.06.23 || PHILADELPHIA MMA News and updates from North Star MMA in Philadelphia Happy Monday Team! We are going to be firing off on all cylinders until we reach the Thanksgiving Holiday, so buckle up and get ready to roll! Our full event lineup is as follows: 11.11 Tap Cancer […]
Hey Team! Just a reminder that our new Friday night class starts this week! Friday Night’s Jiu Jitsu 101 “Nogi Live Drills” class will focus on positional, live drills both incorporating and moving beyond the position of the month. This class is open to all BJJ students with 1+ months experience, and the nogi apparel […]
Monday Mindset: Yin and Yang Lately, I’ve been fascinated with the Yin Yang symbol. For something so simple, the depth contained within could span entire book series (and, I’m sure, it has over the centuries). Today I want to speak on only one element of the symbol: the contrasting dot within the center of each opposing side. In the white side, there is a black dot; and in the black side, a […]
THE RED CORNER NEWS AND EVENTS FROM NORTH STAR MMA Happy Monday Team! Just wrapped up a great training session with the Tap Cancer Out competition team and everyone is looking super sharp! The TCO tournament is scheduled for November 11th in Hatfield, PA. If you would like to donate to the cause, you can visit the team fundraising page here (and donate […]
To be fair, it’s not a necessary requirement to be in elite shape to be successful in combat sports. Plenty examples exist of poorly conditioned athletes winning their fights due to disparities in skill, advantageous stylistic matchups, or just pure luck. With that said, good conditioning solves every problem that bad conditioning creates. One of the most […]
THE RED CORNER NEWS AND EVENTS HERE AT NORTH STAR MMA Happy Monday Team! Big congratulations to marquee fighter Gianna Vadino who went 6-0 with 3 stoppages en route to double gold in both the Muay Thai and K1 divisions at the ISKA World Championships in Munich, Germany. Gianna squared off against athletes from […]
THE RED CORNER News and events here at north star mma Happy Monday Team! Lots coming up this second half of October. Yeesh. Rather than drawl on and on about it, I’m going to organize everything into neat little bullet points below for your reference: Gianna Vadino heads to Germany to represent the USA […]
Monday Mindset: It’ll Never Be Good Enough — And That’s Great Quick perspective for you today: Imagine you’re an MLB pitcher with a 90 MPH fastball. By all accounts, that’s an amazing feat of athleticism, and yet in the MLB it’s pretty average. You’ve spent your whole life working on that pitch. Decades, even, devoted […]
FINDING THE RIGHT MMA GYM FOR YOU HOW YOU SHOULD PRIORITIZE THE QUALITIES OF EACH MMA SCHOOL NEAR YOU TO PICK THE PLACE THAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU As a gym owner, I’m forced to be somewhat capable in all areas — of course, being a black belt in BJJ and a retired professional […]
MONDAY MINDSET: ONE STEP AT A TIME MARTIAL ARTS MINDSET FOR SUCCESS BOTH ON AND OFF THE MATS Short one for you this week. This is just a quick reminder to allow yourself to work towards your goals one small step at a time. We often paralyze ourselves by trying to conquer the magnitude of our […]
THE RED CORNER || 10.02.23 || UPDATES FROM THE NORTH STAR MMA ACADEMY IN PHILADELPHIA Happy Monday Team! Hard to believe we’re already in Spooky Season, aka October! It’s my favorite time of the month (largely due to Halloween and a much-needed break from the hot weather), and also one of my favorite times on the mats. People are […]
MONDAY MINDSET: SERVICE MARTIAL ARTS MINDSET FOR SUCCESS BOTH ON AND OFF THE MATS Too often we approach things we enjoy as if they exist to serve us. Truthfully (and to an extent, problematically), many of our pastimes and hobbies do. Video games, Netflix, snacking — these are indulgent behaviors and often serve their purpose well. For […]
THE RED CORNER || 09.25.23 || Updates from the north star mma academy in philadelphia Happy Monday Team! We have a HUGE week ahead of us in our Jiu Jitsu program. Before I get into details, let’s give a big congrats to our Jiu Jitsu competition team for a solid performance this past weekend at […]
Monday Mindset: Discipline Bridges the Gap I feel like we all know what we should be doing.Eating better, sleeping more, exercising often. It’s not complicated. And yet, most of us are probably not at the level of health and fitness that we’d like to be. Simply put, discipline is the bridge between where we are, and where […]
Happy Monday Team! We had an amazing turnout this Saturday for our Fall PRO/AM Invitational Sparring Meetup. Over 55 athletes, with over 230 combined bouts, were in attendance from the region’s top competitive gyms. Getting together for some friendly but hard rounds is what it’s all about! We’re already halfway through September (and the beginning […]
Monday Mindset: The Power of Self-Belief Earlier last week, I remarked how spectacularly Sean Strickland would likely fail on Saturday against the incumbent UFC Middleweight Champion, Israel Adesanya. And I wasn’t alone — Vegas odds had Strickland over +400 and the MMA community largely regarded this as a “shoe-in” for The Stylebender. Well, wouldn’t you […]
