Vinc Tan Vinc Tan
Main Achievements(Blackbelt)
- IBJJF TOKYO INTERNATIONAL 2018 M 1st Place
- IBJJF ASIAN OPEN 2018 M 1st Place
- IBJJF AMERICAN NATIONALS M 2018 1st Place
- AJP ABU DHABI GRANDSLAM M 2020 1st Place
- AJP ABU DHABI GRANDSLAM M 2021 2nd Place
- AJP MIAMI GRANDSLAM 2023 M 1st Place
Professor Vinc T started his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu journey during his final year in his university studies back in 2010. He started at an age that is rather late as an athlete and knew he had to make up for lost time to fulfill his dream to compete at the black belt level.
Vinc insatiable interest and devotion in Jiujitsu has led him to full-time training stints and competitions around the world. In 2015, he was handed his Black belt by one of the legends of the art, Luis Carlos Mateus on the home soil of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Rio Janiero. Mestre Luís Carlos, also known as “Manimal” is a well known 7th Degree Blackbelt under the late Master Carlson Gracie senior. Vinc T has proved his consistency by being an active and accomplished competitor through his ranks, including multiple times IBJJF Gold Medalist as a black belt.
Fortitude Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was founded by Vinc in 2014, where he started to put his focus on his coaching programs. Some of his notable coaching achievements include leading students: Kacie Tan and Emma Xiong on an accelerated learning path from white to black belt, with both winning world titles at the advance purple and brown belt levels. Vinc has also achieved results with Fortitude’s Competition Team (Adults & Kids) locally, regionally as well at the international circuits.
Through his experiences in learning the art, Prof Vinc strives to build mental fortitude in all his students and constantly challenges them to step out of their comfort zones. Vinc adopts a variety of curriculums/styles used by some of the successful teams in the world where he had spent time training with, to complement his approach in formulating an efficient training methods and providing a conducive learning environment for his students.
Shane Suzuki Shane Suzuki
Main Achievements(Blackbelt)
- BJJFP Pan Asian 2015 2nd Place
- Japan national pro trial 2015 1st Place
- DUMAU Thailand 2016 1st Place
- IBJJF PAN PAC 2018 2nd Place
- IBJJF ASIAN OPEN 2019 3rd Place
Professor Shane began his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu journey at 15 years old. He has always been attracted to martial arts since young and was particularly interested with the art of ground fighting as he grew up watching Pro Wrestling and MMA. This interest led Shane to take up Judo as his first martial art when he was 14 years old. It was until a year later that he found Brazilian Jiu-jitsu at one of the Carlson Gracie school under Professor Ben Hall in Melbourne after being introduced by one of his mother’s friend who was training there at that time.
Not long after starting Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 2007, Shane fell in love with the art. He started putting more time to BJJ training and competed as much as he could locally. Prof Shane travelled extensively between Singapore and Australia to train since 2008 as his dad was relocated to Singapore. During one of these trips, Shane Met Vinc and hit off well as training buddies, travelling around countries to train and compete since purple belts. Prof Shane ascended the Jiu-Jitsu ranks through his hard work in the sport and was awarded his black belt in 2014 by Australian 5th Degree Black belt Peter De Been. Peter was well known to be the first non brazilian to receive a black belt out of Brazil, under Carlos Gracie Jr.
As an active competitor, Prof Shane held notable competition title wins at the Abu Dhabi World Professional Championship twice in 2012 and 2014 at purple and brown belt respectively, establishing himself as one of the top Australian Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitor. With Prof Shane’s extensive years of experience in training, competing and coaching, he brings an extensive wealth of knowledge to Fort.
