AUGUST 2017 - JULY 2019
SUNDAY 28TH JULY 2019
The 2nd WKO World Championships were held over the 26th- 28th July
at the Metrodome Leisure Complex in Barnsley with 15 individual
Nations in attendance and over 800 fights taking place across a
variety of different disciplines.
The USKA Fight Factory had 14 fighters taking part including
Abdullah Riaz, Kaifah Imran, Nikita Raubiska, Ehsaan Mahmood,
Charlie Stokes, Myesha Imran, Remy Mann, Hammaad Shand, Aamina
Sarfraz, Ryan McQueen, Shakeel Hussain, Qasim Hasan, Faith Velland
and Khuzaimah Douglas.
SUNDAY 21ST JULY
2019
A large
contingent of 20 fighters from the USKA Fight Factory climbed into
the ring today at the Aero-Kick gym in Highgate, Birmingham at the
latest BLCC Ring Continuous Kickboxing
event.
The team looked after
by coaches Neil Kelly and Sean Quinn consisted of Abdullah Riaz,
Hawwa Sarfraz, Julia Glowacz, Kaifah Imran, Nikita Raubiska, Ehsaan
Mahmood, Maryam Sarfraz, Ibrahim Iqbal, Charlie Stokes, Mariah
Mahmood, Ammina Sarfraz, Myesha Imran, Rohan Kumar, Hammaad Shand,
Shakeel Hussain, Mohammed Isa Khan, Qasim Hasan, Lucy
Kings-Wheatley, Faith Velland, and Khuzaimah Douglas and took part
in a total of 22 bouts.
After a long but
enjoyable day of competition they impressively finished only
conceding 2 decisions.
Some valuable ring
time and experience was earned today with our fighters learning
lots about themselves and giving them something to go back to the
gym to work on and develop for next time
out.
As always well done to
all our fighters in action and to all the spectators who turned up
to cheer them on.
SUNDAY 7TH JULY 2019
Last weekend USKA's
very own former World Champion Qasim 'The Dream' Beg made his
professional Kickboxing return when he took on Kyle Stevens on the
TMA Summertime Brawl event at the Bescot Football stadium in
Walsall.
Qasim made short work
of Stevens showing no signs of ring rust taking his man out after
three knockdowns via a first round TKO
stoppage.
The fight was filmed
by Fight Night Live TV and we are thrilled to be able to show you
Qasim's pre-fight interview and the full but short
action.
SATURDAY 29TH JUNE 2019
We witnessed the
biggest USKA Ninjas grading to date today when 36 of our youngest
and finest students where put through their grading assessments to
earn their next coloured belts in a very hot USKA Fight Factory
gym.
With 25 of the 36
Graders incredibly being 6 years old or under it was a pleasure to
watch them confidently perform their grading criteria including an
Exercise Circuit, Basic Shadow Boxing Line Work, Pad Work and Relay
Circuits in front of family and friends for a little more added
pressure.
Congratulations to all
our successful Ninjas who are going from strength to strength
proving that even at such a young age they can show great
competence and understanding on what they are being taught on their
classes.
A special mention to
our two successful Blue Belt candidates Brother and Sister Ehsaan
and Inayah Khan who completed their final USKA Ninja's Grade and as
a result have now completed the USKA Ninja's
syllabus.
The full list of
successful Ninjas are as follows...
CALLAN
McMAHON --- USKA NINJA'S RED BELT
AYAAN
REHMAN --- USKA NINJA'S RED BELT
FRIDAY 28TH JUNE 2019
Qasim
'The Dream' Beg successfully made weight ahead of his comeback
fight tomorrow night tipping the scales at a lean and mean
64.4kg.
The 5
round Professional Light Welterweight contest against the
experienced Reece Street was matched at 65kg and will feature as
part of the TMA Fight Series event at the Banks's Stadium in
Walsall.
The
card which also showcases two World titles, an English title and a
four man K-1 tournament looks to be a great night of action and one
that Qasim and the USKA team are very proud to be part
of.
We
still have a few standing tickets priced at £25.00 if anyone would
still like to spectate but be fast as they are sure to go quick on
the door as the show is near capacity and close to selling
out.
Best
of luck Qas... Let's go let's get em!!!
FRIDAY 28TH JUNE 2019
15 Members of the USKA Fight Factory have been selected to
fight as part of the ICO National England Team at the ICO World
Championships in Scotland in October after qualifying at the
British Championships earlier in the year.
Following their qualification they must now attend Team
England squad training sessions every month in the build up to the
championships to retain their positions in the squad putting in
lots of work to improve and be ready to face some of the best
tournament fighters from all over the World.
We are extremely proud of each and every one of our squad
members and wish them the very best of success in their World
Championship quest.
Unfortunately the sport at this level has an amateur status
and as such is self funded with competitors having to find the
finances for travel, accommodation and entry fees and that is
before you even look at training expenses and
equipment.
With this in mind we intend to give the USKA Fighters a
helping hand and raise some funds for them to relieve the financial
burden of the trip.
We will be arranging some fund raising events and have set
up a GoFundMe page for anyone who would like to donate and help
with this great cause.
All help is appreciate no matter how small so lets get
behind our boys and girls and show the some much needed
support!
Pictured Back Row Left to Right
Khuzaimah Douglas, Qasim Hasan, Shakeel Hussain, Ryan McQueen, Hammaad Shand, Rohan Kumar
Aamina Sarfraz, Faith
Velland.
Front Row Left to
Right
Remy Mann, Charlie Stokes, Nikita Raubiska, Kaifah Imran, Abdullah Riaz, Ehsaan Mahmood, Myesha Imran.
SUNDAY 23RD JUNE 2019
12
USKA Fighters took to the ring on Sunday 23rd June at Leeds Martial
Arts College at the LMA BLCC event.
Kaifah
Imran, Nikita Raubiska, Charlie Stokes, Myesha Imran, Rohan Kumar,
Hammaad Shand, Ryan McQueen, Aamina Sarfraz, Shakeel Hussain,
Haatim Shand, Faith Velland and Qasim Beg set out early on Sunday
morning with their coaches Neil Kelly and Sean Quinn on the long
trip up North in search of new opposition and fresh
challenges.
The
day had it's fair share of ups and downs and a few questionable
matches in regard to age and weight but as always our fighters
equipped themselves well making strides forward and improvements
under the pressures of combat
conditions.
Well
done to everyone who made the journey and put themselves out of the
comfort zone in preparation for fights further afield in the near
future.
THURSDAY 20TH JUNE 2019
With the fight team putting in the extra work to
try and get ready for the World Championships at the end of the
year we set a base combination on Thursday at the USKA Fight
Factory working off the counter attack using USKA basic chopping
technique and secondary attacks.
The focus of the drill was to keep their eyes on
the moving target to level switch and modify their shot selection
to find the target with multiple
counters.
This type of training needs to be drilled with
repetition to make it second nature and instinctive and I think the
fight team did a pretty good job on getting to grips with it. Well
done crew!
TUESDAY 18TH JUNE
2019
Busy nights training on Tuesday evening at the USKA Fight Factory
with everyone working hard on all three classes. Here's a little
bit of Padwork footage from our intermediate class showing our
students developing their basic defence and counter attacking
skills on the focus pads. With the emphasis on focus and repetition
the class attendees done really well especially considering there
were so many new red belt additions following their first grading
last weekend.
SUNDAY 16TH JUNE 2019
Following
yesterdays Grading at the USKA Fight Factory it was the turn of the
Female Division today with 14 girls attempting their next belts in
front of club instructor Ruqayya Griffith and USKA Chief Instructor
Neil Kelly.
The
first four Grades from Red Belt to Orange Belt were in contention
and the girls did not disappoint all passing with respectable
grading results.
Ruqayya
is doing a great job with the Female division with numbers at an
all time high and producing a standard of Female Kickboxing in
Birmingham that hand on heart I can say is second to
none.
Well
done girls on yet another impressive grading
examination.
The
full list of successful results is as
follows...
Anaya Kiani --- Red
Belt
SATURDAY 15TH JUNE 2019
53
New Grades were inducted into the USKA Kickboxing record books
today following a 6 hour grading examination at the USKA Fight
Factory.
7
Grades from Red Belt to Blue Belt were contested with each and
every candidate being put through the scrutiny of the USKA syllabus
under the watchful and detailed eye of Grading examiners Neil Kelly
and Qasim Beg.
Anyone
who has ever participated in an USKA grading will know just how
hard they are with no favours given meaning anyone who doesn't
reach the prescribed standard leaves empty handed having to go and
regroup fixing their shortcomings and showing what they are made of
to come back stronger next time out. It is a bitter pill but one
that ultimately in the long run is for their betterment as a
Martial Artist.
We
had some outstanding results today with our A-Team of passes
including Safwaan Gul (Red Belt), Hashim Mohammed (Red Belt),
Mohammed Danyaal (White Belt), Khalysah Plummer (Yellow Belt),
Faith Velland (Yellow Belt), Ehsaan Mahmood (Green Belt), and two
amazingly strong performances in Remy Mann (Blue Belt) and Charlie
Stokes (Blue Belt) who after 7 hours on the mats including the warm
up class didn't skip a beat showing the highest of standards of
Kickboxing at only 12 and 13 years old
respectively.
TUESDAY 4TH JUNE 2019
We at USKA Fight Factory would like to wish Eid Mubarak to all our
Members, family and friends.
May Allah bring you all joy, happiness, peace and prosperity on
this blessed occasion.
SUNDAY 2ND JUNE
2019
Despite it being Ramadan and with it usually being a very slow time
for the fight team we had 11 of our fighters turn up to the North
Solihull Sports Centre in Birmingham today to compete at the ICO
Lordswood Tri Series Event 2 / Midland
Championships.
The team coached by Coaches Neil Kelly and Sean
Quinn consisted of Kaifah Imran, Ehsaan Mahmood, Charlie Stokes,
Myesha Imran, Aamina Sarfraz, Rohan Kumar, Ryan McQueen, Shakeel
Hussain, Muath Ghanem, Khuzaimah Douglas and Qasim
Beg.
After some very strong performances on the day
we finished proceedings with an impressive 10 Golds and 2
Silvers with 9 of those Golds also doubling up as ICO Midland
Championship title wins.
We are seeing some real improvement from our
fighters at the moment with them implementing what they
are being taught in the gym and translating it come fight day
learning from each and every fight outing. This can only be a
good thing with most of them setting their sights on World
Championship medals later this year.
Well done to everyone who fought today, you guys
were firing on all cylinders!
SUNDAY 26TH MAY
2019
Despite it being Ramadan and Bank Holiday weekend Team USKA were
still present today albeit with a smaller squad than normal at the
New BKA Kickboxing Academy in Burton-On-Trent for their latest BLCC
Kickboxing event.
The 11 fighter team
headed by coach Sean Quinn and assisted by Khuzaimah Douglas
consisted of Abdullah Riaz, Hawwa Sarfraz, Julia Glowacz, Kaifah
Imran, Nikita Raubiska, Maryam Sarfraz, Aadam Ali, Aamina Sarfraz,
Myesha Imran, Muath Ghanem and Qasim
Beg.
We had a mixed bag of
performances and results throughout the day but lots was learned
and experience gained in every bout that we can take back to the
gym and make positive adjustments where needs
be.
We have a road trip
planned for the next BLCC in Leeds on 23rd June which is always
beneficial dealing with the rigours of fighting away from home to
prepare us for the bigger competitions on an International
scale.
As always... Well done
team!
MONDAY 6TH MAY 2019
The USKA Fight Factory would like to take this opportunity to wish
all it's members, family and friends a happy Ramadan
Mubarak.
All our classes will remain on as normal but if anyone is observing
their fast exceptions will be made for working at your own pace and
taking it nice and steady with your training throughout this
blessed month.
SUNDAY 5TH MAY 2019
The WKU / KWON British
Open Championships was held at Wolverhampton Race Course on Sunday
5th May and once again a small team of USKA Fighters were in
attendance lead by coach Sean Quinn.
The 7 fighter squad
consisted of Kaifah Imran, Nikita Raubiska, Ehsaan Mahood, Myesha
Imran, Ryan McQueen, Shakeel Hussain and Qasim
Hassan.
Following a day of
mixed results and tough competition we finished the competition
with a tally of 15 medals including 6 Gold, 7 Silver and 2
Bronze.
