Ninjutsu Uncovered

How far does £5 go these days; I will answer for you, not far. So, when this comes in an enquiry, both myself and my lovely wife and head of admin Kerry we both point out what you are getting in the children’s clubs. Firstly, we recommend you pay as you go for the first four weeks to see if your little one enjoys it, if they do not join in at first and just watch then you get your money back until they join in the fun. We know children get excited about training and want to buy everything from a t-shirt to gloves in the first few classes, but we try to curb that enthusiasm so that the parents don’t buy everything only for the child to decide after four weeks they don’t want to train anymore; so, the cupboard in your house will be filled with lots of fail sporting endeavours. This might sound mad losing sales and making money off excited children, but we do this to help the parents to make it easier for the children to stay.  If they enjoy the class, we ask them to get an Gi and...

                                           A DATE WITH “THE DARK DESTROYER” When you get a text “Do you want Nigel Benn to teach at the gym? What do you text back? This was the text I got in July and it sent me into a spiral, thoughts of the ex-world boxing champion standing in the ring at the AFC, teaching how he became one of the most exciting fighters in the world was just too good to pass up so I said yes. The Day was to be split into 2 parts; 1.         A masterclass; teaching all the little details of movement of this skilful, powerhouse of a boxer. 2.         A question and answer session; answering all the questions you care to ask about his life and the fights he has had. After discussing the pros and cons of getting an event like this organised, along with the head of admin (my lovely wi...

Nobody puts John in the corner? This statement is so true. Life as a cornerman is a massive learning curve just as learning to be a fighter is, but it is a massively underrated part of the martial arts sports scene. I never even thought of being a cornerman because when I was younger I was fighting.   As part of my ninjutsu training we regularly sparred both upright and on the ground so I never thought anything of it. In the olden days because there was not the abundance of interclub or fight shows where people could try out their skill against one another we fought on courses or special weekends and kicked the living shit out of each other thinking it was normal. It was just part of the training; with no gloves, sometimes no gumshield and no cornering help apart from the odd shout of “kill him” from well-meaning bystanders. Back in the day, you could only fight in sport by going to an aba approved boxing club, Thai- boxing club or judo to fight and they never would mix th...

In this high-tech world of the internet, twitter, Facebook, among other leading ways for the world to communicate things can and do get taken out of context. As I have mentioned before in past blogs, that I do Movember, were this started as a negative and the Atkin family have changed it into a positive. I grow a beard in the month of November in memory of my father that died of cancer when I was 20 so to give back to Macmillan I started to do this. Every day I posted a photo of myself and my growing beard but then I started to get negative comments or remark. So, with the help of Kerry (project manager) Molly (makeup) and Erin (Props) we decided to take these negative comments and give them something to talk about and over by dressing up using famous people films and downright disturbing images to promote movember. Since then we have raised thousands of pounds for charity made people laugh cry or have scarred them for life and turned that negative energy to a positive outcome. ...

How many hours do you work in a week, is it 20, 30, 40 or more? What do we do with our time when we are not at work; some people come to learn martial arts. I see it as my duty to give 100% to each class I teach whether it is a private class or group. Firstly, I have a system set up in my brain that makes me remember the class I have previously done; It is my shoe shop. In my mind, I run a shoe shop where all my students have a shoe box full of the techniques, and things they have done and are currently doing. As the student comes in for their 1-hour private class my little shop owner pops into the back of the shop to retrieve the box for that student, and we carry on from the last class. I have no idea how my brain does this as I don’t even worry about it not being there when I need it (but I can’t remember what I go upstairs for). This one hour out of everyone’s busy life full of family work dramas and chaos becomes very important and It is my job to make it special. I t...

Sitting waiting for a private class to come in and my mind drifts to how many times I have sat on the floor waiting for people to come and learn the arts I teach. My mind drifts back to all the people I have taught in my martial arts career, when I made the leap to teach fulltime, there were very few instructors making a living at doing that unlike today; martial arts have become so like the consumer culture of today;   A toyshop of Martial arts. I think back to when I started the arts, I had to travel all around the world from a very young age (gaining my black belt in Ninjutsu at the age of 20 years old) to gain the knowledge I have, and the 35 years of practise has helped to develop me as an artist and a human being. People nowadays seem to demand that you pamper them, and if you can’t give them (in their eyes) what they want you are thrown away like an old broken toy. I know the development of martial arts have grown, but has it grown into a “pot noodle “culture? Were ...