At Element Martial Arts, our trainers are the heart of everything we do. Each coach brings their own background, training philosophy, and specialist skills to the floor, and we want you to know exactly who you’ll be working with before you even step through the door.
Browse our trainer profiles below to get to know the team. Every bio gives you a real look at who they are, their coaching style, areas of expertise, certifications, and the type of client they love working with most. No matter the training goal, you’ll find a trainer whose approach matches your goals.
We believe the right trainer relationship makes all the difference. That’s why we’ve made it easy to browse, compare, and choose based on real personality and expertise. Take a look through our trainer bios, find your match, and book your first session with Element Martial Arts today.
Head Coach – Matt Becker
Qualifications & Experience:
– Black Belt in Jiu Jitsu under Liam Resnekov
– 20 years training Boxing, Kickboxing, Judo, Wrestling & Jiu Jitsu (MMA-focused)
– Competed at a high level in Jiu Jitsu, Judo, and MMA
– Pivoted to coaching after identifying a gap in Adelaide’s training resources – 10 years coaching experience Cornered hundreds of MMA bouts and thousands of grappling competitions
– Produced Australian amateur champions across multiple weight divisions
– System proven at amateur level — now positioned to replicate that success at the professional level
About Matt’s Martial Arts Journey & How He Got Started.
Matt has been training for close to 20 years now. He started like most people do by jumping into some kickboxing and MMA for a bit of fun and fitness, then fell in love with the sport. The discipline and community were something he was lacking in his life as a young man, so being around a positive group of people was exactly what he needed. With coaching, he saw other young men and women in a similar place to where I’d been. Looking for something, or somewhere, and he wanted to build that home for them.
Matt looks to other, more established sports for inspiration. Combat sports can be a bit medieval in their approach, so he looks at where the money is. Golf, F1, NFL, NBA, Soccer. He want to know what the NFL player on 400 million dollars a year is doing to maximise their performance, and then replicate that for MMA.
Beyond that, he see’s himself as a guide on the athlete’s journey. His job is to provide the programs, structure and advice, then get out of the way. He can’t fight for anyone and he can’t claim anyone else’s accomplishments. He helped build the structure around great people so they can be great.
His goal with Element Martial Arts runs on two fronts. On the professional front, he is building Element Martial Arts to be one of the top training facilities in the world. Historically, South Australians have had to move overseas or interstate to continue their journey. At Element we’re building something where that no longer needs to happen and we can help you all the way to the top.
On the everyday side, seeing smiling kids and happy adults is something really important to Matt. He loves the culture at Element and it makes him incredibly proud to see how much the community get around each other and provide that sense of connection that can be lacking in today’s world.
Some gyms do a really good job of being fun and welcoming. Some gyms have fight-level competition teams. Either one is hard to do on its own. What sets Element apart is that we do both well. We have warm, welcoming juniors and adult programs where anyone can jump in and get involved. At the same time, we have high level professional fight and competition teams that are winning at the highest level.
Head Striking Coach – James Zacharia
Qualifications & Experience:
– black belt in Brazilian Ju Jitsu with 12 years experience
– over 20 years boxing and kickboxing
– intermediate state title amateur boxing
– trained with several national and world class athletes in both striking and grappling
– Qualified trainer and assessor and have extensive professional experience consulting, coaching and mentoring managers and business owners.
About James’ Martial Arts Journey & How He Got Started.
James has been training in kickboxing and boxing for over 20 years. He started as an angry teenager who wanted to know how to fight with influences like kickboxer and JCVD making it cool to kick palm trees. He grew up in the 90’s martial arts and karate was massive. So it grabbed his attention. When he started Brazilian Ju Jitsu in his late 20’s he realised he couldn’t actually fight as well as he thought so he got obsessed with learning those skills and the rest is history.
James’ coaching philosophy is to be fluid and adaptive. He has an understanding that one style doesn’t suit all & it is his aim to coach the athlete not the style.
James loves being part of the athletes journey in the gym and helping the team find their potential. He finds it incredible rewarding to see people improve as fighters and also as people.
The culture at Element Martial Arts is what James is most proud of building. There were so many conversations between himself and Matt about this and truly believe in the culture of a gym. It is incredibly important to have a culture that creates a space for people to safely and develop their skillset. James said “[he has] seen to many fight gyms chew people up over the years and leave them worse off – [he] wants people to develop skills and attributes that make them succeed in their entire life – not just in a martial arts facility.