We may be have been a little late with these awards, but we weren't going to let some virus stop us from acknowledging those members who have stood out this year by displaying amazing qualities in class!

Our 2020 Member Awards were presented yesterday evening using a dual stream via both Zoom and Facebook Live, reaching upwards of 150 members in total. Using the dual stream allowed us to see reactions, join in rounds of applause and bring our community more closely together for such an important occasion.

It's a shame that we couldn't present these awards in person, but rest assured, we will be sure to celebrate once this current situation is all over in true E.S.K.K style! As always, these were very difficult decisions to make as we have so many amazing members, but I guess that makes these awards even more special.

So please join us in congratulating the members listed below for their hard work and dedication over the past 12-months!

Chris & Jenny x 

We’re proud to announce that our chief instructor Chris Denwood has been nominated and selected for the National Blitz Heroes Award!

This recognition is to acknowledge the work E.S.K.K Martial Arts & Fitness have been doing during the current COVID-19 restrictions, to provide a comprehensive virtual training package and interactive platform to keep our community healthy, active and connected together.

We’d like to thank Alison for the kind nomination, plus all our members and parents for their support over the past few weeks. We are indeed fortunate to be surrounded by such amazing people!

Well, the last few weeks have been incredibly challenging for not only everyone here in the UK, but for people all around the World. The Coronavirus has been spreading quickly and striking regularly, causing individuals we may know personally to lose loved ones. Normal life has been replaced by lock-down conditions and there are uncertain times ahead.

On Monday 16th March, in order to protect the health of our members and their families, E.S.K.K Martial Arts & Fitness took the decision to temporarily transfer its services from face-to-face classes, to virtual online training sessions. Nothing has changed - we are simply serving our members in a different way than normal. In fact, we have actually added TONS of value to help support our loyal members ensure that they are all kept positively active, engaged and healthy during this challenging period.

Our current member support services during this time include...

• Access to private members-only Facebook Group!
• Live virtual classes throughout week and catch up facility!
• Dedicated karate, kettlebells, Pilates and interval training sessions!
• Special junior focused sessions and fitness workouts!
• Exclusive small group interactive training clinics!
• Personal video feedback and productive critique!
• Free access to our premium video tutorials subscription service!
• Regular pre-recorded content including top tips, training drills, healthy eating tips and recipes, plus more!
• Weekly challenges, quiz's, competitions, crosswords and word-searches!
• Guest teachers, collective member-share, plus special Q&A sessions!
• Live weekly round up session over a nice cup of tea or coffee!​

It's very important to us that we remain calm, strong and positive during this time and as a family-orientated organisation, we feel responsible to maintain a little 'normality within the storm' so that our members of all ages may stay fit, focused and healthy.

#eskk
#kicking-corona-together

To find out more about the services we're offering during the current coronavirus restrictions, please feel free to drop us a line. We are still accepting new members and in many ways, this may well be a great time for you to join us!

Best wishes and please stay safe,
Chris & Jenny x  

A huge well done to everyone who came along and took part in our karate grading today!

We had upwards of 70 members taking on their next grading challenge and whether successful or unsuccessful, we are always very proud of their efforts. It takes a lot of hard work and courage to stand up and be counted like this, and regardless of individual outcome, it is a positive learning process for all and respect is given where respect is due..

Despite having a new venue, a new curriculum, a new format and some additional precautionary modifications made due to current issues here in the U.K, the day still ran very smooth. As usual, this was all down to the help and support from grading panel members, admin officials and instructors/assistants who kindly dropped in to lend a hand. We are always very grateful to you all.

​So on behalf of us everyone at E.S.K.K Martial Arts & Fitness - congratulations once again to the following successful candidates and we look forward to seeing you back in the dojo again soon!

We're very pleased to announce the launch of our brand new video tutorial service, exclusively for E.S.K.K dojo members!

We always strive to offer the very best possible services to our members and this special addition puts us a the cutting edge of delivering high quality martial arts training to our local community here in Cumbria!

Accessible 24/7 and completely responsive, our members can watch high quality in-depth video tutorials on their PC, tablet or mobile device in between their regular classes. And these tutorials are mapped directly to our official dojo curriculum!

