Bob Breen Academy » News

NEW VENUE! from 30th January

Bob Breen — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:13:57 +0000

We have changed venue by about two hundred yards. We are back in Hoxton Square from tonight the 30th January in St Monica’s school. It’s a great space and much better than the area we use in SPACe. The Olympics have taken over SPACe ahead of the schedule we had agreed. However, it’s great to be back in the Square whilst we look at possible full time venues. See you there. Great training as usual.

ST MONICA’S PRIMARY SCHOOL. HOXTON SQUARE . N.1.

OLYMPIC LEGACY AND SEMINARS

Bob Breen — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:59:27 +0000

As you may be aware we are being moved from SPACe for about six months so that the Olympics can train ambassadors (whatever they are) and thus ensure an Olympic legacy. That they’ve closed down most of the clubs that use SPACe and thus are destroying any legacy seems to have missed their attention. However we have secured a very close venue in St Monica’s School in Hoxton square. For those of you who went there before you know it’s an even better space than we have at the moment. No venue makes a club it’s what happens there; the strength of the training and the fighting spirit so that’s what we’ll be concentrating on. I guarantee some of the best training in the World over the next six months. We will be moving from the end of February and will let you know exact dates once we’ve finalised with the college and they in turn with the Olympics.

There’s lots happening other than the Olympics. We’ve organised a Sparring seminar on Sunday 4th March at the Masters academy in Loughton. This will be a great chance to train with people who aren’t from the club but come from the same JKD family. I’ll be teaching alongside Matt Chapman who was at one time an Academy member. He’s been training since about the age of ten and is CFC welterweight champion and good at thai and mma and much more. We’ll give you sparring tips, exercises, training methods, alongside strategy, tactics and techniques to fix your sparring difficulties. Whether it’s getting in on tall opponents or how to handle a strong opponent we’ll give you helpful tips and video your progress. A fun day with no one getting bashed but all growing. Limited space and numbers so apply early. Full details on events page.

If you’d like to become or are an instructor then we’ve finally got dates for the Breen Instructor Group/ JKD-Kali International. Instructor camp. The first this year will be 24th and 25th March and the next the 26th and 27th of May. As usual time are 11.00 until 4.00. We’ll be working out of the new City of London Academy Islington in Prebend st. Nearest tube Angel. It’s a fabulous venue and of course the training is top rate. In hard economic times supplementing your income by teaching martial arts is the way to go. Get training, get authorised, and get going. see you there. Full details on the events page.

Start here!

Bob Breen — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:09:58 +0000

As the new year has finally kicked in we’re looking at seeing lots of new people and old friends alike. We’re starting a beginners class on Tuesday the 31st of January. This will be taken by Paul Clark though on some weeks I may take the class. Follow this up by coming to either the Monday 7.30 or the Thursday 7.20 class both cover fundamentals though we do sometimes go a bit further than that. For old members who haven’t trained in a while now is a great time to come back and get fighting fit for the coming year. It’s going to be a great year and we have lots planned, competitions in both empty hands and stick plus incredible seminars. For those who dream of being a JKD instructor one day we also have the JKD/Kali international / Breen instructor Group seminars to teach you how. Come and do a FREE trial class whether beginner or old hand. Lets be great in 2012 together.

Happy new year.

Bob Breen — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 20:59:26 +0000

We wish all of you a happy new year for the year ahead. It’s going to be a great year for the Academy. We start back on 3rd of January with a single sweat and bash class from 7.00 taken by Bob then it’s onto normal timetable times for following days. If you’ve dropped off lately now is a great time to come back as we’re all starting from zero fitness again after the long break. Come along and lets climb the hill together. Note the changes in the timetable. We’ve introduced a short stick fighting class first thing on a Thursday thus allowing us to train up a team for competition (why not jump in maybe you’ll end up one of the Academy’s legendary World Champions ). This allows for a longer class straight after at about 7.15 so that we get more done and raise people to a higher level. If you’ve got friends who’d like to come now is the time to introduce them and get a special Academy gift too. See you Tuesday.

