GUILDFORD ACADEMY OF MARTIAL ARTS

Watford Open Nationals 29/1/12

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:45:00 +0000

On Sunday the Guildford Predatorz took a team to the Watford Open Nationals. It was a fantastic day with great representation from our Academy.

In the children's categories we had Junior C.I.T. Ben Calvert competing semi contact. It was his first fight of the year and he fought brilliantly. It took him a while to get into it, but pulled through and gave his opponent a run for his money. We look forward to seeing Ben's progress this year!

Kiri Nowak competed in the Ladies Semi Contact, storming her way to the final. In the final she took an early lead and despite being down by a couple of points half way through, she went on to win by several clear points. She followed this up with competing in the ladies' Light Continuous category, coming up against a very accomplished fighter in the first round. She won through with stronger techniques and movement, and went on to dominate her second fight and take home 1st place for the Light Continuous as well!

Luke Coppinger moved up from the cadets to compete in the Men's categories for the first time. Fighting a weight category above normal, he came up against two extremely experienced fighters in the points section and was the wrong end of a split decision in the first round of the Light Contact. He found it challenging but no doubt learnt a huge amount from the experience. This is going to be a huge year for Luke as he steps up the the adults' categories and no doubt before the year is up he will be one of the top fighters in the country.

Helen Milne competed in the Ladies Semi Contact. She was a little off pace and took a while to get into her stride, but showed her fighting spirit and kept battling to the end. This should be another great year for Helen and we look forward to seeing her progress.

Charlie Robinson also competed in the adults' categories for the first time, competing in the Novice Men's Light Continuous. After winning the first round, he fought brilliantly in the second round and was very unlucky not to be judged the winner - even the opponent's coach agreed that Charlie should have won!

Brendan Martin was up against a fantastic continuous fighter in the Intermediate Men's Light Continuous category. He fought very hard and showed great progress. He eventually lost on a split decision but it was very close and he was unlucky not to win.

All in all it was a great day and exciting for both spectators and competitors. Well done to everyone who competed and thank you to everyone who came down to watch and support our fighters. We will be taking a small team to the WAKO British Open on Saturday 18th - Sunday 19th February, and the next Tournament after that will be the GBMAA Interclub in Chessington on Sunday 26th February.

Cimac Superleague Dorking Oct '11

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:20:00 +0000

Congratualations to the Guildford Predatorz who competed at Sunday's Cimac Superleague in Dorking. Kiri Nowak fought brilliantly to get a well earned 3rd place in her first national tournament. Vaihbav Pant showed how much he is improving with a fantastic 2nd. Luke Coppinger showed he is one of the top guys in his division by winning a 1st in points and 2nd in continuous. Charlie Robinson fought superbly in his first national tournament. Senior instructor Alex Kennedy also won his division and the overall Grand Championship. Everyone is looking very promising for next year!!!

Gradings - September 2011

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 12:15:00 +0000

Well done to all of our students who graded on Saturday and last week. The overall standard was very impressive and everyone worked very hard to earn their new belts.

This time we selected a student from each category who we considered to have done particularly well in their grading, displaying focus, energy and technical skill. It was extremely difficult to pick just one winner for each category as everyone put in a fantastic effort and showed great improvement from the last grading.

The winners of grading of the day were:

Lil’ Dragons – Finley Dean (Yellow belt)

Kidz Zone Beginners – Huey Baum (red belt)

Kidz Zone Advanced – Ernad Delic (yellow belt)

Kids Beginners – Renata Lee (red/black belt)

Adults Beginners – Louisa Stevenson (red/black belt)

Kids Advanced – Harry Woodley (orange/black belt)

Adults Advanced – Mark Bent (green/black belt)

GBMAA Interclub - Sunday 25th September 2011

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:05:00 +0000

On Sunday the GBMAA held an interclub at Chessington Sports Centre which was attended by a number of students from the Guildford Academy. Interclubs are a fantastic opportunity of meeting fellow Martial Artists from different clubs and an ideal way to try competing in a friendly and controlled environment.

In the kids’ section we had Izzy Calvert, competing for her second time only and up against taller and much more experienced opponents. After a difficult first fight she turned it around and went on to take 3rd place, as did her younger brother Ben.

In the Juniors section we saw C.I.T. Vaibhav Pant displaying huge promise, with lightning fast reactions and showy jumping kicks that caught many of his opponents off guard. He won three out of five fights and we look forward to seeing his progress in future competitions.

Brendan Martin and Charlie Robinson both fought in the men’s under 75kg light continuous section against some challenging opponents and displayed fantastic tenacity and determination in this demanding style. They went on to take joint 3rd and certainly did the academy proud.

In the MMA section we had Rory Kennedy displaying some impressive kicks and grappling prowess. Although he narrowly lost his first two fights he went on to win his third fight and looked certain to win his fourth fight but was unfortunately forced to pull out as a result of a knee injury sustained during the fight.

