On Monday night, we had a great turnout for our end-of-year seminar and gradings.
Congratulations to our newly graded kids and teens, who got their new belts after a few heavy rolling sessions with their peers.
They showed great heart and resilience, and a willingness to never give up, even when they were tired and challenged by fresh opponents.
Congratulations to Ali on his new grey belt, Isla on her yellow belt and Adrian on his orange belt.
I commend you on your persistence and focus, and well done on achieving this next milestone on your martial arts journey.
In the adult’s seminar, we had techniques shown by our Matraville and Hurstville head instructors.
James showed side control escapes using the opponent’s gi, David demonstrated half guard sweeps, and Alex Vasilovski shared his signature chokes from turtle position.

As the seminar wrapped up, the evening turned quite humid with heavy rain, lightning and thunderstorms.
This only added to the electric atmosphere during our heavy rolling session as we conducted gradings.
Everyone that got to experience this performed remarkably well, and true to form, gave it everything they had as they summoned up impressive technique and a high level of energy until the last ounce.
Congratulations to the following new grades:
Blue
Julian Allotta
Nicholas Coppes
Jahmira Stewart
Michael Hatch
Marcus Karevski
Chris Sinesiou
John Kerry Waite
Francis Ferrera
Purple
Navin Upreti
Houssam Sharafdin
Ignas Le
Rudi Cvetkovski
Congratulations also to Alex Vasilovski who attained the rank of black belt, first degree.
Finally, congratulations to everyone who got a stripe on their belt this week, progressing further along their journey.

While we were all worn out as we left the dojo to head home, we felt a renewed sense of pride and enthusiasm that we can carry into the new year.
A big thank you to all the instructors that make running our martial arts academy possible.
The expertise and knowledge that they generously and keenly share with everyone is what makes our academy so remarkably special.
Thank you also to all the students that give us their time, week in and week out.
You are the backbone and future of Ultimate Jiu Jitsu, and to you we owe everything that we’ve created. You are the foundation that we build our future on.
See you all back on the mats as we head into a very exciting 2023.
– Team UDA
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