News
Family Quiz Night Saturday 18th February
Two parents of students at the academy have arranged a Family Quiz Night to raise funds for the academy, Tickets for the event to be held at Bacup Borough Football Club on Saturday 18th February at 7.00pm are available priced £5.00 per adult and £2 per child from the academy. Admission includes a Pie and Peas supper.
There are some terrific prizes to be won, so please make every effort to come along and support the academy and remember to bring along your friends as well.
Blood, Sweat and Tears at the WKC Nationals
There was plenty of sweat, some blood and tears as our fighters competed at the WKC Semi Contact National Championships in Manchester. Current World Champion in Semi Contact Charlotte Fagg won her catergory to become National Champion and both Chloe Love and Shannon Priestley also picked up Gold Medals. Alisha Khan continued her good form she showed at The Won in winning a well deserved Silver.
There were bronze medals for Jamie Lee Kershaw, who was returning to competitive action after a four year absence, Sarah Lennon, Shannon Bacon, Luke and Aaron Butler and Mark Turner who ended up with a very bloody nose for his efforts, unfortunately for Mark his nose was still bleeding when we left.
Congratulations to all those who got amongst the medals and in so doing qualified to have the oppurtunity to compete at the World Championships in Montreal later this year, those who missed out will I am sure be back in a couple of weeks competing at the Light Continuous event.
Four Win at 'The Won'
Thirteen of our fighters competed at what is by tradition the first kickboxing competion of the year. Chloe Love, Shannon Bacon and Kyrah Khan all won their respective light contact categories and Connor Jones won his semi contact category, obviously benefiting from the extra points training Alf has introduced into the evening lessons.
There were other successes too with Alisha Khan and Sadiyah Khan coming second in semi contact and Chloe Love and Sammie Jay Woodrup coming third. Alisha also came second in her light contact category and Connor came third.
Well done to all of those who competed and congratulations to our winners, it is great to see members who have very little competition experience getting placed at these events.
New Year Brings Fifteen New Members
We are delighted to welcome new members Billy Edge, James Cropper, Keera Taylor, Sam Rodgers, Teigan Jay Woodrup, Ellis Greaves, Aaron Ryan, Chris Ireland, Shaun Stephen, Kian Crook, Craig Walsh, Nathan Horkin, Katie Race, Liam Woods and Megan Whitehead - Donaghue who have all joined us in January.
A Massive Thank You to ASDA
The academy would like to say a massive thank you to Asda who financed the entire cost for the installation of the heating / air conditioning system and the refurbishments to both the male and female changing rooms. The total cost of the project was just over £10,000 which is a large investment. We are hugely indebted to Asda and especially Laura Saxton who was fundamentally involved in securing the funding for the project and supporting the academy whos students no longer have to train in freezing cold conditions in the winter months.
We were delighted Laura, pictured with students from the afternoon lesson was able to take time out of her busy schedule to come and present the cheque to the academy and see the heating system and refurbished changing rooms for herself. To round off the visit two of our younger students Aaron Ryan and Teigan Jay Woodrup presented Laura with a bouquet of flowers as a thank you from the academy.
Student of the Year 2011 ' Matthew Turner '
Our congratulations go to Matthew Turner who was announced as the academies Student of the Year at the annual presentation evening, Matthew has had an excellent year, being an ever present at nearly every lesson in both the afternoons and evenings he has attended more lessons than any of our other students. Competively Matt has had a good year despite narrowly missing out on qualifying for the World Championships he has put in some excellent performances and had some notable successes one of which was out our fight night earlier in the year. Matt has tonnes of potential and with all his hard work and dedication will only get better and better.
Matt has many excellent qualities including a hard work ethic, a willingness to listen and learn and a terrific attitude, always attending competitions, fight nights and fundraising events he also helps out with the training of the youngsters at the afternoon lessons. This year he took and passed his Green, Blue and Purple grades.
