Update - 29th January 2012:

KICKBOXING GRADING

Well done to everyone that passed their kickboxing gradings today. There were some good results throughout the day. As you would expect, there are always areas where things can be improved and we will continue to work on these in class.

A special mention to Rebecca Wilson on passing her brown/black belt and achieving a distinction with the highest score of the day. WELL DONE.

Also, a big thank you to Steve Cantrill for his help on all the gradings as always and to Nas Anwar for her help in the final session.

Regards

Ian

Update - 1st January 2012:

Happy New Year to all.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. Looking forward to getting back to training in 2012. All classes are back to normal on Tuesday 3rd January. Look forward to seeing you all in class.

Best wishes for 2012

Ian

Update - 13th December 2011:

2011 STUDENT OF THE YEAR AWARDS

All the awards for 2011 have now been presented. A really big WELL DONE to this year's winners shown below:

Ellis Guilford Juniors = Levi Litman
Ellis Guilford Adults = John Walker
Ellis Guilford SDF = Paul Whitehouse
Oak Tree Juniors = Ethan Robinson
Oak Tree Adults = Jonathan Howse
Chief Instructor Award = Rebecca Wilson

Keep up the good work.

Ian

Update - 30th November 2011:

BLACK BELT GRADING

A big well done to Jess Thandi and Alex Gilbert for passing their Black Belt gradings at Paragon Black Belt Academy on Sunday. Jess passed an adult grade and Alex a Junior grade. This is a great achievement and well deserved.

Now it's time for them both to start "being" black belts and see that this level is the start not the end. Well done again to both of them and I look forward to seeing them progress further.

Ian

Update - 30th October 2011:

KICKBOXING GRADING

Well done to everyone that graded today. It is great to see students pushing themselves and improving. As always, the grading results are a reflection of the level of effort put in during training. The students that train regularly and push themselves to develop every session are the ones that see the best results when grading. Keep up the good work.

A special mention to Ryan Devenish who achieved the highest score of the day with a "Distinction" Pass. Well done Ryan.

Regards

Ian

Update - 25th October 2011:

CONGRATULATIONS - BLACK BELT

On Sunday 23rd October, Richard Lane passed his Self Defence Federation (SDF) 1st Dan Black Belt in Modern Street Combat under the SDF Head Dave Turton. This was an extremely tough and demanding grading and is an excellent achievement.

Richard trains in the Dragon Freestyle - SDF Modern Street Combat class and is Ian Harrison's first student to achieve 1st Dan Black Belt in the SDF system. Well done Richard I'm really proud of you.

Ian

Update - 12th October 2011:

NEW CLASS - SPARRING

From Tuesday 1st November there will be a new sparring class at Ellis Guilford School Sports Centre. It will run every Tuesday from 8.00pm to 9.00pm.

This class is for Dragon Freestyle members only, and you must already train in the Adults kickboxing class or SDF class. You will need to have your own sparring kit in order to attend.

The SDF Modern Street Combat Class will run from 7.00pm t0 8.00pm from this date.

Class fees will be £5.00 per session, or a special rate of £8.00 per session if you wish to train in BOTH the SDF and the Sparring class.

Ian

Update - 10th October 2011:

IAKSA/ ASKO British Open Championships 2011

This event was held yesterday at Ellis Guilford Sports Centre and was a great day. The event was well supported by fighters and spectators and the overall atmosphere was competitive but friendly - Just how it should be.

Dragon Freestyle had a total of 21 competitors which was a great turnout, and 9 of these were competing for the first time. There were some tough categories, especially for some of the juniors fighting for the first time in a section that had several high standard experienced fighters in.

I was refereeing on one of the two areas all day and therefore did not see all of the fights, so I have just listed the trophy winners below rather than trying to comment on individual performances:

Rory Quinn - 3rd Points + 2nd Light Continuous
Jordan Lomas - 2nd Points
Matthew Hughes - 2nd Points
Sam Price - 3rd - Points
Craig Ashton - 3rd Points + 3rd Light Continuous
Richard Kowalkowski - 3rd Points
Rebecca Wilson - 2nd Light Continuous
John Walker - 2nd Points + 2nd Light Continuous
Alex Gilbert - 3rd Light Continuous
Mark Harrison-Clay - 2nd Light Continuous
Joss Bevan - 2nd Light Continuous

Well done to everyone that fought. There were some good fighters there so it is never going to be easy to win a section. The important thing is to keep at it and get the experience that is vital to success in the future.

A big thank you to Steve Cantrill and Rebecca Wilson for coaching all day, and thanks to Adrian Redgate for refereeing and Paul Wathen for timekeeping and score keeping. Also, thanks to anyone that came along to support the event.

