I was born and have spent my life living in Peterborough. I have trained in Kenpo Karate since I was in primary school, which makes it almost 2 decades, possibly just reaching that mark. I remember before doing Kenpo I had done other styles but felt slightly embarrassed at that young age having to do things like the splits or try to kick above my head, which I was never capable of doing and felt somewhat unnecessary based on my experiences at school. I first discovered Kenpo when my sister and I saw a flyer in a shop window and asked our parents if we could go to a class. To our surprise, turning up to the first class, my dad instantly recognized my new instructor as the man who had taught him and my grandfather when they were younger. Whilst they were reminiscing about old times, I was stood in awe of the speed and ferocity of the students practising before class had begun.
After training under many incredible instructors for roughly a decade, I successfully and rather painfully graded for my Junior black belt, at which point the hard work really began, it would be another 6 years before I graded for my Senior black belt which is possibly the hardest and most rewarding thing I have achieved yet.
Now an instructor and helping out teach for Black Kite Kenpo and Red Kite Kenpo which both belong to the Kite School of Kenpo family.