Kacie Tan Kacie Tan
Main Achievements
- Jiujitsu Thailand Championship 1st Place (Open Belt)
- Abu Dhabi World Pro 2019 2nd Place Bluebelt
- IBJJF Asian Championship 2019 1st Place Bluebelt
- Taiwan Jiujitsu Open 2019 1st Place Bluebelt
- SJJSAF Copa America Brazil 2019 1st Place Bluebelt
- AJP ABU DHABI GRANDSLAM 2020 1st Place Purplebelt
- AJP ABU DHABI GRANDSLAM 2021 1st Place Purplebelt
- World Professional Championship 2020 1st Place Purplebelt(April 2021)
- IBJJF World Master Championship 2021 1st Place Brownbelt
- AJP GRANDSLAM 2022 3rd Place Brown/Black
- AJP NTL PRO Adults 2022 1st Place Blackbelt
- IBJJF WORLDS MASTER 2023 3rd Place
- ASIAN GAMES JUJITSU 2023 3rd Place
- AJP MIAMI GRANDSLAM M 2023 1st Place
- AJP WORLD MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP 2nd Place
- IBJJF WORLD MASTER M1 CHAMPIONSHIP ADULT 2024 1st Place
- JJIF JUJITSU WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ADULT 2024 1st Place
Qualifications
- EXOS Fitness Specialist
- EXOS Performance Specialist
- NCSF Certified Personal Trainer
- Agatsu KettleBell Coach
- Functional Range Conditioning Mobility Specialist
- Animal Flow Certified Coach
Professor Kacie discovered Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu while finding a hobby during a career break from her profession while working as an architectural project manager at one of the top real estate development firm in Thailand. Ever since, the sport has taken her around the globe to train and compete. Her competition accomplishments led her to dive deeper into her hobby turning it full-time. As an active competitor, Kacie held notable competition 1st place title wins at the World Professional Championship as a Purple belt, the IBJJF World Masters Championship at Brown belt and Black belt, the AJP NTL Professional as a Black belt and JJIF World Championship respectively, establishing herself as one of the top Thai Brazilian Jiu-jitsu competitor and one of the fastest Black belt promotions being recorded in Asia under 3 years. Her astute ability to notice precise details has helped to advance her technical knowledge, and guide others to progress in their training. A certified fitness trainer, Prof Kacie conducts a number of fitness programs at Fortitude including heading the Kid’s BJJ program.
With great passion and patience with her students and young athletes in her classes, Prof Kacie brings an invaluable presence onto the mats at Fort.
Yazid Abidin Yazid Abidin Yazid Abidin
Main Achievements
- Copa De Bangkok 2015 White 3rd Place
- Copa De Hongkong 2016 Blue 1st Place
- Singapore BJJ Open 3 2019 Purple 2nd Place
- AJP Grandslam 2022 Brown 2nd Place
- AJP Thailand National 2023 Brown 3rd Place
- Relentless Asia 14 Superfight Champion 2023 Blackbelt
Qualifications
- Yoga For BJJ Coach
- Functional Range Conditioning Mobility Specialist
- NCSF Certified Trainer
Professor Yazid discovered BJJ from watching MMA fights. Inspired by the effective submission moves used by the fighters, he picked up BJJ in 2012. Due to his partial psychomotor impairment, Yazid had a hard time taking up sports since young. Through BJJ he realised the importance of understanding movements by breaking it down into simpler and finer details to help himself and others to process it. This was the reason that spark his interest to learn more about coaching.
One of Fortitude’s first student since white belt, and a blackbelt now. Yazid believes in having fun with the fundamentals in BJJ which serves as building blocks in the art.
Professor Yazid has made jiujitsu pilgrimage to brazil and united states to reinforce his understanding and knowledge of the sport. He has also competed and medalled in competitions around the region including taking silver medalist spot in the brown belt master category at both the AJP Abu Dhabi Grandslam 2022 and AJP Thailand National 2023. In 2024, he was the head coach for Team Singapore at the UWW Asian Championships in Tagaytay Philippines where he led Team Singapore to the Top 3 Team standings against countries with a bigger contingent. A dedicated student of the game, Yazid is frequently spotted on the mats on most days helping the junior belts refine their techniques.
Gladwin Lee Gladwin Lee
Main Achievements
- KL International Open 2020 Brown Masters 1st Place
Professor Gladwin is a church pastor, a faithful servant of God and avid student of the art. He started his BJJ journey in 2011 as an outlet for himself to keep fit after a long break from his judo training for years due to family and work commitments.
He is currently a BJJ black belt under Prof Vinc. Nicknamed ‘GLADiator’ in the gym due to his persistent grappling style, Gladwin is easily spotted on the mats during the early morning classes training and coaching. You will never miss Coach Gladwin and his megawatt smile at the gym. He’s always approachable and enjoys coaching in his free time as he likes to share his BJJ knowledge, helping the junior belts to navigate their journey and study the finer details to help sharpen his techniques