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This place is awesome ! I trained with Jackson for years, he's the best trainer around. Extremely knowledgable about the sport, super encouraging! Jackson makes training fun, while pushing me to do my best. I highly recommend !
Coach Jackson is a great instructor who takes on friendly students who are eager to learn. At no point did I feel uncomfortable with the speed or the level of difficulty and the group of people who I am getting to know all seem to enjoy the workouts due to the positive atmosphere that Coach Jackson has created.
Starting with no martial arts experience at all, I've been training at North Star MMA for about 2 months now. It's become something i look forward to every week. Coach Jackson has a great way of describing the intricacies of muay thai in exceptionally easy to understand ways. Lots of personal instruction and the other people in the gym really help with training. I really like the skills I've picked up so far all while getting a good workout in.
North Star MMA is by far the best training I have received as well as the best MMA facility. Fantastic atmosphere to learn, try, fail and ultimately succeed.
Jackson Galka's expertise and technical instruction easily qualifies him as a "fight nerd." However Jackson's passion and wit will have you kicking, striking and probably laughing too.
Jackson does a great job of integrating all levels of training with all levels of fighters.
Doesn't matter what level you are, you will learn each and every training session.
Top notch instruction, astounding technical expertise, challenging sweat soaked training sessions and a wicked sense of humor make for an unbeatable training academy.
I moved to Philadelphia in October and did a lot of shopping around for a new gym. After checking out NorthStar MMA, I quickly knew it was a perfect fit! I didn’t have much Muay Thai or BJJ experience at the time, but I felt both programs were very welcoming for beginners. Coach Jackson and the rest of the coaching staff have been super helpful in helping me to develop my skills and reach my fitness goals. Coach Jackson has created a great sense of community within the gym and does a great job of keeping the classes interesting, fun and effective! I look forward to each class and I couldn’t be happier to call NorthStar MMA my gym home!
Me and my brother came to train at North Star MMA, and we love it. Very good exercise, really good for getting in shape. Classes are very personal and with very good instructions. I would recommend this place to anyone who is interested in learning Muy Thai, BJJ and looking to get in shape in one of the best ways. It is also a very fun environment with great people.
Jackson is a huge asset to the combat sports community with years of experience as a fighter and trainer under his 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 […]
Happy Monday Team! I’m probably flying somewhere over the Midwest as you’re reading this now! After a quick trip to the West coast for a wedding, I’ll be back on the mats tomorrow without skipping a step. We are ramping back up for a ton of activity over the next couple weeks so buckle […]
Happy Monday Team! It’s officially October! Which means we are only weeks away from our second annual “Kick or Treat” fundraising party at Attic Brewing Company! I’ll have more information available shortly, but make sure to keep Friday, 10/28, open — we’ll have prizes, karaoke, and more 🙂 This event is a […]
Happy Monday Team! We are on the other side of a super busy series of competitive events across the spectrum of combat sports, so it’ll be nice to get back into a less frenetic rhythm for the next two weeks! While we didn’t get the result we wanted, Trevon Scales put on […]
Happy Monday Team! What a weekend! Friday night saw competitors Brittany Walker and Paul Sims engage on the Ground Zero Grappling stage here in Philadelphia. Both put in strong performances but did not walk away with wins. So it goes sometimes! Saturday we shot up to New York City for Gianna Vadino’s […]
Happy Monday Team! If I could describe this upcoming month in one word, I would probably say “TUMULTUOUS!” But that’s not a bad thing. We are packed to the gills this month with some awesome events and changes both big and small. Please note that our Striking 101 Review Test is […]
Happy Labor Day team! I apologize for missing last week’s e-mail — my excuse is legitimate, but terrible: I was somewhere along the western coast of Ireland dodging mountains and sheep 🙂 Internet cafes aren’t much of a thing in Ireland, even in Dublin and Galway. So, apologies there! We have an extremely busy […]
Happy Monday Team! We’ve been working our tails off this month and I’m excited to wrap it up with a strong showing at the Finisher’s Submission Only Grappling tournament this weekend! September is shaping up to be a huge month for competition as well — we still have some irons in the […]
Happy Monday Team! Heads up that we will be running a modified class schedule the week prior to Labor Day (8/29 – 9/3). Often, during a week leading up to a holiday, we compress our 101 and 201 classes and loosen our ties a bit. However, the class times may change a bit […]
Happy Monday Team! Just want to send you a quick (and final) reminder that our format for the Striking 201 program has changed a bit. These changes include: Classes are now 75 minutes long (excluding Thursday boxing). Free sparring/clinching will continue after the “official” end. Gloves, shinguards, mouthguard, and kneepads are required* Additional […]
Happy Monday Team! We have a rare break in the action this month with not much confirmed on our calendar. So let’s double down in training and really focus on the basics! I have some fun and important news for everyone as well: we have made some changes to our Jiu Jitsu […]
Happy Monday Team! Back to work after a packed weekend! Our Path to Blue Belt workshop was packed — I hope you all got something out of it. When we go over a comprehensive and exhaustive set of ideas and concepts, it’s unrealistic to absorb everything. Many of these concepts require multiple […]
