Congratulations to
Raymond “Rayzor” Ramsaran, Olu Smith
Peter “The Klob” Klobikowski and Prakash Juglaul
on achieving your Black Belts on Thursday 30^th July 2009

This is what they had to say…

Olu Smith

Before I joined The Martin Ace Black Belt Academy I had trained in many different Martial Art Schools learning many different styles but stopping training for one reason or the other mostly because I did not find the teaching styles interesting enough besides being very busy at work. Then I joined the Martin Ace Black Belt Academy. This is a very friendly environment with a clear and concise teaching syllabus. What struck me most was the willingness of everyone to help you achieve your goals. Mostly Martin's patience in making sure you get it right no matter how long it takes. I liked his teaching style so much I decided to take private lessons 3 times a week in addition to the regular classes. I have my first degree black belt all thanks to Martin and his wonderful school.

Raymond Ramsaran

Like many kids I had grown up watching martial arts movies, fascinated by the spectacular high-kicking & combat sequences demonstrated. Yet, REGRETTABLY my interest was not further enhanced in learning a martial art. Looking back, perhaps I was strongly influenced by my peer group at school, believing I was not good enough to train and become a Black Belt, and extremely fearful of taking pain or being shown up weak in a martial arts school.

Many years later, as a confident working professional, I plucked up the courage & desire to learn a martial art. I discovered the Martin Ace Black Belt Academy through the Yellow Pages & joined up immediately after meeting this enthusiastic, passionate & extremely proficient Master Instructor of Taekwondo..……the rest is history and has proven to be one of the best decisions of my life!

During the above time, together with my ‘brothers in arms’ (Peter “The Klob” Klobikowski, Olu Smith & Prakash Juglaul), I attained my 1^st degree WTF Black Belt in the Korean martial art of Taekwondo.

Reaching this prestigious achievement was like running a marathon, requiring a great deal of dedication & sacrifice (losing 8lbs in 2 months by cutting out takeaways and junk food & replacing with healthier diet), training hard in and out of the Academy with many hours focused on practicing technique & improving fitness, and showing high levels of resilience in overcoming injuries and/or withstanding pain in intensive sparring sessions.

However, I DO NOT REGRET any of this hard work. All of these efforts paid off during my grading when demonstrating 6 patterns, 24 one-step sparring techniques, 18 self-defence techniques, and finally undertaking 5 x 1.5 minute gruelling rounds of sparring sessions. Ultimately, I am very proud to have achieved my goal of Black Belt! It markets well on my CV and has been a positive talking point in recent job interviews, helped to improve my focus and remaining calm when facing life's challenges, and is certainly deemed impressive and fosters respect from others.

Under the professional and patient supervision of Master Ace, I was able to improve my knowledge in learning and mastering many Black Belt techniques, encouraged to nurture my own fighting style taking into account my identified strengths and weaknesses, and encouraged to mix within the fun, safe and disciplined environment provided by the Academy.

As a Black Belt (No.38 on the list in the Academy website), I am now happy, confident and able to pass on this invaluable wisdom to future students joining the Academy and reinforcing my understanding.

Raymond "Rayzor" Ramsaran

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Gary “Chilly” Chillingworth for once again, being our producer, editor and director in recording this event.

To date, this now bring the total of black belts trained through Academy up to 42.

Call us to book a free appointment for yourself or your child to discuss your requirements and the benefits of training in The Martin Ace Black Belt Academy.

- Master Martin Ace

This page (congratulations) was last updated at 11:23am on 6/12/09