Now of course, although we know only too well that is not possible to learn karate without regular face-to-face tuition each week, practising at home in between sessions will help ensure that the time our members spend in class will be as productive as possible. In short, standards will be raised and quality will be improved!

Within the first few days since launch, we have already released upwards of 120 minutes of content, with new video tutorials being added every couple of days. Over time, this will turn into a fantastic resource for our growing membership.

Thanks to all those members who have already singed up...to subscribe, simply hit the link below. Please note that this service is for E.S.K.K dojo members ONLY and all subscription requests are monitored...    

Back in October, we took part in the 100 Kata Challenge for World Karate Day and took this as an opportunity to raise some sponsorship in order to support our dedicated Community Fund, from which we make generous charity donations every year.

Those who kindly helped support this event helped us raise a significant amount. And by the time we included some additional funds generated by other community-based events throughout last year, we came to a staggering total of £1,313.56!!

On behalf of everyone at E.S.K.K Martial Arts & Fitness, we'd like to thank everyone who contributed to helping us achieve such a magnificent lift for our Community Fund. Let's see if we can maintain the same momentum to support both local and national causes as we move forward into this new decade!

Best wishes,
​Chris & Jenny

New Year is the best time to try out new things...

​We know it's often difficult for new people to appreciate the diverse benefits that quality martial arts training has to offer or indeed, to make the decision to come along and give it a go.

​So to help start 2020 with a bang, we have a fantastic New Year Special Offer for those who'd like to try out our classes...

We invite all children from 5 years, juniors, teens and adults to take part in our dedicated beginners programme. Our team of instructors are qualified, experienced and passionate about helping you achieve your goals...

We are very proud to announce that on Tuesday evening, our Chief Instructor Chris Denwood was awarded both Rokudan (6th Degree) and conferred the title of ‘Renshi’ (polished teacher) during a surprise gathering that was organised by his close students.

This special award was presented by Paul and Michelle Enfield, who are two leading exponents of Traditional Okinawan Karate in the World today and head the internationally renowned organisation, GKC Global, of which E.S.K.K Martial Arts & Fitness are associate members. Chris’ achievement was also independently endorsed by the senior committee of the Malta Karate Federation (in view of Chris’s long-term contributions to the development of karate on the island), plus a number of respected karate practitioners from around the world including UK, US, Canada and Okinawa.

As a fantastic end to his 30th year of martial arts training, Chris would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in making this promotion so very special and in particular, to all his teachers, students and friends for their amazing support and inspiration along the way. He considers this an achievement for us all, to be used as a platform for future growth, and to help continue our work in preserving, sharing and promoting to all who will listen, the incredibly valuable and diverse benefits of Traditional Okinawan Karate.

I'm sure you will join us in congratulating Chris on this well-deserved recognition!

​Jenny x

​West Cumbria group E.S.K.K Martial Arts & Fitness is leading the charge in safeguarding, having successfully attained the Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts “mark”.

The Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts has been created so that parents and carers can make informed decisions about selecting safe and quality tuition for their child. Achieving the Safeguarding Code demonstrates an organisation’s commitment to upholding its duty-of-care to the community and young people and now recognises E.S.K.K Martial Arts & Fitness as a provider that has reached and maintains good safeguarding standards.

A great end to another fantastic year at E.S.K.K Martial Arts & Fitness with some great results at our grade examination today in Whitehaven!

One trait that really stood out was that no matter what rank was being challenged, no matter what age the challenger and no matter the outcome...everyone gave it their absolute all, left everything on the dojo floor and exhibited the spirit we all aspire to in karate. For that, everyone deserves to be congratulated on a job well done and have earned our utmost respect.

We are always very proud of our dojo members because we ask a lot in terms of effort and standard. None of our gradings are easy, but it is through this challenge and discomfort that makes the grading experience so worthwhile. Facing fear, exposing chinks, coping with failure, being humble with success and coming face-to-face with one's true self is all part of the grading process. And the self-confidence one gains from this is immeasurable.

So, our sincere congratulations to all who took on their personal challenge today and thanks to all the panel members and table officials who helped make the day run as smooth as possible. We look forward to seeing you all back in class again soon to start your next part of the journey!