Sabre Grappler of the Month - November ‘24: Robbie Hewitt

November’s grappler of the month has to be Robbie.

This month I awarded Robbie his blue belt, which is a massive and well deserved achievement. Robbie’s grappling journey has been a long one - he has had experience training in different disciplines before and so he joined Sabre with an existing set of skills. In particular, he has good wrestling skills that he has continued to sharpen over the last year.

Robbie jokes that he is the world’s longest serving white belt, and his good humour is to be commended. There is a serious side to this, though. Life can be challenging and it can get in the way of our training goals and progress: by sticking with his grappling journey, Robbie has definitely embodied the Sabre values of stoicism and steadfastness.

In his time at Sabre, Robbie has picked up techniques and concepts intuitively and he is beginning to select those techniques that he can incorporate into his own game. Nothing keeps Robbie away from training and it is his consistency, intellectual curiosity and ability to hold himself to account that have helped drive Robbie to new levels. As a result of his commitment to continuous improvement, sparring with Robbie is an enjoyable challenge for everyone.

Robbie is undoubtedly a blue belt level practitioner in the gi and I also recognised his ability in no gi recently by awarding him his yellow band. This means he is a senior student at Sabre (we are still a small and close-knit community) and I am very grateful to have him with us. In lessons, he supports other students brilliantly and I know that whoever partners with Robbie is in good hands.

Robbie - thank you for your hard work and commitment. Keep it up!