The Motivated Martial Artists

This week the Motivated Martial Artists Jackson White and Gavin Cook talk to 6th dan Taekwondo practitioner Nina Bud.

Nina started Taekwondo in the 80s at 7 years old at a local Judo club she did this for 2 or 3 years before the club was shut down. Nina then picked up martial arts again at 16 years old after her and her friends were mugged in Bristol town. The traumatic event inspired Nina to join a martial arts club to learn how to protect herself and her friends. After training in martial arts for a while Nina realised it was becoming more than just a way to protect herself, she found a passion for martial arts and soon it would become a massive part of her life.

Nina's fighting career started in her colour belts, enduring many injuries but still turning up to class. One moment like this she recalls is when she sprained her ankle sparing but still turned up to class on crutches and sat at the back taking in as much as she could making sure she  didn't miss anything. This dedication has stayed with her throughout her martial arts careen and her life. Nina has always enjoyed sparring enjoying the kicking and the technical aspects of fighting. Nina doesn't care about winning or losing she cares about doing herself justice and making her self proud.

Nina has been an instructor for many years starting her first club when she moved to Essex being supported by the South West TAGB. She started teaching Taekwondo part time alongside her night shift job at Tescos. She promoted her club in schools and Flyer dropping to build up a small school, soon after Nina took on a friends old club and her classes continued to grow allowing her to quit her job and pursue her passion for teaching martial arts full time.

Nina believes in developing children through martial arts and the Skillz program teaching them life and social skills they will keep with them forever building confidence as well as allowing children to protect themselves.

Tune in this week  to hear more stories from a very inspiring lady!

This week the Motivated Martial Artists Jackson White and Gavin Cook talk to Oliver Sykes

Oliver Sykes has been training martial arts for 20 years starting officially at the age of 3 years old doing  Silat, an indonesian martial art based on conditioning and trying to mimic the form of animals it is similar to brazilian jujitsu and judo. And then after grading in Silat he moved on to kick boxing and karate where he found his love for sparing and a lot of the early skills he learned he still practices today and it has helped him develop many skills like his iconic back kick.

Oliver is the son of Bob Sykes and has been coached under Bob since his first experiences of martial arts, following in his father’s footsteps Oliver has gone on to compete in every kickboxing association winning 6 British freestyle karate championships, European freestyle championships and won the title for being a world champion kickboxer. In 2013 Oliver Sykes won Clash of the Titans.
 Oliver is still a avid fighter, fighting in MMA fights on the likes of MMA uncaged training eagerly for each fight.

As well as training hard Oliver teaches teenager and adult kickboxing classes at colne valley black belt academy.

Tune in this week to hear some inspirational stories

This week the Motivated Martial Artists Jackson White and Gavin Cook talk to World Master 7th Dan and  instructor at Hereford Tae Kwon Do club  David Sheppard. 

David has been training since 1982, teaching for 35 years and has been running  his own club since 1997. David started Tae Kwon Do at the age of 12 for the same reason as many others, he was getting bullied at school, his parents saw a small advert in the local paper and took him to a demonstration. David then started training in the very next class. The first year of training he, was like most kids, went along twice a week and saw his skills slowly develop over time

After the first year things changed drastically, other clubs opened and David was able to train 9 Taekwondo sessions a week. At first when David entered competitions he struggled, he didn’t win any fights for almost three years but still worked really hard because he enjoyed what he was doing
 
David says it took him a lot of hard work and dedication before he even won a fight. But the first competition he won was at the english championships as a red tag  that day he won seven fights beating everyone in his category and won the competition fighting Dave Oliver's son (Russel) and Richard Stevens.

This win spurred David on when he was at the brink of quitting TaeKwonDo and made him work even harder working with  different instructors and spending lots of time and effort improving his martial art skills and knowledge. 

David has represented both Great Britain and Wales on numerous occasions, being captain of both, has has gained 9 world titles (European individual and team titles) as well as 20 plus national titles plus many more in all aspects, sparring, patterns and destruction. David was voted International fighter of the year on two occasions as well as being voted Sports personality of the year for Newport.

