It feels like we’ve been non-stop the first 6 months of the club – so much has happened! There’s no way I predicted we’d have achieved what we have by this point of the club.
New Classes
In January we added 3 new venues; Sturfit, East Stour Village Hall and of course our exclusive sessions at Sandroyd School. We now hold 9-11 classes a week and are about to add more (see below).
Since November we’ve had a waiting list for our Stour Row Junior class. I’m pleased to say that thanks to some students moving to our other venues and some moving up to our family class, we now have more room for more adventurous classes.
Member Update
We have around 60 students which is probably 50 more than I expected to have at this point, so thank you all for your faith. We have a number of new students joining us after the Easter holidays.
Second Grading
Well done to everyone that graded! 38 students graded and 37 passed. Everyone gave it their all and you should all be very proud of what you achieved. One student even graded on their 8th birthday! We invested in even more mats to help us manage so many students grading. A reminder that this years’ grading dates are all on the website, so pop them in your diaries. I’m aware that some students can’t make the May grading date, but we’re introducing a new thing – a “Do-over Day”. We’ll have a do-over day around 2 weeks after each grading. This allows those that can’t make the grading to still grade, or those that fail grading 2 weeks to fix what was wrong.
Published a book
We’re super pleased to have published our first kids book. “Ryu finds his spark” is a story about an Autistic dragon who struggles to find their place in the world until they attend a martial arts class. We’re working on a whole series of kids books on life skills.
Shortlisted for awards
I’ve been told off the record that we’re shortlisted for a number of awards around our innovation – I think we’re about to have an exciting few months.
South East Opens
Six of our students travelled to Hatfield in March to compete in the South East Opens. There was around 350 competitors this time, including a great team from Poland who won the team championship. Ally (1st Kup) took home a Bronze medal in Veteran Sparring after 2 very hard rounds. Mr Plummer (2nd Dan) took home a silver trophy in 1st-2nd Dan Patterns. A huge well done to them.
Little Dragons Class
We have a separate syllabus for children aged 4-6 called “Little Dragons”. It teaches Taekwon-Do and life skills in a super fun, age appropriate way. We do these lessons at a pre-school in Wiltshire and are now bringing them to Sturminster Newton. If you’re interested, please get in touch as lessons will be starting after the Easter holidays.
Dorset Martial Arts Centre (DMAC)
As some of you know, I have an ambition to open a dedicated martial arts centre in Sturminster Newton. We have the student numbers already, so I’ve been on the lookout for an ideal premises. Unfortunately all of the ones advertised are no longer available, estate agents seem to just be sleepy in North Dorset. However, we went to see a potential building last week and are just waiting for the floor plans to be sent to us. Hopefully we can reach an agreement! All being well, we could have our own centre by May. It would have a fully matted room, a separate room for exercise classes, a small gym area and a small Martial Arts equipment store. We’ll keep our existing venues too as we want the centre to be a home to various martial arts. We’ve potentially secured 4 extra martial arts to be at the centre already along with a yoga class and pilates class.