The reaction from everyone who attended the presentation evening showed just how popular a member of the academy Matt is, when collecting his award he received a fantastic reception. Matt is a credit to the academy and thoroughly deserves to be our Student of the Year.
Student of the 4th Quarter ' Shannon Bacon '
The academies student of the 4th Quarter is Shannon Bacon, Shannon always works extremely hard in lessons and has a fantastic attitude making her a very popular member of the academy. Shannon who received her award at the Academies annual presentation evening ended the year with a Double victory at the Shorai Nationals winning both her light continuous and semi continuous categories, our congratulations go to Shannon !.
Eight Students pass Black Belt Grades
Eight of our students went through an extremely tough four hour blackbelt grading session with Sensei Joe Tierney 8th Dan and Sensei Alf Love 5th Dan on Tuesday 6th December. Joe was extremely pleased with the standard of all the students who took part and gave special praise to Joshua 'O' Connor who gave an excellent performance in passing his 3rd Dan. Josh is pictured with fellow clubmates Sarah Lennon, Chloe Love, Shannon Priestley, Dave Cross, Declan Bailey, Jamie - Lee Kershaw and Charlotte Fagg who all passed their 2nd Dan Grades.
Sensei Alf Love ' 5TH DAN'
Head Coach Alf Love was presented with his 5th Dan from Sensei Joe Tierney at the ShoraI Nationals in Bolton, Alf has been involved in Martial Arts for over thirty five years and has been affilated with Joe's 'Shorai International' organisation for twenty years. Alf pictured with Joe at the official presentation of the award at our blackbelt grading evening was absolutely delighted in receiving his award from his all time martial arts hero.
Excellent showing at the Shorai Nationals
Twenty two of our members, many of whom were new to competitive action attended the Shorai Nationals at Bolton, there were some excellent performances from new members Kian Grogan, Ryan Grogan, Sammie Jay Woodrup, Taylor Thompson and Harry Hart along with Elle Radcliffe Kyrah,Sadiyah and Alisha Khan who were also relative strangers to competitive action. The notable performance from our new members came from Kian who won his Light Contact category, not a bad start at your first competition !!
Others winners on the day included Shannon Priestley and Tejay Bacon in Semi Contact and Luke Butler in Light Contact. Shannon Bacon had a particularly good day in winning both her Light Contact and Semi Contact categorys, those placed second or third included Alisha Khan, Aaron Butler, Matt Turner, Connor Jones, Taylor Thompson and Sadiyah Khan.
The day ended with Charlotte Fagg giving an impressive display in winning the Womens Open Weight in Light Contact.
Well done to all of those who fought.
Lancashire Sports Award Success for Alf
Alf received the 'highly commended award' in the Life Time Achievement category at the prestigious Lancashire Sports Awards held at the Hilton Hotel in Blackpool, the award was made to Alf in recognition of his work over the past thirty years teaching the youngsters of Rossendale Martial Arts. Alfs daughter Chloe was also nominated in the Rising Star category but unfortunately was not a winner on the night.
Alf and Chloe had plenty of support at the event with wife Lesley and friends, including some members of the academy attending the event. Alf was delighted with his award and is pictured with wife Lesley who was instrumental in nominating Alf for the Rossendale Sports Awards.
Our congratulations go to Alf who I am sure you will agree thoroughly deserves the recognition for all the time and dedication he has given over the years in helping so many who have come through the academy.
Fantastic Four Reign in Spain
The four fighters we had competing at this years WKC World Championships had a fantastic medal return after four days of tough competition, things did not start at all well though when Shannon Priestley was injured in her first Semi Contact fight, Shannon went over on her ankle whilst leading her opponent 2 - 0 but the injury hampered her and resulted in her early elimination from the division. Things went far better for Connor Jones who despite his limited experience in points fighting won through to the semi finals to earn a well deserved bronze medal which was a terrific result.
Chloe Love and Charlotte Fagg both progressed in to their respective semi contact division finals with impressive performances and went on to have a massive influence in getting the girls England points team through to the final after they had fallen two fights behind in the five fight contest, Chloe and Charlotte used all their experience in winning their fights by the narrowest of margins to bring the score back to 2 - 2 before team colleague Charlotte Scott won the final fight to eliminate last years winners Canada.