The next competition is Sunday 20th November - See the events page for full details.

Regards

Ian

Update - 2nd October 2011:

REVOLUTION ENGLISH TITLE FIGHT NIGHT

Yesterday, Dragon Freestyle had four members competing at the above event. To qualify they had all achieved a 1st or 2nd place at one of the Revolution Tournaments earlier in the year. There were some great fights throughout the evening and I was really pleased with the performance of the Dragon Freestyle Fighters. Our results were as follows:

Joss Bevan - Runner up - Boys 16-18 yrs Points - 
A great fight from Joss, just losing in a match that had 50 points scored in 3 minutes! The final score 21 to 29.

Craig Adkins - Winner - Revolution English Champion 2011 - Coloured Belts Points <80kg
Danny Buckle - Winner - Revolution English Champion 2011 - Light Continuous +85kg
Ian Harrison - Winner - Revolution English Champion 2011 - Mens Black Belts Points +80kg

Also, a big thank you to Steve Cantrill for coaching everyone on the night and for his ongoing support in class. Thanks to all the spectators that came to cheer us on, it was great to have you there.

Regards

Ian

Update - 25th September 2011:

SDF Grading

Well done to everyone from Dragon Freestyle and Derby Self Defence who passed their SDF Modern Street Combat grading yesterday. The grading took place at the Studio Combat Academy in Long Eaton which is the training base for Derby Self Defence run by Richard Lane. Everyone worked really hard on a tough grading session which is great to see. A special mention to Andy Green who achieved the highest score of the day. Well done.

Regards

Ian

Update - 25th July 2011:

JUNIOR LEADER GRADUATION COURSE

Well done to the following who all passed the Dragon Freestyle Junior Leader Graduation course yesterday:
- Matthew Hughes
- Ryan Clayton
- Esa Anwar
- Oliver Abram
- Ciaran Weston

They all showed a good understanding of the course and have been coaching regularly in classes. Keep up the good work and well done.

Ian

Update - 11th July 2011:

RESULTS - REVOLUTION TOURNAMENT - SUNDAY 10TH JULY

The day didn't start as we'd hoped for with me having to withdraw my entries due to a stomach bug and Steve Cantrill having to withdraw due to being stuck at work and not being able to get there.

Fortunately, after these initial disappointments the rest of the day was great. There were some big categories and even the smaller ones offered some tough competition so everyone had to perform well to get a medal. The best news was that everyone that fought came back with at least 1 medal.

Our totals were:
2 x 1st Place
4 x 2nd Place
1 x 3rd Place

The individual results were:

Joss Bevan - 2nd - Points. A great final against World Bronze Medalist David Colley. Joss really pushed David and was in the lead for the first half of the fight. This is going to be a great Fight Night match between them in October.

Richard Kowalkowski - 2nd Points + 3rd Light Continuous. A fantastic result for Richard in only his 2nd competition and his first time in light continuous.

Rebecca Wilson - 2nd Place - Light Continuous. An excellent performance, getting through to the final and then really making Jay Spain (multiple times British Champion and World Silver medalist) work for her win.

Jonathon Howse - 2nd Place - Points. A tough division and well fought by Jono. Just one head kick separated them at the end of the fight.

Craig Adkins - 1st Place - Points. Another 1st place for Craig and another superb performance. Keep it up!

Danny Buckle - 1st Place - Light Continuous . A good solid performance by Danny keeping the pressure on both his opponents to get the win.

From the two Revolution tournaments this year we have four fighters that have qualified for the Revolution English Title Fight Night on 1st October. These are:
- Joss Bevan
- Craig Adkins
- Danny Buckle
- Ian Harrison
More details will follow soon. Hopefully lots of you will be able to come and support the fighters on the fight night.

Regards

Ian

Update - 16th June 2011:

A picture from the tournament last Sunday. Matthew Hughes in the process of winning his fight for 3rd Place in what was like being in Land of the Giants for him.......

Update - 13th June 2011:

Tournament Results:

Yesterday was the Sedition Fight League Invitational Tournament in Ilkeston. Dragon Freestyle were in attendance with nine students competing. With five of the nine students fighting for the first time it was never going to be an easy day, especially with the high standard of competition. Everyone did their best and showed great spirit and respect to their opponents and officials. A brief word on each person.....

Rory Quinn - Great spirit shown by Rory, always determined and positive. No medal this time, but keep at it.

Oliver Abram - His first ever competition. Really good effort Oliver and you'll know what to expect next time.