Happy Monday Team! Back for another tough week on the mat. This weekend, The North Star Academy will be hosting athletes from all across the tri-state area for another PRO/AM Sparring meetup. This event draws amateur and professional MMA, Kickboxing, and Muay Thai fighters from the top gyms in the region for a day of […]
Monday Mindset: Labor Day Today we’ll divert from the usual routine and instead take a moment to honor the members of our community here who are out there getting things done every day. The first responders, construction workers, truck drivers, and so on. The people who rarely get the spotlight but keep the wheels of […]
Happy Monday Team! We are CLOSED today for regular classes, but we’ll be hosting an open mat from 10am – 12pm (approximately). All students are welcome to attend and mess around on the mats! We’ll be running 5 minute rounds on the timer and the rest is up to you. Have any family or friends […]
Happy Monday Team! Wow! What a weekend! We had a great time at the WKA National Tournament in Delaware (well, outside of the 47 hours of waiting and all that.. IYKYK). Coach Tre went 1-1 in a stacked division and Gianna had a few dropouts in her division, but finished the finals match with a […]
Monday Mindset: Embrace the Chaos Every year we attend the WKAs, it’s a total mess. And every year we say we’re never coming back. Yet, here we are. (And yes, about 1000 times we said we’re never doing this tournament again but when it was all over we were like “Ok, that wasn’t so bad.. […]
Monday Mindset: Morning Routines Pretty basic, pragmatic one for you this week. What you do upon waking up sets the tone for the day. Personally, I walk the dog (she’s gotta go!) and reflect on the coming day, take my vitamins (10 capsules), and then do a quick 10 minute stretch routine. Every day. Why? […]
Happy Monday Team! I greatly appreciate everyone’s understanding this past Wednesday — we had to cancel classes due to a plumbing emergency. Luckily, we got everything under control before any damage could occur and the emergency repair team managed to fix everything up in its entirety. Crisis averted! I want to also highlight one of […]
Happy Monday Team! It’s going to be pretty smooth sailing these next two weeks until we return to action at the end of the month for the WKA National Kickboxing Championships in Harrington, Delaware. The distance and tournament format of this event doesn’t make it very spectator friendly, but we’ll keep you posted […]
Happy Monday Team! Back to work after a long but successful weekend in New York. Big thanks to the crew that spent their entire day driving in and out of NYC to catch Tre and Gianna make the walk into the ring. That’s a huge effort and I know the fighters are so […]
Happy Monday Team! We are back with another week of hard training on the menu. As this is the first week of a new month, you’ll notice major curriculum shifts in each program. Going to be some really good stuff shown so make sure you get in often! Let’s give a big […]
Happy Monday Team! It’s HOT outside so this is my annual reminder to stay hydrated. If you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated! Make sure to drink a ton of water throughout the day, and especially before (and during) training. If you are doubling up on sessions at the gym, take a hydration break in […]
Happy Monday Team! Big thank you to everyone who made it out for our 6 Year Anniversary Party! I promised everyone I’d go for an Irish Goodbye at some point, but when I attempted to escape it still took me 45 minutes I guess that’s how you know it was a good […]
It’s a tale as old as time — the new student wants to work on the advanced skills, but the coach stresses the basics. In two decades of training and teaching, I’ve come to just accept that this is the way things usually are. And that’s ok. But consider this: you can’t […]
Happy Monday Team! Congratulations to all our competitors from this past weekend at Grappling Industries! Both Dashaun Kimp and Joe Angelo placed first in their respective divisions with clean sweeps of their opponents throughout. Grant Boyd, Garret Powers, David Cross, Angus Perfect, Kevin Koch, and and Tenzin Wangdak also had strong performances […]
Happy Monday Team! I hope you all had an awesome weekend! Make sure to mark your calendars for the Six Year Anniversary Party rescheduled for Saturday, July 15th, from 2-5pm! More details to come but it’s a pretty simple affair 🙂 By the way, yes — we are open as normal today […]
Happy Monday Team! Rolled the dice on Saturday’s weather not being up to par and lost that one — after a torrential downpour it actually turned out really nice! Oh well, that’s how it goes.. there is probably a good “Monday Mindset” topic in there somewhere 🙂 We’re rescheduling our 6 Year […]
Happy Monday Team! Next weekend is our big Six Year Anniversary Party at Attic Brewing Company! Make sure to join us from 2-5pm (or later, you party animals) in the beer garden. Friends, family, strangers, interstellar aliens — everyone’s invited! All attendees will receive a free raffle ticket as well (winners will […]
Happy Monday Team! Thank you to all the students and staff who came out on Saturday night to support Coach Tre as he picked up a dominant and exciting win at Gut Check Championships! As a coach it’s always really fun to see your athletes specifically execute skills that have been rehearsed throughout […]