THURSDAY 2ND MAY 2019
With Ramadan fast approaching there is no better time to announce a charity gym project in conjunction with ISRA-UK that we will endeavour to repeat annually.
SUNDAY 28TH APRIL 2019
Team
USKA were in action once again today at the AFSO Open British
Championships at the North Solihull Sports Centre in Chelmsley
Wood, Birmingham.
Coaches
Neil Kelly and Sean Quinn had a busy day with their 13 strong team
compete in four different disciplines including Ring Kickboxing,
Mat Continuous, K-1 and Sport Boxing.
The
team consisting of Abdullah Riaz, Kaifah Imran, Nikita Raubiska,
Ehsaan Mahmood, Aadam Ali, Charlie Stokes, Myesha Imran, Rohan
Kumar, Ryan McQueen, Aamina Sarfraz, Hammaad Shand, Qasim Hasan and
Faith Velland performed very well throughout the day picking up a
very impressive 31 Medals including 18 Golds, 12 Silvers (including
5 USKA Vs USKA Finals) and 1 Bronze Medal.
With
our fighters competing in regular competitions you can really see
the growth and improvement each and every time out and is putting
the team in great stead to do well at the WKO and ICO World
Championships later in the year if they can can continue their
momentum in the forthcoming months.
Well
done to each and every member of team USKA's fighters and
spectators on yet another successful day at the
office.
MONDAY 22ND APRIL 2019
We
are very pleased to announced that as from this week Hall of fame
Professional ICO Super Lightweight Champion of the World and USKA
Black Belt Qasim 'The Dream' Beg will be joining us as part of the
coaching staff assisting with instructing classes across our weekly
timetable.
Qasim
as most people will know was unbeaten in a 44 fight Full Contact
career and was regarded as pound for pound one of the best fighters
in the World in his prime winning pretty much everything there was
to win in a comprehensive career.
He
also excelled in his technical ability earning himself a straight A
pass mark in his USKA Black Belt grading examination in 2013
meaning he will be a great asset to the USKA Fight Factory helping
each and every student to achieve their goals with his vast
experience of over 20 years involved in the
sport.
We
welcome The Dream on to the U.S.K.A number one
team!
SUNDAY 20TH APRIL 2019
It was a
scorching hot Easter Sunday but we still had a stacked USKA Fight
Factory team of 20 fighters turn out for the latest Aero-Kick BLCC
event at the Community Aero-Kick gym in Highgate, Birmingham in a
total of 22 fights.
The team
looked after by coaches Neil Kelly and Sean Quinn consisted
of Abdullah Riaz, Julia Glowacz, Kaifah Imran, Nikita
Raubiska, Ehsaan Mahmood, Idris Yusuf, Eesa Hassanjee, Aadam Ali,
Ibrahim Khan, Aeysha Yusuf, Aamina Safraz, Myesha Imran, Hammaad
Shand, Rohan Kumar, Haleemah Yusuf, Ayriwana Miah, Mohammed Isa
Khan, Qasim Hasan, Sami Kelly and Abdul
Yusaf.
The USKA crew
performed well with many of our fighters showing growth in
different areas of their game mixing it with good competition and
only conceding one decision over the course of the
day.
The BLCC
standard of fighting has gone through the roof over the last couple
of years and really highlights what a great circuit it is for young
fighters to develop their skill and learn their
trade.
Well done to
each and every one of our fighters who was in action and to all the
USKA supporters that turn up to cheer our fighters
on.
SATURDAY 20TH APRIL 2019
With
the USKA Ninja's classes being some of the busiest sessions at the
USKA Fight Factory at the moment it was no surprise that even with
it being the Easter Holiday weekend the latest Ninja's grading
would be the biggest yet with 30 grading candidates attempting
their belt assessments.
For that extra little bit of pressure the Ninja's would be put
through their paces in front of lots of their family and friends as
well as being under scrutiny of Ninja's coaches Neil Kelly and Sean
Quinn.
The Ninja's were pushed to their limits with their relay circuits,
basic shadow boxing line work technique, pad work and finally their
exercise circuit with each and every one of them performing
excellently and knowing that they had all really worked hard to
earn their new coloured kickboxing belt.
With most of the Ninja's grading today being within the ages of 4-6
years old it is truly remarkable to see the standards being reached
by these young kickboxers both physically and mentally showing
maturity beyond their years.
We would like to say a big well done to 7 year old Dean Fahd on
completing his USKA Ninja's syllabus by passing his Blue Belt and
becoming only the 6th child to do so in the USKA Ninja's
history.
A big thank you to all the parents of all the children on the
grading today for their continued support and also to all the
helpers who took the time to make
themselves available to coach, mentor and hold pads for our USKA
Ninja's throughout their Grading
Examination.
WEDNESDAY 17TH APRIL 2019
Lee 'The Wizard' Whitfield made his Professional return to
Kickboxing after 10 years away against tough Latvian Viktor Gricjus
on Saturday evening at the Walsall Town Hall Return of the
Champions event.
Fighting out of the USKA Fight Factory under coach Neil
Kelly Lee put in a solid performance winning a unanimous points
decision
and re-announced himself
on the International Kickboxing stage with aspirations of now going
all the way to the top and capturing a Professional World title and
realising the potential that he has always had.
Watch the FightNightLiveTV filmed footage here and be sure to give
it a like.
SATURDAY 13TH APRIL 2019
On
Saturday evening USKA Professional fighter Lee 'The Wizard'
Whitfield climbed through the ropes in a return to professional
kickboxing after a 10 year hiatus at the TMA Fight Series Return of
the Champions event at the Walsall town
hall.
Lee who runs the very successful Bai Lang
kickboxing gym in Telford and fights out of the USKA Fight Factory
in Birmingham is a former Professional English Champion and
still has aspirations of winning International title honours in the
future but would first need to get through tough Latvian
Champion Vikto Gricjus over 5 x 2 minute rounds to move forward to
that goal..
SUNDAY 17TH MARCH 2019
Our USKA Female Division had 16 girls taking their Grading's today
under the watchful eye of club instructor Ruqayya Griffith and USKA
Chief Instructor Neil Kelly.
As a testimony to Ruqayya's instruction we had 100% pass rate with
all our candidates gaining their new belts.
SATURDAY 16TH MARCH 2019
The
latest general grading at the USKA Fight Factory today saw 40
students go for their next belts under the scrutiny of Grading
examiner and USKA Chief Instructor Neil
Kelly.
With
every Grade from Red Belt through to Junior Black Belt being
attempted (9 Grades in all) we were in for a long day with the
senior grades on the mats non stop for 7 1/2 hours including the
morning warm up class.
An
USKA belt is notoriously difficult to get with the standard and bar
set very high in terms of the technical level required and every
student that passed today can wear their belt with pride knowing
that they truly deserve it.
Unfortunately
we had a few not quite reach the prescribed standard today coming
up short which is never nice but it is important to remember that
each and every grading is a step on the journey and not the final
destination. They can and will bounce back and come back stronger
after a lesson learned if they can dig deep and show that true
Champion's resolve.
A
special mention must be given to all our star A graders in Rohan
Kumar (A- Red Belt), Mohammed Danyaal (A- Red Belt), Julia Glowacz
(A- White Belt), Faith Velland (A White Belt), Khalysah Plummer (A
White Belt), Rico Mann (A Purple Belt) and also to our highest
grader today in Derelle McKenzie who successfully passed his Junior
Black Belt.
Here
is the full list of our successful
results...
Ishaan Khaliq --- Red Belt
Omar Farooq --- Jnr Brown Belt
Derelle McKenzie --- Jnr Black Belt
THURSDAY 14TH MARCH 2019
Take
a look at our USKA Female Division advert showcasing our girls in
action over the duration of a technical Kickboxing
class.
A big
thank you to all the girls who took part and helped us film the
advert.
If
you could give it a share to advertise the class and give us a
quick thumbs up like on YouTube it would be very much
appreciated.
SUNDAY 24TH FEBRUARY 2019
17 USKA Fight Factory fighters travelled to Burton Kickboxing Academy in Burton On Trent on Sunday to take part in the latest BLCC Event. The BKA gym in Burton has been the home of the BLCC for many years now and this would be the last event to be held here due to relocation of the gym which will take place at the end of next month. The team coached by USKA coaches Neil Kelly and Sean Quinn took part in 18 contests on the day performing excellently in some really tough fights conceding only one decision from start to finish.
SATURDAY 23RD FEBRUARY 2019
A stacked USKA Ninjas Grading today saw 24 of the USKA Fight Factory's youngest members take and pass their next belts in fine style in front of family and friends.
SUNDAY 17TH FEBRUARY 2019
A team of 13 USKA Fight Factory fighters competed today at the WKA Junior English Open Ring-Sports Championships in Wednesbury in the West Midlands at the Wednesbury Leisure Centre.
SATURDAY 16TH FEBRUARY 2019
New Kickboxing Fighters Session at the USKA Fight
Factory.
USKA Super coach Sean 'The Mighty' Quinn starts his new
Kickboxing Fighters session this coming Friday 22nd February from
8-9pm.
With two Fighters session already established in the week
dedicated to boxing this will be a great addition to our timetable
focusing on all aspect of Kickboxing technique including Padwork,
Bagwork and Strength and Conditioning.
The session is open to all ages and all levels and is
guaranteed to bring the USKA kickboxer's to the next
level.
SUNDAY 10TH FEBRUARY 2019
It was competition time once again today for a
team of 11 USKA Fight Factory fighters at the 1st leg of the
Lordswood Tri-Series event at the North Solihull Sports Centre in
Birmingham.
The Ring Sport side of the event also doubled up
as the ICO 2019 English Championships meaning there was titles as
well as points on the line for the fighters in
attendance.
Team USKA headed by coaches Kelly and
Quinn consisted of Ehsaan Mahmood, Harvey Adlam, Charlie Stokes,
Remy Mann, Hammaad Shand, Rohan Kumar, Ryan McQueen, Shakeel
Hussain, Faith Velland, Ruqayya Griffith and Khuzaimah
Douglas.
SUNDAY 3RD FEBRUARY 2019
It
was back on the road and back in the ring again today for the USKA
Fight Factory Fighters this time competing in Brownhills, Lichfield
at the Adrenaline Interclub kickboxing
event.
The
team of 14 fighters were matched in Kickboxing and Boxing Non
decision skill bouts over three rounds gaining valuable ring time
and experience to help work on their overall fight games and
development.
All
performed excellently under the watchful eye of USKA coaches Neil
Kelly and Sean Quinn learning a little bit more about themselves as
fighters making the day a very productive and enjoyable
one.
The
team in action were... Nikita Raubiska, Ehsaan Mahmmod, Kaifah
Imran, Aadam Ali, Rohan Kumar, Ryan McQueen, Aamina Sarfraz,
Shakeel Hussain, Connor Aston, Lucy Kings-Wheatley, Muath Ghanem,
Faith Velland, Khuzaimah Douglas and Mark
Pell.
Well
done to all our guys and girls that climbed through the ropes, as
always we are very proud of you.
SATURDAY 2ND FEBRUARY 2019
Team USKA were on the road heading North today travelling to the
WKO English Championships at the Metro Dome in
Barnsley.
Headed by Coach Sean Quinn the 10 USKA Fight Factory fighters in
action were Nikita Raubiska, Ehsaan Mahmood, Ibrahim Khan, Remy
Mann, Charlie Stokes, Derelle McKenzie, Hammaad Shand, Ryan
McQueen, Shakeel Hussain and Khuzaimah
Douglas.
Following a long but successful days competition we finished with
an impressive 15 Gold, 3 Silver and 3 Bronze
medals.
SUNDAY 27TH JANUARY 2019
27
USKA Fight Factory fighters took to the ring at the Community
Aero-Kick gym in Highgate, Birmingham on Sunday 27th January to
take part in the first BLCC event of the
year.
Out of the 27 we had 10 fighters making their
ring debuts controlling nerves and tournament conditions at a
packed full house competition where 80 fights in total would be
contested featuring fighters from 17 quality clubs from across the
UK.
The Fight Team accompanied by coaches Neil Kelly
and Sean Quinn consisted of... Abdullah Riaz, Nikita Raubiska,
Kaifah Imran, Ehsaan Mahmood, Aadam Ali, Eesa Hassanjee, Mohammed
Ibrahim Khan, Jamal Ali, Harisah Imran, Haider Nawaz, Omar Farooq,
Myesha Imran, Rohan Kumar, Ryan McQueen, Amina Sarfraz, Hammaad
Shand, Shakeel Hussain, Jad Joma, Ateeq Al-Rehman, Saned Ibrahim,
Lucy Kings-Wheatley, Adam Ali, Samera Ali, Khalysah Plummer,
Ruqayya Griffith, Faith Velland and Khuzaimah
Douglas.
