Ronin Grappling

We are so grateful and privileged to have Giles, Christiana and the whole team at Ronin Grappling to fundraise more than £600, for Walking With in North Tyneside, thanks to the support from Peter and the Team at Newcastle Fight Centre!
This successful event showcased a strong community spirit within the BJJ & MMA sports body!

We are thrilled to announce fifth degree black belt Marcelo Coppa is coming to Glasgow for a Gi seminar next month!

A world black belt master medalist, Marcelo has not only been training and competing for almost 3 decades, starting in his native Brazil in 1998, but also refereeing for over 23 years. He's been the head referee of the UK BJJ Association for over a decade, setting the standards for UK referees.

Coming along in February to share his wealth of experience, Marcelo will teach a 2hr Gi seminar focusing on half guard, followed by an hour q&a and rolling.

The seminar, running from 13:00-16:00 on Sunday the 8th of February, is £30 and open to all.

The infrared sauna at the gym will be switched on and ready to use by 15:00 and will be open to seminar participants. If planning on using the sauna please bring a bathing suit, towel, flip flops and a change of clothes and make sure to shower before using the sauna.

Head over to https://roningrappling.com/marcelo to pick up your ticket! 🌴

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Charity seminar tomorrow, women*+ clinic Sunday, ready to roll into the year ahead 🔥 watch out for the festive session photos coming in thick and fast over the next few days!

Part 2! 🎄

Ronin Grappling Wrapped 2025 is finally here!

After a lot of number crunching by Panther and Cristiana, we are very happy to present this year's edition - as there's so much to share, we've had to split this into two posts!

It's a real privilege to share the mats with such a brilliant group of members and coaches; thank you all so much for making the gym what it is (and only giving me 34* minor heart attacks).

Thank you again to Cristiana for designing all the slides & creating all the categories, and Panther for doing all the heavy duty data analysis!

Without further ado, here's Part 2!

Ronin Grappling Wrapped 2025 is finally here!

After a lot of number crunching by Panther and Cristiana, we are very happy to present this year's edition - as there's so much to share, we've had to split this into two posts!

It's a real privilege to share the mats with such a brilliant group of members and coaches; thank you all so much for making the gym what it is (and only giving me 34* minor heart attacks).

Thank you again to Cristiana for designing all the slides & creating all the categories, and Panther for doing all the heavy duty data analysis!

Without further ado, here's Part 1 - keep your eyes peeled for part 2, which will follow shortly!

What a privilege to have hosted oor own Alasdair Strokosch at the weekend for a free s&c seminar for our monthly members!

Throughout the session he shared both the best evidence based data and practical examples of how to build your own conditioning programme.
Alasdair is uniquely qualified to support combat athletes. A former professional rugby player with over 15 years’ experience across Scotland, England and France including playing for the Scottish national team, Alasdair also holds black belts in both judo and karate.
To top up his experience as an athlete and lifelong student of martial arts, he has worked as a Senior Athletic Performance Coach for Glasgow Warriors, as lead S&C Coach for the Scotland U20 national rugby team and S&C Coach for Edinburgh Rugby.

This was a brilliant and insightful session all round, with plenty more to come in future!

Just over a month ago, I had the distinct honour of promoting Stephen Robinson to purple belt BJJ - this is a particularly important promotion for me and the club, as Ronin Grappling would not exist were it not for Steve.

Steve is the man who brought me back into martial arts after a some time away. I'd become pretty scunnered after 15 years of training, and hadn't trained in a while; that all changed when I came to Mearns Castle Martial Arts in 2007.
From the very moment I walked in, Steve made me feel welcome and invested a lot of time in me (probably because I was never particularly bright). I didn't know what he saw in me but I will always be thankful that he took me under his wing, guiding me and occasionally smacking some sense into me (figuratively speaking)!

I could have grown up so differently if it wasn’t for Steve, and him setting me on my path. I took a lot of cues from him, and as an open, welcoming, understanding man who doesn't tolerate bu****it, I couldn't have asked for a better mentor.
Steve and I have travelled all over to various countries, trained with many different coaches, in constant pursuit of knowledge. Steve is a life-long student and relentlessly pursues greater understanding of the martial arts; he has no qualms about being a white belt again. That's not to mention his many, many years of competing in kickboxing, Muay Thai and BJJ. In an industry full of McDojos, paper tigers and con-artists, Steve has never stopped putting in the hard work and has never shied away from testing himself - as Steve has always said "Walk Softly and Carry a Big Stick".

Steve had been a blue belt for a long time, and had taken nearly a decade away from Jiu Jitsu to focus on other arts, so I was honoured when he chose to start training BJJ again at Ronin Grappling - it didn't take long for him to pick up where he left off, and that same drive for knowledge and understanding has led to him flourishing.
I'm glad that I finally have a chance to repay him for all that he's done for me. It's a privilege to be able to train with the man who helped shape me and change my life for the better.

Your purple belt is well and truly earned, my friend.

Just over a month ago, I had the pleasure of promoting Fergus Robinson to blue belt!

Young Fergus has always been athletic and involved in martial arts, thanks to his parents who've always encouraged him and his siblings to keep active - his father Steve is a life-long martial artist and an excellent role model, so he wasn't short of inspiration!

Another thing Fergus isn't short of is people singing his praises - he's had a number of people telling me just how well he's doing, and badgering me to promote him but when one of the coaches started nudging me towards giving him his blue belt, it was definitely a sign!
Fergus has the skills and capability of a blue belt, which became obvious whenever I've trained with him - the last piece of the puzzle was to remind him to have faith in his abilities.

I really look forward to seeing how Fergus grows and develops as he continues training, and becomes a well-rounded practitioner.

Well done, Fergus!

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A little while ago, I had the privilege of promoting Christine Willshire to purple belt!

Christine has been training since 2019 & joined us in 2021, and it has been a joy to see her develop - not just in terms of her understanding of Jiu Jitsu and ability to apply it under pressure, but also more recently as an assistant coach at the Women* & Non-Binary intro course. Christine is content to quietly work on developing her skills but will not shy away from seeking advice from the coaches and this year it became apparent to myself and a few of the other coaches that she was getting closer and closer to her purple belt.
In the latter half of this year, I certainly noticed her rolling with greater skill and confidence and after encouraging her to kick the s**t out of me, I was particularly pleased to see first hand just how far she'd come as a practitioner and just how formidable she was, and it became clear she was due her purple belt.

Christine has been one of the most consistent and determined members at the club, always on the mats, training and rolling at every opportunity. This led her onto supporting the newer folks on their own journey; which has been fantastic to see. I hope Christine appreciates just how much respect the other members of the coaching team and I have for her, and also how far she has progressed. All of her hard work and success has led to her now officially joining the coaching team, and running the newly-reinstated Women* & Non-Binary class, something we are all thrilled about!

Well done Christine!

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