Southern Cross Jiu-Jitsu Academy, Cronulla

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"Thursday Night Grading — Two purple belts and a blue belt — three stories worth telling"

Let's start with Keith. Because Keith deserves to go first.

Keith is 60 years old. Last Thursday night he earned his purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu — one of the most physically demanding martial arts on the planet. But what Coach Rodney mentioned on the night wasn't Keith's age or even his belt. It was this: Keith almost never misses the warm-up. In fact he often leads it.

In a room full of people in their 20s and 30s who are still figuring out how to be consistent, Keith is the one setting the standard. His purple belt isn't just a rank — it's proof that showing up, every week, no excuses, compounds into something extraordinary over time.

If you're reading this thinking you're too old to start — Keith started his BJJ journey well into adulthood and just earned his purple belt at 60. What's your excuse?

Shane received his purple belt with his father watching from the side of the mat — having flown over from Ireland just a few days earlier. If you've trained BJJ you know how long the road from blue to purple is. Years of showing up, getting tapped, getting back up. To have your dad in the room when that belt gets tied around your waist — that's a moment that doesn't need any commentary.

Nick's path to blue was a little different. He'd missed the blue belt checkpoint due to being away for work, so instead of a single grading night, Rodney worked through it with him quietly over several consecutive Thursday sessions, filling in the gaps properly.

That's how it works at SCJJA. There's no schedule, no grading fees, no ceremony for its own sake. When you're ready, Coach Rodney will let you know. Nick was ready.

Congratulations on your blue belt Nick — the journey to purple starts now. 🤙

Two purple belts and a blue. One dad watching wondering what was going on. One 60-year-old leading the warm-up. One guy who got there his own way, on his own timeline.

This is why we train. Congratulations Shane, Keith, and Nick. 🥋

Thinking about starting your own BJJ journey? Your first week at SCJJA is completely free — no contracts, no pressure. Find out more here.

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Hi all.

Congrats once again to all who graded this morning. And thanks to Steve, Jonathan and all the "ukis" who were there too.

Every time we run this I make the point that jiu-jitsu is more than just rolling around on the floor. It's first and foremost a martial art. That's why to be graded you must train gi, no gi, and learn the self-defence positions.

There is always one position that most people fail. And I get why, because it's more a theory than anything else. If we taught it every class, eyes would close as you think "not this again"!

So I pretty much only teach it in the grading.

How do you stand when someone is in your face intimidating you?

Do you want to escalate the situation, and have a fight? Not knowing if they have AIDs or another disease etc?

Google the story of David Hooks who copped one punch from a bouncer, hit his head on the cement and died.

The best thing to do is de-escalate it, but stay safe.

In this short video below Master Relson Gracie demonstrates it.

Notice where his chin is. Where his arteries are. And how even though he's appearing weak, he is also proving he's old tough SOB you don't wanna mess with.

Osss ...

[scjja-cronulla]

How do you stand when someone is in your face intimidating you?

Hi all.

Congrats once again to all who graded this morning. And thanks to Steve, Jonathan and all the "ukis" who were there too.

Every time we run this I make the point that jiu-jitsu is more than just rolling around on the floor. It's first and foremost a martial art. That's why to be graded you must train gi, no gi, and learn the self-defence positions.

There is always one position that most people fail. And I get why, because it's more a theory than anything else. If we taught it every class, eyes would close as you think "not this again"!

So I pretty much only teach it in the grading.

How do you stand when someone is in your face intimidating you?

Do you want to escalate the situation, and have a fight? Not knowing if they have AIDs or another disease etc?

Google the story of David Hooks who copped one punch from a bouncer, hit his head on the cement and died.

The best thing to do is de-escalate it, but stay safe.

In this short video below Master Relson Gracie demonstrates it.

Notice where his chin is. Where his arteries are. And how even though he's appearing weak, he is also proving he's old tough SOB you don't wanna mess with.

Osss ... www.instagram.com/p/DV86DcijnYs

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Changes to Suspended Membership Terms

As many members here have used the suspended membership, I just want to alert everyone to a change in the conditions for 2026.

But before I explain this, I just want to remind everyone that SCJJA is probably the most affordable jiu-jitsu in Sydney. It’s hard to be sure, as most gyms don’t list their prices, but this one does and is (from what I know, close to the average): https://alavanca.com.au/pricing 

Most people reading this have passed their 12 month probation, and so you’re rate is probably 50% of that ^ 

The reason I do this is that I don’t want to deal with members asking for a month off for a holiday, or to get over the sniffles. Honestly, it frustrates me when I know people wouldn’t ask for time off from a large corporate gym for less than a month, but do it to me. 

The whole point of the “reward rate” is to reward you for not stuffing me around for a short-term absence! 

Believe it or not, I have had members in the past use it for a week on the Gold Coast! Yes, I have had a member email me saying: 

“Hey Hodge, I’m off to the Gold Coast tomorrow, can you put me on the suspended rate just for this week. Thanks mate”. 

Therefore, as of now … 

A suspended membership is limited to 10 months. Ie, that means: 

Minimum length of time is 2 months 

Maximum time is 12 months 

As I only do 3 month contracts (unlike our Gracie friends who do 12 to 24), you’re free to come and go as you please. But if you want a week of to go to Fiji, then I ask that you respect the fact we have 12 months of bills, and I can’t ask for a week off from them for a holiday. 

