Guildford Martial Arts Academy

To all students,

Please note that the academy will be closed this Monday, 30th August as it is a Bank Holiday. Classes will take place as normal both on Saturday 28th and Tuesday 31st August.

In other news, congratulations to our Wing Chun students who completed the GBMAA’s first ever Wing Chun Kung Fu grading last night. Earning your first Wing Chun sash is a great achievement and there was some promising talent on show.

We look forward to seeing everyone back in training next week!

The Guildford Team

All students please note - our new timetable is now up. The changes shown will take effect from Monday 2nd August. Classes affected include Adults Leadership Kickboxing Classes, Wing Chun Kung Fu and C.I.T. Classes. Would all Leadership and C.I.T. students please ensure that they bring their pads to every class from now on.

Wing Chun Students - please note that the class on Monday 2nd August is taking place as usual, at the new time of 8pm.

This Sunday is the Cimac World Cup in Maidenhead - for anyone interested in fighting or coming along, there is more information at http://www.sportsmartialart.com/worldcup.pdf - or else speak to a member of Academy staff. We look forward to seeing as many people there as possible!

On Sunday the GBMAA held an interclub tournament at Chessington Sports Centre, with participants from Guildford, Epsom, Croydon, Panthers, Cobham and Richmond. It was a hugely enjoyable day with some impressive displays of skill both from the fighters and from the forms competitors. There was also a Grapple and Strike MMA corner which showcased some tough fighters and offered great entertainment. Guildford had a fantastic turnout with many fighters competing for their first time and many spectators turning up to support our club.

In the kids' category were Menzo Howell and Pierre Lanson who fought very well and handled the pressure of their first competition admirably, with Pierre taking 3rd place. Cameron Milne showed some fantastic skill and took home a 2nd in his category.

The ladies' novice points category was a first fight for many of our members and Charan Sira, Hannah Thomas (3rd) and Mary Smitheman (1st) put up a great fight  and showed some great potential for future interclubs. The ladies' intermediate category was dominated by Guildford's Helen Milne (1st) and Juliet Smith (2nd), who matched each other point for point until Helen Milne edged into first place.

The mens' intermediate points category showcased some tremendous fighting with Guildford's Mark Milne (1st), Jens Henrikson (2nd) and Nick Oliver (3rd) battling it out for first place. After a tough fight, Mark Milne took the lead, completing a triumphant day for the Milne family. Hemel Patel and Jim Warner fought hard, showing great improvement and we look forward to seeing these two fighters in future competitions.

The Men's light continuous Category had Jordan Heasman showing great potential in his first competition, and Mat Ganderton put up an impressive fight against some very skilled and experienced fighters.

All in all it was an exciting day and a great opportunity to compete and socialise with other members of the GBMAA . Congratulations to everyone who took part and a big thankyou to Master Golland, Mr Kennedy and Mr Blackman for the time and patience spent training our fighters. We look forward to seeing our fighters compete at the next interclub!

Due to the increasing size of Tuesday's 7pm kickboxing class, there has been a change to the timetable and the Basic class on Tuesdays has been moved to 8pm. The Leadership class is still at 8pm and all other class times remain unchanged.

Please note that if you have been booked for a free trial class on a Tuesday you may attend at either 7pm as planned or at 8pm, whichever is more convenient for you.

Kickboxing Grading Week this summer is Monday 21st to Saturday 26th of June and many of you will be training hard to attain your next belt. Your grading may be booked on any day and time that you would normally attend a kickboxing lesson. Please note that there will be EXCEPT for C.I.T. classes, MMA on Wednesday and Wing Chun on Monday, which will take place as normal.  If you've been booked for a free trial class this week the class will take place as planned.

Grading letters and forms are available at the desk in the academy; please ensure that your form is submitted and paid for before grading week.

If you are not sure whether you are ready to grade or if you wish to attempt a double grading please speak to Master Golland or Mr Kennedy.

On Saturday the GBMAA held a charity fun day at the Cobham academy in aid of the Foundation for Study into Infant Death (FSID). It was a great success with fantastic weather and a great turnout. A big thank you to all of our students who attended, you made a big difference to the day and once again represented your club with honour. Well done to everyone who joined in the spar-a-thon, there were some fantasic skills on display and all the money raised for the FSID will be gratefully received!

This weekend is the second May Bank Holiday weekend so all students please note that the Academy will be closed on Monday 31st May - there will be no Wing Chun or Kickboxing classes that day.