Following a very long but enjoyable day of
competition we finished proceedings with only 2 loses and 1 draw
but most importantly some great experience gaining
performances.
The BLCC is a great platform for novice fighters
to learn their trade and get valuable ring time before they hit the
open circuit.
The next BLCC will be held at the BKA Kickboxing
gym in Burton on Sunday 24th February where we will once again will
have a fight team out in force.
Well done to each and every one of you for once
again doing your gym, your coaches and yourselves
proud.
SUNDAY 20TH JANUARY 2019
A
small but ready team of USKA Fight Factory fighters descended on
Dudley Leisure Centre today to take part in their first competition
of the year at the WKU Kwon Grand Slam series 1
event.
Headed
by coach Sean Quinn the team of four consisted of Nikita Raubiska,
Ehsaan Mahmood, Charlie Stokes and Ryan
McQueen.
With
good performances across the board they shook off the rust and
ended the day with a very respectable 3 Golds and 1 Silver
medal.
With
the competition being so close to the new year it never attracts
big numbers from USKA but more of the team will be in action next
week at the 1st BLCC event of the year at the Aero-Kick gym in
Birmingham.
Well
done team for hitting the ground running and getting team USKA off
to a fantastic start for 2019!
SUNDAY 6TH JANUARY 2019
Classes resume at the
USKA Fight Factory this morning with our Female only
sessions.
Here's to another
great year of training and
development.
For a full list of
classes available at the gym please click the link
below
MONDAY 31ST DECEMBER 2018
Happy
New Year to all our USKA Family and
Friends!
Potentially
some really exciting things in the pipeline for 2019 that will take
the gym to new and exciting levels... Watch this
space!
Well now it’s time to start off with our student presentation awards for the second year running but before that, I’d like to give a short review of our ladies’ division. As the female instructor for over 3 years I have taught many students who have come and gone but this year I have come across students who are collectively interested and passionate about training at USKA which makes my job that little bit easier. The introduction of the Thursday class has encouraged new members as well as existing members to train multiple times in the week and continue to make improvements. Also, the success of the Sunday’s class has grown significantly with over 40 people training on a weekly basis and in 2019 I hope this figure is doubled. We have had 4 successful gradings with some of the females achieving their orange belt this being 1/3 of a blackbelt and the females being more confident and having success on their sparring.
We start off with our 2 runner ups for the student awards.
The first award goes to one of our junior members (under 16)
Even though this girl has been part of USKA for a while her concentration and effort would waiver on class. Over the past couple of months, I have seen a huge improvement in this girl’s concentration, her attendance at the gym and just generally enjoying to be there. She has also come out of her shell and is confident to spar anyone on class. Despite previously failing her white belt, she did not let this phase her and came back better and stronger by passing her white belt with a very good mark.
This
award goes to...
Hannah
Aslam
The second award goes to one of our adult members.
This person has not been with us for long and is by no means a natural but since joining theLadies classes I have seen nothing but hard work and dedication from her. Her first class was definitely a challenge mentally and physically and within the first 10 minutes it would either make or break her. I am glad to say she saw it through and realised she was more than able to cope with the class. I have seen a noticeable difference in her confidence and self-belief, which has led to her passing her first belt with an exceptional score and now moving onto the intermediate classes to progress further.
This award goes to...
Judith McTiernan
Now onto the big awards, this being the student of the years.
The first award goes to one of our junior members.
Since the time that she has been here, I have seen nothing but hard work and passion on her classes. When most females walk in to the gym, they have to be encouraged to throw punches with power and aggression. However, this student is different as the first punch she threw I was amazed at the believability and power behind it. This girl strives to be the best person on class due to her competitive nature which results in her being one of the fastest but still having good technique on class. She enjoys the practical aspect of kickboxing by jumping onto the sparring classes and has just passed her yellow belt last week. I am confident that if her passion stays within the sport, she will be achieving great results.
This Junior of the year award for 2018 goes to...
Myesha Imran.
Now moving onto our Adult of the year.
Each week, this student is always focused and puts in 100% effort on her classes. This student maximizes the limited hours available for the female division by attending early or staying after class to work on her weaker areas. She also motivates and encourages others to fulfil their potential by asking others to come early and work alongside to improve their sparring. She is constantly asking questions and being attentive on all classes whether it is a technical or practical class. Despite her being a mum of 4 she finds the time to balance responsibilities with her training which only a few can do. This has led to her passing her orange belt and in the upcoming months she plans on having her first fight in the ring.
This Adult of the year award for 2018 goes to...
Samera Ali.
This concludes our female division event and classes for 2018 and in 2019 where we look forward to taking things to the next level with some exciting things in the pipeline and planning for the future of the USKA Female Division.
Our sessions will resume on Sunday 6th January 2019.
We would like to thank you all for your continued support and take this time to wish all our members and friends a Happy Christmas, holiday period and a new year.
SUNDAY 16TH DECEMBER 2018
12
USKA Female Division graded successfully today at the USKA Fight
Factory in our last Grading Examination of
2018.
We
had three students pass their Red Belt, three students pass their
Yellow Belt and 6 Students pass their Orange Belt in the two hour
Grading.
Female
Division Ruqayya Griffith has done great things with the USKA girls
over the last few years and it is great to see them progressing
through the levels with some of them now eligible for attendance to
advanced classes.
Congratulations
to all the Female Division on their success and long may it
continue... Osu!
SATURDAY 15TH DECEMBER 2018
A successful final general Grading of the year seen just under 40
students attempt and pass their latest belts at the USKA Fight
Factory today under the scrutiny of USKA Chief Instructor and
Grading examiner Neil Kelly.
The Grading ranging from Red Belt through to Purple Belt took just
over 4 hour hours to complete which meant our highest belt
candidate Remy Mann being on the mat for 5 hours when you take into
account his hour long warm up class in the
morning.
USKA FIGHT FACTORY YEARLY REVIEW 2018
It’s now time for our Student presentation awards for 2018 but before that as always I’d like to give a short review of our year as a club including some of our successes both in and out of the ring.
It’s been a great year for us in terms of student retention and
development with us implementing the new payment options earlier in
the year which has led to more consistency in
training.
The grading examinations have been busy and to a high standard from
the USKA Ninjas to the Ladies division and on to the general
grading’s at the club.
We have had two USKA Ninja’s in Zain Amer and Julia Glowacz
complete the full USKA Ninja’s syllabus of belts and had a rare
addition to the USKA Black Belt records when Ra’ees Kiani passed
his 1st Dan Black Belt in September with a first class
straight A Pass Mark.
Our numbers on all of our classes are extremely healthy and the reputation of the club is at an all time high in terms of people wanting to train with us to develop their Martial Arts once again marking us as one of if not the number one club in the country.
Competitively we once again have had two World Championships home
and abroad to focus on with the WKO World Championships in Barnsley
in July and the ICO World Championships in Rome, Italy in
November.
These Championships have kept the Fight Team on the boil all year
seeing them consistently doing well at Area, English, British and
European level competitions.
Last year was our most successful year ever of competition and this
year we amazingly have managed to surpass that success once again
highlighting that what we are doing is working and ever
improving.
Our competitive title tally this year seen us pick up 2 Area titles
in BLCC and ICO Competition, 20 English titles in BLCC, WKU and WKO
Competition, 39 British titles in BLCC, ICO, WKO, WMO, WKU and WUMA
Competition, 10 Five Nations titles in WKO Competition, 4 European
titles in WMO competition and a massive and Outstanding 46 World
titles at the WKO and ICO World
Championships.
In total that is 121 titles at recognised Governing Bodies
Championships!
Outside of these titles we have picked up many Grand Slam Grand Championship trophies at other high level competitions and have bettered last year’s win ratio from 95 to 96% at BLCC Competition from novice to seasoned competitor.
Looking back at the two World Championships as I think they deserve
a special mention we had 14 fighters compete in Barnsley at the WKO
World Championships and 9 fighters fly off the Rome, Italy for the
ICO World Championship.
From the two World Championships they brought home an incredible 82
Medals including 46 Golds, 24 Silvers and 12
Bronzes.
I’d like to just take a second and give credit to our World
Championship Fight Squad and present them with a little token to
celebrate their efforts… Could we have up…
Ehsaan Mahmood who fought at the ICO World Championships in Italy
Kian Beech who fought at the WKO World Championships in Barnsely and ICO World Championships in Italy
Harvey Adlam who fought at the WKO World Championships in Barnsely and ICO World Championships in Italy
Remy Mann who fought at the WKO World Championships in Barnsely and ICO World Championships in Italy
Hammaad Shand who fought at the WKO World Championships in Barnsely and ICO World Championships in Italy
Aman Kiani who fought at the WKO World Championships in Barnsely
Shakeel Hussain who fought at the WKO World Championships in Barnsely and ICO World Championships in Italy
Connor Aston who fought at the WKO World Championships in Barnsely and ICO World Championships in Italy
Qasim Hasan who fought at the WKO World Championships in Barnsely
Lennon Fortey who fought at the ICO World Championships in Italy
Declan Ward who fought at the WKO World Championships in Barnsely
Haatim Shand who fought at the WKO World Championships in Barnsely
Ra’ees Kiani who fought at the WKO World Championships in Barnsely
Aryan Singh who fought at the WKO World Championships in Barnsely
Lucy Kings-Wheatley who fought at the WKO World Championships in Barnsely
Khuzaimah Douglas who fought at the WKO World Championship in Barnsley and ICO Word Championships In Italy
can we give our World Championship fighters a big round of applause on their achievements.
We already have two World Championships to look forward to next year and there is no reason why we can’t continue this fantastic winning streak across the board with our ever growing and improving team of fighters.
We start off today with two of if not the most deserving awards that we give out every year…….
Our USKA Coaches and Instructors Awards.
The role of a good
coach and Instructor does not stop at just teaching punches and
kicks.
I recently seen online
someone list the job description of a coach and I’d like to share
it with you as it couldn’t be any truer.
A good coach needs to be a…
- A Life
Coach.
- A
Psychologist.
- A
Mentor.
- An
Inspirer.
- A
Supporter.
- A
Friend.
- A Problem
Solver.
- A Stress
Reliever.
- A
Motivator.
- A Role
Model.
- A Promoter of
Respect, Patience, Humility, Discipline, Perseverance, Empathy,
Courtesy, Listening Skills, Loyalty, and self control
just to name a few qualities.
- Someone who will hug
you when you are down and pick you up when you have
fallen.
- Someone who knows
what buttons to press to get the very best out of
you.
- Someone who puts
their heart and soul into you.
- Someone who wants
success for you just as much as you want success for
yourself.
We are lucky at USKA to have a coach that meets all of that criteria in abundance.
This man lives and
breathes the development of the young kickboxers in the gym and is
as passionate now as he was when he first took up a coaching role
with us many years ago.
His understanding of
the Fight Game is unquestionable and week in week out he puts his
heart and soul into his sessions to cater for and bring out the
very best from each and every student who attends his
classes.
He is unselfish in his
time and gives up many of his weekends throughout the year to
accompany the Fight Team at competitions up and down the country
and is a large part of their successes competitively from first
time fighter through to World Champion.
On a personal note he is and remains one of my closest friends and advisors and my right hand man.
I give you the one the only...
MIGHTY MR SEAN QUINN
Our next Award today is an USKA Instructors award…
This
award goes to a young lady who is doing great things with the USKA
Female division and building our ladies classes into as strong an
entity as all the other classes at the gym.
The
numbers on our Female only classes have grown consistently
throughout 2018 and the standard is comparable with the mixed
technical classes which is amazing considering most of the girls on
those classes only train once a week due to time
restraints.
She
is very humble and approachable and has a great rapport with all of
her students.
Her
own training has been consistent all year despite juggling
University commitments and she is hoping to take her USKA
1st Dan Black Belt sometime in 2019.
This Instructors award goes to....
MISS RUQAYYA GRIFFITH
Before we move on to our student
awards I would like to take the time to appreciate and acknowledge
another key figure in USKA’s set up who is in effect our general
manager.
