10/26 Vale Ave, Valley View SA 5093, Australia
South Australian Combat Academy - Adelaide's premier martial arts training centre; offering World Class coaching in BJJ, Muay Thai, Wrestling, Judo and MMA
Reviews from Jiu-Jitsu Blog members who have trained at SA Combat Academy. Member recommendations raise an academy's Jiu-Jitsu Blog Score.
I can't thank the team here enough for helping me get back on the mats after two decades away. I definitely feel like a 'newborn giraffe' right now, but the supportive atmosphere and welcoming culture made me feel at home right away. It’s a fantastic environment for anyone looking for a great place to train.
I’ve been practicing Judo and Jiu Jitsu for over a decade, and I can honestly say there is no better place to train than SA Combat Academy. The expertise here is unparalleled, especially with the head coach, South Australia's only Judo Olympian, and his wife, a Commonwealth Games medalist. Their combined experience, skill, and dedication to their students create an environment that's both challenging and supportive. The level of instruction is elite level and the academy offers a perfect blend of Judo and Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai making it ideal for anyone looking to improve their grappling and striking game. What truly sets this place apart, though, is the sense of community—it's not just about training hard but about training smart and developing as both an athlete and a person. I've trained at several gyms over the years, but SA Combat Academy is where I've found my home. The passion and professionalism of the coaches, combined with the incredible caliber of training partners, make this place second to none. If you're serious about your martial arts journey, you won't find a better place to train.
I have been training Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) at the South Australian Combat Academy in Valley View for the past 12 months, and it has been an excellent experience. The academy provides a welcoming and supportive environment, making it an ideal place for both adults and families with children to train. The academy also has a fantastic mat area, which is the best I have seen in Adelaide, with a sprung floor that ensures safety during training. I highly recommend the beginner pack to anyone looking to start their martial arts journey, as it's a great way to get started with high-quality training. Overall, the South Australian Combat Academy is a top-notch facility with experienced instructors and a great community of practitioners. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to learn martial arts.
If you are looking for a martial arts program for kids, I highly recommend this place. My daughter has been doing Judo here for two years and the coaches and program is fantastic. She has learnt real skills from this program. Also there are great facilities and it is a very family friendly club.
Highest quality martial arts dojo in Adelaide! Best facilities, best coaches, best varieties in choices of martial arts programs. Caring & patient coaching for all backgrounds and levels. A place that makes you feel like your apart of the family
EDIT/UPDATE – Response to the owner: Apparently after 19 years of “opening your home to visitors for no cost to bring the community together,” one negative review was enough to introduce a screening process and start charging visitors. 😂 I attended an advertised open mat. I didn’t sneak through a window looking for free BJJ. If visitors were required to contact you beforehand or meet a particular skill level, perhaps that should have been clearly stated. You also claim I “don’t have the skills required” while admitting I’ve never attended one of your classes. Impressive assessment considering you’ve apparently never trained with me. My review had nothing to do with getting something for free. It was about my experience and what I considered unnecessarily unsafe sparring. Rather than addressing that criticism, your response was to call me entitled, disrespectful and suggest I only attended because it was free. And finishing by suggesting combat sports will teach me “personal values and traits” after writing a response filled with personal insults because somebody left a review you didn’t like is genuinely the best part. 🙏 Thanks for the response. I think anyone reading both sides can make up their own mind. ⚠️ WARNING!! ⚠️ Tonight was my first time attending sparring at SA Combat Academy, and unfortunately I had a very disappointing experience. I’ve been training Muay Thai at my local gym for two years and have done plenty of sparring. Every gym has people who naturally hit harder than others, and that’s understandable. What isn’t acceptable is a lack of control, respect, and safety. During sparring, I was paired with someone wearing SA Combat Academy shorts who appeared to have very little understanding of technical sparring. He was throwing wild overhand punches, charging forward, and seemed willing to take clean shots just to land big haymakers. Instead of focusing on technique, it felt reckless and unsafe. I told him to calm it down, spar technically, and focus on his technique, but nothing changed. My biggest concern was that there were no coaches or trainers present at the sparring session at all—only students. There was nobody supervising or stepping in to ensure the sparring remained safe. In my opinion, that created an unnecessary risk, and the situation could have ended much worse. If you’re new to training or looking for a gym that supervises sparring, I’d encourage you to keep this in mind before attending. I chose to walk away from the situation rather than let it escalate, and unfortunately I won’t be returning. I genuinely hope the gym addresses this by ensuring sparring sessions are properly supervised and that inexperienced members are taught safe, respectful, and technical sparring for everyone’s benefit.
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