Martial Attitude Voice

I’m joined again by Juliette and Dominic, two individuals journeying through the tactile world of Martial Attitude’s adaptive Kung Fu Wing Chun training. Together, we’re breaking down traditional martial arts movements into something powerful yet personal, designed to enhance spatial confidence—especially for visually impaired and blind individuals.

We start with a fundamental question—what does touch mean? For Juliette and Dominic, touch goes beyond mere contact; it’s a language, a way to express gratitude, awareness, and cooperation. Throughout this training, touch has become the key to navigating the space around them, transforming physical interactions into a means of communication.

As we dive deeper, you’ll hear us discuss how this approach to training differs from conventional martial arts, where repetition and precision often overshadow interaction. Instead, our goal here is to sustain a connection—a continuous ‘conversation’ of movement and response that builds trust and understanding. Join us as we explore how we’re creating a learning system that empowers each participant not just to learn a movement but to connect through it, growing together as a community.

If you are visually impaired or blind, or if you know someone who is, and would like to take part to the series of Martial Attitude Voice podcast interviews exploring touch, confidence and blindness or if you would like to join in the Martial Attitude Training workshops now running in London every Sunday, please do keep in touch via Instagram or according to your communication preferences, all available  HERE.  

Sincerely,

Mathias Alberton

Founder CEO at Martial Attitude C.I.C.

BPS trainee Sport Psychologist 

MSc in Applied Sport Psychology at St. Mary's University, Twickenham, London, UK.

The nuances of touch can be both a supportive and occasionally intrusive element in the lives of blind or visually impaired people, especially in public spaces. My MSc in Applied Sport Psychology research premise is that for blind individuals, uninvited or unexpected touch can be particularly distressing since it lacks the visual cues sighted people use to anticipate and contextualize physical interactions. This led me to propose training to build confidence in "touch exchange"—a practice aimed at enhancing comfort in crowded environments where incidental touch is frequent.

Juliette responds by explaining his personal experiences, noting that she has become comfortable with receiving help from others, even accepting some degree of unsolicited physical guidance. She also points out that his proactive and outgoing nature likely aids his adaptability in these situations, which contrasts with the experience of others who might feel a loss of independence or discomfort when needing assistance.

The whole conversation with Juliette and Dominic captured the personalized nature of confidence and support in visually impaired individuals' interactions, where personal history, personality, and relationship dynamics influence how individuals navigate social and physical spaces. Eventually, their lived experiences suggest that the need for touch, or its effects, can be as individual as one’s unique journey with visual impairment.

If you are visually impaired or blind, or if you know someone who is, and would like to take part to the series of Martial Attitude Voice podcast interviews exploring touch, confidence and blindness or if you would like to join in the Martial Attitude Training workshops now running in London every Sunday, please do keep in touch via Instagram or according to your communication preferences, all available  HERE.  

Sincerely,

Mathias Alberton

Founder CEO at Martial Attitude C.I.C.

BPS trainee Sport Psychologist 

MSc in Applied Sport Psychology at St. Mary's University, Twickenham, London, UK.

Members of The Queen’s Club have the unique opportunity to play Real Tennis on some of the country's most historic courts. The club, considered the heart of Real Tennis in the UK, features two courts housed in the oldest part of the Club, dating back to 1886.

Head of Real Tennis at Queen's is Ben Ronaldson, former n. 10 in the sport, who comes from the finest family sport tradition with two champions as parents, and  who has now extensively coached beginners coming into the game as well as long-time pro across other prestigious clubs in United Kingdom for many years.

In the exquisite Viewing Gallery located behind the baseline in rows one and two of the Centre Court North Stand, we have spoken at length of what the sport requires out of its players both physically and psychologically.

Champions seem to be crafted out of a special mould of discipline and talent, and you might be surprise that for as different as they might be as individual athletes enriched with their own personalities, they seem to be all primed not to see defeat, but only opportunities. 

