3 is the Magic Number | 8th August | posted by Midlands Kickboxing
On the 29th of July the Instructor and Coaches from Midlands Kickboxing travelled to the famous Temple Martial Arts Centre in Birmingham to take part in a specially arranged Black belt grading.
All three students were really put through their paces during the three and a half hour grading, only briefly pausing for drink breaks. The grading consisted of freestyle Kickboxing, freestyle pad work, power techniques, technical grading sets and a tough series of shadow boxing giving the opportunity to showcase what Kickboxing/Martial Arts moves and routines that each student had in their locker.
I was given the results of the grading along with the feedback the following week by PKA Principal Mr Mike Haig. James Turner and Declan Prendergast received fantastic feedback from Mr Haig on all aspects of their grading and had no hesitation in awarding them their Black belt 2nd Dan. We then discussed Jenny Enderby’s grading; having coached her for the last few years I was confidant she had done more than enough to pass. Mr Haig had no reservations on awarding Jenny her Black belt 1st Dan.
The comments that Jenny received from Mr Haig quite simply blew me away. He said Jenny was one of the best female martial artists he had ever seen and most certainly the best in the last 25 years. High praise indeed by anyone’s standards, even more impressive when you understand who Mr Haig is in the world of Martial Arts.
In the late 1960’s Mr Haig had over 300 students training per week at his Temple gym and it quickly established itself as the number one Karate school in the UK and has promoted the largest open Karate tournament ever in Britain with over 1200 competitors. In 1973 Mr Haig created the British Kung Fu Association which quickly became the largest martial arts association the country. During this period Mr Haig introduced American Kickboxing to the UK, he is the principle of the PKA which is the largest kickboxing association in the UK. He is also responsible for introducing protective equipment and matted boxing ring for martial arts things we just take for granted nowadays, along with bringing through numerous World, European and British Champions.