All four of our fighters won through to their individual light contact finals, Shannon still suffering from her injured ankle fought with it heavily strapped and gave a gritty display to get herself into Saturdays Final.
Finals day started with Connor winning his light contact division becoming a World Champion for the first time which was just reward for all the work he had put into training including the time spent with Alf in the gym in getting his weight down at the weigh in on Tuesday. Chloe, Shannon and Charlotte all won their respective light contact finals against difficult opponents continuing their remarkable success at the finals with Shannon now having won six consecutive titles and Chloe a staggering ten.
In semi contact Chloe made her opponent from Ireland have to work extremely hard for her win which was by just three points in a contest that remained close throughout, Charlottes fight looked to be running away from her as she found herself behind 1 - 5 but a disciplined and tenacious display brought a dramatic turnaround in the final result with Charlotte eventually winning 9 - 6.
In the evening Chloe and Charlotte competed in the girls team points final against Ireland and as in the semi final they made a significant contribution into the outcome by winning both their fights, when fellow team mate Holly Winder won the fourth fight it was all over with England winning 3 - 1 with one fight remaining. It was no more than Charlotte and Chloe deserved after the disappointment of last years final against Canada, our congratulations go to the other team members Holly Winder, Georgina Cowan and Charlotte Scott who all worked really hard to get the team over the line.
So after a busy finals day we came home with seven golds, one silver and a bronze which is a tremendous result, everyone fought superbly and were helped with the support from not only Alf but also sensei Joe Tierney who made a special effort to ensure he was behind all our fighters despite his refereeing duties throughout the Championships.
Congratulations to our Fantastic Four you were Brilliant !!!!
World Championship Squad get a good workout at Bristol Open
The four members of the academy who are attending the World Championships competed at the Bristol Open which is a relatively new competition on the tournament calendar. Chloe Love, Charlotte Fagg, Shannon Priestley and Connor Jones competed in both Light Contact and Semi Contact divisions, it was a long day with Connor finishing his light contact category at 9.30pm but it proved to be a worthwhile exercise with all our fighters getting in some valuable mat time prior to them going to the World Championships at the end of October.
The standard was very high with the categories well attended making our fighters have to work very hard against some excellent competition. Chloe was the only fighter to come away with a medal in Semi Contact, winning a bronze. Charlotte competed well in Light Contact to win a silver and Chloe went all the way to win her Light Contact division coming home with a bespoke Blue Glass glove for her efforts. All our fighters fought really well and importantly all had tough competive workouts without picking up any injuries.
Harvey Wademan Student of the 3rd Quarter
Our congratulations go to Harvey Wademan who was selected as the student of the third quarter, Harvey has been working very hard in the afternoon lesson showing a positive attitude to training since coming back to the academy earlier this year, he was presented with his award by Alf and Chloe at our Fight Night.
Aaron and Danny double up out Fight Night
Thirty five of our fighters took part in the academies fight night held at the Tollbar on Saturday 1st October, with fighters joining us from LKA, Strike and Fit to Fight the standard was very good. There were wins for Leah Nolan Sant, Tejay Bacon, Dylan Jourey, Harry Hart, Luke Butler, Tyler Wain, Sadiyah Khan, Kye Loney, Karl Nolan Snt, Leon Casey, Charlie Hart, Kian Grogan, Ryan Nolan Sant, Ryan Grogan, Billy Brown and Connor Jones. It was especially rewarding for Aaron Butler and Danny Royle who won both their fights. There were some excellent performances notably from Connor Jones and Luke Butler who beat very experienced opposition. Many of those taking part were competing for the first time and all acquitted themselves very well.
