Grace Gundrum
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Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States
Phone
About Us
Grace Gundrum was born on May 22, 2002, in China, though she moved to the United States at a very young age, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Connected with sports from a very young age, Grace’s first steps into such activities were taken when she was 4, through karate. One year after she started, Gundrum’s older brother, who practiced martial arts at the same club, decided to quit. As he still had classes left in his plan, Grace helped redeem those by joining the academy’s grappling workgroup, therefore using his extra classes, a decision would change her life.
Grace’s first jiu-jitsu instructor was Robert Villafane, whose schedule was also frequented by JM Holland and Zach Maslany – two athletes who would later become Gundrum’s primary source of grappling knowledge. Holland also taught at this same academy and was a strong influence in Grace’s jiu-jitsu early on, therefore, when he joined forces with Maslany, in 2012, to create the 10th Planet Bethlehem gym, Gundrum followed them.
During elementary school, Gundrum added other sports to her extra-curricular activities, playing basketball for four years, first for a township team then moving on to a club level. When Grace moved on to middle school, she played field hockey while still doing karate, kickboxing, and grappling during that time. Later, as a 16-year-old, Gundrum opted to participate in freestyle wrestling at school, for one year, to help her jiu-jitsu skills.
While under the guidance of JM Holland and Zach Maslany, Grace became a reference in jiu-jitsu’s submission-only circuit, going undefeated from the time she was 12 while beating several of the sport’s most respected athletes in her age group. Her mat prowess would later transcend to the adult division where 16YO Grace went to a draw with 4x adult black belt world champion Rikako Yuasa, at the Quintet Grappling event in 2019.
Her incredible performances on the mats earned Grace her black belt on July 21, 2020, in a ceremony led by 10th Planet team founder, Mr. Eddie Bravo. Being nearly 1 month into her 18th birthday at the time of the promotion meant Grace was, to a degree of certainty, the 2nd youngest female athlete to earn the prestigious rank, only marginally behind Patricia Lage from Brazil, and the youngest in the USA.
