On Saturday evening at our 15th Anniversary celebrations, we we proud to present our 2019 Student of the Year awards to Emmie Ling (junior) and Stuart Rigg (senior).

Our Student of the Year Award has been running since we first opened our doors in 2004, where each year our members vote for who they think most deserves this prestigious honour. The results of the members poll are then discussed by a committee of club instructors before our Chief Instructor, Chris Denwood, authorises the final decision.

​You can find our more about our Student of the Year Award by clicking here >>

Both Emmie and Stuart have worked extremely hard over the past 12-months and shown a number of special qualities that make them fitting role models for the rest of our membership. Now they have the important responsibility that comes with this special honour - to continue developing themselves and inspiring others to grow according to the fine values we stand for.

As part of our presentation, the newly crowned Students of the Year were asked to draw a ball from a bucket to determine which two charities we will be donating to from our Community Fund. Emmie selected CADAS (Cumbria Drug and Alcohol Advisory Service) and Stuart selected MIND (mental health) - both very worthy causes.

So please join us in congratulating Emmie and Stuart on their well deserved awards and we wish them all the very best in their new role as Student of the Year!    

On Saturday evening, we were very proud to celebrate both our 15th Anniversary, plus our chief instructor's 30th year in karate!

Over 100 guests joined us at Whitehaven Golf Club for a special evening that included food, speeches, awards, presentations, charity donations and raffle, live music and disco.

We'd like to thank everyone for all their amazing support and congratulate all our award winners for what were well deserved honours. We hope you all had an amazing time celebrating these significant milestones with us.

But of course we've only just got warmed up - so let's see what we can achieve together in the next 15 years!

​Below are just a few pictures from the hundreds taken on the evening...

Wow - what a fantastic grading today!

Around 60 members took to the floor in order to challenge their next rank and every single one of them put their heart and soul into what was a sterling performance indeed.

Grading panel members were  very impressed with the standard and although there is always room for improvement, today was a living example of the quality, hard work and dedication we should all strive for.

As chief instructor, I was extremely proud to see so many wonderful performances today, as well as witness the re-birth of some inspiring role models for less experienced members to look up to. It really goes to show how strong we can be if we all work hard both individually and together as a family. Now in our 15th year, the level of achievement across our membership  just keeps getting better and this puts us in an even stronger position to continue sharing the benefits of our karate both to and far beyond the West Cumbria Community.

Congratulations to everyone who stood up to be tested today and long may our success continue!

​Chris :-)       

Late yesterday evening, Sensei Chris and Sempai Stuart travelled to Newcastle to pick up Tyler Tanti from the airport and welcome him here in the U.K.

Tyler is a dedicated karate practitioner from Malta who’ll be spending the next three weeks training with us in the dojo, in addition to a number of private sessions at Chris' garden dojo. Tyler's background is heavily based in sport karate (a former international competitor), so at request to help widen his experience, this visit will aim to focus on both the traditional and practical aspects of our curriculum.

Tyler is a skilled, thoughtful and open-minded martial artist, who has been planning this trip for over a year now. We are very much looking forward to sharing our approach to help support some of his goals and I hope that members will make him feel like one of the family.

There's no time to waste - he’ll be in the dojo from tonight!

Yesterday evening at our Great Clifton club we were visited PCSO Catherine Keevil from Cumbria Police to give some of our junior members a personal safety presentation.
 
Catherine taught the children about personal awareness, stranger danger and who to contact when they need help. All the things we aim to instil in all our younger members here at E.S.K.K Martial Arts & Fitness.

A big thank you to Catherine for giving up her time to come and talk to us and also to our Great Clifton instructor Sensei Garet for organising the event.

We look forward to arranging similar events at our other clubs in the near future that will all help supplement the content we deliver in our classes around West Cumbria.  

Here's a brief newspaper report on our recent trip to Okinawa...

​A group of local martial artists have recently returned from the trip of a lifetime to Okinawa, The Birthplace of Karate.
​
Organised by Whitehaven based group E.S.K.K Martial Arts & Fitness, participants included 13 members from their West Cumbria clubs and 6 members from their overseas branch in Malta. They spent 10 days learning directly from some of the most distinguished masters on the island and taking part in special demonstrations to commemorate World Karate Day.

E.S.K.K member John Hopkins said, “This was both an unforgettable and emotional trip to the spiritual home of karate. Working with some of the top teachers was an incredible experience and I feel very lucky to have been part of it.” 

