Sabre Grappler of the Month - January ‘25: Danny Halliday

Our first Sabre Grappler of the Month for 2025 is none other than Danny Halliday.

Danny joined Sabre Grappling about three months ago and he has made excellent progress in that time. As he is an old school friend of mine, I was delighted when Danny reached out to me to get involved in grappling: mainly because it meant we would be able to scrap again!

In all seriousness, Danny is a very tough guy. He is incredibly physically strong and he uses this attribute well in his grappling. Along with his strength, Danny is developing the muscular endurance and cardio he needs to finish those longer BJJ rounds. From his first lesson, Danny started sparring and had success.

Danny demonstrates different Sabre values, but in his case, I think self-awareness is the most impressive. Danny knows he could use his strength to dominate in sparring, but he also knows he wouldn’t learn anything that way. Instead, he demonstrates restraint and constant curiosity about the grappling techniques he is learning. He keeps me on my toes when I am teaching with intelligent and useful questions and these benefit the whole class.

Danny, the team and I are really glad to have you. I love your positive attitude and the way you bring laughter to every training session. Stick to this journey, mate. You won’t regret it!

- Matt