If you are visually impaired or blind, or if you know someone who is, and would like to take part to the series of Martial Attitude Voice podcast interviews exploring touch, confidence and blindness or if you would like to join in the Martial Attitude Training workshops now running in London every Sunday, please do keep in touch via Instagram or according to your communication preferences, all available  HERE.  

Sincerely,

Mathias Alberton

Founder CEO at Martial Attitude C.I.C.

BPS trainee Sport Psychologist 

MSc in Applied Sport Psychology at St. Mary's University, Twickenham, London, UK.

Played in less than 50 places in the entire World, Real Tennis is very different from Lawn Tennis not just because it is the original "true" thing born many centuries ago and played by figures like Henry VIII. Real Tennis is played in an asymmetrical court, which many unusual features could make someone think about squash to a certain extent, and with hand made balls which are pretty unpredictable in behaviour and not replicable on large scale. 

Josh Smith is Head Professional at the exclusive Holyport Real Tennis Club, in Berkshire,  built in 1889 by renowned court builder Joseph Bickley. His expertise as a coach and international ranking player is at the core of this interview dwelling in the multifaceted characteristics of the sport, and it helps identify the sport psychology aspects which might more affect the players.

In his opinion, to excel at Real Tennis there is a need for specific "sport intelligence" and for a "short-memory" attitude to never look back at the past points, but only focus in the present moment of the game. Easier said than done, in this interview, we try to understand more about what tennis is Real Tennis and what its players are made of.

If you are visually impaired or blind, or if you know someone who is, and would like to take part to the series of Martial Attitude Voice podcast interviews exploring touch, confidence and blindness or if you would like to join in the Martial Attitude Training workshops now running in London every Sunday, please do keep in touch via Instagram or according to your communication preferences, all available  HERE.  

Sincerely,

Mathias Alberton

Founder CEO at Martial Attitude C.I.C.

BPS trainee Sport Psychologist 

MSc in Applied Sport Psychology at St. Mary's University, Twickenham, London, UK.

Coach Brandon is an incredible USA professional developing important and meaningful prompts to the visually impaired and blind community to fully access physical training at its best. 

Brandon Piane  is a personal trainer and inclusive fitness trainer with over a decade of experience training individuals with various disabilities how to exercise effectively and safely.  With a BS degree in Exercise Science and years spent working with clients, he created Tactile Training to make exercise more accessible for the blind and visually impaired community. 

Tactile Training uses verbal cues to describe how movements should feel when performed correctly instead of how they should look.  This proprioceptive or "touch-first" approach to fitness has helped individuals learn proper exercise techniques and find new self-confidence in movement.  If it feels right; you're doing it right!

Find Coach Brandon on FACEBOOK or LINKEDIN and discover his INCREDIBLE NEWSLETTER: If you are interested in physical well-being for visually impaired and blind people, I highly recommend subscribing for free.

If you are visually impaired or blind, or if you know someone who is, and would like to take part to the series of Martial Attitude Voice podcast interviews exploring touch, confidence and blindness or if you would like to join in the Martial Attitude Training workshops now running in London every Sunday, please do keep in touch via Instagram or according to your communication preferences, all available  HERE.  

Sincerely,

Mathias Alberton

Founder CEO at Martial Attitude C.I.C.

BPS trainee Sport Psychologist 

MSc in Applied Sport Psychology at St. Mary's University, Twickenham, London, UK.

Martial Attitude met the Dream Team composed by Filip & Gabi and asked them what is dance sport and what challenges it poses to dancers.

With more than 12 years of experience in Sport Dance and participation in international competitions, how does the Dream Team use their mental coaching approach to support their athletes?

Also, how they position themselves with the idea of "experience being overrated as opposed to perspective being underrated" as I stated a few months back?

Meet an follow Filip & Gabi on their Instagram page and get involved with their activities clicking HERE. 