Charlotte back on the winning trail at the MAI's
Charlotte got herself back in the winning habit after her disappointing display at the 'Strike Fight Night' in August, with convincing displays in both her light and semi contact events coming away with two gold medals. The academy took a strong squad to the event with Tejay Bacon, Chloe Love, Shannon Priestley and Alisha Khan all winning silvers in light contact and Karl Nolan Sant, Elle Radcliffe, Shannon Bacon and Sarah Lennon winning bronze medals.
In Semi Contact Chloe and Shannon Priestley won silvers, whilst Shannon Bacon picked up a bronze. Some students were unfortunate not to get amongst the medals but all competed really well.
Connor, Elle and Sarah win in Wakefield
Connor Jones gave a first class performance despite feeling unwell to win at 'Graham Roche's Fight Night' in Wakefield on Saturday 24th September, there were wins for Elle Radcliffe and Sarah Lennon too on a night were all our fighters fought well. It was Sarah's first competive fight for twelve years, which is a long time to be away from the action. Leah Nolan Sant and Tejay Bacon worked really hard against larger opponents but were unable to win.
Rossendale Sports Awards 'Two out of Three Ain't Bad'
Members of the academy attended the 6th Rossendale Sports Awards held at St Mary's Chambers, Rawtenstall on Friday 16th September, having been nominated in three of the eight catergories.
Before all the excitement of the award ceremony started we were treated to several entertaining features including a display from some of our members, Alisha Khan, Tejay Bacon, Dylan Jourey, Megan Pilling, Leah Nolan - Sant & Chloe Love received a terrific round of applause at the end of what was a very entertaining and professional display, the audience were particularly impressed with Chloe's spinning kicks.
Chloe was soon back on stage as one of four nominees in the 'rising star category' after a short wait Chloe was revealed as a joint winner, sharing the award with a young skier Krisofer Berglindarson. The academy's nomination for the 'club of the year award' was unsuccessful in what was a very strong category with eight nominations.
However our disappointment in missing out on the club of the year award was short lived as Alf was announced as the winner of the 'lifetime achievement award' in recognition of the twenty five years he has been teaching martial arts in Rossendale.
The awards to Alf and Chloe are no more than they both deserve, we are all very proud of their success.
Tejay back to his Best
Eight of our fighters competed at the Impact Fight Night at Middlesborough on Saturday 10th September, Tejay gave his best performance of the year to win his bout and also collect the Fighter of the Night award, Luke Butler also won and in the last fight of the night Chloe's bout with Katherine Trainor was awarded as a draw. Unfortunately they were our only successes of the night. Well done to all those who competed.
Debbie Womersley 'Strike Kickboxing'
I am sad to report that a very good friend of the academy Debbie Womersley, lost her battle against cancer on 7th September. Debbie has been involved with kickboxing for many years and was one of the nicest people you could meet. Respected throughout the world of kickboxing Debbie will be sadly missed. The academy have sent our deepest sympathies to her husband Ian and the rest of the family.
Yorkshire Cup remains in Yorkshire for now
Eleven of the academies fighters competed against our good friends from Strike Kickboxing at the inaugural Yorkshire Cup on Saturday 13th August. The event held between the two clubs for the first time was a great success. The initial exchanges were nip and tuck as neither club could establish a lead, after eight fights the score was 4 each with our winners coming from Shannon Priestley, Ryan Nolan Sant and the Turner twins Matt and Mark. With the scores level after with three fights remaining it was set up for a grand finale but unfortunately our last three fighters Chloe Love, Aaron Butler and Charlotte Fagg were unable to register any wins so Strike won the cup 7 - 4.
The event will become an annual contest between the two clubs and I am sure we will all look forward in trying to get the Sensei Deborah Trophy across the border into Lancashire in 2012.
Cimac World Cup Report
It came as no surprise that our ten fighters came up against some tough competition at this years Cimac World Cup, although some of our fighters did not get amongst the medals there were some excellent performances.
Tejay Bacon won the first medal of the day grabbing a well earned 3rd place in his semi contact division a feat Matt Turner was to replicate later in the day.