The day to day behind the scenes
running of the gym as well as the administration of the club is
taken care of largely by my better half
Alva.
Alva is the unsung hero of USKA
freeing up my time to allow me to mainly concentrate on the clubs
structure and development.
Not given credit anywhere near enough I hope you’ll join me in thanking Alva for the work she puts into the gym and I’d like to present her with a small token of all of our and especially my appreciation for everything she does here at the Fight Factory….
MRS ALVA BEIRNE
On to our student awards now...
This by far has been the hardest year yet in deliberation on who has been most deserving of receiving one of our USKA Student awards.
Myself and Sean have had a short list of over 30 people and over the last four weeks we have had to whittle it down and make the cut to leave us with the following 12 candidates.
We have gone back and forth and many things have been taken into consideration in our decision making.
We have taken students across all the facets of the gym as a true
representation of what we do and represent here at the Fight
Factory.
Taking into account the last 12 months of training and choosing
people who we feel have fulfilled their potential across all the
different classes at the gym including Little Ninja's, Technical
students and of course fighters.
It’s worth remembering however that the fighters have already
received their rewards in the form of medals, belts and titles so
these awards are more about what students have done outside of
competition and their work and attitude in the
gym.
Student Award 1
The first student award goes to one of our
fighters who has come on in leaps and bounds this year and is
arguably one of if not our most improved fighter in the gym over
the last 12 months.
After qualifying for the ICO World Championships
in April I was asked by his father whether it would be worth his
son considering fighting in the Championships in
Rome.
As a relative novice at the time I had my
reservations but told him that it would probably be too much of a
big ask but if he was willing he could tag along for the
experience.
On earning his place on the team he knuckled down
and started to put in the hours in the gym and rack up the
competition experience he needed which brought his style and
confidence on no end.
Winning a Gold in the Sport Boxing at the WKO
World Championships in July and an amazing three Gold’s at the ICO
Word Championships across three different disciplines in November
he surpassed all expectations and established himself as a true
World class competitor.
The scary thing is about this lad is we have only
scratched the surface in terms of potential and if he stays hungry
and continues the way he is going we could have something very
special on our hands here.
This award goes to...
HAMMAAD SHAND
Student Award
2
Our second award goes
to one of our Little Ninjas who although being only 5 years old it
seems like he has been training at USKA
forever.
With a rarely seen
passion in someone so young we have seen him progress through the
USKA Ninja’s grading system leaving him with only one more belt to
achieve before he completes the
syllabus.
He lives and breathes
Kickboxing and whereas you see other Children his age watching
cartoons this young warrior will be at home getting his viewing
from watching the USKA YouTube
channel.
In fact I think he is
probably singlehandedly responsible for the majority of our
views.
He’s a lovely kid and
has a bright and long future in Kickboxing as long as he stays in
love with the Sport.
This award goes to...
SUFYAAN QAYUM
Student Award 3
Our
next award goes to another one of our technical students who always
gives 100% in her training whenever she is at the
gym.
She
has been consistent in her training throughout the year and has
worked hard for all of her grades which she has passed with very
high grading results.
She
has made the transition onto the sparring classes and although not
the most naturally gifted in this area she is working hard to
develop and improve.
I am
very happy with where she is at right now and deserves this award
for her effort over the last year.
This award goes to...
NATALIA CHEPEL
Student Award 4
The next student award today goes to one of the younger members from our Technical classes that has shown real potential in everything she does.
This
student caught both mine and Sean’s eye and we both believe she has
something special and a quality that is seen in very few children
of her age.
Showing
real passion on her classes she consistently puts in 100% and as a
result has reaped the rewards with great grading results and
noticeable improvement week in week out in her sparring that will
hopefully see her compete in her first competition next
year.
I
fully expect her to go from strength to strength in 2019 and am
very excited to see how good this girl can be in the
future.
Our first award goes to...
KAIFAH IMRAN
Student Award 5
Our next award goes to one of our Little Ninja / Beginners Technical Kickboxing cross over’s.
This young lady has had a strong year working hard on her classes
and always trying her best to impress on each and every class she
is in attendance on.
After completing her full USKA Ninja’s syllabus of belts in October
and being only the second USKA Ninja ever to do so she now sets her
sights on the Beginners classes and her Red Belt grading that she
is considering attempting next week.
I’m sure if she is successful there it will not be long before you
see her on the sparring classes and then in to
competitions.
A lovely girl and a real team player….
This award goes to…
JULIA GLOWACZ
Student Award 6
Our next award goes to another young fighter in the gym who has had
lots of ups and a few downs in competition but has always bounced
back from his downs with a vengeance.
He is one of the most active competitors in the gym and is picking
up experience in each and every competition he
enters.
The potential of this young man is scary and although sometimes his focus wavers, which you have to expect with someone so young, when he is on it he is nothing short of World Class.
He has picked up numerous titles throughout the year but the
highlight would have to be the three Gold Medals he picked up in
Rome, Italy at the ICO World Championships in
November.
What has pleased me even more about this young man though is the
fact he has got back on the grading ladder to progress through his
belts.
Grading’s at USKA are such an important part of a fighters
development and addresses attention to detail in pursuit of
perfection.
For this reason it has pushed him over the line on this
one.
This award goes to...
EHSAAN MAHMOOD
Student Award 7
Another USKA Ninja now and one that never seems to have a bad night in the gym which is extremely rare for any chid let alone one so young.
Her behaviour is second to none with myself and Sean never having to pull her up on her discipline for breaking rules.
We could make an argument to give her a reward sticker after each and every Ninjas class because she is so focused.
Her effort level is always 100% and she is turning into a poster girl and role model to all the other Ninjas on the class with her showing them how things should be done.
For the second year running this award goes to...
AISHA ABDULLAH
Student Award 8
Our
next award goes to a young man who is active in all areas of the
gym.
Often
helping out on the USKA Ninja’s classes, working hard on the
technical kickboxing classes, grading on a regular basis, always
present on the fighters and sparring sessions, entering all the
BLCC competitions and now moving on to open class competition that
will hopefully see him progress on to National and International
competition next year.
The
highlight of his year came only a few weeks ago where he picked up
two English title belts at the WKU English Championships announcing
his arrival on the open circuit with a
bang.
This next award goes to...
NIKITA RAUBISKA
Student
Award 9
The next award is our first Runner Up for Student of the year
This
award goes to a young man who has stepped up his game both
technically and competitively this year and is now reaping the
rewards from all his hard work.
Investing
more time in the gym and paying attention to detail on his
technical kickboxing classes has seen him pass his Green Belt grade
in June with a very high pass mark.
Competitively
he has surpassed all expectation winning 2 Gold medals at the WKO
World Championships in Barnsley and an amazing 5 Gold medals at the
ICO Word Championship in Rome.
The
scary thing is I feel we have only scratched the surface with his
potential and the best is yet to come with loads still to work
on.
Our first Runner up for Student of the year for 2018 goes to...
REMY MANN
Student
Award 10
On to our next Runner Up for Student of the year
Our next Runner up for student of the year goes to someone who has had some pretty amazing highs this year both technically and competitively.
He successfully returned to competition following injury which pretty much kept him out of the ring for all of last year and started to find his form despite his long layoff.
After
a few lower level competitions he fought brilliantly at the WKO
World Championships in Barnsley in July winning 3 Gold Medal World
Titles putting in performances that warranted him being named USKA
Fighter of the tournament.
Straight
after the Championships it was back to the grind to get ready for
his USKA Black Belt in September which as most of you know is an
exceptionally hard grade.
So
hard in fact that we have only awarded 5 Dan grades since USKA was
formed in 1996.
Following
a 6 hour grading under the watchful eye of myself and ICO Word
President Andrew Hennessy as grading examiners he was awarded his
Black Belt first Dan with a straight A
pass.
Training for a World Championship and training for an USKA Black Belt at the same time takes some doing but shows it can be done if you are strong minded and hard working enough.
Our
second Runner up for Student of the year
2017...
RA'EES KIANI
I'd also like to take this opportunity on behalf of the International Combat Organisation to present Ra'ees with his ICO Black Belt 1st Dan Certificate.
The first of our big ones with our JuniorStudent of the year for 2017...
To be considered for this award you need to be fully invested in the gym and everything it is involved in over the full 12 months of the year.
The
student who has won the award this year has done just that
following an amazing year of development, growth and competition
leaving him truly top of the pile for
2018.
The
changes in this young man started in April after qualifying for the
ICO World Championships through the British Championships
Qualifying event.
It
was agreed that he would be able to attend but he needed to
considerably up his game in regard to his attendance and effort if
he was going to be anywhere near ready for
November.
The
young lad always had the ability but previously had lacked the full
commitment that was needed to take him to the next
level.
This
all changed after the qualifiers and he was in the gym every day in
preparation for the biggest challenge of his
career.
The
change paid off in July when he earned himself a Gold medal on the
mats at the WKO World Championships in
Barnsley
The
improvements and tournament successes kept coming and in November
he surpassed all expectations turning in the best performances of
his career to stay unbeaten in Italy and win an incredible 5 Gold
medals and World Titles.
Outside
of the tournaments the changes in his work ethic has served him
well improving constantly on his technical classes and gaining his
Purple Belt with an impressive grading result in
September.
This
lad has show team player qualities by helping others on their
development in particular on the USKA Ninja’s classes where he is a
regular helper.
Our USKA Junior student of the year Award for 2018 goes to...
SHAKEEL HUSSAIN
On to the Senior Student of the year for 2018...
Our Senior Student of the Year award this year goes to someone who has finally got there after previously for the last two years achieving runner up.
This year he has continued to develop and has gone into the seniors continuing exactly where he had left of in the cadets.
Always giving 100% on all of his classes whether it’s on a technical or fighters session he has shown to be a real student of the game constantly looking for ways to better himself in becoming a more improved martial artist.
Steadily progressing through the grades he passed his Purple Belt in September and is on schedule to hopefully attempt his Blue Belt in March getting to the business end of the USKA syllabus.
On a competitive level he has done everything that has been
expected of him this year for the most part dominating everything
he has competed in culminating in 3 WKO World Titles in July and 2
ICO World Titles in November impressively bringing his overall
World Championship Gold medal tally to 10 in only 2 years of
competition.
The only way is up for this lad with God Willing 2019 seeing his
Full Contact Gala debut where I’m sure he will be equally as
successful as he has been on the tournament
circuit.
Another great year for this fighter... I give you our Senior student of the year for 2018...
KHUZAIMAH DOUGLAS
Moving on now to our Fighters Fighter of the year award for 2018...
Our next award is for the fighter from the fighters and is aptly named the USKA Fighters Fighter award.
Any fighter who has competitively stepped on the mats or in the ring over the last 12 months gets a vote on who they think is most worthy of this award.
They might choose their favourite fighter, they might choose who they think has most improved, they might go with someone who they feel has shown lots of heart or they might choose the person they feel has performed best against the best opposition.
Their choice is their own and their vote is confidential.
The
following fighters were nominated…
Ra’ees
Kiani
Aman
Kiani
Derelle
McKenzie
Khuzaimah Douglas
Ehsaan Mahmood
Harvey
Adlam
In
joint second place and runner up for this year’s award
was
Remy Mann
Hammaad
Shand
But
gaining the most votes the winner of this year's award goes
to....
SHAKEEL HUSSAIN
Our last award for today will be our Student Scholarship award for 2018...
The
scholarship award is now in its anniversary 10th year and over the
last decade has really gave it’s reciprocates a great opportunity
and platform to really develop themselves with 12 months of all you
can eat kickboxing.
The
Scholarship basically funds all costs relating to one students
martial arts development over a full year including Training fee's,
membership fee's, licence fee's, grading fee's, equipment
sponsorship and competition entry fee's in a package that can be
worth well over £1000 pounds.
With such a massive award at stake myself and Sean assess and deliberate throughout the year to see who we feel is most worthy of such an incredible opportunity.
Over the last 12 months we have gone back and forth between many of the active students at the gym taking many things into consideration and finally we both unanimously have come to a decision.
This year's USKA Scholarship is awarded to...
JULIA GLOWACZ
Thank you to everyone who has helped to make today possible and such a success.
Our classes will be on as normal until Friday 23rd December and then we will break up for the holidays.
We are back in the New Year on January 6th for Ladies classes and January 7th for all other sessions with gradings planned for March and Open Competitions and a BLCC competition planned for the end of January so anyone wishing to take part in these we will be wanting you back on our return dates.