David has been teaching at Hereford TaeKwonDo club for over 18 years and has had the pleasure to meet and teach many extraordinary people David said "Each and every one of them has brought something to the club, whether it is a personal experience or skills from past training, some have been challenging, some have been easy but I have found enjoyment and satisfaction from watching them improve and overcome their own personal challenges and achieve the goals set either through Tae kwon Do or by themselves".

David believes it is very important to keep an open mind and he  always actively looks to learn and gain more knowledge and experience to pass on to his students.

David believes the main reason for his success is hard work, dedication, determination and most of all, enjoying every single second of the things he loves. Tune in this week to hear some inspirational stories from a very wise and motivational martial arts master.

This week the Motivated Martial Artists Jackson White and Gavin Cook talk to 5th dan and world champion Nicola Turecek

Nicola started her martial arts journey at 5 years old after being told by a doctor to take up a sport that involves bare feet because of issues with her feets growth. Initially she started ballet but after hating it her father decided to take her to a Taekwondo school with Lyn Evans where she fell in love with martial arts.

Nicola is a Taekwondo world champion winning many competitions including winning the 2010 Taekwondo world championship in patterns against 98 other women. Nicola has also traveled a lot around the world to compete in world championship tournaments, one of her most memorable moments in sparing was in 2008 in Sardinia winning a gold in the continuous sparring and a silver in point stop. Another memorable moment for her was in poland winning a patterns gold medal and a point sparring gold medal both with huge competitor categories.

Nicola has been an instructor at many clubs throughout the years amassing a large plethora of knowledge and teaching skills. Nicola now owns her own chain of clubs called Nicola Turecek Taekwondo where she teaches traditional Tae Kwon-Do, Self Defence and Korean Kickboxing to all ages from Children to Adults across the majority of the South Wales area.

Tune in this week to hear some motivational stories from a very successful and inspirational lady! 

This week the Motivated Martial Artists Jackson White and Gavin Cook talk to combat Ju-Jitsu/Self Defence instructor and Kaizen Martial arts expo founder Lucci Del-Gaudio.

Lucci comes from a Martial arts family having 5 older brothers (who are all Ju-Jitsu black belts).  His first exposure to martial arts was watching a Bruce Lee Enter the Dragon. His mum wouldn't let him stay up to watch it as it was a school night but his martial arts avid brothers persuaded her to allow Lucci to watch it.

The next day at school every kid who watched enter the dragon the night before were beating each other up in the playground pretending to be Bruce Lee. Lucci's friend asked him if he wanted to go to join a karate class with him. Lucci joined and trained at the famous Zanshin Hombu with Simon Oliver Sensei. Which is still going strong today.  He stayed at Zanshin hombu until purple belt and then decide to Join his siblings in training in Ju-Jitsu. He trained under his eldest brother and  was totally hooked beginning his martial arts career that still spans to today.

Lucci has won lots of awards within the martial arts community, from the Hall of Fame to the British martial arts awards. He was recently nominated for the regional BBC sports personality of the year.  Some of his awards he is proudest of is  Achieving his Ju-jitsu Dan grades, Founding Kaizen Martial arts expo and raising almost 8 thousand pounds for kids with Cancer. 

Lucci's plans for the future are, to work with his Son Mario to develop him as a Martial artist and help to guide his future like Lucci's big brother did for him. Getting Kaizen to stadium level and  working on some books and still growing his classes as well as enjoying his training and spending quality time with his family.

Lucci wants to help to change people's lives saying "it's what we do. Knowing i have helped kids overcome things, like bullying is always a great achievement in my eyes."

This week the Motivated Martial Artists Jackson White and Gavin Cook talk to Grandmaster Trevor Nicholls 8th Degree ITF Master and Vice present of International Taekwondo Association And the president of UK ITF

Master Trevor Nicholls has been training in martial arts for many years and like many he started training in Judo first, and then Karate after being inspired by 'The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires' and (of course) Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon this is where he found his initial love for martial arts. It wasn’t until Master Raymond Choi came into the karate hall where Trevor was training and taught Taekwondo where Trevor realised Taekwondo was the art, he wanted to peruse.

