Latest News
Update - 3rd August 2008:
I'm Back!!
Hi all, I hope you missed me! Now that I am fully refreshed from my week in North Wales I'm ready to get back to training on Monday to burn off all the excess eating I did while I was away.
A big thanks to Stephen Cantrill for covering the two Saturday's at Oak Tree, Mansfield while I was off.
A big thank you also to Sam Wood and Liam Spowage for teaching the SDF Self Defence class on Tuesday night.
I will now be collecting fees for both the Multi Style Seminar on Sunday 17th August and the 1-1 Fight Event on Sunday 14th September. Anyone wishing to attend either or both of these events should pay the relevant fees ASAP.
See you at class. Regards
Ian
Update - 4th July 2008:
HOLIDAY DATES:
There will be no classes on the following dates as I am on holiday:
Monday 28th July - Oak Tree & Ellis Guilford
Thursday 31st July - Ellis Guilford
All other classes will be on as normal throughout the summer.
Update - 12th June 2008:
EXTRA ADULTS SESSION AT MANSFIELD
Starting from Monday 16th June the Monday Kickboxing class at Oak Tree Leisure Centre, Mansfield will be open to Adults as well. The class will therefore become a mixed session for juniors age 6-12 and Age 13-Adults all training together.
I have provided a mixed class at the Nottingham venue for several years now and it has worked very well. I thought it was now time to offer the same opportunity in Mansfield.
The time of 4.30pm to 6.00pm will stay the same and lesson fees will be the same as usual at £4.50 per session for 6-12 year olds and £5.00 per session for age 13-Adults.
Although the start time may be too early for some, with more people working shifts etc it will provide an extra session to come to when you are available.
All other classes will continue the same as they are at present.
Regards
Ian
Update - 30th May 2008:
EVENTS
I have updated the events page today as there have been a couple of changes. Please take a look and make a note of any dates relevant to you.
Regards
Ian
Update - 25th May 2008:
Benny "The Jet" Urquidez Seminar
Today I attended a Seminar in New Mills, Derbyshire with Benny "The Jet" Urquidez. For those that don't know, Benny The Jet fought mainly in the 1970's and 80's. During his professional fight career he achieved a record 200 fights with 0 losses. This inlcuded 63 title fights with 0 losses, 57 won by knockout.
The session started with a talk from The Jet on his thoughts about internal training methods. He went onto take a warm up with various stretching exercises in pairs. These were really interesting and I hope I can remember some!
He then went onto demonstrate various training drills which everyone attending then practiced. The seminar finished with photo opportunities and a chance to get a signature.
It was a great afternoon and I'm certain everyone there enjoyed it. It was also great to see that at the age of nearly 56, The Jet looked great and moved extrememly well....I certainly won't be challenging him anytime soon!
Regards
Ian
Update - 27th April 2008:
Revolution Tournament 2 - Results
Today we attended the second of 4 Revolution Tournaments for 2008 in Doncaster. As a club we ahcieved another good set of results as follows:
Gold = 3
Silver = 5
Bronze = 1
These 9 medals were achieved from 10 fighters that entered a total of 14 categories. Well Done to everyone that competed and thank you to those that supported and helped our fighters.
The next one is Sunday 21st September.
Regards
Ian
Update - 8th April 2008:
Events
I have updated the Events page today with new courses etc, please take a look and book your place ASAP.
Regards
Ian
Update - 17th March 2008:
Fight Night - Sunday 1st June 2008:
Stephen Cantrill is due to fight in his 2nd Full Contact Kickboxing fight on the above date. He will fight over 3 x 2 minute rounds of low kick full contact kickboxing. The fight will be held at the Park & Gardners Social Club in Sheffield. More details will be available nearer the time if you are interested in coming along to support him.
Dave Turton - Self Defence Seminar:
We attended the above course in Doncaster yesterday and everyone that was there really enjoyed it. It was a typical Dave Turton course in that he was straight forward and dairect as always telling it like it is! There will be more courses run by Dave later in the year so if you didn't make it yesterday make sure you get on the next one. I'll add the details fo the events page as soon as I have the dates.
Regards
Ian
Update - 10th March 2008:
WKA English Open National Championships:
We attended the above tournament yesterday in Manchester. As well as being the British Champioships, this event also acts as a qualifying event for the World Championships later this year. This years WKA World Championships will take place is Disneyland Florida USA. To qualify competitors needed to achieve a 1st, 2nd or 3rd place at yesterday's event.
We had 6 people enter different categories, 3 in the juniors and 3 in the adults. The top results went to the following Dragon Freestyle members who both qualified as WKA England Squad Members 2008:
Mark Harrison - 2nd Place, Kids light-continuous -40kg
Sharni Cartwright-Cole, 2nd Place, junior points +60kg
WELL DONE to you both! Check out the "Team England" page on the following website:
Regards
Ian
Update - 6th March 2008:
Black Belt Grading Results:
On Saturday 1st March 2008 the people shown below tested for their Kickboxing Black Belts. The grading took place at Paragon Black Belt Academy in Ilkeston with Jason Dorn the Paragon head running the grading. There were 6 from Dragon Freestyle and 2 from Paragon being tested. There was a panel of 4 instructors marking the grading including myself and Jason.
I am delighted to say that after over 4 hours of hard work everyone passed. The following Dragon Freestyle members are now black belts:
Lee Foulkes - Junior 1st Dan
Joe Dennis - Junior 1st Dan
Jake Holmes - 1st Dan
Trish Wetton - 1st Dan
Wayne Andrews - 1st Dan
Stephen Cantrill - 1st Dan
WELL DONE to you all, this is a fantastic achievement.