Just to wrap things up I would just like to thank everyone for their support today from myself, Alva and Sean and hope you’ve all had a great day... Osu!
SUNDAY 25TH NOVEMBER 2018
The
last competitive outing for Team USKA saw 8 of it's fight team
compete at the WKU English Championships at the North Solihull
Sports Centre in Birmingham today.
The
team headed by Coach Sean Quinn consisted of Nikita Raubiska,
Ehsaan Mahmood, Harvey Adlam, Hammaad Shand, Shakeel Hussain, Saned
Ibrahim, Qasim Hasan and Khuzaimah
Douglas.
After
a long and tough days competition the team finished with a very
impressive medal tally of 8 Golds, 3 Silvers and 2
Bronzes.
The
WKU English was the last fight competition for 2018 with the team
now earning a well deserved rest with the next open planned for
20th January and the next BLCC for 27th January when the fight
season starts again in the new year.
Congratulations
to all our lads in action today on their success in the ring and on
the mats.
FRIDAY 23RD NOVEMBER 2018
Well
here it is ladies and gentlemen, the Highlight Reel from the USKA
Fight Factory Fighters at the 2018 ICO World Championships in Rome,
Italy.
I'm sure you'll agree they done us proud with some fantastic
performances over there.
Give it a watch... Give it a Youtube like... and give it a share!
SUNDAY 18TH NOVEMBER 2018
A
smaller than usual squad of 6 USKA Fight Factory fighters entered
the final leg of the ICO Lordswood Combat Tri-Series at the North
Solihull Sports Centre in Birmingham today lead by USKA coaches
Neil Kelly and Sean Quinn.
The
team consisting of Kian Beech, Harvey Adlam, Lennon Fortey, Shakeel
Hussain, Aryan Singh and Khuzaimah Douglas performed excellently in
all of their categories in the ring and on the mats with everyone
placing in their divisions.
We
finished the day with an impressive 6 Golds and 3 Silvers and 9
Grand Championship trophy winners based on points accumulated
across the three Lordswood tournaments of 2018.
Our
individual results were as follows...
Harvey Adlam
Gold
- Ring -35kg division
Kian Beech
Silver
- Ring -30kg division
Silver
- Mats Under 4ft 6 division
Grand
Champion - Ring -30kg division
Grand
Champion - Mats Under 4ft 6 division
Lennon
Fortey
Gold
- Ring -50kg division
Gold
- Mats Under 5ft 6 division
Grand
Champion - Ring -50kg division
Grand
Champion - Mats Under 5ft 6 division
Shakeel Hussain
Gold
- Ring -55kg division
Aryan
Singh
Silver
- Ring -55kg division
Grand
Champion - Ring -55kg division
Khuzaimah
Douglas
Gold
- Ring +65kg division
Gold
- Mats Over 5ft 6 division
Grand
Champion - Ring +65kg division
Grand
Champion - Mats Over 5ft 6 division
Lucy Kings-Wheatley
Grand
Champion - Ring Ladies -60kg Division
Grand
Champion - Mats Under 5ft 6 division
WEDNESDAY 31ST OCTOBER 2018
Nine USKA Fight Factory members fly off to Italy in the early hours
of tomorrow morning to represent ICO Team England at the ICO World
Championships in Rome.
The team pictured: (Back Row) Harvey Adlam, Kian Beech, Ehsaan
Mahmood, Remy Mann (Front Row) Khuzaimah Douglas, Connor Aston,
Hammaad Shand, Shakeel Hussain, Lennon Fortey and coach Neil Kelly
will compete across 6 fighting disciplines against some of the best
fighters in the World.
We would like to wish the team a safe trip and the very best of
luck and success in Rome knowing they will do us proud irrespective
of results, we are very proud of each and every one of
you.
SATURDAY 27TH OCTOBER 2017
17 USKA Ninjas
attempted and passed their latest Grading Examination on today at
the USKA Fight Factory in front of family and
friends.
The well attended
grading saw the Ninjas put through their paces featuring relay
circuits, basic line work shadow boxing technique, pad work and
finally an exercise circuit to finish proceedings after nearly 1
hour 30 minutes on the mats.
Well done to all our
USKA Ninjas on some great performances and a special mention to
Julia Glowacz on gaining her Blue Belt which is the final belt in
the USKA Ninjas grading system.
WEDNESDAY 23RD OCTOBER 2018
In
one weeks time a team of 9 USKA Fight Factory Fighters will fly to
Rome in Italy to represent ICO Team England at the ICO World
Championships 2018.
Lead
by USKA Chief Instructor and ICO Team England Head Coach Neil Kelly
the team consisting of Ehsaan Mahmood, Kian Beech, Harvey Adlam,
Remy Mann, Hammaad Shand, Shakeel Hussain, Connor Aston, Lennon
Fortey and Khuzaimah Douglas will compete across 6 different
fighting disciplines in pursuit of Gold Medals and World
Titles.
SATURDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER 2018
The USKA Fight Factory hosted a Fundraising Family Fun Day today to raise money for it's World Championship team that will travel to the ICO World Championships in Rome in November as part of
ICO Team England.
The focal point of the day saw the Fight Team participate
in a sponsored 4 hour continual 80 round sparring session in the
USKA Fight Factory ring.
Outside of that we had a great day with everyone having fun
on the bouncy castle and taking part in all the activities
including a tombola, cup stack game, smash the rat game, pick a
pair game, henna, face painting, hair braiding and everyone really
went to town on the Academy's Instructors Neil Kelly, Sean Quinn,
Ruqayya Griffith and Amer Kayani with the main
event Soak-A-Coach event.
SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER 2018
Really long and busy day today for the USKA Fight Factory fighters at the Aero-Kick BLCC event in Birmingham with 23 fighters in action featuring in 28 fights.
SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER 2018
The latest USKA Fight Factory grading saw 29 new grades awarded today following what was in total
a 5 hour grading examination.
THURSDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER 2018
For
the first time in 5 years an USKA student will attempt to take an
USKA Black Belt on Saturday when 15 year old Ra'ees Kiani sits his
1st Dan grading examination.
The
Grading examination follows nearly eight years of training for
Ra'ees who has trained 6 days a week for much of this time to get
him to where he is today.
At
USKA we do not give away Black Belts lightly and in USKA's history
since 1996 we have only had 5 Dan Grades awarded which shows how
prestigious this achievement really is should Ra'ees meet the
standard and pass on Saturday.
SUNDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER 2018
WKO BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS
Some of the USKA Fight
Team were on the Road again today this time at the WKO British
Championships at the Metro-Dome in Barnsley.
The 9
fighter team headed by Coach Sean Quinn consisted of Ehsaan
Mahmood, Remy Mann, Hammaad Shand, Shakeel Hussain, Connor Aston,
Lucy Kings-Wheatley, Declan Ward, Aryan Singh and Khuzaimah
Douglas.
They
finished the day with a very respectable 11 Gold, 2 Silver and 5
Bronze medals.
As well
as the good results USKA finished 2nd on the overall medal tally
only losing out to a team who had double the amount of
competitors.
USKA
Fighters also managed to have 6 of their 9 fighters ranked in the
top 10 competitors of the tournament.
Congratulations and
well done to everyone who climbed through the ropes today and did
their thing.
SUNDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER 2018
USKA FEMALE DIVISION CUB GRADING
12 of
our USKA Female Division were awarded their new belts today at the
USKA Fight Factory following a grading that took no less than 3
hours in total to complete.
The
examination under the scrutiny of USKA Chief Instructor Neil Kelly
and club instructor Ruqayya Griffith covered basic technique,
combinations, one step sparring and continuous sparring and covered
criteria from Red Belt through to Green Belt
syllabus.
Our
Star Grader today was 8 year old Kaifah Imran who passed her white
belt
with
a very impressive score of 91 / A-.
Congratulations
to all our successful candidates who did the club and your
instructor Ruqayya proud.
The
following successful graders were as
follows...
AMINAH
ALI SHAN - RED BELT
MONDAY 3RD SEPTEMBER 2018
USKA FAMILY FUN DAY
SATURDAY 22ND SEPTEMBER 2018
On Saturday 22nd September between 1pm-4pm USKA Fight
Factory will be hosting a family fun day and would love it if
you were able to attend.
On the day we will have a Sponsored sparring event with our
World Championship squad who will attempt to continually spar for 4
hours straight.
Also on the day we will have lots of sub events and things
to do including...
* A BOUNCY CASTLE
* FACE PAINTING
* MENDHI
* SOAK A COACH
* CAKES
* REFRESHMENTS
* TOMBOLA
* FUN AND GAMES
* RAFFLE PRIZES
* AND MUCH MUCH MORE!
All the money raised at this event will go to the USKA
World championship team of fighters to help fund their trip to Rome
in November to compete at the ICO World
Championships.
Tickets are available for this event from the USKA Fight
Factory reception priced at just £1.00.
** Please note that all children must be accompanied by an
adult **
SATURDAY 25TH AUGUST 2018
A quieter than usual USKA Ninjas grading due to the holidays today seen 9 USKA little Ninjas work for and gain their next coloured belts following a tough 1 hour examination assessment at the USKA Fight Factory.
TUESDAY 21ST AUGUST 2018
USKA Fight Factory would like to wish all it's members and friends Eid Mubarak.
May blessings be with you and your family's today and always.
All classes remain on as normal for anyone who wishes to train.
SUNDAY 12TH AUGUST 2018
With
the holiday season upon us a smaller USKA Squad of 8 fighters under
the watchful eye of Coach Sean Quinn travelled to the BKA
Kickboxing Academy in Burton on Trent on Sunday 12th August to take
part in the latest BLCC event.
The
team of Nikita Raubiska, Abdulmalik Abdullah, Shakeel Hussain,
Connor Aston, Qasim Hasan, Lucy Kings-Wheatley, Haris Ali and
Declan Ward took part in 10 bouts and only conceded 1 closely
contested decision.
Coach
Quinn was overall happy with his teams performances on the day and
has seen areas that his team can improve on for next time
out.
Every
day is a school day... well done team.
SATURDAY 28TH / SUNDAY 29TH JULY 2018
Following two nonstop days of competition at the
Inaugural WKO World Championships held at the Metrodome in Barnsley
on the 28th and 29th July 14 USKA Fight
Factory fighters and 3 coaches finished the weekend tired but
content after racking up both performances and results to be proud
of.
Fighting across 8 different disciplines from Full
Contact to Fusion Rules to Ring Continuous to Sport Boxing to K1
Light to Low Kick Kickboxing to Light Continuous to Points Fighting
the team seemed to be in action on one of the five fighting areas
for almost every minute of the two days making it both emotionally
and physically draining for all
involved.
Coaches Neil Kelly, Sean Quinn and Amer Kayani
looked after our team consisting of Kian Beech, Harvey Adlam, Remy
Mann, Hammaad Shand, Aman Kiani, Shakeel Hussain, Connor Aston,
Qasim Hasan, Declan Ward, Ra’ees Kiani, Haatim Shand, Lucy
Kings-Wheatley, Aryan Singh and Khuzaimah Douglas against
opposition from 16 different countries as well as some of the best
fighters from across the lengths and breadth of the United
Kingdom.
At close of play on Sunday the team amassed an incredible 47 medals that included 23 Golds, 16 Silvers and 8 Bronze medals which by all accounts is an amazing tally for a small team of only 14 fighters.
With ongoing points totals being collected
relating to each medal won we also had 5 of our fighters placed in
the Top 11 competitors of the tournament in Aryan Singh, Khuzaimah
Douglas, Aman Kiani, Ra’ees Kiani with Lucy-Kings-Wheatley coming
in as the overall number one competitor being awarded the Best
Female competitor World title belt.
If that wasn’t sweet enough USKA was then awarded
a huge trophy for Best Independent team of the tournament for their
large haul of medals which was a fitting end to a great tournament
for the USKA fighters.
On refection I think we couldn’t really have
hoped for better results coming into this tournament with 4 of our
fighters being very inexperienced but they showed that by putting
in the work in training camp that they could indeed enjoy the
spoils of victory come fight day.
Team USKA would like to thank Mr Jon Green and
his Team at WKO for their hospitality at this year’s events and
congratulate them on their first of what we hope will be many World
Championships for them in the future.
Finally a big thank you to everyone who has
supported our fighters in the build up to this tournament from
parents to team mates to spectators and well wishers, we hope that
they did you all proud.
