Our Team

Scott Steer is an Australian Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq with the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, between 2005 and 2010.

Before and beyond his military service, Scott has built a distinguished career across grappling sports, high-performance coaching, and athlete welfare. He began training in Judo in 1987 and was awarded his black belt in August 1999. Over more than 30 years, he has competed at state, national, and international levels, achieving championship success throughout Australia and overseas.

Scott has represented Victoria, Western Australia, and Queensland as both an athlete and coach, and has held representative roles with the Australian National Judo team. From 2022 to 2026, he serves as an Assistant Coach to the Australian National Junior Judo Team and was recently appointed Head of the Australian Delegation for the International Adaptive Judo Study Camp in Japan.

In addition to Judo, Scott is a Master of Sport in Sambo and a four-stripe blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, bringing a broad, practical understanding of grappling across disciplines. He is an International Judo Federation (IJF)–accredited coach, a Mental Health First Aider, and a former Peer Support Officer with Open Arms, reflecting his long-standing commitment to athlete and veteran wellbeing.

Across his career, Scott has worked with a broad range of Australian professional sporting teams and high-performance athletes, applying his experience in coaching, physical preparation and recovery, and athlete welfare across multiple sporting environments.

Gavin Kelly brings decades of elite coaching, operational experience, and community leadership to the Veterans Grappling Foundation. Widely regarded as one of Australia’s most accomplished judo practitioners, Gavin is a 14-time Australian National Champion (15 including the Young Men’s division) and has served as a coach at both Olympic Games and World Championships level, contributing at the highest tiers of international performance.

He is a founder of the BBR (Black Belt Register) Academy and a graduate of the IJF Academy – Instructors Program, reflecting a long-standing commitment to technical excellence, coach education, and the sustainable development of judo at all levels.

Beyond high-performance sport, Gavin has dedicated more than 20 years to law enforcement, serving as a policing officer and Police Use-of-Force Trainer. This role has provided him with deep expertise in risk management, decision-making under pressure, and the real-world application of grappling principles in high-stress environments.

Gavin is also an ambassador for Fight for Balance, a charity supporting boys with intellectual and learning challenges by helping them develop confidence, discipline, and resilience through martial arts and physical training.

Gavin’s rare combination of elite sport achievement, operational policing experience, education, and community service aligns strongly with the Veterans Grappling Foundation’s mission to foster wellbeing, purpose, and connection through grappling.

Carli Renzi is an international banker with 20 years’ experience, working on banking
solutions with some of the biggest global companies and complex public sector
institutions and supranationals in the world. She has led global institutional banking
teams and has studied, lived and worked across Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong,
Laos and Australia. Most recently, Carli served as Managing Director for Financial
Institutions and Government Coverage at Commonwealth Bank.
Carli has previously served on the Boards of ANZ Bank Thailand, structured asset
finance vehicles of CBA, the Australian Chamber of Commerce, Laos and the
Australian Chamber of Commerce, ASEAN and has actively contributed to thought
leadership papers on financial markets in Asia.
A 2012 Olympian in Judo and a 2010 Commonwealth Games athlete in Freestyle
Wrestling, Carli brings a lifetime of grappling experience and a deep understanding
of performance, resilience and community. She has coached state-level judo
athletes, currently serves as a Board Director for Judo Australia, and remains a
strong advocate for pathways that support long-term sports participation. In her
spare time, Carli enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband, three kids and
dog in her hometown of Richmond, Victoria.
Carli joins the Board of Veterans Grappling Foundation with a focus on governance,
strategy and elevating programs that strengthen wellbeing, connection and
opportunity for veterans through grappling.

Since starting Judo at the age of 10, Aaron has progressed through the junior, and senior ranks. He has much competition experience including at the national level. At 21 Aaron joined the ADF as a communication technician, this enabled Aaron to travel and train at many clubs and compete around the country. In his 14 years of service, he saw many operations including 4 tours to the Middle East serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since leaving the military he is now a biomedical engineer installing and maintaining linear accelerators.

Has experienced many injuries during sport and in military service including dislocating both shoulders which threatened his martial arts journey. The Veteran grappling program has allowed Aaron to share his experience while continuing to practice and coach Judo/kata and further his BJJ experience.