The CIMAC Superleague in Windsor on Sunday showed a fantastic turnout from the Guildford students, both competing and supporting. The men's intermediate category saw Nick Oliver and Jens Henrikson stepping up for the first time from their respective Novice categories. Both fighters did superbly well winning thier first round contests but narrowly losing thier second bouts.

Elsewhere Scott Symon put on a classy show as he totally destroyed his first round opponent only to lose out to a more experienced fighter in the second round.

Junior Instructor Miss Juliet Smith was competing in her first superleague event having only previously competed in inter club tournaments. Juliet cruised through her first 2 fights but then narrowly lost her 3rd, leaving her with a fight off for 3rd place which she won in style.

Guildford's Co-Chief Instructor Mr Kennedy lost his first fight in the Semi contact to a very experienced fighter form the infamous "Mad Dog's" stable, but then went on to amend his loss by taking 1st place in the light continuous by outclassing his opponent from start to finish.

Fighter of the day however has to be the newest addition to our C.I.T. line-up, Mr Jim Warner. Jim, fighting in his first tournament ever fought absolutely brilliantly and won his first 2 fights, lost his third and narrowly lost the 3rd place fight off! Jim has never even fought an interclub before and won't mind us reminding all that he is no longer 18 years old, but still came out fighting with typical Guildford energy, technique and enthusiasm, doing his club and himself very proud! Well done Jim!

Many thanks also to Daniel, Charan and Guildford Leadership newbie, Darrell Spring who made it to Windsor to show team support. The standard of our fighter's is improving all the time and we hope to take even bigger teams to events in the very near future!

Master G.

Just a quick reminder to all students that the Academy will be closed for the Bank Holiday Monday, 3rd of May. This means there will be no Kickboxing or Wing Chun Classes. Hope to see you all at training on Tuesday!

Firstly, congratulations to everyone who graded last week, we have seen some fantastic progress and the overall standard was definitely higher than the grading in November last year. Grading is an important part of your journey as a martial artist and each new belt is an achievement you can be proud of. A special mention goes out to Sophie Friedman (Lil Dragons) Harrison Bounds (Kidz Zone) and Menzo Howell (Kids) who all did particularly well and showed excellent progress.

As many of you know, Mr Demmer has recently left the academy to work as an Outdoor Activities Instructor for kids. We wish him all the best and he will be missed by his students and colleagues alike. He has been replaced by a new CIT Instructor, Miss Smitheman (me!) and I will be doing my best to fill his shoes as I take over his responsibilities at the Academy.

Finally, we at Guildford Martial Arts would like to wish you a happy Easter Weekend and Bank Holiday. Please note that the Academy will be closed on Saturday as well as on the Bank Holiday Monday. This means that there will be no Kickboxing or Wing Chun on these days. We look forward to seeing you at training on Tuesday!

February 14th saw the first Interclub of the year and Guildford was on top form!

The men’s semi-contact was an intense, all-Guildford final between Mark Milne and Jens Henrikson. It was an exciting fight with awesome displays of lightning reactions, attacks and counters. Mark Milne came away with a well-deserved first place, a fantastic achievement!

Helen Milne also came away a winner, this time of the Junior Semi-Contact. She also competed in the Intermediate category and, with her strong focus and excellent timing, achieved 3rd place. Also in this category was Juliet Smith who entered her first competition at Intermediate level. Despite having never competed before, Juliet put up some good fights but narrowly lost out.

More wins came for Guildford from Daniel Engström, who won the +85kg Semi-contact category, with a great mix of techniques from the hands and legs!

Competing in the -75kg were Nick Oliver and Anish Anthony who achieved a well-earned joint 3rd, well done! Also in this category was Hemal Patel who did amazingly well despite it being his first competition.

Cameron Milne fought really well in a very tough group and was unlucky not to get 3rd place. Dillon Millington was also doing extremely well in his category however he had to pull out due to respiratory problems.

In the continuous categories, Jonny Steele flew through to the final very comfortably, winning all his fights in the preliminaries. He then fought really well in the final and was very unlucky not to get the decision as it looked from the outside he dominated his opponent.

Zuzana Krempeska went through to a straight final in the -55kg category, coming away with 2nd place. More importantly, she came up against some extremely tough and more experienced opponents and definitely was giving away a lot in height and weight in the open weight category. However she fought incredibly well, and was thoroughly unlucky not to get 3rd place.

So overall, this was even better than the last interclub with even Master Page commenting on how fantastic the Guildford team was – high praise indeed!

Well done to everyone who fought and a massive thank you to all the students who came just to watch, your support is always gratefully appreciated and makes a huge difference! We are already looking forward to the next interclub in May.