FRIDAY 27TH JULY 2018
So we
have a busy weekend ahead of us for the USKA Fight Team with no
less than 14 of them in action at the inaugural WKO World
Championships at the Metrodome in Barnsley on Saturday and
Sunday.
This
competition follows an intensive 6 week week training camp where
all our contingent have been putting in the extra work in order to
prepare them for every eventuality against potentially some of the
best fighters on the planet.
The
team consisting of Kian Beech, Harvey Adlam, Remy Mann, Hammaad
Shand, Aman Kiani, Shakeel Hussain, Qasim Hasan, Connor Aston, Lucy
Kings-Wheatley, Haatim Shand, Ra'ees Kiani, Declan Ward, Aryan
Singh and Khuzaimah Douglas will weigh in today ahead of their big
challenge with the fighting commencing early on Saturday
morning.
We
wish all our fighters the very best of luck and know regardless of
the results that they will do us proud and put in a great account
of themselves.
SUNDAY 22ND JULY 2018
We
had 19 USKA Fight Factory fighters in action in 23 bouts on Sunday
at the Aero-Kick BLCC Back in Brum XIV BLCC
show.
The
event held at the Community Aero-Kick gym was supported well with
21 clubs from across the country taking part in a total of 52
kickboxing bouts.
Our
team headed by Coaches Neil Kelly and Sean Quinn consisted of
Nikita Raubiska, Ehsaan Mahmood, Eesa Hassanjee, Khadijah Riaz,
Remy Mann, Aamina Sarfraz, Hammaad Shand, Shakeel Hussain, Qasim
Hasan, Aman Kiani, Abdulmalik Abdullah, Connor Aston, Ra'ees Kiani,
Lucy Kings-Wheatley, Haatim Shand, Declan Ward, Aryan Singh,
Khuzaimah Douglas and Ruqayya
Griffith.
With
many of our team planning on competing at higher level events in
the near future they were matched hard in most cases giving away
age, weight or experience but this did not faze them at all seeing
them rise to the occasion and turn in some career best performances
only conceding one loss throughout the course of the
day.
Congratulations
team on a great day of competition proving that all the extra hard
work you guys are putting in is translating and working in the ring
on competition day.
The
next outing for us will be next weekends WKO World Championship
event in Barnsley where we have 14 of our team going for Gold
against International competition in pursuit of Word
titles.
We
wish them the very best of luck and support knowing that
irrespective of the results they will do us
proud.
SUNDAY 15TH JULY 2018
On
Sunday 15th July the USKA Fight Factory hosted a Fundraising
Ironman Competition to raise money to send a team to the ICO World
Championships in Rome, Italy in
November.
60
Competitors and their supporters turned up and helped us raise an
incredible £1000 which will go a long way in helping us achieve our
goal total come Championships time in
November.
SUNDAY 8TH JULY 2018
5 Fighters and 2 Coaches took to the WUMA British Summer Open at the Perdiswell Leisure Centre in Worcester on Sunday 8th July.
SATURDAY 30TH JUNE 2018
Today marked the biggest USKA Ninja's grading to date with 23 USKA
Little Ninja's being pushed to their limits at the USKA Fight
Factory in pursuit of their next kickboxing belts in the humid
summer 30 degree gym heat.
The 1hr 30 minute Grading featured a relay circuit, basic shadow
boxing technique, pad work and an exercise circuit to finish with
the added pressure of performing in front of family and
friends.
With some of today's participants as young as 4 years old they have
to be commended for their excellent focus, effort, discipline and
concentration all attaining the prescribed standard in fine style
and earning their new coloured belts.
All belts at USKA have to be earned and this grading without a
shadow of a doubt showcased the best grading performances that we
have ever witnessed on an USKA Little Ninja's grading to
date.
Thank you for the continued support of our Ninja's parents and
family for cheering our Ninja's through the hard grading and a
massive thank you to all the helpers from our technical classes who
gave up their time to hold pads and help with the
grading.
The Grading results are as follows...
Moya
McNamara.....USKA Ninja's Red Belt
SUNDAY 24TH JUNE 2018
Congratulations
to our 9 successful Graders on our USKA Female Division Grading
today.
100%
pass rate and some very strong showings
indeed.
It
shows once again that our female division instructor Ruqayya
Griffith is doing a fantastic job of bringing them all
through. Well
done to all our girls!
If
anyone would like to join this great team our female only Beginners
classes can be found at the USKA Fight Factory gym on a Thursday
evening between 5:30pm - 6:30pm and a Sunday morning between
11:00am - 12:00pm.
Be
proud to say you hit like a girl!
SATURDAY 23RD JUNE 2018
We had the first
grading of the weekend today at the USKA Fight Factory with 42 USKA
students attempting to move onto their next coloured
belts.
Following the morning
warm up classes the grading lasted 5 hours in total with the final
candidate Connor Aston completing his Blue Belt grade emotionally
and physically exhausted after leaving it all on the
mats.
Pretty good results
across the board and plenty of constructive feedback for everyone
to improve their games for next time
out.
A few people came up
short dropping shy of the pass mark which isn't the end of the
world as long as lessons are learned from
it.
Our star grader today
was Mr Aston turning in a very impressive grading score of 97/A on
his Blue Belt grading.
It's the Female
Division's time to shine now with their grading tomorrow
afternoon.
MONDAY 18TH JUNE 2018
On Sunday 15th July between 2-5pm we will be hosting a Fundraising Iron Man competition and fun day event at the USKA Fight Factory to help raise money to send a Team of USKA Fighters to compete at the
2018 ICO World Championships in Italy in November.
As Kickboxing is predominantly an amateur sport and self funded us
raising enough money between now and November could be the
difference between some of our fighters going and achieving a World
Title or staying at home and missing out.
We would appreciate each and every USKA members support on this day
to make it a success.
The Iron Man competition is open and suitable for all ages and
abilities and everyone will receive an USKA medal for their
participation.
There will be food, drinks and raffle tickets for sale on the day also to help boost our fund.
The cost to enter the Iron Man competition is £10 and Spectators for the event is £3.
Names for competitors must be registered with payments no later than Thursday 12th July.
HELP OUR CHAMPIONS COME BACK WITH THE GOLDS!!!
SUNDAY 17TH JUNE 2018
Team
USKA had 7 competitors in action today at the BKA Kickboxing
Academy in Burton On Trent in a total of 8
contests.
The
team coached by Neil Kelly, Sean Quinn and Aryan Singh consisted of
Nikita Raubiska, Remy Mann, Hammaad Shand, Lennon Fortey, Connor
Aston, Declan Ward and Khuzaimah Douglas only dropped one decision
in some tough well matched bouts.
Keeping
it real we may have got the results today but the performances for
the most part were laboured showing that we still have a lot of
work to do before we step up in class at the WKO World
Championships in 6 weeks time. Let training camp
commence!!!
FRIDAY 15TH JUNE 2018
We at USKA Fight
Factory would like to wish Eid Mubarak to all our Members, family
and friends.
May Allah bring
you all joy, happiness, peace and prosperity on this blessed
occasion.
SUNDAY 10TH JUNE 2018
NEW USKA THAI
SHORTSAND SLEEVELESS HOODIE ORDER!
We will be placing an order for the NEW limited edition USKA shorts
and a re-order of the limited edition sleeveless USKA Summer
hoodies on Saturday 23rd June.
SUNDAY 10TH JUNE 2018
The three USKAteers of Ehsaan Mahmood, Harvey Adlam and Connor Aston were in action today at the KWON Grand Slam Grand Final at the North Solihull Sports Centre in Birmingham.
WEDNESDAY 6TH JUNE 2018
This video shows a round of boxing Padwork at the USKA Fight Factory on Monday 4th June 2018 with pad holder Sean Quinn and 11 Year old pad hitter Mohammed Ibrahim Khan. The round incorporates, offence, defence, counter attacks, footwork and ringcraft from both the outside, holders and hitters eye view. Our Padwork Boxing classes which cater for all ages and abilities can be found on a Monday evening
between 8-9pm and a
Wednesday evening between
7-8pm.
SUNDAY 3RD JUNE 2018
A
small team of 7 USKA Fight Factory Fighters entered the 2nd event
of the Lordswood Combat Tri-Series on Sunday 3rd June at the North
Solihull Sports Centre in Birmingham.
The
team headed by coaches Neil Kelly and Sean Quinn consisted of Kian
Beech, Harvey Adlam, Hammaad Shand, Connor Aston, Lennon Fortey,
Lucy Kings-Wheatley and Aryan Singh.
After
a hot day of competing in the ring and on the mats the team managed
to bring home a haul of 7 Gold medals and 7 Silver medals which
impressive in it's own right but even more impressive when you
consider that three of those Silver medals were conceded to our own
team mates in finals.
Even
in victory the USKA coaches recognised lots of areas across the
board that we can make improvements in that we will start work on
from Monday in the pursuit of
excellence.
Well
done everyone on their efforts today with our lads and lady taking
important steps forward towards World Championship honours later in
the year.
THURSDAY 23RD JUNE 2018
Due
to many of our female members fasting during the month of Ramadan
we have decided to suspend our Thursday evening female only session
until Thursday 21st June when it will resume with a new beginners
female only kickboxing course.
Our
Sunday morning female only class will remain on as normal
throughout.
SUNDAY 20TH MAY 2018
It
was 6 medals for 6 competitors today at the WMO European
Championships in Rugby when USKA took to the mats in a real old
school tournament.
The
team headed by coaches Sean Quinn and Amer Kayani consisted of
Ehsaan Mahmood, Harvey Adlam, Aman Kiani, Lennon Fortey, Ra'ees
Kiani and Aryan Singh.
After
a tough days competition we finished with 4 Gold's and 2 Silver's
and more experience in the bank to bring with us again into the
next battle.
Well
done to all the fighters for once again representing the USKA Fight
Factory in fine fashion.
WEDNESDAY 16TH MAY 2018
The USKA Fight Factory
would like to take this opportunity to wish all it's members,
family and friends a happy Ramadan
Kareem.
All our classes will
remain on as normal but if anyone is observing their fast
exceptions will be made for working at your own pace and taking it
nice and steady with your training throughout this blessed
month.
SUNDAY 13TH MAY 2018
It
was a busy day of 14 Fights including an English title defence for
12 USKA Fight Factory fighters today at Aero-Kick Back in Brum XIII
event in Birmingham.
Headed by coaches Neil Kelly and Sean Quinn the team consisting of
Nikita Raubiska, Ehsaan Mahmood, Omar Farooq, Hammaad Shand,
Shakeel Hussain, Aman Kiani, Qasim Hassan, Lennon Fortey, Connor
Aston, Ra'ees Kiani, Haatim Shand and Khuzaimah Douglas only
conceded one defeat all day and turned in some really good
performances.
Top of the bill was a BLCC -70kg English title defence by Khuzaimah
'The Damager' Douglas against reigning BLCC Midland Champion and
former ICO European Champion James Houston from the MACK Marauders
Kickboxing gym in Birmingham.
Going into this fight they held two wins a piece over each other
and this would serve as a decider over 5 x 1 1/2 minute rounds for
the title belt to end the argument once and for all.
After an amazing fight with Khuzaimah dominating the action his arm
was raised as the champion winning every round on all three judges
score cards 50/45, 50/45, 50/45.
Full credit to James for sticking in there but today there was no
doubt about the decision with the worthy victory belonged to the
USKA man.
Next stop... The WMO European Championships in Rugby next Sunday...
Straight back to the grind team... Osu!
SUNDAY 6TH MAY 2018
9 USKA Fight Factory fighters were back on the mats and in the ring
on Sunday 6th May at the WKU British Championships at the North
Solihull Sports Centre in Birmingham.
The predominantly novice squad of fighters consisting of Ehsaan
Mahmood, Harvey Adlam, Kian Beech, Hammaad Shand, Shakeel Hussain,
Aman Kiani, Qasim Hassan, Connor Aston and Haatim Shand
and headed by Coach Sean Quinn were treating the Championships
as an experience building exercise but after a hard day of
competition they managed to exceed expectations and bring home a
terrific tally of results with 10 new British title belts, 7 Silver
medals and 1 Bronze medal.
Well done team on yet another successful day of
competition.
SUNDAY 28TH APRIL 2018
11 Fighters took to the ring at the latest BLCC event at the Combat Academy in Barnsley
today
in some great bouts.