The group’s Chief Instructor, Chris Denwood, himself an internationally renowned practitioner and Martial Arts Hall of Fame inductee, was also honoured to teach his approach to karate in Okinawa as well as to represent one of the most historic dojo on the island during the World Karate Day performances.

Chris said, “I feel very privileged to have been given such an amazing opportunity and even more so to have been able to share it with my students. I’m also incredibly proud of the positive feedback our group received from esteemed teachers in Okinawa.  My sincere thanks to everyone who helped make this trip possible and we now look forward to passing on some of the valued learning we’ve gained to the rest of our membership here in Cumbria.”

As well as their intensive daily training schedule, the group also dedicated time to visit important historical karate sites, tombs and memorials in order to pay homage to the original creators of what has now become one of the most popular martial arts practised around the world.  
​
E.S.K.K Martial Arts & Fitness are dedicated to sharing the benefits of traditional karate to members of the whole family and offer free no obligation taster classes at all of their clubs. To find out more, please call 01946 694751 or visit www.eskk.co.uk.       

Yesterday evening we held a grading for our karate members at our Cleator dojo. This was for those who were unsuccessful at our main grading in November and have been working hard to re-sit, or for those who had prepared for the November grading, but weren't able to attend due to extenuating circumstances.

We are pleased to report that everyone passed and this also included two first-class performances! Congratulations to everyone who graded yesterday - taking on this challenge regardless of result always earns our utmost respect.

Results as below... 

 Around 70 of our dojo members faced their grading challenge yesterday in Whitehaven, from beginner ranks through to brown belts. The place was packed with parents, partners, family members and friends, who all came to watch and offer support. This was great to witness :-)    

We make no apologies for holding high standards, which not only makes all our awards very well deserved, but inevitably means that some don't quite make the grade.  However, whether successful or not, standing up to be counted always wins our sincere respect and regardless of outcome, what you do from this day forward (win, lose or draw) will go to define your ongoing journey in karate. The reward is the same for everyone (more training), so be sure to make your next step a positive one and we'll see you back in the dojo soon!

Special thanks to panel members and assistants who all helped to make the day run as smooth as possible.  None of this could be achieved without everyone's support.

​Successful results are listed below along with a small selection of photos from Facebook...

Over the summer we held our very first E.S.K.K Fitness Fiesta. This was a sponsored 3-hour charity event which included everything we teach in our fitness classes and much more. As well as exercises from Kettlebells, Pilates and Enduro-Strike, we also had tyre flipping, battle ropes, log and keg lifts, just to name a few.

In the final section of the event we all headed outside to conquer the Eliminator which was a circuit and obstacle course. Everyone’s spirits were high even though it was cold and pouring with rain, the energy was electric. There was laughter, teamwork, camaraderie and we even had a water balloon fight just to make sure that everyone definitely got drenched!

The event was very well supported with 27 people taking part. We would like to thank all participants and supporters who not only made our very first Fitness Fiesta a complete success, but have helped us create fond memories which we can add to our growing collection.

And what's more is that we managed to raise an amazing £1230.00 for our Community Fund!

Special thanks to Stuart Rigg who helped organise the event and sourced all the new and exciting equipment we trained with on the day.

We would also like to give big thanks to Sylvia Ling and Kelly Scott who were both amazing, making sure we were all fed and watered and capturing the whole event by taking photos and videos in the pouring rain. You are both super stars and we couldn’t have done it without you!
​
Thanks again everyone and we look forward to doing it again next year!

This is Sam. Sam is 13-years old and a member at our Workington dojo.  Recently, Sam recently walked with his family from Workington to Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary for 'Jack's Journey', who was diagnosed with leukaemia at 18-month old. They traced the journey Jack took in the ambulance on foot. Plus he completed this task proudly wearing our E.S.K.K logo!

Walking from Workington all the way to Newcastle is no easy challenge for anyone, let alone a 13-year old! Therefore, we wanted to write a little news article just to raise some awareness and congratulate Sam on a job well done. We think he's set a great example for children his age and we're proud to have him in our dojo.

If you'd like to support the charity that Sam has worked so hard for by offering a small donation, then you can do so by hitting the link below. And for our members who recognise Sam from class, please take a moment to pat him on the back...he deserves it!

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-cannan1