In Light contact Connor Jones came third, Shannon Bacon and Shannon Priestley went one better coming second in their respective finals, as the day was drawing to an end we were beginning to wonder if we were going to get a winner. Then late in the afternoon Charlotte, who by her own admission under performed in her semi contact category gave a gutsy performance to win her light contact division beating the opponent who she had lost to in semi contact, Charlotte is pictured left receiving her trophy from the President of Shorai International and World Referee Joe Tierney.
Well done to all our fighters who competed.
One of those Days at Warriors Challenge
The academy had what can only be described as one of those days at the Warriors Challenge in Horwich coming away with only three medals, maybe our fighters were recovering from thier efforts at the bag pack at Asda the day before, but they did not perform as well as they can do. Those amongst the medals were Shannon Priestley winning Silver in Light Contact and Tejay Bacon and Karl Nolan Sant winning bronze in Light Contact. Five of our fighters competed in Semi Contact with Leah Nolan Sant coming the closest to winning a medal with a well earned fourth place in her category.
Little Leah quickly gets the point at Shorai Inter Club Event
Some of the academies younger fighters competed at the Shorai Inter Club Event held at Bolton on 26th June, amongst them was little Leah Nolan - Sant who in attending her first competition got straight into the winning habit, outshining her older brothers buy winning her catergory.
Other medal winners at the semi contact event were Shannon Bacon (2nd), Sarah Lennon (2nd) and Tejay Bacon (3rd), Karl and Ryan Nolan Sant competed well but unfortunately did not get in the medals.
Jouries out on Student of the Season for the 2nd Quarter
After a considerable amount of debate amongst the instructors the Student of the Second Quarter award was given to Dylan Jourey, who has made excellent progress since the turn of the year. Dylan has performed well in recent fight nights and competitions culminating in coming second to Tejay at the York Multistyle event held in early June. Well done Dylan.
Girls put on a Super Show at York
Our girls gave what can only be described as a stunning display at the Multi style Championships in York on Sunday 5th June as Shannon Bacon, Shannon Priestley and Charlotte Fagg beat everything put up against them to win their respective light contact and semi contact categories. Chloe did her utmost to make it a full house for the girls winning her womens semi contact division and giving a typically gutsy, battling performance against an opponent much heavier and taller than her in the final of her womens light contact division. It really was a super performance from all the girls who competed along with our boys to help raise money for 2 year old William Rhoades who needs an urgent bone marrow transplant operation.
There were plenty of medal winning performances from the boys too, especially pleasing was seeing the Nolan - Sant brothers competing so well at their first competition with Ryan winning silver and Karl winning bronze in light contact.
Tejay Bacon and Dylan Jourey battled through to meet each other in the final of their light contact division, where Tejay showed his experience in winning the gold, leaving Dylan with a well deserved silver. Other medal winners for the boys in light contact were Matt Turner and Connor Jones who won silver and bronze respectively.
All of our boys competed really well in their respective semi contact divisions, but with their limited experience the boys found it difficult to get in the medals, it was therefore a good result for Connor and Tejay to come away with a bronze medals a piece.
Connor Lands a Double at Our Fight Night
Over twenty of the academies fighters competed at our fight night held at the academy on Saturday 21st May, they were joined by fighters from Impact Martial Arts, Bolton Warriors, Fit to Fight, York Martial Arts and LKA. With twenty eight really competive fights involving young kids some of whom have been with the academy 6 weeks, juniors and World Champions in LKA's Scott Rankin and our very own Charlotte Fagg we had a night of real quality.
All our fighters fought really well with some of our young new members Tyler Wain, Jack Thompson, Ruby and Leah Nolan Sant winning in their first competive fights, our juniors did well too with Andy Parkinson winning on his comeback fight, Matt Turner avenging his defeat at the New Era with a gutsy display against Bobby Brown and Charlotte Fagg winning impressively. The star of the night however was Connor Jones who fought exceptionally well in winning both his fights against very good opposition, it really was an excellent effort from Connor who is going from strength to strength.
