Congratulations to our New Blue Belts: Eli Elias, Sasha Strenger, Adrian Cziemelewski, John Woie, and Steven Nunez! Great job guys!

• Leo Viera week-long training camp @ FightZone USA
• Erik Paulson and CSW – thanks to Paulson & Danny Suarez
• Visit to Gracie Academy – Rener, Rorion, and Ralek

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Very happy to announce that RONIN ATHLETICS competition team member, Liz Milizio, will be bringing home two medals from the 2009 Grapple Girls Women’s Open in Toronto Canada!

After recently receiving her BJJ blue belt, Liz hopped on a bus to head up north and will be spending the week at the Toronto Women’s Grappling Camp training with some of the best female grapplers around.

The camp started off with the all women’s competition and here are Liz’s results!

• Intermediate No Gi 50-60 kg – 2nd Place
• Intermediate No Gi Absolute – 3rd Place

Congrats, Liz!

For the past two months, RONIN ATHLETICS has been on fire with exciting news, competition victories, special guest visits, much deserved promotions, and (as always) incredible and functional training!

So, in no particular order…

COMPETITION:

A proud shout-out goes to the RONIN ATHLETICS competitors who made the trek down to the NAGA Battle at the Beach 10 in Wildwood, NJ on Aug. 01.

Results:

• Angelo Vicari - GOLD, Mens Gi Masters White Belt Feather Weight
• Justin Choi – Bronze, Mens No-Gi Beginner Lightweight

So, congrats to all the competitors and supporters who went down and put it all on the line. Great job, guys!

SPECIAL GUESTS:

August brought two incredible friends/competitors/instructors to our mats and the energy was off the hook!

Ryan Hall:

On Thursday, Aug 13th, our long-time friend and grappling phenom, RYAN HALL, dropped in for an exciting night of training and coaching!

Ryan wasted no time getting onto the mats to work with our students in both the no-gi Fundamentals class and the BJJ gi class, dropping choice bits of knowledge and devastating beatings! :)

It’s always a great thing when old friends drop in and this time was no different!

Many thanks, Ryan!

Dave Ginsberg:

Two nights later, on Saturday, Aug 15th, our good friend and one of RONIN ATHLETICS’ BJJ black belt mentors, DAVE GINSBERG, made the trek down from Boston to work with a group of our students and the experience was outstanding!

Dave’s workshops are always something that every serious grappler should experience and this time Dave tailored the night around working and rolling with each individual student, paying special attention to individual progress, needs, games, and strategies.

After crushing the life out of everyone back-to-back (a feeling that we can’t even begin to describe in words…seriously!), Dave, closed the FOUR HOUR workshop with some much deserved promotions, words of encouragement, and wisdom.

Many thanks to Dave for the incredible visit!

PROMOTIONS:

The gym saw a number of promotions these past two months and each person who moved up in the ranks should feel extremely proud and confident of their new color!

So in no particular order… huge congrats go out to:

• Derek Hill – Purple Belt
• Mike Medel – Purple Belt
• Manny Villafane – Purple Belt
• Matt Weber – Purple Belt
• Tom Apgar – Blue Belt
• Dan Dillon – Blue Belt
• Fabio Tellez – Blue Belt
• Oz – Blue Belt
• Carlo – 3-stripe Purple
• Erik – 4-stripe Purple

Congrats to everyone! Pics coming soon!

We’re very happy to announce our enthusiastic congratulations to Team RONIN ATHLETICS competitor, Liz Milizio, on her recent promotion to BLUE BELT!

Liz began her combat sports training at Ronin Athletics and in just a short time has proven herself a fierce competitor with incredible dedication and technical understanding of the game., We are definitely proud to have her make history as Ronin Athletics’ first female blue belt!

This promotion is also extra exciting as it rides on the coat tails of her recent GOLD medal at the 2009 GQ Copa Atlantica, where Liz defeated all her opponents without a single point being scored against her and for her dominating submission victory (Americana from the mount) to take 1st!

Expect great things from Liz in future BLUE BELT competition!

Congrats, Liz!

With summer right around the corner, RONIN ATHLETICS classes have been heating up with incredible training intensity!

As the warm weather approaches, waves of RONIN ATHLETICS athletes—new & seasoned, young and not-so-young ;)—are packing into the gym to get their training on, taking full advantage of our full-time class schedule that includes afternoons & evenings, six days a week, with multiple classes every day!

So if you’re looking to get a jump on the summer months to: (a) “beat the heat,” (b) prep for any of the numerous upcoming competitions, or (c) shed that extra winter weight, definitely swing by the gym and dive into our many MMA, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, submission grappling, kickboxing, wrestling, or Fit-to-Fight classes!

Stay-tuned for special summer events and other RONIN ATHLETICS updates and we’ll see you on the mats (or in the cage)!