IMPACT MARTIAL ARTS ACADEMY

It all started back on the 14th of Febuary 1998 - We opened our first martial arts club in Andover Hampshire - It was a very nervous day for me, we had done what we thought was all we could do to promote our new club - and i was about to find out if i had done enough.

We had 49 new students on the first day we opened, this was an excellent result for us, so the classes continued for weeks and months with a steady flow of students in and out.

Kev Brown and Gary Davis were two of the 49 students that turned up on the first day, and if im honest now - they are the only two original students that are with me today.

Up untill January 2000 the clubs were ran by myself, but owned by another instructor - who i was working for, so i did not really have much say in how the club was ran, and i ran the club as instructed by the owner, more students left the club than what was coming in, so eventually the club almost ground to a halt, except two students that were still with me kev and gary.

It was decided by mutual consent that i would no longer be working for the current owner of the club, and he decided to close the club due to the lack of students.

I decided that i wanted to have a go at running a club in the same place, and opened a club back up a few weeks later, I still had my two students Gary and Kev with me - we started sending out adverts for the clubs - spending hours of our time posting leaflets through the doors of residents close to the club we were about to open, new students started coming back to our club - week by week we had new starters - the club was growing every time we opened our doors.

Today we have more students in our class then we could have ever imagined, we also have two other clubs which we also see the same success, this is not just down to myself, but down to each and every student in our club today who keep it running, and make it what it is today.

I had passed my black belt only weeks before i started running the clubs for the first time, so know what a nervous and exciting time it was, and i can still remember the feeling when i was told i had passed, and now it was time for two of my students to put every thing they know and hoping all those years of training pays off, after all this is what every student in martial arts strive for.

The date was set for the 25th of January 2003, again my two students had to give up extra of their time for additional training with myself to give the best possible chance of passing this massive task ahead of them.

Each and every student in our club will tell you that every grading they have ever passed they have had to work hard for, very hard, we do not believe in giving belts away to students who do not deserve them, as i have seen this happen in other classes that i have trained in, i have seen black belts bought for cash after students only had been training for a matter of weeks in a club, and friends and family of instructors promoted to senior belts - even though they they had never done martial arts before, and i was not going to let this happen in my clubs, ever.

It was a very early Saturday morning when we met on the day of their gradings, and im not sure who was more nervous - them or me, the grading started about 10.30am and we all knew it was going to be a very long day, watching them doing their gradings i was just hoping that we had done enough, because them passing or failing this grading would also be a reflection of how well (or bad) i have taught them.

They both passed comfortably, and i believe that on the day they were both physically and mentally prepared for what they were about to be put through.

Almost six hours later it was complete, and it was only a matter of minutes untill we knew the result, there was a lot of anticipation between us all, untill they both finally found out that they had passed, we did not know wether to scream with joy or cry with laughter.

That was another massive milestone for us here at the "Impact Martial Arts Academy" and it wont be long untill the next students will be ready for their black belt grading.

I am very proud of all my students in all of my clubs, but espescially proud today of these two students, i would like to thank them both for all of the many years they have been with me - and i apprecieate and accept that these clubs would not be what they are today without the hard work both of these two have put into it - thanks again.

Wayne Timlin - Cheif Instructor - Impact Martial Arts Academy