Happy Monday Team! We are fresh off a great week of training and competition, with six of our athletes participating in a sparring meetup at one of our sister schools. Joe, Nicole, Chris, Makhi, Dom, and Sam all performed excellently and demonstrated solid technique, good composure, and great sportsmanship! We have Trevon […]
You may notice that this Monday Mindset section is being delivered on a Tuesday. Well, I gave myself a break over the weekend to enjoy some much needed family time — and whenever possible, you should too. The goal of training in any martial art is not necessarily going to be a belt […]
Happy Monday Tuesday Team! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I spent the past few days in the nation’s capital celebrating a family wedding. No complaints, but I’m ready to get back to the mats tonight and keep things moving forward. On deck, a number of our students will be participating in the […]
Happy Monday Team! We’re only one week away from the unofficial start of Summer and it’s crazy how fast this year has been going by! But looking back on it, we’ve accomplished so much and really improved the overall level on the mats. I’m excited about what the next half of the year […]
In our dreams and aspirations, we tend to focus on achieving something close to perfection — an unblemished record, a perfect physique, a rigorous diet free of cheat meals and hiccups. But perfection cannot be achieved in the real world. Our ideals are like cardinal directions in that we can orient ourselves by […]
Happy Monday Team! We are fresh off an exciting weekend of competition, with Timmy Green executing a near flawless performance en route to a big win in the cage on Saturday. We are right back at it again this coming weekend with Ade Solebo making his competitive debut at Striker’s Cup in […]
Happy Monday Team! Apologies about the lateness of last week’s newsletter. The mass e-mail kept failing to send. Hopefully you’ll receive this one on time 🙂 It’s FIGHT WEEK for Timmy Green! Timmy hasn’t been in the cage in over a year, and we are super stoked to see his evolution on […]
Happy Monday Team! Hard to believe it’s already May, right? We are nearly halfway through 2023 (and it feels like we just celebrated New Years). Time flies when you’re having fun I guess 🙂 In April, we debuted a new monthly competition: the Shout Out Show Down. Both the author, and the subject, […]
Happy Monday Team! We had an incredibly successful and busy weekend here, split between two big competitive events. First, we are proud to introduce the NEW Warrior’s Cup Super Featherweight champion Gianna Vadino! Friday night in Queens, NY, Gianna won an extremely tough and close fight against a 5x champ en […]
Happy Monday Team! We are on the other side of an incredible weekend here at the academy. Over 60 competitive athletes from 10+ schools converged onto our mats for a full day of 20+ sparring rounds at our PRO/AM Sparring event. It’s absolutely important to get good at martial arts. Being an […]
Happy Monday Team! We are back for another hard week of training on the mats! Thank you to everyone who observed the slight adjustment in class scheduling this past weekend. Any time we operate on an adjusted schedule and we don’t have a student walking in for a cancelled class means we […]
Happy Monday Team! We have a ton of cool stuff coming up in the next few weeks! I’ll detail them below, but before we get into all that, I wanted to take a moment today to introduce an idea that’s been in the works for awhile. Words have power. They can (and […]
Happy Monday Team! April is shaping to be a competitive and busy month! Make sure to mark the following dates on your calendar: 4/7 – 4/9: Adjusted Class Schedule due to the Movement Archery Workshop hosted at North Star MMA (details TBA) 4/21: Warrior’s Cup Full Rules Muay Thai in Queens, NY 4/22: Grappling Industries […]
Happy Monday Team! Big thank you to everyone who came out Saturday evening to support Gianna en route to her championship win. Gianna won all five rounds to secure the title with a dominant score of 50-45, making a big statement in the regional scene. Although Gianna did the heavy lifting, proper preparation […]
Happy Monday Team! It’s FIGHT WEEK! Gianna’s hard work will come to fruition this Saturday night as she squares off for the USKA Full Rules Muay Thai championship belt. Gianna is currently #2 in ticket sales, but if you’re not first you’re last 🙂 So let’s make her #1! You can grab tickets […]
Happy Monday Team! Springtime is almost here! And with it some exciting events at the academy lined up for you. But first, just a reminder that we are operating on an adjusted schedule for Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. All other days will be scheduled as normal. Changes in the daily lineup will be italicized […]
Happy Monday Team! Big congrats to our Jr. Samurai alumni and also assistant instructor, Madison, on her clean sweep this weekend at NAGA. Madison has been significantly maturing as a grappler over the last few months especially, and showcased an intelligent and aggressive style en route to winning both her divisions. She is, […]