Lucy Woodward - Her first ever competition and made even more difficult by being 5 years younger than some of her opponents. Even though Lucy was overwhelmed by her first opponent, she still got back on for her second match which shows great spirit and determination. Well done Lucy.

Matthew Hughes - 3rd Place - Points - A great result for Matthew and well earned in a very tough division. In a section based on height, Matthew was less than half the weight of either of his opponents, so to win a fight and achieve 3rd place is excellent. Other instructors also commented on Matthew toughness and character in facing  such large opposition. Well done Matthew.

Rebecca Wilson - A great fight, unfortunately losing out by just one point in a very close match. The ladies division was well entered with no easy opponents. I'm certain Rebecca will be collecting medals in her future fights.

Ashley Jackson - 2nd Place - Points - This was Ashley's first ever competition and as a brown belt was straight into the advanced category. Although Ashley had to withdraw from his match half way through due to a shoulder injury, he said he really enjoyed his first taste of competition and is already looking forward to the next one. That's the spirit!

Craig Ashton - 3rd Place - Light Continuous - His first competition and jumping straight in at the deep end entering the light continuous. In two fast and furious matches Craig gave a good account of himself and gained some valuable experience along with a 3rd place medal. Well done..

Rob Tyler - His first competition for Dragon Freestyle and his one for over 8 years with anyone. Although no medal this time, Rob said himself, this one was just to get back the feeling of competition again...... the next one he enters will be a different thing altogether I'm sure.

Andy Smith - 2nd Place - Points - A couple of great fights from Andy who is just getting back into competitions after a long break. I know Andy will be disappointed with 2nd, but he fought well for it and his opponent in the final was in top form on the day. I know this will leave Andy hungry for more so we'll look forward to his future 1st places that I know he'll achieve.

It's always nice to win medals, but you can't go into a tournament with a lot of first time fighters expecting to win everything, especially if you are entering competitions of a high standard. Taking this into account it was great to achieve the results we did. The standard of sparring in class is improving greatly and more people are starting to have a go in competitions. With this we are starting to build a great Dragon Freestyle squad that I know will do well in the future.

Well done to everyone that fought and thanks for being part of Dragon Freestyle.

Regards

Ian

Update - 3rd June 2011:

Assistant Instructor Course

Well done to Danny Buckle and George Booth for completing the first part of the Assistant Instructor Training Programme. It is great to have you both become part of the growing Dragon Freestyle coaching/instructor team. I look forward to seeing you both assisting in class.

Ian

Update - 12th May 2011:

Black Belt Grading

Congratulations to Mark Harrison-Clay and Cal Smith who both passed their Junior Black Belt Gradings on Sunday 8th May. They graded along with 9 others at the PKO headquarters in Ilkeston in a grading lasting about 3.5 hours for the juniors, and longer for the adults. A panel of 5 black belts marked the test including myself and the PKO head - Jason Dorn. Well done to both of you on this achievement. I look forward to seeing you both develop as Black Belts from this point forwards.

Ian

Update - 8th May 2011:

Assistant Instructors Course

On Friday I held an Assistant Instructors Course. This was attended by Adrian Redgate, Jess Thandi, Ashley Jackson and Rebecca Wilson. The course covered the initial requirements to able to help out in classes with the coaching and instructing of junior and adult students. The course went really well and all four of them are now ready to start helping out. Well done for attending the course and I look forward to seeing you practice your coaching skills in class.


Applied Kyusho - Pressure Points Course

On Saturday, Rebecca Wilson attended Jason Dorn's Academy in Ilkeston to take her Applied Kyusho Level 1 practical grading. I am delighted to say that Rebecca passed this test and is the first student to test for and pass the Applied Kyusho Level 1 under the tuition of myself. Well done Rebecca and good luck with Level 2.

Regards

Ian

Update - 11th April 2011:

Revolution Tournament - North of England Championships

Another good set of results for Dragon Freestyle from yesterday's tournament in Doncaster. From 8 people competing we came back with 7 medals. Considering 2 of the fighters were competing for the first time this is a great result. Our medal winners were:

Matthew Hughes - 3rd (Points)
Joss Bevan - 2nd (Points)
Richard Kowalkowski - 3rd (Points)
Jonathon Howse - 3rd (Points)
Craig Adkins - 1st (Points)
Ian Harrison - 1st (+80kg Black Belt Points), 2nd (Veterans Points)

Well done to everyone that fought, it was a really busy day and everyone did their best and showed a great attitude as always. Well done to Rory Quinn who got stuck in on his points division and must have been half the size of everyone else in it and at age 9 was 6 years younger than the oldest person he fought! Well done also to Daniel Brocklehurst who fought in the Light-Continuous and was competing for the first time. It was a tough division with a lot of experienced fighters in, so no easy task. You fought well.