The evening seemed to be thoroughly enjoyed by everyone and was extremely well supported, thank you to all of you who took the trouble to come along hopefully we will see you at the next event scheduled to be held later this year.
Cameron the only winner at Accrington Fight Night
A handful of our fighters fought at the New Era at Accrington on Billy Battrick's Fight Night, Cameron Sheridan was the only one to come away a winner as our other fighters either drew or lost, all of our fighters fought extremely well but it was one of those nights where things just did not go our way.
Seconds and Thirds at Judgement Day
A small group of members competed at the Judgement Day competition in Sheffield on 1st May, most of our fighters got amongst the medals with Connor Jones, Chloe Love and Shannon Bacon winning silvers in their respective light contact divisions and Matt grabbing a bronze. In Semi Contact Shannon Priestley won a silver and Connor in his first ever semi contact event won a bronze.
Dylan Jourey made his competition debut and fought well but did not manage to get in the medals.
Student of Season First Quarter 2011
Our first student of the quarter for 2011 is John Crabtree, John joined us last year and attends lessons about three times a week, he is really popular with the other members and works extremely hard in the lessons, John is pictured having just received his award from instructor Josh O Connor.
Matt and Cameron our Welsh Wizards
Matt Turner and Cameron Sheridan earned their first competition wins at the WTKA Welsh Open Championships in Cardiff as the won their respective light contact divisions, some of our more experienced fighters got in the winning habit too as Chloe Love and Charlotte Fagg won their respective light contact divisions in style, It didn't stop there as Shannon Priestley and Charlotte also won their semi contact events.
All our fighters came home with trophies with Shannon Bacon coming second in semi contact and brother Tejay being placed third, Connor Jones and Shannon Preistley were placed third in their light contact divisions, whilst Chloe picked up a third place in her semi contact category. All in all a very successful weekend in what was our first visit to this event.
Liverpool Fight Night
Eleven of our members competed at LKA's Fight Night in Liverpool on Friday 18th March, the majority of those competing had little or no competition experience, this did not stop them putting in some excellent performances.
Shannon Bacon, Connor Jones, Matt Turner and Steven Ashurst were winners on the night but there were some excellent performances from many of our young boys some of whom have only been with us a couple of months. Well done to you all.
Wako Weekend Tough but Rewarding
Our fighters returned from a tough weekend of competition at the WAKO British Open Championships in Nottingham having all picked up medals with the exception of Tejay who was unlucky to be in large sections with large opponents on both days.
On Saturday Shannon Bacon improved on her recent silver medal performance at the WKC Nationals to win her light contact division to become WAKO National Champion, our senior girls all came up against very difficult opponents in their respective light contact divisions with Chloe winning silver having moved up a weight division and Charlotte and Shannon Priestley both winning bronze. Our older boys Matt Turner and Steve Ashurst who have very little competition experience did well to came away with bronze medals at such a prestiguous event .
The only medal won on Sunday went to Chloe in her semi contact division as Tejay, Steve, Shannon Bacon and Shannon Priestley all unfortunately missed out on the medals.
Congratulations to Richard Lunt
The academy would like to pass on our congratulations to Richard Lunt from LKA on becoming the WAKO British Champion in Full Contact - 71kg category, Richie 18 on 2nd March is a good friend of the academy where he has taken the occasional lesson, he is always very supportive of our fighters at competitions never short of an encouraging word or two. Well done on a terrific fighting display, to coin a phrase 'you were boss'.
National Treasures
The academies fighters had a very successful National Championships with a total of ten medals being won. Shannon Priestley, Chloe Love and Charlotte Fagg all won gold in light contact whilst Shannon Bacon and Connor Jones gave excellent performances in winning their respective silver medals. Tejay Bacon made up for his disappointment in not winning a medal in his semi contact category by winning bronze in his light contact division.
There were medals for our four girls who competed in semi contact with Chloe winning Gold, Charlotte and Shannon Bacon winning Silver and Shannon Priestley winning bronze.
