10th Planet Black Belt Rick Marshall has returned to California after spending a year and change teaching and travelling throughout Asia. Marshall, who was the Head Instructor of 10th Planet Singapore at the famed Evolve MMA gym, had the opportunity to train alongside Asia’s top martial artists including Shinya Aoki and ONE Championship World Champion Angela Lee. In addition to coaching and training at Evolve, Rick used his downtime to backpack and host seminars throughout Asia and Australia. The best part of his teaching and travel experience were the people he met during his journey through Asia.
“I was able to meet so many students and create long lasting friendships, said Rick. “ I’ve met a good amount of people in and around Asia during my stay at Evolve. It was an experience hard to top.”
Rick has always been an adventurer at heart and had previously used his flexible career in business and technology to take long trips to Peru, Thailand, and Hawaii that he spent training with the Penn brothers. His travel adventures around Asia over the past year included surfing in Bali, touring the Taj Mahal in India, soaking in the sun on the beaches of Boracay, exploring the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur, participating in one of the largest street festivals and water gun fights in the world in Bangkok, seeing the sunrise at Angkor Wat, and exploring the sights and culture of Perth, Australia. While he has crossed a number of items off his bucket list, he returned back to his Southern California roots to cross one more item off the list, which is to open his own martial arts academy.
Starting his own academy has always been a dream for Rick and serving as the Head Coach for 10th Planet Singapore at Evolve MMA helped him gain both teaching and business insights to make him both a better instructor and businessman.
“Opening a school from the ground up has been on my mind for some time now. I finally pulled the trigger when I came to grips on what I wanted to accomplish during my lifetime and understanding that opportunities must be seized. They may not come around again.” said Rick.
He added “At Evolve, I had to learn to adapt to students with varying degrees of martial arts experience, “ said Rick. “That was a puzzle in itself, but after a while I understood more and altered my teaching style to fit the crowd.”
One major trait of a world traveler and adventurer like Rick is the gift of curiosity which has crossed over to his Jiu-Jitsu training. While 10th Planet’s system is the core of his game and training, he has also expanded upon his knowledge base throughout his years of training. His knowledge base has been enhanced by the time he spent training in the gi under Gui and Rafa Mendes, working on his judo, grappling and MMA under the legendary Gokor Chivichyanin North Hollywood and he received his Brown Belt in the gi under fellow BJJ adventurer and videographer Stuart Cooper. Additionally, Rick spent time at Evolve and on a sojourn to Phuket to train Muay Thai.
Even with his wealth of martial arts knowledge and a MBA from Duke University, opening his own academy still required months of planning for Rick. This included analyzing the competitive Southern California marketplace and scouting out locations throughout the San Bernandino, Riverside, and Inland Empire region with a commercial real estate agent. The planning and preparation has paid off as Rick is ready to open 10th Planet Redlands on Saturday, May 26th. the gym, located at 821 West Colton Ave. in Redlands, is not too far from The Redlands Street Fairs Rick frequented as a child with his family and friends .The academy’s class offerings and schedule are a reflection of Rick’s diverse training background. In addition to nogi 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu, Rick will also be offering BJJ classes in the gi, Muay Thai kickboxing classes, and kids classes at his academy.
10th Planet Redlands will open its door on Saturday, May 26th with a 12 PM open mat, followed by a 2 PM seminar featuring Rick and MMA fighter and professional grappler Karen Darabedyan. For more information, contact 10th Planet Redlands at 10thplanetredlands@gmail.com and follow on Instagram at @10thplanetredlands.
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