Happy Monday Team! Got a scorcher of a week on deck, so make sure you are setting yourselves up for success by hydrating like crazy throughout the day! We have a busy Saturday coming up as well, so we’ve made some small adjustments to our weekend schedule to accommodate it all. Please […]
Happy Monday team! Have a little more for you to chew on today.. we are covering three topics in this newsletter so sit down with a cup of warm joe and make sure to get yourself up to speed! We are hitting the mats fresh off another successful weekend in competition. On […]
Happy Monday Team! Looking forward to another great week on the mats with you all. Don’t forget, Trevon Scales is competing this Saturday for Gut Check Championships in Hockessin, Delaware (about an hour from the gym). We have tickets available at the front desk! On Saturday, June 25th at 1pm, we will […]
Happy Monday Team! June is going to be a busy month here at the academy — we have something cool happening almost every weekend! 6/18 Gut Check Championships featuring Trevon Scales Hockessin, DE. See Trevon or a coach for tickets. 6/26 FLOWwork movement workshop with Coach Alex Brazinski Info and Registration can […]
Feliz Lunes, equipe! I am writing to you from sunny (very, very sunny) Catalonia, Spain! Aside from some great BJJ training, it’s basically been hiking, history, beach, and wine. Can’t complain! I’ll be back on the mats Friday, June 3rd, ready to go — hopefully I can avoid sunburn over the next […]
Happy Monday Team! We have a beautiful week of training ahead of us, let’s get after it! Please remember we have an adjusted schedule for Memorial Day Weekend (see below). This will affect class times throughout the week starting this Wednesday. Please make sure to check, and double check, the schedule before […]
Happy Monday Team! We are heading into an important week here at the academy, with the return of our Striking 101 Review Test on Wednesday! This test is for any student that has completed more than 4 consistent weeks of training in our fundamentals program. Participation is free, but you will need […]
Every year as the weather starts to warm up I give my annual “hygiene chat,” which is basically just a quick guide for you — yes, you — to follow so that we can all get down and dirty on the mats without getting, well, actually dirty 🙂 Before we get to that, big congrats […]
Happy Monday Team! Let’s give a big congrats to The Wall himself, Paul Sims, on a stellar performance yesterday at Finishers Sub Only! Paul swept his division en route to Gold and continues to cement his place in the region as one of the top grapplers. Reminder — for those interest in […]
Happy Monday Team! I am exciting to announce our return to a more formal grading and testing system to both hasten, and focus, the progress of our students in their pursuit of striking mastery. One of my most bittersweet memories as a coach was Wednesday, March 11th, 2020. We had a packed […]
Hey Team! We are only six weeks away until the unofficial start of Summer (Memorial Day Weekend) which is seems crazy. Time is just flying, and yet we are packing each week in with a ton of great training and also a hectic schedule of competitive events. We have a break from […]
Happy Monday Team! Fresh off another competitive weekend in which we saw a number of our grapplers make some noise at Grappling Industries this Saturday. Big congrats to the veteran competitors Paul, Madison, Isis, and Gianna for their predictably strong performances. Jason and Joe both competed for the second time, which […]
Happy Monday Team! We are fresh off another banger of a weekend, and back to the mats for another week of tough practice. Let’s give a big shout out to Timmy Green on a dominant and educated performance Saturday night at Art of War MMA! As a coach, one of my greatest joys […]
WOW! What a weekend! I want to thank the students and coaching staff here for being integral ingredients in the recipe for Gianna, Tre, and Isis’ success this weekend. While our competition team is filled with highly motivated and gritty athletes, it’s the environment here that keeps them sharp and moving forward. Is […]
Happy Monday Team! Before I get into the run-down of our upcoming event schedule, I want to remind everyone that Friday night’s schedule this week (3.25) has changed: We’ll be running an open mat from 6-8pm. NoGi open mat starts at 6:30pm as normal. We are officially out of Winter! Every transition is a […]
Happy Monday Team! Spring is in the air! And with it, the return of combat sports events! We have a ton of upcoming events on our calendar — make sure to plan accordingly, as tickets/available spots can go quickly. Just a quick reminder: next Monday (3/14), Professor Phil Migliarese will be […]
Happy Monday Team! I want to start out by saying a giant, huge, humongous, gargantuan thank you to everyone who came out for our anniversary shindig. A good measure of whether a party is fun can often be how few pictures there are — I was personally too engrossed in hanging out that […]
Happy Monday Team! Man, this is gonna be a busy week.. in addition to keeping the flame going on the mats, we have our Five Year Anniversary + UFC Viewing Party this weekend! Essentially, here’s how it will go: In the main room, we’ll have a projection screen displaying the UFC Fight Night event. […]
Happy Monday Team! We have some really cool events on the horizon — the 5 Year Anniversary and UFC Viewing Party on Saturday the 19th, NAGA (North American Grappling Championships) on the 26th, Gut Check Muay Thai on March 26th, and then Art of War MMA at the beginning of April. We’re gonna […]
Happy Monday Team! I want to first apologize for whatever happened last week that sent the newsletter out like four times. Technical error? Or was I just really excited about what was in that e-mail? Perhaps we will never know.. (It was a technical error! But I was also excited about that e-mail) I’m […]
Hey Team! After a looooooong hiatus on my weekly newsletter, I’m back! I’m looking forward to sharing some of my own personal training experiences, insights, and tips here in “The Red Corner.” Traditionally speaking, the champion or higher ranked fighter would be assigned to the red corner — so it seems like an apt name for a place […]