Happy Monday Team! Yes, we are open today! Last weekend (2/11) we had a great showing for our “Path to Blue Belt” in-house seminar. We are considering doing a more regular seminar series so as to take some deep dives into basic, but large, concepts. What would you like to see? Let me […]
Happy Monday Team! Full disclosure: it’s currently Sunday @ 3pm as I’m writing this (I write these in advance, because “early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable ). So maybe it’s a super happy Monday, or maybe it’s a super sad Monday. Either way, I hope you all enjoyed […]
Happy Monday Team! We had a great time at the MOC Sparring event at 8 Limbs Academy yesterday in West Philadelphia. Ken, Tre, and Ade all stepped into the ring and put on a fine showing. Fighting is a team sport, even though you go out there alone. Without a strong support […]
Happy Monday Team! Today starts the debut of our new Striking 101 Curriculum! While the coaches and I are definitely excited to move forward with our new approach, the reality is that on the mats it won’t be too different 🙂 Before we get into the details of what’s changed, I want […]
Happy Monday Team! Hard to believe, but next month is our 6 year anniversary! I have some crazy stories to tell from the “early years” but believe it or not, we have some ride-or-die students still with us from the get-go. Big shout out to Jamie Ueberroth, Ken Mosely, Colleen Tozer, Coach Bill, […]
Happy Monday Team! And, yes, we are open as normal today. What else would we be doing on a wonderful Monday evening 🙂 ? Tonight is also the start of a small change in our Striking 101 program. From here on out, shin guards are required for all Striking 101 classes. […]
Happy Monday Team! We are in the process of organizing some competitive events this Winter, so stay posted for some cool announcements! In the meantime, we’ve made some small changes to the schedule. Please make sure to familiarize yourself with the class lineup and keep NorthStarMembers.com bookmarked for reference! We are also […]
Happy New Year and New Monday team! 2022 was an amazing year for the academy. After taking a serious beating over the two worst years of the pandemic, we were able to regain our footing and move forward again. I personally want to thank all the staff and students here for your […]
Happy Monday Team! I hope everyone was able to spend some time with their families this week, or at least get a little bit of R&R in. I definitely needed the downtime after an intense open mat on Xmas eve 🙂 We are running an adjusted schedule this week. Please make sure to […]
Happy Monday Team! One final push left this year with the holidays, and then we’re officially in 2023 with a wiiiiide open schedule to really get back to business on the mats. I have two updates for you in this newsletter — first, a quick note about some upcoming changes in 2023, and […]
Happy Monday Team! We’re back for another busy week of training here at the academy. Please note that the academy will be fully closed on Saturday, December 24th. We will be open as normal on New Year’s Eve (12/31). Also, for the remainder of the year, all friends and family are welcome […]
Happy Monday Team! We had a great seminar on Saturday with Jon Blank. For those who attended, I hope you picked up some neat little tricks. I do have a bullet point list of all the techniques and skills we went over — if you want a copy, just let me know! Regarding […]
Happy Monday Team! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday this past week. It was a great opportunity to relax, reflect, and rest. We’re moving into a slower season here at the academy. As such, our curriculum for our intermediate classes will be more relaxed. If you have any skills, drills, or […]
Happy Monday Team! We are fresh off a successful weekend at Tap Cancer Out! We placed second overall in single-team fundraising with over $10,000 raised. That’s an incredible amount and I am so impressed with the team’s efforts to not only prepare for competition, but also apply themselves to the fundraising in parallel. […]
Happy Monday Team! We continue to have non-stop events lined up over the next few weeks! Our full event schedule is listed below. But first, we are hosting Jon “Thor” Blank on Saturday, December 3rd, for a 90 minute workshop on the False Reap and Reverse De La Riva. These are cutting […]
Happy Halloween! Just a reminder that we are running an adjusted schedule tonight. The lineup is as follows: 6pm All Levels Striking 7pm Touch Sparring (201+) 7:30pm BJJ (gi) Our 5pm youth class is cancelled today. We had a great turnout Saturday night for our Kick or Treat 2 Happy Hour! Although […]
Happy Monday Team! It’s crazy to think we are already at the end of October, 2022 — and yet, here we are! We have a bunch of SPOOKY events coming up in the next week, so make sure to come out and get in the spirit with us. First up, we […]
Happy Monday Team! We are back after an arduous but fun and successful outing at Grappling Industries on Saturday. The team picked up 5 Gold, 1 Silver, and 3 Bronze medals in some highly competitive divisions. We are back competitively this Saturday with Isis Toledo in a grappling superfight! This week also brings some […]