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Rodney

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Gathering post 4/4

With James' grading, that makes a dozen home grown black belts that have trained on the SCJJA mats in 2025 (plus head coach Rodney).

And it was a pleasure to have all of them available at once for a rare photo!

Who will be added to the list in 2026?

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Gathering post 3/4

Congratulations to @jamesmishevski who last Thursday became just the 15th person to go from white belt to black belt at SCJJA.

12 years of toil, capped of by winning his brown belt division at the Pan Pacs 2 months ago.

Congrats again James!

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Gathering post 1/4

Last Thursday we held our Annual Gathering.

Congratulations to the Class of 2025!

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I am super proud to say that I was awarded the 5th degree on my black belt from Master Andre Pederneiras this week.

Incredible to believe that I've been a black belt for 20 years (August 2025)!

It's been an amazing journey and one that will continue for a least a few more years yet!

Muito Obrigado @dede_pederneiras @wendellalexandernu @vitorshaolin @robinhomoura @larrypapadopoulos64 @dudu.duarte @danilocherman @leosantosjj @johndonehuejj and all the others! - Rodney Ellis

[scjja-cronulla]

Half Guard Sweep - Against The Back Step

In this video, our head coach Rodney Ellis demonstrates a simple, yet very effective half-guard sweep to counter when your opponent does a back-step. Plus, in additional footage, you can see (grainy) footage of Rodney hitting this sweep in training ... just 20 minutes after teaching it! If you like this video, please like and subscribe! https://youtu.be/iPd8_bqPz_0

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On the 12th of June 2025, coach Rodney almost achieved one of his few remaining goals which is to go down the line and strap a belt of each colour on a person. This particular night he graded Mark Puse to black, Zac D to brown and Justin B to purple ... Since there were no blues due, he decided to do another black with this one going to Peter Hinton!

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It was freezing cold last night on the big blue mat, so coach Rodney decided to heat it up a little bit!

Mark, who has been training with us since 2009, and Peter who joined in 2011 were both awarded their black belts.

Both gents have put in well over 1100 classes and regardless of their age and size, continue to amaze as they roll with anyone and everyone. Not to mention that this past year they've both averaged over 3 classes per week!

Congrats also to Diefy who levelled up to 🟫, and Justin, another who shows perseverance by turning up week in, week out regardless of the weather or personal injury, who hit 🟪!

#bjj#bjjaus#bjjaustralia#bjjsydney#bjjnsw#cronulla#sutherlandshire#mma#mixedmartialarts#judo#grappling#jiujitsu#brazilianjiujitsu#wrestling#novauniao#nswbjj#everydayporrada#martialarts#caringbah

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Another ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, this time from Emma who visited us this week from Victoria.

We look forward to sharing the mat with you again the future!

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New Blog Post:

https://scjja.com/FAQs/faq_will_i_get_hurt_training_bj

Or moreso, compared to other martial arts ...

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SCJJA Class of 2024

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Welcome to SCJJA - YouTube

Check out our new video!

It's a 2 minute walkthrough of our facility.

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After 14 Years since his first class at SCJJA, which includes ~1500 classes, countless competitions, and a few trips to Rio ... Ryan Buttita received his BJJ Black Belt from Coach Rodney

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What makes your location so good?

Answered by Head Coach Rodney

I’ve had the fortune of training at many different “gyms” over the years. And I put the word gyms in inverted commas because a jiu-jitsu gym can be either just a big mat on the floor or a schmick facility with different rooms for weights, spin bikes etc …

In fact, the gym where I got my purple, brown and black belts in Rio, was nothing more than a large room on the 2nd storey of an old decrepit building.

The modern fad in jiu-jitsu facilities to copy what the Mendes Brothers have done with their “Art of Jiu-Jitsu” academy in San Diego. Not too long ago, they came up with the idea to create an academy where everything is white. All white walls, mats and everyone has to wear a white gi. The idea is to look as clean and prestigious as possible.

My favourite gym that I trained at over the years was Boxing Works in the late 1990s to mid 2000s. This gym was located on Castlereagh street in Sydney and was where I trained and taught during this time. When you walked in to this gym, it immediately hit you with the smell of sweat. You knew that fighters were bred in this place. It was clean, and had different rooms, but it was like the gyms shown in the old Rocky movies. You weren’t there for an instram selfie (in fact, this was when we all had Nokia brick phones, so the selfie wasn’t really a thing). We were there to train.

That’s why when you walk into Southern Cross you don’t see the walls sparkle. Don’t get me wrong, we mop the mats and do other cleaning daily. But … we want the focus to be on training, not just looking the part.

Our gyms colours - blue, white and black, come from the local colours of Cronulla. The surf club and the Rugby League team both use a combination of these three colours.

Plus, our location is one that we strived to get. Being in the commercial district of Caringbah, it means that after 4pm we have ample street parking. We don’t need air-conditioning, as in the warm summer months we open our roller door and let the nice breeze come in off Woolooware Bay.

For those who need to travel somewhere after training, we do have shower facilities available, but it’s not our priority as 99% of the time our members are back home within 20 minutes of a class finishing. Our focus is on teaching you jiu-jitsu with a safe, but still “fighting mentality”.

I look forward to welcoming you onto our big blue mat!