Master Nicholls' initially owned a school called  Nicholls Taekwon-Do Institute it was in  Rayners Lane and had 50 students this is where Nicholls realised he would make a living out of the art he loved.
 
In January 1983, Master Trevor Nicholls, Fourth Degree ITF Black Belt, an Instructor of high repute within the UKTA, took the decision to become independent and founded Imperial Taekwon-Do Association to promote the advancement of orthodox Taekwon-Do as developed by General Choi Hong Hi IXth Dan (Founder). Imperial Taekwon-Do Association quickly grew, attracting Black Belts and groups who were attracted by the ethos and training standards.

As the organisation grew, and to be more inclusive of new joiners, Imperial became UK ITF™, incorporated in October 2010.  UK ITF continues to be very successful with Teams having successfully represented UK ITF in many countries around the world.

Master Nicholls has been involved in many magazines and books throughout his journey featuring on many front covers of  'Taekwondo & Korean Martial Arts Magazine' and books such as 'Taekwon-Do Patterns: From Beginner to Black Belt'.

Tune in this week to hear some inspirational stories from Grandmaster Trevor Nicholls himself. 

This week the Motivated Martial Artists Jackson White and Gavin Cook talk to 5th Degree Black Belt, TAGB Scotland National Coach and WTA World Sparring Champion Scott McMillan

Scott started martial arts at 15 years old as a way to gain confidence he enjoyed all types of exercise from a young age from swimming, to football, to athletics. He found martial arts while he was at athletics, after pulling his hamstring he met two karate coaches who told him to come join their classes and train with them until his leg has fully recovered and he can run again. After these taster sessions and seeing all the potential he had as well as the  competitiveness he was hooked, and  idea he could learn to be confident through sports as well as skillful and defend himself made him embark in a journey that still lasts to this day.

Scott was a avid competitor winning many titles like the WTA World Sparring Champion – 2015 as well as being the Four times Scottish Champion in Sparring and Patterns – 1991 – 1997. Scotts competitive career also consists of:

• English and Welsh Champion – 2012
• British Championship Runner-up
• Former Scottish International Competitor, 1994 – 1997 and 2002 – 2005
• Twice Quarter-finalist in the TI World Championships, 1994 and 2002
• Multiple freestyle Karate/Kickboxing trophy winner at regional and national level with IAKSA Kickboxing

Scott is also a renowned Instructor and coach in scotland being the TAGB Scotland National Coach from 2007 – 2013 as well as others like Coaching the Scotland’s mens team to 2nd and ladies team to 3rd in the World Taekwondo International Championship in 2010, the Scotland’s mens team to 3rd and ladies team to 2nd in the World Taekwondo International Championship in 2013,  the Scotland’s mens team to 1st and ladies team to 2nd in the European Taekwondo Championship in 2012
As well as being:

• Instructor/Coach to men’s 6 times World Middleweight Champion – James Reed
• Instructor/Coach to ladies 7 times World Heavyweight Champion – Hazel Bracken
• Instructor/Coach to multiple men’s World and European  Flyweight Champion – Alan Lusk
• Instructor/Coach to multiple junior National and International medalists
• EACS/Sportscotland award for Development Coach, 2012
• EACS/Sportscotland award for Performance Coach, 2013
• As as instructor, took nearly 100 students to Black Belt status in 18 years.
• Part of the original working group that brought “SCoT – Scottish Council of Taekwondo” together 

Tune in this week to hear some inspirational stories from competitor turned scottish renowned coach  Scott McMillan

This week the Motivated Martial Artists Jackson White and Gavin Cook talk to Colin Lyon (4th Degree Black Belt in Taekwon-Do and Purple Belt in BJJ) and his Wife Gill Lyon (Level 3 Advanced Personal Trainer) 

Gill and Coilin met at a bootcamp that colin ran Gill was told by a friend about a early morning fitness / fighting bootcamp Gill went a long joined the class and trained there regularly where they became close and soon after got married. 