Regards
Ian
Update - 2nd March 2008:
Revolution Tournament Results:
We attended the first of 4 Revolution Tournaments in Doncaster today and as a club achieved some more great results. We achieved the following medals:
Gold = 4
Silver = 6
Bronze = 4
We had a total of 14 people fighting and entered a total of 22 Semi-contact points and light-continuous categories. 5 of the people fighting were doing so for the first time, so to win 14 medals between us is excellent.
A big "WELL DONE" to everyone that fought today regardless of their finishing positions.
The next Revolution Tournament is Sunday 27th April 2008 so keep training hard as that's only 8 weeks away.
Regards
Ian
Update - 26th February 2008:
Easter Weekend:
There will be no classes on the following days over the Easter Weekend:
Saturday 22nd March 2008
Monday 24th March 2008
All sessions before and after these dates will be on as usual.
Class Fees:
From the beginning of April 2008 training fees for all classes will increase by 50 pence to the folowing amounts:
- Junior Classes (age 6-12 year olds) = £4.50 per lesson
- Adult classes (age 13 and above) = £5.00 per lesson
This is the first increase for 2 1/2 years and is necessary due to increasing running costs.
Update - 12th February 2008:
On Sunday we attended the Sparring Course held by Andy Crittenden in Doncaster. The course was extremely well attended with approximately 70 students from various clubs attending. The background of styles varied with students from Kickboxing, Taekwondo and Karate all training together. From the feedback received so far, the day was very enjoyable, informative and also very tiring!
There will be another similar course on Sunday 20th July (See the EVENTS page for details). If you want to know more, speak to those that went to this one and keep the date for the next one free in your diary.
Regards
Ian
Update - 3rd February 2008:
Black Belt Grading:
Congratulations to the following who passed the 1st part of their Black Belt Grading this morning. They will now go on to take the 2nd and final part on 1st March. They are:
- Stephen Cantrill
- Wayne Andrews
- Trish Wetton
- Jake Holmes
- Lee Foulkes
- Joe Dennis
Well done to you all and thank you to Darren, Adrian, Nas, Emily, Luke and Georgia who came along to hold pads for them so that they didn't get a rest themselves!
Course date change:
Please note that the Stick & Knife course due to take place on Sunday 4th May has now been moved to Sunday 18th May. Course details can be seen on the Events page.
Regards
Ian
Update - 25th January 2008:
I am starting a new Self Defence class on Tuesday 26th February 2008. This will be a pure self defence class teaching the Self Defence Federation (SDF) Self Defence system. For more details see the the "Self Defence Classes" page.
Regards
Ian
Update - 22nd January 2008:
Please check out the EVENTS page as I have updated it with tournament information and other course dates.
Regards
Ian
Update - 15th January 2008:
Provisional dates for the 2008 Revolution Tournaments in Doncaster are now shown on the Events page.
That's it for now. Regards
Ian
Update - 2nd January 2008:
On Tuesday 18th December 2007 I was presented with my 2nd Degree Black Belt in the Self Defence Federation (SDF), Self Defence System. This was awarded by Dave Turton, the 8th Dan head of the SDF.
Along with Andy Crittenden, I train with Dave every Tuesday at Andy's Martial Arts centre in Doncaster. Andy also received his 2nd Dan at the same time.
I am extremely happy to achieve this promotion from Dave and look forward to continuing my studies with him during 2008 and beyond.
All the best for 2008.
Ian
Update - 14th December 2007:
2007 Student of the year awards:
During the last week I have presented the trophies for the 2007 student of the year awards. A big well done to the winners who really deserve their trophies. They were as follows:
Mark Harrison - Oak Tree Junior class
Georgia Andrews - Oak Tree Adults class
Jasminder Thandi - Ellis Guilford Junior class
Chris Gilbert - Ellis Guilford Adults class
Emily Heafield - Chief Instructor Special Recognition Award
The winners get to keep their trophies, so see if you can be one of the winners in 2008!
Ian
Update - 7th December 2007:
Christmas Class Closures:
There will be no classes on the dates shown below. All other classes will be on as usual.
Monday 24th December
Thursday 27th December
Saturday 29th December
Monday 31st December
Ian
Update - 19th November 2007:
Tournament news:
Dragon Freestyle attended the 4th of 4 tournaments in Doncaster yesterday. These have been running throughout 2007. At each torurnament there were medals to be won for 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in each category on the day. In addition to this anyone achieving a top 3 place in their category would aquire points. The person from each category with the highest points total at the November event would be crowned Grand Champion for their section and receive an additional trophy. Our results from yesterday were as follows:
Medals from 18th November:
Gold = 7
Silver = 3
Bronze = 3
We had 16 people fighting in a total of 21 categories so 13 medals is a fantastic achievement. A big WELL DONE to all those that fought, not just the medal winners!
Grand Championship Winners:
As a club we won 9 Grand Championship trophies which is a superb achievement from the number of people we had fighting throughout the year. 2 members actually won 2 grand championships which is brilliant!! It makes me very proud to be the Chief Instructor of Dragon Freestlye. The grand Champions are:
Jake Wood - Semi-contact points
Joss Bevan - Semi-contact points + Light continuous
Christopher Clarke - Semi-contact points
Georgia Andrews - Light continuous
Luke Harrison - Semi-contact points + Light continuous
Daniel Meenaghan - Semi-contact points
Ian Harrison - Semi-contact points
Dates for the 4 tounraments in Doncaster again next year should be available soon, so please keep an eye on the events page.
Ian