If you are visually impaired or blind, or if you know someone who is, and would like to take part to the series of Martial Attitude Voice podcast interviews exploring touch, confidence and blindness or if you would like to join in the Martial Attitude Training workshops now running in London every Sunday, please do keep in touch via Instagram or according to your communication preferences, all available  HERE.  

Sincerely,

Mathias Alberton

Founder CEO at Martial Attitude C.I.C.

BPS trainee Sport Psychologist 

MSc in Applied Sport Psychology at St. Mary's University, Twickenham, London, UK.

Martial Attitude Training and my MSc in Applied Sport Psychology research are happening! And they are introduced and complemented by a new series of short podcasts exploring how touch, exercise, and confidence are perceived in the visually impaired and blind community. The first guest is Takashi, a professional viola player based in London. He explains to us how there is a good and bad way to touch and be touched.

Would you like to participate too? Please keep reading, then.

I am very grateful and happy to share that our funding application through National Lottery was successful! We will soon deliver a series of workshops to visually impaired/blind people, possibly in February-March 2024. 

As MSc in Applied Sport Psychology student at  St. Mary's University, Twickenham, my research will be a great opportunity to combine valuable research contributing to the scarce literature on the topic, and the application on the field of a significant and impactful work empowering the visual impaired community. It would be then possible to measure pre/post intervention for perceived psychological/physical well-being and confidence on top of important demographic aspects such as age and level of visual impairment, across participants. Also, interviews will be taken, and videos recorded.

Imagine if you were visually impaired or blind. How is sight loss affecting your movements, posture, and your attitude towards a healthy lifestyle and other people? Is it possible to develop a training method enhanced by a solid sport psychological approach specifically tailored for visually impaired and blind people?

My experience as a Sport & Remedial Massage Therapist led me to observe that visually impaired and blind people, usually suffering of overall poor posture, need specific support when addressing any kind of exercise and manual therapy as they lack full proprioception and are often live a sedentary life, aggravated by different degrees of anxiety, and depression.

Combining some of the close-up techniques and tactile teaching methods derived from Kung Fu Wing Chun, that I train and teach, I have found that visually impaired and blind people can also increase their confidence and self-efficacy in controlling their immediate surroundings when in a new environment or in contact with strangers.

A notable client registered as blind that I have been working with for over two years is Peter Sands, Chairman of the London Sports Club for the Blind, provided the following reference: “The training has personally helped me to feel confident in crowded situations, be aware of my posture alignments and overall has improved my balance.” Pre-pandemic, Peter and I have also recorded a presentation of the work done together, which you can watch clicking HERE

Building onto these observations, I created Martial Attitude C.I.C., I qualified as Gym Instructor, and I undertook biomechanics for all three years during my undergraduate at Roehampton University to gain the psychological/biomechanical foundations and to learn about the different methodological approaches that could be integrated in Martial Attitude training for visually impaired and blind people.

If you are visually impaired or blind, or if you know someone who is, and would like to take part to the series of Martial Attitude Voice podcast interviews exploring touch, confidence and blindness or if you would like to join in the Martial Attitude Training workshops now running in London every Sunday, please do keep in touch via Instagram or according to your communication preferences, all available  HERE.  

Sincerely,

Mathias Alberton

Founder CEO at Martial Attitude C.I.C.

BPS trainee Sport Psychologist 

MSc in Applied Sport Psychology at St. Mary's University, Twickenham, London, UK.

His nickname comes from his former trainer's pistol. More recently, he has been called "miracle man" by the international sport press following a grave accident occurred during his last fight on May 27th, 2023. Ludumo Lamati is a South African professional boxer aged 31, now retiring. 

He always fought without fear, because "fear is a liar", as he clearly states in this exceptional Martial Attitude podcast episode upon fear and anxiety in the world of professional boxing.

He held the IBO super bantamweight title from June 2021 to May 2022. As an amateur, he competed at the 2011 World Championships and lost just 10 fights over nearly 200. As a professional boxer, he holds a record of 23 fight, with 21 wins (11 KOs), 1 draw, and 1 loss.