Last Bash

Bob Breen — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:25:38 +0000

I hope you all can come and celebrate what has been a great year for the club this Thursday. Many thanks to all of you for your hard work and sweat throughout the year and for being fun to teach. This Thursday we have our last bash for the year. Class starts at 6.45 until about 8.00. This will be a hard and sweat;y class just the thing to leave you sore but feeling strong for the Christmas cheer. After the class it’s wine and mince pies until we close. All welcome whether a current member or not. See you there.

Five times a champ.

Bob Breen — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:49:35 +0000

Congratulations to Carl Jackson who got Gold in Lightweight Double stick, Silver in Welterweight Single stick at the recent British Championships. It’s his 5th British title and qualifies for the British Team going to Cebu for the World championships next summer. After Christmas Carl will be coaching people to go forwards to padded stick competition with other clubs in our network of schools. We may also do some armour training too. If you’re interested now’s the time to get in and learn the basics. Maybe the British Team beckons?

Grading training

Bob Breen — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:41:10 +0000

To help people prepare for the coming grading I’ll be in every night for the next few weeks. Timetable will focus on hard training with lots of sweat but also we’ll be covering grading techniques and hopefully getting time to use them in sparring and combat games.

Monday at 7.30 will cover hard basics and the techniques up to green belt.

Tuesday I’ll be teaching grading techniques for all grades from 6.30 and then with a more basic focus at 7.30 whilst I take over Carl’s class whilst he’s on holiday.

Thursday: First class up to green belt / hard basics and sparring. Second class Green belt plus techniques but open to all grades. Stick class as normal

Saturday: For those who really want to make sure they’ve got it down. The class at Peter May sports centre in chingford is also open. 11.00-1.00. This class is £10 but small numbers.

I hope this all helps you with your preparation. Grading is important. It tests what you know and also lets me see what your basics are like under pressure. See you there.

Grading update

Bob Breen — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:16:33 +0000

We’ve put back the date of the grading so that it will be on the 8th December. We’ll have seniors to mentor you through the grade so that you know all the techniques and also know how to use them. I’ll update the link on the site so that you can download the relevant gradings syllabus for your grade. I think it’s in pages format at the moment so will sort it as a pdf. See you in the classes. bob

Saturday Seniors

Bob Breen — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 07:35:00 +0000

Now that the black belt grading is over I’m restarting the Saturday class at Peter May Sports Centre in Chingford. This will be an elite group researching and training the whole gamut of JKD and Kali techniques. Once numbers have stabilised I will make this a closed group with a limited number of students. This way the level will soar and they in turn can pass on their skills to others. If you are a serious student of the arts and want to improve then come along and join in. Please note there’s no class on the 8th as that is the weekend of the B.I.G.instructor group. First class is this Saturday 1st October from 11.00-1.00. See you there.

12 New black belts.

Bob Breen — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:49:01 +0000

The black belt grading at the weekend was a great affair, a fabulous day whether watching or taking part. We had twelve candidates taking the grading and it was a full on day with the grading lasting over four hours. We would have probably gone on more but we were out of time. By the end everyone was tired, battered and bruised. The grading is a real test and it’s my intention to have it as the gold standard for black belt gradings. Something to be proud of for the rest of your life and entry into an elite club where all have passed the same test. We regularly fail people even close friends. The standard is the standard with no accommodation made for sex, injury or disability. We expect the candidates to show their knowledge of JKD and Kali as part of the curriculum with all candidates expected to show great skill in boxing and kickboxing, JKD and Jun fan trapping and kickboxing, Panantukan from Kali, some silat and a lot of thai boxing technique too. All in all they have to be a complete fighter. Not only do they have to know all this stuff in a technical sense they then have to show it in free play and in full contact sparring and last but not least the infamous two on one sparring. It’s here where they fight two of the seniors who’ve also been through this test for their black belt so they know how to test you. When you’ve got nothing left we want to see what you’ve got. What FIGHTING SPIRIT is left after everything else has gone. The twelve candidates: Husna Nessa, Barry Harte, Paul Clark, Julian gilmour, Benet brandreth, Richard Lee, John Lau, Ben Mohammed, Jamie Hillman, Han ter park, Anil Waughray, and Graeme Mccormack were all outstanding though they all had their highs and their lows. Congratulations to all of you and many thanks to the thirteen senior who turned up to help with the assessment.