I would like to a wish Happy Christmas to all members and sincerely thank you for your support throughout the year.

 2011 was a great year for the club. With Mark moving on to the bright lights of Donegal we made a few changes to our class programme. Our new affiliation with BJJ Revolution Team has worked out really well. Getting Fergal Quinlan up to take classes has been great and of course we also had three Revolution black belts in the gym conducting seminars. BJJ in the gi has really taken off in the club and I think it is fair to say that there was been a big jump in the overall standard over the year. Congrats again to all those who received their blue belts off Rodrigo, Demitrius and Andy.

The move to our new premises has proved a great success and I would like to thank again everybody who helped make the move happen. It was a pretty stressful time but it worked out well in the end.

Our Point Blank Kids had great success in the Junior National Wrestling Championships in Limerick, bringing home a huge haul of medals.

Our MMA fight team went a very respectable 7-3 over the course of the year.

Plans for 2012 are already coming together. Expect to see a few changes around the gym over the next few months. I am also hoping to see a lot more people entering competitions representing the club. There will be BJJ competitions coming up as well as MMA Leagues to enter. There will also be plenty of opportunities for guys to make the step up to compete in the cage.

Finally I would like to say a special thank you to Ben, Garry, Ruth, Mike and everybody else who helped out coaching. They say good help is hard to find, I’m not so sure.

Tim

 PS Keep up to date, check out our Facebook page

Congratulations to all the Point Blank kids and teenagers who competed in the Junior National Wrestling Championships in Limerick last weekend. The competition was hosting by Dermot McGrath and Catherine Costigan in the Pankration Kickboxing Academy and attracted over 80 competitors from around the country. The Point Blank Kids team consisted of Daniel, Shane, Matthew, Tadhg, Stephen whilst the teen team consisted of Sean, Thomas and Mark.

All the divisions were run in a round-robin fashion which meant that all competitors got 5-6 matches. According to coach Tim Murphy “the level of participation in children’s wrestling and Jiu Jitsu classes is skyrocketing in the country as is the overall standard. There were some fantastic displays at the weekend. For me one of the best matches was our own Matthew Rafferty against one of the Husaria Team competitors. This match had it all, takedowns, reversals and near pins. Not bad considering Matthew is only six!”

With the tough round-robin format and a high standard in all divisions getting on the podium was no easy task so congratulations to all those who did manage to do so and hard luck to those who missed out this time around.

Medallists:

Shane – gold medallist

Tadhg – silver medallist

Mark – silver medallist

Stephen – silver medallist

Sean – silver medallist

Matthew – Bronze medallist

A special thanks to the coaches, Ben Davis and Ruth Concannon for all their help and support.

Julio “Foca” Fernandez will be conducting a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu seminar in Point Blank on Sunday the 18th of September. Julio is a 6th degree black belt, having received his belt from the legendary Carlson Gracie Snr in 1988. He is the President of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu United States Association (BJJUSA) as well as being the co-founder of the BJJ Revolution Team with Rodrigo Medeiros.

As a member of the Carlson Gracie team Julio has trained with many of the  top names of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu history, like Fernando Pinduka, Rosado, Rosenthal, Mario Cupertino, Marcelo Bustamante, Mauricio Bustamante, Murilo Bustamante, Peixotinho, Marcus Aurelio, Marcus Silveira, Wallid Ismael, Cassio Cardoso, Ricardo Dela Riva, Vitor Belfort, Marcelo Alonso, Buchaul, Paulo "Mamao", Ricardo Liborio, Carlson Gracie Jr., Ze Henrique, Ricardo "Juca", Carlinhos "Bagana", Clovis Silva, Rodrigo Medeiros, and other great fighters in the Carlson Gracie Team.

Some of his competitive achievements:
5 Times Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Feather Weight Champion - Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
• Caio Martins Stadium - Niteroi, RJ (1987)
• Canto do Rio Stadium - Niteroi, RJ (1986)
• Canto do Rio Stadium - Niteroi, RJ (1985)
• Caio Martins Stadium - Niteroi, RJ (1983 - 1984)

2 Times Champion Minas Gerais / Rio de Janeiro Challenge

3 Times Rio de Janeiro State Champion
• Canto do Rio Stadium - Niteroi, RJ (1989)
• Company State Tournament Light Weight Champion - RJ (1988)
• Fluminense Futebol Clube - Laranjeiras, RJ (1987)

This seminar will be open to all, to book your place talk to Tim in the gym or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The summer is over, the kids are back to school, maybe it's time to try something new and different?

A new round of beginners classes is kicking off in the new gym for September.

Our classes assume no experience in a martial art and don't expect you to be fit. Getting you fit is our job!

The introductory course to MMA covers all fundamental aspects to a sport with an emphasis on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Wrestling and basic striking. 

The Introductory Course is one of the best ways of getting started in Martial Arts whether your interest is competitive, fitness, weight loss or for fun. Here are a couple things you might not know about training in Mixed Martial Arts - 

·        Anyone can do it!

 ·         You never have to fight

·         The techniques work for everybody 

So don't be put off by seeing all those Ultimate Fighters on TV, they are only representing a tiny fraction of a per cent of the people that do MMA, most of us just want to lose a few pounds, learn to defend ourselves or find another pass time! Only about 5% of the people training at Point Blank ever get into a cage or enter a competition of any kind, the option is there if that kind of thing interests you, but you can gain all the benefits of our programs without ever taking a match.
At Point Blank Gym - anyone can train like an Ultimate Fighter!

Check out some of our testimonials to see how other people have found training @ Point Blank Gym.

 For more information call Tim on 087-6962819 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it