Last but not least, competing for her first time in the Ladies Novice/Intermediate Points section we had Kiri Nowak. Although she was very nervous and faced with a huge section of ten ladies, many of whom have been competing for years, Kiri stormed in and won her first two fights with a combination of speedy attacks and perfectly timed counters. In her third fight she matched her opponent point for point and just lost by one point in the final split second. She won her fourth fight and in the fight off for the finals unluckily lost by just one point, going on to take joint third place – a fantastic first competition.

Well done to everyone who competed and came down to support our fighters. Special thanks go to Philip Calvert for his photography skills. We hope to see even more of our students attending at the next interclub!

Jay Young Fundraiser Review

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 10:55:00 +0000

A massive thankyou to everyone who attended or helped out at the Jay Young Trust Fundraiser on Saturday. The event was a great success and a fantastic day of family fun. Although we don’t have an exact figure yet, the amount raised will be around £4000!

Thanks to Saffron Power, Mstr Curtis Page, Alex Kennedy and Master Golland for all of their hard work organising this event, our seminar leaders Hannah Ayres (Street dance), Dave Rintoul (MMA), James Brown (Krav Maga), Steve Elwood (Forms) and Michael Reece-page (Kickboxing). Thanks to all the people who participated in the sponsored Sparathon or Kickathon, and everyone who baked cakes to sell or donated prizes for our envelope raffle. A special mention goes to Jade Law of Guildford Sports Therapy for the Sports Massage, Brenden Eades for the bbq, Lisa Page for the Face Painting, Dora Darasz at Starbucks for the coffee, cakes and prizes and Katherine Thornton of Naked Nutrition for the prizes. Thanks also to all of the local business, shops and restaurants who so generously donated over £600 worth of prizes - we were overwhelmed by your genenerosity for this worthy cause!

Finally, can anyone who sponsored Mr K or anyone else please bring the sponsorship money in asap. Also feel free to donate if haven’t already!

Jay Young Fundraiser - Saturday 3/9/11

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:15:00 +0000

Guildford Academy of Martial Arts is proud to be hosting a fundraising day for the Jay Young Trust on Saturday the 3rd of September. For those who don’t know, Jay is the younger brother of Lewis Young, one of our most popular Senior Instructors from our Cobham club. Unfortunately Jay was paralysed in a work related accident, and as an aspiring stunt man and semi-professional footballer this tragedy is made even more heartbreaking.

So with this in mind we are arranging an amazing and fun-filled day with lots going on for all the family to raise money for Jay and his trust. As well as a Kickathon which everyone and anyone can join in with and a Sparathon, we also have a BBQ, face painting, workshops including Street Dance, Krav Maga with British Academy of Krav Maga James Brown, Points Seminar with Michael Venom Page, Wing Chun and lots more. We are also going to have a great raffle and plenty of give-aways on the day.

Sponsorship forms are available from the academy or to download here and we encourage all of our members to help raise as much money as possible for this very worthy cause.

Please remember that normal classes will be cancelled that day and don't hesitate to contact us with any queries. We look forward to seeing you there!

Lil' Dragons Timetable Change

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:27:00 +0000

Due to growing class size on Saturdays and to make sure we can give the proper attention to all Lil Dragon students we have decided to bring the Saturday class forward from 11am to 10.15am starting from the 30th of July. This will allow us to either take the class upstairs or split the class depending how many students turn up. We hope this change will be better for everyone!

Guildford Streetclash - Sunday 24th July

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:57:00 +0000

This Sunday (24th July) is the Guildford Council’s annual Street Clash event and for the second year running we are the only Martial Art Academy attending! Street Clash is a free to attend youth festival aimed at giving young people the opportunity to try new activities and experiences in sport, art, dance and music with many stalls, stands and a stage with performances happening all day.

The event is part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad Open Weekend. It is held at the Portsmouth Road Car Park in Guildford (GU2 4AB) and is between 11am – 5pm. It would be fantastic to see as many of our students at the event supporting the club as much as possible. Feel free to bring any friends and family along who may want to have a go at Martial Arts but have been a bit unsure about coming to the Academy.

After we will be going to the Britannia Pub close by for a bite to eat and a couple of drinks and everyone is welcome to join us!

For more information about the Street Class check their website http://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/8345/StreetCLASH or ask one of the instructors.

GRADING WEEK 20-25TH JUNE 2011

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 12:26:00 +0000

This week is GRADING WEEK. There will be no classes this week except for:

MMA Classes
Ladies Kickboxing Classes
Yoga, Pilates and Daytime Fitness Classes
Beginners Kickboxing at 8pm on Tuesday 21st
All Kickboxing Classes on Thursday 23rd.

Kickboxing Gradings for Adults and Kids will take place on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday at the normal class times, with the exception of the Beginners Kickboxing grading on Tuesday 21st which will take place at 7pm.

Wing Chun Kung Fu gradings will take place on Monday and Thursday at 8pm.

Good luck to all of our students who are grading this week!

Next Pilates Course

Tue, 03 May 2011 16:43:00 +0000

Our next Pilates 6 week course starts on the 17th of May and is every Tuesday at 12.15pm to 1pm. Pilates is a great way to improve flexibility and increase core strength and stability. The course costs £50 and has limited spaces so to book yours please e-mail your details to guildford@gbmaa.com or call us on 01483 568455.