Gill and Coilin now run their own gym together Chimera Martial Arts, based in Stirling. They incorporates a mixture of various martial arts including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai Boxing, TaeKwon Do and Submission Wrestling to form an advanced fighting system. The Chimera Martial Arts has the premier facilities for Martial Arts in Stirling,  with facilities are located in Unit 6, 1 Cunningham Road in Springkerse, Stirling, FK7 7SW all devoted to martial arts and fitness training with a wide array of training equipment to allow full training in the various martial arts that Chimera Martial Arts incorporates.

Chimera Martial Arts shy away from fancy fitness gimmicks and concentrate on solid core fitness principals that have stood the test of time! They incorporate a mixture of various martial arts including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Hatton Boxing, Taekwon-Do and Submission Wrestling. We are also home to the amazing Taekwondo Kubz program and the legendary Fight Camp!

Chimera Martial Arts aim to be the No.1 Martial Arts and Fitness Academy in Stirling for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Boxing and TaeKwon Do. 

Tune in this week to hear some inspirational stories from this martial arts duo!

This week the Motivated Martial Artists Jackson White and Gavin Cook talk to  8th degree black belt, public speaker, entrepreneur and influencer Brannon Beliso

Bellisio started in martial arts when he was 5 years old  training in his fathers school in San Francisco this spurred his martial arts career and led to him training with freinds of Bruce Lee and training in many different art forms giving him a very deep heritage in martial arts.

Brannon Beliso is an 8th degree black belt and has won over 100 trophies in such major tournaments as the Internationals and the California Karate Championships. He has studied Kenpo Karate for forty eight years and has also trained in Kung Fu, Jujitsu, Arnis, Boxing and Kickboxing.

Brannon Beliso serves individuals, businesses, and companies in living their best life. As a critical thinker and influencer, his passion is to inspire the discovery of purpose.  Brannon is a Tedx Talk speaker and has presented at Facebook, Harvard, Stanford Health Care, Lululemon, Microsoft, Barclays Global, UCSF Medical Center, Century’s Martial Arts Super Show, and the Kukkiwon’s President’s Summit, to name a few.

Brannon is an 8th degree black belt and CEO of One Martial Arts in Millbrae and San Francisco. He is an author and the creator of Kids Love Life Skills, a character-building system partnered with over 300 schools world-wide.

Brannon is committed to being a student for life and serving others. Brannon is husband and father, the two things he is most dedicated to and proud of.

This week the Motivated Martial Artists Jackson White and Gavin Cook talk Neil Mcleod a martial artist who is a British, European and World titles between them in a variety of disciplines and has trained under the likes of Bruce Lee’s best friend and protégé Dan Inosanto and top MMA coach Erik Paulson.

Neil McLeod has over 30 years experience in martial arts with 25 years training in Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do, Filipino Martial Arts, Muay Thai and Submission Wrestling.  Neil was exposed to some of the world’s top martial artists and coaches including Bruce Lee’s best friend and protégé Dan Inosanto and top MMA coach Erik Paulson. This exposure enabled him to be at the cutting edge of training methods and the now legendary martial arts evolution of the early 1990’s after the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). 

Neil has trained and fought all over Europe and as far as Los Angeles, USA and the Philippines. He has coached many champions in both Full Contact Stick Fighting (Eskrima) and Mixed Martial Arts competition. He is himself a World Champion in Eskrima and also one of a handful of people to have held the British, European and World Eskrima titles at the same time. Neil is also a British Champion in Mixed Martial Arts, winning the Bantamweight Extreme Brawl Title in 2002. Known globally for his training methods, Neil continues to coach, train and provide a healthy environment where athletes can train and grow together.


Neil believes many of the qualities you develop through Martial Arts training are 'life skills' and are essential for achieving growth in other areas of life. Focus, will power, determination, motivation, enthusiasm and never quitting are great personality traits to acquire. Tune in this week to hear more about Neil's inspirational Journey.