Mainly
matched in demonstration bouts against older, heavier and more
experienced opposition the USKA team of fighters performed well and
put in a very good account of themselves taking some valuable
lessons away with them that will no doubt improve their overall
fight game next time out.
SATURDAY 28TH APRIL 2018
Another
17 USKA Ninja's received their new belts today following a 90
minute grading examination in front of their family and friends at
the USKA Fight Factory.
The
grading consisted of relay circuits with each grade progressively
getting harder, basic kickboxing shadow boxing technique, Padwork
and finally an exercise circuit while they were at their most tired
to really put them to the test.
All
of the USKA Ninjas rose to the challenge and passed with flying
colours in what was the highest standard at a USKA Ninjas grading
to date.
Congratulations
to our new USKA Ninja Red Belts Nahemiah Forbes-Brown, Ibraheem
Farook, Suleiman Afridi, Isa Farook, our new USKA Ninja White /
Yellow Stripe Belts Keegan Watkins, Ehsaan Khan, Connor Watkins,
Eren Teksut, Kian Watkins, Inayah Khan, Aisha Abdullah, Kerim
Teksut, Millie Boulton, Aliyah Teksut, our new USKA Ninja Yellow
Belt Sufyaan Qayum, our new USKA Ninja Orange Belt Julia Glowacz
and our new USKA Ninja Blue Belt Zain Amer.
The
future of USKA is promising going by what we seen today. Well done
all!
SUNDAY 22ND APRIL 2018
No rest for the Warrior as they say so it was on to the next one for the USKA Fight Factory fighters on Sunday 22nd April when they travelled to the Barnsley Metrodome in Barnsley to compete at the
WKO 5
Nations Open Championships.
The
12 fighter team headed by coaches Sean Quinn and Amer Kayani
consisted of Nikita Raubiska,
Ehsaan
Mahmood, Kian Beech, Harvey Adlam, Aman Kiani, Shakeel Hussain,
Lennon Fortey, Connor Aston, Ra'ees Kiani, Lucy Kings-Wheatley and
Khuzaimah Douglas competed across 4 different fighting disciplines
gaining medals in all.
After
a great day of competition the team finished with a medal tally of
21 medals including 10 Golds, 5 Silvers and 6
Bronzes.
Well
done team on yet another good day at the fighting
office!
SUNDAY 15TH APRIL 2018
Crazy busy day for Team USKA today at the ICO British Championships with 15 USKA Fight Factory fighters in action over two different disciplines on the mats and in the ring.
FRIDAY 6TH APRIL 2018
USKA Kids Highlight Reel - The Remix!!!
Sooooo, over 10 years
ago we made a kids highlight reel video at the old USKA Kickboxing
Academy at the Chic Physique gym on Foremans Road,
Sparkhill.
I think it might be
time for a Remix with the current crop of Champions we have
training at the USKA Fight Factory. Who's
in???
SUNDAY 25TH MARCH 2018
It was something different today for the team of 16 USKA Fight Factory fighters when they fought at the inaugural SBA Sport Boxing Event at the Aero-Kick gym in Birmingham.
SUNDAY 18TH MARCH 2018
The
snow today couldn't stop the USKA Ladies doing their thing at the
latest USKA Fight Factory Female division grading
examinations.
10 of
our female students braved the elements to turn in some fine
performances across three grades over the two hour
grading.
6 new
Red belts were awarded, 3 new white belts and 1 new yellow
belt.
Congratulations
to all our new grades and Instructor Ruqayya Griffith who is doing
a fantastic job with out female team
Osu!
SATURDAY 17TH MARCH 2018
Grading
time again today at the USKA Fight Factory with 40 students being
put through their paces in pursuit of their next USKA grading
belts.
With
every grade being contested from Red through to Brown Belt (10
grade levels in total) we were in for a long and tough day for our
candidates proving once again that belts have to be fully earned
and not just given away at the USKA
academy.
Following
the hour long warm up class on the morning the grading examination
started promptly at 12:00pm and 7 1/2 non stop hours later the
Brown Belt candidates threw their last punches and kicks to close
of the grading.
Congratulations
to all our successful Graders and commiserations to anyone that
didn't quite make the grade this time out. It is a blip and a
lesson and something that should motivate you to come back even
stronger and better prepared next time
out.
Big
congratulations to our star grader Millie Gidda passing her White
Belt grade with an outstanding 96 / A Grade and also our two Brown
belt candidates Hamza Farooq and Derelle McKenzie who were also
successful passing the most senior grade on the
day.
SUNDAY 11TH MARCH 2018
BKA BLCC EVENT - BURTON ON TRENT
Yet
another clean sheet with no loses for USKA at the latest BLCC event
at the BKA Kickboxing Academy in Burton On Trent on Sunday with 9
USKA fighters climbing through the ropes and fighting out of their
skin showing skill and will the get their hands raised in
victory.
Our
contingent of fighters in action were Nikita Raubiska, Hammaad
Shand, Shakeel Hussain, Lennon Fortey, Haatim Shand, Ra'ees Kiani,
Lucy Kings-Wheatley, Declan Ward and Khuzaimah
Douglas.
Main
event of the day saw Khuzaimah Douglas challenge for the Vacant
-70kg BLCC Cadets English title against home fighter Jamie Brain
from the BKA gym over 5 X 1 1/2 minute
rounds.
After
a hard fought 5 rounds the judges scored the bout to the USKA
fighter awarding him the well deserved points win victory and the
BLCC English Title Belt.
USKA
Support on the day was fantastic and we thank each and every person
who was their cheering our fighters to
victory.
Here
is a short video featuring some clips of the fights to relive what
was a great day for the team.
MONDAY 26TH FEBRUARY 2018
Here is some footage from the USKA Ninjas grading on Saturday 24th February 2018.
Even with our youngest students we don't just give away belts at the USKA Factory.
SATURDAY 24TH FEBRUARY 2018
19 USKA Ninja's took
and passed their Grading assessments today at the USKA Fight
Factory all moving on to their next coloured belts in their 90
minutes examination.
The Grading in front
of family and friends for a little extra pressure consisted of a
relay circuit, basic technique, pad work and an exercise circuit
allowed our Ninjas to show off what they had been practising and
perfecting on their Little Ninja's classes and they all without
exception did themselves proud.
It is amazing to see
the standard and confidence in students as young as 4 years old
flying through these belts and a testament that what we are
achieving at the Fight Factory on these classes is well and truly
working.
Thank you to all the
parents for your ongoing support and all the helpers holding pads
and coaching the kids today making it such a
success.
SUNDAY 18TH FEBRUARY 2018
5 Fighters from USKA travelled to Rugby today to compete at the WMO National British Championships.
The
WMO prides itself as an old school competition that scores clean
solid strikes and no tippy tappy techniques so the USKA Fighters
knew what they would be up against and relished the opportunity of
mixing it with some of the country's finest fighters on the
mats.
The
team headed by coach Amer Kayani consisted of Ehsaan Mahmood, Kian
Beech, Lennon Fortey, Ra'ees Kiani and Aryan Singh after some tough
wars finished the day with 3 Golds and a
Silver.
Well
done team on yet another successful outing representing the USKA
Fight Factory to the fullest. Osu!
SUNDAY 4TH FEBRUARY 2018
Another
12 USKA Fight Factory fighters took to the ring and the mats today
at the first leg of the Lordswood Tri-Series Championships in
Birmingham.
The
team headed up by USKA Chief coach Neil Kelly consisted of Ehsaan
Mahmood, Harvey Adlam, Kian Beech, Hammaad Shand, Lennon Fortey,
Connor Aston, Lucy Kings-Wheatley, Haatim Shand, Ra'ees Kiani,
Aryan Singh, Khuzaimah Douglas and Barry
White.
After
a busy day of competition and some outstanding performances team
USKA finished with a tally of 9 Golds, 5 Silvers and 3 Bronze
medals. Even more impressively was the fact that 4 of our 5 Silvers
came to our own USKA Team mates.
The
results leave the team in Pole position for Lordswood Grand
Championship titles at the end of the year if they can maintain
their form over the next two legs of the
series.
Well
done to all our fighters who were in action in both the WKO English
Championships in Barnsley on Saturday and the Lordswood Tri-Series
on Sunday, you all did fantastic.
SUNDAY 28TH
JANUARY 2018
We had a lone ranger from USKA in Lennon Fortey competing today at
the
Watford Open National Championships in Aylesbury.
The Watford Open is considered to be one of the UK's premier mat
based competition
with a high level of competitor in attendance.
TUESDAY 23RD JANUARY 2018
In October 2017 Team USKA as part of ICO Team England returned from the Unified World Kickboxing Championships in Tuscany Italy where a team of 7 fighters pulled of an amazing tally of 27 medals, 14 Golds, 6 Silvers and 7 Bronzes. The most we have ever had as a club from a World Championship event on foreign soil.
SUNDAY 14TH JANUARY 2018
USKA claimed it's first medals for the 2018 season today at the first in the Kwon Grand Slam series when the three Musketeers of Ehsaan Mahmood, Jemmima Mahmood and Laylaa Mahmood took to the ring and mats at the North Solihull Sports Centre in Birmingham.
SUNDAY 17TH DECEMBER 2017
USKA IRON MAN COMPETITION &
STUDENT PRESENTATION 2017
We had an excellent end of year celebration on Sunday 17th December with the introduction of the new USKA Iron Man competition where nearly 80 USKA students took part over 5 events testing their strength, stamina, agility and endurance.
Yearly review
Well
it's time again for our annual student presentation awards but I
want to start off with a short review of our achievements as a club
over 2017.
With the new gym being well established over the last year and all
our classes being very well attended we have had a year of busy
Grading's from our little Ninja's to the USKA Ladies division to
the General club Grading's and although passing a record number of
new belts in the gym we have still managed to uphold a very high
standard comparable with the highest level in the
country.
Competitively our Goals this year have largely been focused on two World Championships with the ICO World Championships in our home town of Birmingham, England and the Unified World Championships in Tuscany, Italy in October where we had a team of 14 then 7 fighters competing respectively.
On route to the World Championships we picked up 32 British Titles across ICO, WKA, WRSA and WUMA competition. 19 English titles across WKA and WKU completion. 8 Lordswood Tri Series Grand Champions and kept a 95% win streak across the BLCC series of competitions where are fighters did battle every month up and down the country.
In October 14 of our
Fighters who had qualified at a qualifying event earlier in March
and attended monthly squad training sessions with ICO Team England
took part in the ICO World Championships in Birmingham and totally
shone at the event bringing home 33 medals including 19 Gold Medal
World titles, 11 Silver Medals and 3 Bronze Medals.
Less than a week later 7 USKA Fighters flew off to Tuscany Italy to
the Unified World Championships which is the biggest competition in
the sport.
Once again the team surpassed all expectation bringing home 27
Medals including 14 Gold Medal World titles, 6 Silver Medals and 7
Bronze Medals.
That is in total a phenomenal 60 World Championship Medals
including 33 Gold, 17 Silver and 10 Bronze Medals from a small team
of 14 fighters.
We intend to continue this winning run next year and attend many more competitions where I'm sure we will be successful recreating this success.
The first award of the day now and one that like every year is one
of the most important and well deserved
ones...
Our USKA Coaches
Award
Good coaches are hard to come by. A coach that understands the
game, understands the fighter and knows what it takes to get the
very best out of each individual fighter under his care.
We are blessed at USKA to have one of the very best in the
business.
His passion can been seen in with the Unselfish time he commits in
getting the fighters ready for combat and physically and mentally
ready 100% every time they step on the mats or into the ring.
Another quality of this coach is how he treats every single fighter
whether it be a first time fighter or a Pro World Champion to his
undivided attention and focus.
His coaching also crosses over to the Little Ninja's giving his
time up week in week out to develop the youngest members of the
club and build up their confidence and technique.
Outside of coaching duties he is my right hand man, my confident,
my friend and a part of USKA that 100% could not be replaced if he
wasn't there.
I give you the on the only...
MIGHTY MR SEAN QUINN
On now to our individual awards....
USKA Instructors Award
This award goes to the Instructor of the USKA Ladies Division who
has developed and built up the Female only classes at the Fight
Factory into some of the strongest sessions in the clubs
timetable.
With a very approachable personality coupled with a continually
improving teaching delivery she has turned out some fine students
of her own and the numbers on her classes and popularity of her
sessions are a testament showing that she is doing a great
job.
