Hey All, Im here with our quarterly newsletter ...... well it hasn't quite been 3 months but we have had ALOT going on and a whole lot coming up, so Im here to share some of that with you all. In the last couple of months the Den has grown and we are happy to have some great new additions to the family. We are getting new students in every week and it is adding to the great school we have and I'm loving the camaraderie shared among everyone. In the last 2 months we have seen some great things out of our students in competition . Our Youth wrestlers have been dominating on the mat and we have hit about 8 tournaments so far with a few more big ones on the way. I think just about all of our wrestlers have taken home a first place trophy or medal at this point with all placing well in every tournament. We have 2 youth girls ( Allie , Bella ) who made the rankings in the youth girls divisions for NYS. We have 3 scheduled tournaments left with The Gene Mills Eastern Nationals capping the season off on 4/4 in Syracuse NY. For those of you planning to go, I will post what hotel we are staying at in about a week.
Our High School wrestlers capped off their season this past weekend and we had an incredible 9 wrestlers in the State Championships from our program. Coach Caleb finished up by taking 3'rd place after suffering his only loss of the season in a close match in the State Semi's . From our practices we also had Nick Palso take 3'rd , Aiden Cullen take 4'th , Jake Deguire take 5'th, Logan Campbell 8'th and Keiran Cullen 8'th. I cannot begin to tell you all what an accomplishment this is for such a small group of wrestlers. While some of the other guys did not make it to States , the others came a long way and most just about doubled the amount of wins they had from the previous year. Im expecting big things out of those new guys next season. Awesome job by all.
New classes!! We have split up the kids BJJ program so we can more efficiently accommodate the new and experienced kids. You will now see a class that is designated just for the younger kids as well as a class for beginners ( white and Grey/White belts) . Be sure that your child attends the appropriate classes for their age and experience level. This will not only help them but also the other students. MMA!! We have added an MMA class to the schedule. This class is for members who already are taking BJJ. You will need APPROVED MMA gloves to participate in this class. They must have good padding in them, we do sell some at the desk. You will also need boxing gloves , shin guards , a mouthguard and headgear.Adult Competition class!! This is an hour class designated to members who want to train live. You can do wrestling , Muay Thai, MMA, BJJ , whatever you want. Freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling !! We will be teaching these styles of wrestling to our High School students and advanced youth students over the next 9 weeks. Coach Mike Paquette will be running the thursday night varsity practices. Coach Paquette used to own and run the TNT wrestling school and is a highly experienced coach and athlete. We are excited to have him teaching our practices over the next 9 weeks. Youth Freestyle and Greco Roman! Coach Caleb will be teaching these styles to our Advanced youth group on Fridays. The kids will learn the rules, point system and some techniques so we can slowly add this into their game.
Promotions!! We had our Belt promotion ceremony last weekend as well as having our Brothers in from our Affiliate School up north and it was a great time. Professor Secor spread some knowledge with us during our adult clinic while Coaches Derek and Christian put on another fun clinic for the kids. I think everyone had an awesome time and we saw 8 kids get promoted as well as 8 Adults. We have had some students working very hard and Im excited to see who gets promoted at our next one!! Big Congratulations to everyone who got promoted , a Blue Belt in Jiu Jitsu is equivalent to a Black Belt in other martial arts when you actually need to use it. You should all be very proud.
NAGA!!!! We will be competing at the NAGA tournament this Saturday at the Albany Armory. We have over 40 students signed up to compete and our coaches are going to be busy. If you or your child is not competing, I highly encourage you to come out and check it out. It's a great time and fun to watch our teammates competing out there. Our kids and teen's took 1'st place at the last event with our Adults taking 3'rd place versus not only the other local schools but also schools from all over the country and some from Canada which is a big accomplishment as most of our students have been training less than a year.
FIELD TRIP : Coach Trent has been busy training at the world renowned Renzo Gracie Academy while he is in Manhattan attending Columbia university. He has been training alongside legends in the sport, the Gracie family, current UFC and Bellator fighters , The #1 ranked BJJ practitioner in the world as well as one of the top BJJ coaches in the world in John Danaher. We plan to take a group of students down to the Renzo Gracie academy in May for a special clinic for our members. Consider it not only an awesome learning experience but a history lesson in the art as well as training at the Mecca of it all. This is one you don't want to miss and is for kids and adults. Trent will be back coaching in mid May throughout the summer so also be ready for some great new material he is bringing back with him.
SUMMER CAMP !!!
Let me start off by saying we have made this affordable to everyone, so all can attend and take advantage of it. We have about 10 spots left and the kids are going to have fun at this one. Of'course they will be learning some great tools for martial arts and they will be learning from Division 1 wrestlers , Olympic Medalists and Team USA coaches but besides all that we will be taking some field trips to the movies , funplex and the bowling alley . I ran a camp like this one once before and the kids absolutely loved it and still talk about it. We also set up the gym once a day for Nerf Wars and things get crazy. Kids have the option to buy lunch each day (local restaurants ) or bring it. Your kid will come home each day with fun stories to share from go karts , Ice Cream sundaes , Water balloons and shooting their friend in the butt with a nerf gun. Satisfaction guaranteed ! Get signed up before it's full.