As mentioned above, the one loss was during his last fight in Belfast, Northern Ireland, for the WBC silver featherweight title against Nick Ball. In a dramatic chain of events, Lamati's corner dropped the towel at 2' 15" of the 12th round. Moments after, Ludumo collapsed because of a brain bleed and was hospitalized and was taken care of in induced coma for several days before, miraculously, waking up and recovering. 

Ludumo Lamati knows. Listen to his precious teaching.

This interview was first recorded on Friday the 6th of October, 2023.

Follow Ludumo on INSTAGRAM  TWITTER 

Recast photo credit: Belfast Telegraph

If you are visually impaired or blind, or if you know someone who is, and would like to take part to the series of Martial Attitude Voice podcast interviews exploring touch, confidence and blindness or if you would like to join in the Martial Attitude Training workshops now running in London every Sunday, please do keep in touch via Instagram or according to your communication preferences, all available  HERE.  

Sincerely,

Mathias Alberton

Founder CEO at Martial Attitude C.I.C.

BPS trainee Sport Psychologist 

MSc in Applied Sport Psychology at St. Mary's University, Twickenham, London, UK.

He knows no fear, and he is coming to take it all.

The man is Chris "2slick" Mbwakongo (Kongo), English professional boxer in the welterweight division with an important record of 14 wins (2 KOs) and 2 losses.

Chris has a plan. He does not fail the plan. With the plan, there is no fear. Fear is not even contemplated, because it is not anywhere near the plan. 

The championship is in the making and he has signed to Boxxer and Sky Sports. You better keep looking for him.

Would you guess what he thinks the difference between anxiety and fear being? Listen to him very carefully, then.

This interview was first recorded on Friday the 6th of October, 2023.

Follow Alfie on INSTAGRAM  TWITTER and FACEBOOK and LINKEDIN

Recast photo credit: Sky Sports

If you are visually impaired or blind, or if you know someone who is, and would like to take part to the series of Martial Attitude Voice podcast interviews exploring touch, confidence and blindness or if you would like to join in the Martial Attitude Training workshops now running in London every Sunday, please do keep in touch via Instagram or according to your communication preferences, all available  HERE.  

Sincerely,

Mathias Alberton

Founder CEO at Martial Attitude C.I.C.

BPS trainee Sport Psychologist 

MSc in Applied Sport Psychology at St. Mary's University, Twickenham, London, UK.

Come si diventa un radiocronista sportivo? Come si usa la propria voce nel farlo?

Ma soprattutto, quando si va a descrivere al pubblico le fasi concitate di uno sport cosi' veloce e complesso quale e' la boxe, come si ottiene il migliore risultato?

Infine, ma non per ultimo, perche' tutta questa passione per la boxe e come si percepisce e di cosa ha bisogno un grande campione nel pugilato professionistico?

Ne parliamo con Manolo Chirico, torinese e fin da giovane appassionato di sport, tanto da trasformare questa passione nel lavoro sognato da molti, ovverosia quello di telecronista sportivo. Ora direttore creativo per Mola Italia, servizio streaming on-demand di contenuti sportivi.

Seguite la voce di Manolo in questo affascinante podcast sul mondo intorno a chi pratica la boxe.

Seguite Manolo su INSTAGRAM , TWITTER e LINKEDIN

Scoprite ed ascoltate tutte le sue piu' recenti RADIOCRONACHE 

Questa intervista è stata registrata lunedi' 17 Ottobre 2023.

If you are visually impaired or blind, or if you know someone who is, and would like to take part to the series of Martial Attitude Voice podcast interviews exploring touch, confidence and blindness or if you would like to join in the Martial Attitude Training workshops now running in London every Sunday, please do keep in touch via Instagram or according to your communication preferences, all available  HERE.  

Sincerely,

Mathias Alberton

Founder CEO at Martial Attitude C.I.C.

BPS trainee Sport Psychologist 

MSc in Applied Sport Psychology at St. Mary's University, Twickenham, London, UK.