Skills Active spotlights personal and professional growth through Martial Arts training

Skills Active spotlights Jesse Puata and his Mixed Martial Arts Company - Ronin Coalition – which offers MMA classes, competition training and workshops through facilities such as the New Plymouth MMA Studio.

Puata started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) with his father, at the age of 14 and his natural talent at the sport would see him earn a raft of national and international titles. Together, he and his father built up a successful chain of gyms across New Zealand, with eight schools in the group at its peak.

Six years ago, Puata went out on his own forming the company Ronin Coalition. Puata is passionate about building professionalism and entrepreneurship in the New Zealand martial arts community, and teaching practitioners how to use it as a springboard for their own career success.  

Ronin Coalition has a number of learners completing Skills Active on-job qualifications, including the New Zealand Certificate in Sport Coaching (Level 3) and the New Zealand Apprenticeship in Facility Operations (Level 4). Puata is also in the process of becoming a registered Skills Active assessor so that he can support his trainees.

Puata advises “we have a collective of experienced coaches, coaching developers and mentors throughout the industry that we can call upon for guidance and support.

Puata’s complete belief shines through when he talks about the power of martial arts to change everything adding “to be fair, I was a bit challenging for my teachers. I was expelled from kindy and primary school; I was fighting lots. Then I got into Jiu-Jitsu which gave me a positive outlet and taught me how to learn. From there, my whole life pivoted.

“But without that unique opportunity, I would have ended up in jail or going nowhere very quickly, because I hadn’t figured out who I was.”

Alongside his passion for martial arts, Puata has built a career in the oil and gas sector. However he knows that for some people the martial arts are their main chance. So he wants to make it easier for others to be recognised for their skills, which can then be put to use both in and outside the martial arts world.

Puata is promoting what he calls a sector succession strategy, by encouraging his own people, and others across the sport, to complete industry qualifications that will grow and enhance the coaching, management and operational skills they apply every day running gyms and teaching martial arts.

Not only that, he says, but these programmes formally recognise the graduates and their knowledge through the NZQA framework. They can use this on-paper validation to expand their careers in martial arts or take it into other jobs and industries.

“There are lots of talented people in our sector. So if we can build a strong industry around what we do well, and organise and grow together, then who knows what we can achieve,” Puata says.

“The apprenticeship is all about: Here is how good organisations work, right down to the fine details. So wherever you might end up – in a gym, a pool, a studio, as a coach – it means you have got the transferable skills to operate at that level, and you’ve got a piece of paper to verify that.”

Industry training ‘futureproofs’ what Puata and his team are doing by ensuring their methods, attitudes and practices are current. It also helps the trainees and apprentices to contextualise their learning and make it relevant to their work.  

“If I can help to make people see the value of using industry training, then they will be proactively looking to level themselves up. That is how the martial arts industry pump gets primed. You need more than just one catalyst – it takes many.

“Being able to contribute to sector succession and create better opportunities for future generations is an honour and a privilege for me.”