Thanks to those who came along to support our fighters, it is greatly appreciated.

Regards

Ian

Update - 21st March 2011:

IAKSA/ ASKO - ENGLISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

The tournament at Ellis Guilford yesterday went really well and produced some more great fights in the Points and Light Continuous categories. Dragon Freestyle had 10 students fighting, with half of those competing for only their first or second time.

We came away with 4 trophies as follows:

1st (IAKSA 2011 English Champion) - Craig Adkins - Points -
2nd - Steve Wrenn - Points
2nd - Reece Thandi - Light Continuous
3rd - Craig Adkins - Light Continuous

Really well done to you guys. None of the categories were easy so you did fantastic to come away with those trophies.

Sadly, due to refereeing all day I did not get to see everyone fight or get chance to coach most of you while you were fighting. This makes your achievements even greater in my eyes. However, I know that you offered great support to each other even though some of you barely knew each other. This is what being part of a team is all about and it's great to see Dragon Freestyle showing superb team spirit. I will do my best to ensure at future events there is someone available to coach you.

Well done to Jess Thandi, who was fighting for the first time and although did not win a trophy, she did win one of her fights which is a great achievement for her first time out.

Ryan Brown also won his first fight on the day which is down to the hard work he's been putting in during class. This is the first of many wins I'm sure.

Rebecca Wilson was clearly our most nervous fighter on the day. Fighting for the first time in about 3 years  I thought she fought the best I've seen here and had some great fights. I know she'll be disappointed in not winning a trophy, but should be happy with her performance in some closely fought battles in difficult categories.

Matthew Hughes, Brendan Weston, Ciaran Weston and Luke Mortimer all gave it their best shot and will have learned from their experiences on the day. You all showed you deserved to be there and I know with continued training and competition experience you'll do well.

A big thank you to everyone that supported the event and cheered on our fighters. Thanks to Adrian Redgate, Steve Cantrill and Paul Wathen for your help all day as officials. Also, thanks to Nas, Steve Wrenn and the Ellis Sports centre staff for their help in setting the room up for the day.

Regards

Ian

Update - 27th February 2011:

Yesterday was the first formal Junior Leader Training Course run by Dragon Freestyle. This was a 2 hour course for junior members wanting to get involved with helping other juniors in classes. This is the first part in the Junior Leader Training Programme and is followed by coaching practice and then a Graduation Course.

The Junior Leaders can be identified in class by the White Wristband they will be wearing which says on it
"DF - Junior Leader."

Well done to the following who are now Dragon Freestyle Trainee Junior Leaders:

Matthew Hughes
Ryan Clayton
Ciaran Weston
Oliver Abram
Esa Anwar

Regards

Ian

Update - 20th February 2011:

Sedition Fight League - Ilkeston

Today we attended the above Fight show in Ilkeston. This was organised and hosted by Jason Dorn/ Paragon Black Belt Academy.

The day was excellent! There were about 18 matched fights, all of which were 3 rounds. The fight standard was very high, the atmosphere great and a really good attitude shown from all fighters from all clubs attending.

Dragon Freestyle had 4 members fighting and 3 of those were fighting for their first time on this type of event.  Everyone fought really well and made their opponents work hard. Our final results were:

Reece Thandi - Winner - Light continuous
Ryan Brown - Runner up - Light continuous
Ryan Devenish - Runner up - Light continuous
Danny Buckle - Joint 3rd Place - 4 man points

Reece was a little star winning his match and in my opinion was one of the best fights of the day. Even though the others will be disappointed at not winning they all gave it their best and got through the 3 rounds still fighting at the end. This in itself is a great achievement.

A big thank you to Adrian Redgate and Danny Buckle for helping out with the judging and also thank you to the spectators that came to support Dragon Freestyle.

The next event is the IAKSA English Open Championships at Ellis Guilford, Nottingham on 20th March.

Regards

Ian

Update - 1st February 2011:

Grading Results:

Well done to all those that passed their belt grading on Sunday. The belts are on order and the certificates will hopefully be ready for class on Thursday. The highest score of the day went to Barnaby Fenn taking Brown Belt. Well done mate, keep up the excellent work. His score was closely followed by Rebecca Wilson and Anthony Cobley who both passed Blue Belt. Great work from you too, it's good for Barnaby to have some competition.

Regards

Ian

Update - 4th January 2011:

Happy New year to you all. I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year.

All classes are back to normal from today, so hope to see you all back at training soon. Lots going on this year so please keep an eye on the "Events" page.

Regards

Ian