There is an old saying that to know the Instructor you need
only look at their student.
I have graded her students and they without doubt stand up against
all the other students from the general classes at the Fight
Factory.
On a personal level she has been consistent in her training and has
shown improvement in her own development as a Martial Artist
passing her Jnr Black Belt only last week with a very good grade so
this Instructors award in effect also doubles up as a Student
award.
Under
this girls leadership the USKA Ladies division can only go from
strength to strength and next year we are looking at introducing a
mid week class which will enable her to bring on her students even
more. I am proud to present this award to the one and
only....
MISS RUQAYYA
GRIFFITH
Onto the student awards now...
Our student awards are here to recognise the hard work and effort from selected members of the gym by myself and Sean who we feel have gave their all over the last 12 months across different areas of their training. We have chosen people who we feel have fulfilled their potential across all the different classes at the gym including Little Ninja's, Technical students and of course fighters.
Our first student award now...
Student Award 1
The first student award today goes to one of our members from our Little Ninjas classes who since her time with us has shown real passion for the art she is learning.
She is always
consistent on her classes and always puts 100% concentration and
effort on every session.
She has shown a real good comprehension and understanding of what
she is learning which will put her in good stead for when she
moves up on to the beginners classes in the future.
In November she moved through to her second Little Ninjas belt
which she passed with flying colours.
Her manners and etiquette are second to none making her a pleasure to teach and I predict good things for her in 2018 if she can keep up the good work.
Our first award goes to...
JULIA GLOWACZ
Moving on now to our second student award...
Student Award 2
Our next award goes to a one of our technical students who has shown yet another year of improvement showing that with hard work, patience and perseverance that it is possible to achieve goals that were once thought to be out of reach.
She has been consistent on her classes and this consistency has lead to confidence enabling her to last week pass her Blue Belt grading with a really impressive result.
I see passion in her work now that I have to say was missing for a
few years when she first joined us and it really looks like she is
enjoying what she is doing on each and every class.
This award goes to...
MISS SUMAYAH GRIFFITH
Our
third student award...
Student Award 3
Our next award goes to one of our fighters who has had a
really strong year of competing and has shown real class every time
he has stepped onto the mats or into the ring.
After transferring from a different club in May this year he has
been representing USKA turning in some fantastic performances on
the open circuit.
He has made the transition to his new gym seamlessly and
remains a popular member of the club with all his fellow team
mates.
Although showing Real improvement the exciting thing is we have
only scratched the surface with this lads talent and once we tap
into the technical side of things next year he is destined for
great things within the sport of Kickboxing.
This award goes to...
'LIGHTNING' LENNON FORTEY
We move on now to our forth student award...
Student Award 4
Our next award goes to another one of our Little Ninjas.
This Little Ninja has probably gone under most people's radar but myself and Sean have kept an eye on her week in week out and seen a focus and determination that is rare for someone of such a young age.
She is consistent in her training and also consistent in her effort and her focus that could give myself and Sean an excuse to give her a Little Ninja's sticker at the end of each and every training session.
We are very excited to see what the next year brings for this young lady.
This award goes to...
AISHA ABDULLAH
Moving on now to our fifth student award...
Student Award 5
Our next award goes to one of our Technical students who since moving up from the Little Ninja's classes has really hit his stride and has thrown himself into his training head first picking up his first three belts with exceptional grades.
His effort levels are consistently high and you can see a real pride about this young man's work in the gym which will serve him well as he moves through the grades and hopefully on to competitions in the new year.
This award goes to...
EESA HASSANJEE
Time now for our sixth student award...
Student Award 6
Our next award goes to one of our Fighters who really is on
top of his game and I have no hesitation to say he is the best
fighter in the World at his age and weight.
Despite juggling his exams he has had a tremendous year
competitively and along with multiple English and British titles
earned himself a phenomenal 8 World titles across multitude of
disciplines at two separate World Championships home and
away.
As if that wasn't enough he has also found time to pass his latest
USKA grade of Green Belt with a straight A pass showing that it
possible to be a top level fighter and take care of business
technically at the same time if you apply yourself in the correct
way.
He is a great role member for all the members at the club and it
gives me great pleasure to make this next award to the one and
only...
ARYAN 'KING OF STING' SINGH
Our seventh student award now...
Student Award 7
Our next award goes to one of our members who is literally 'all in'.
First starting off on Little Ninja's before moving on to the Technical classes, passing three grades in good style and also competing in BLCC competitions showing that he is embracing the full USKA Kickboxing experience the way it should be done.
Anything that the club is involved in with the support of his parents he is first on the list showing an enthusiasm rarely seen in an eight year old child.
Still a regular on the Little Ninja's helping out holding pads this young man has become a standard bearer for all the young students at the gym to aspire to be like.
A very worthy next award goes to...
NIKITA RAUBISKA
Onto our eight award now...
Student Award 8
Our next award goes to another young fighter in the gym who also has come on leaps and bounds this year translating what he has learned in the gym and putting it into practice in the ring and on the mats.
For someone so young he has a skill set that regularly sees him able to compete and hold his own with fighters up to two years his senior in the gym and in competition.
Some fighters have that X-Factor and that is definitely the
case with this young man.
The highlight of his year came when he dominated his opposition at
the ICO World Championships in Birmingham to win two World titles
at his age and weight.
This award goes to...
EHSAAN 'HEAD HUNTER' MAHMOOD
The next award is our
first Runner up for Student of the year...
Student Award 9
(Runner Up for Student of the
year)
This award goes to a young man who we would have to say is well ahead of schedule and by far the gyms most improved fighter of 2017 starting the year as a rank novice and finishing the year as a 3 times World Champion winning two of those at the Unified World Championships in Italy at the biggest competition in the sport.
After winning the scholarship award last year this student took
full advantage of it fighting in competitions at every opportunity
and taking his technical Grades working his way through to Orange
Belt with some very good results.
He has real goals and aspirations within the sport and is going
about it the right way in trying to achieve
them.
Our first Runner up for Student of the year for 2017 goes to...
KHUZAIMAH DOUGLAS
On now to our next Runner up for Student of the year...
Student Award 10
(Runner Up for Student of the year)
Our next Runner up for student of the year goes someone who has had
a blinder of a year in regard to results on the mats, in the ring
and in her grading's.
As an advanced member of the gym she has technically set the
standard passing her Jnr Black belt last week with an extremely
rare Straight A Pass mark.
In competitions she has fulfilled her potential becoming a 5 times
World Champion picking up 3 Gold Medals at the ICO World
Championships in Birmingham and 2 Gold Medals at the Unified World
Championships in Tuscany Italy.
The potential in this girl is unreal and she is starting to see in
herself what we have been seeing in her for a long time and is now
bringing confidence to the table as well as
ability.
I can only see good things in the future for this girl if she stays on track, stays hungry and stays motivated...
Our second Runner up for Student of the year 2017...
LUCY
KINGS-WHEATLEY
The first of our big ones with our Student of the year for 2017...
Student of the year Award 2017
On to the first of our big one's now with the our first Student of the year award.
This is an award that people have to invest a full year of hard training in to get anywhere near.
This student has done just that upping his game by attending the gym 6 times a week and putting in 100% effort and focus while he is there.
You can count on two hands how many classes he has missed this year
and that commitment has paid off progressing nicely through his
Grading examinations picking up his Purple Belt grade in June with
a 94 / A- Pass which was a personal best for him.
Competitively he has had an amazing year winning all of his BLCC
fights, doing well in open competitions but most of all rising
above all expectations winning a Gold medal at the ICO World
Championships and a sensational three Gold medals at the Unified
World Championships in Italy in October.
He would have been forgiven for taking a few days off after each
world championship but instead he was back in the gym the very next
day after both on his sparring classes showing just how much he
loves his training.
Outside of his own achievements he is always on the Little Ninja's
classes as a helper inspiring and bringing on the next generation
to hopefully achieve in the future what he has
done.
Our first USKA student of the year Award for 2017 goes to...
SAMI KELLY
The second of our
Student of the year for 2017
now...
Student of the year Award 2017
Our second Student of the Year award this year goes to someone who has been a nearly man in the past winning Runner Up two years running previous to this.
This year we feel he has made the step up earning this award through commitment , consistency, hard work and dedication.
His Technical work has been strong passing his Purple Belt in June with a 97 / A Pass and he has carried that across into his competing winning two Gold medals in both Kickboxing and Boxing at the Unified World Championships in Italy in October.
This lad is the Ultimate team player helping out week in week out on the Little Ninja's classes and always going out of his way to make everyone in the club feel part of the team which is a very admirable quality.
A great year for a great kid... I give you our second student of the year for 2017...
MR CONNOR 'A' CLASS' ASTON
Moving on now to our Fighters Fighter of the year award for
2017...
Fighters Fighter Award 2017
Our final award is one we introduced last year and we feel in some way is one of the most prestigious.
Each student who has competed this year gets one vote for
who they feel is the Fighter of the year.
They might choose based on results, they might choose based on
opposition faced, they might choose purely based on who is their
favourite fighter to watch.
Their choice is their own and their vote is
confidential.
Gaining the most votes the winner of this year's award goes to....
KHUZAIMAH 'THE DAMAGER' DOUGLAS
Our last award for
today will be our Student Scholarship award for
2018...
USKA Scholarship 2018
Our final award of this year's presentation is our prestigious USKA Scholarship award.
The scholarship award which is now into it's 9th year basically pays all costs relating to one students martial arts development over a full year including Training fee's, membership fee's, licence fee's, grading fee's, equipment sponsorship and competition entry fee's in a package that can be worth well over £1000 pounds.
With such a massive award at stake myself and Sean assess and deliberate throughout the year to see who we feel is most worthy of such an incredible opportunity.
Over the last 12 months we have gone back and forth between many of the active students at the gym taking many things into consideration and finally we both unanimously have come to a decision.
This year's USKA Scholarship is awarded to...
NIKITA RAUBISKA
Thank you to everyone who has helped to make today possible and
such a success.
Our classes will be on as normal until Friday 22nd December and
then we will break up for the holidays.
We are back in the New Year on January 7th for Ladies classes and January 8th for all other sessions with gradings planned for March and BLCC competitions planned for the start of February so anyone wishing to take part in these we will be wanting you back on our return dates.
Just to wrap things up I would just like to thank everyone for their support today from myself, Alva and Sean and we wish you all a very happy holiday and new year... Osu!
SUNDAY 10TH DECEMBER 2017
Well
the snow and horrendous weather conditions didn't stop 9 (after
pull outs) USKA Ladies division candidates attempt their Grades
today at the USKA Fight Factory.
It
showed the commitment and hunger of the students to make their way
to the gym in the worst of weather in pursuit of their next
belts.
Following
the 70 minute grading we had 6 new Red Belts and 2 new White Belts
with one student narrowly missing out and unfortunately falling
short this time around.
At
USKA a failed grade doesn't mean disaster it just means dust
yourself off and back to the drawing board to show your metal next
time out after making the necessary
adjustments.
The
Ladies division under the instruction of Ruqayya Griffith has gone
from strength to strength this last year with the classes building
to record numbers and we now have a good selection of coloured
belts coming through with talk of a mid week class being introduced
in the new year so watch this space.
Well
done to all the ladies who graded today and of course to Ruqayya
for teaching them to a great standard.
SATURDAY 9TH DECEMBER 2017
It
was grading time again at the USKA Fight Factory today for 47
hopefuls all at the quarterly club grading
examination.
We
had a wide spectrum of grades ranging from Red Belt (1st Grade)
through to Jnr Black Belt (10th Grade) meaning it would be a long
day on the mats for all our participants.
A
Big congratulations to our Jnr Black belt candidates Lucy
Kings-Wheatley and Ruqayya Griffith who including the
warm up class were punching and kicking for a total of 7 hours and
managed to physically and emotionally hold it together to pass
their belts with flying colours.
Our A Star Graders today were Mohammed Isa Khan passing his Red
Belt with a 94 / A- Pass, Aryan Singh passing his Green Belt with a
97 / A Pass and Lucy Kings-Wheatley passing her
Jnr
Black Belt with a 97 / A Pass.
Commiserations to our candidates that came up short this time. Know
that anything worth having is worth working for and use this
temporary disappointment to fuel the fire in coming back stronger
and more determined next time.
SUNDAY 3RD DECEMBER 2017
The
last competitive outing of the year for team USKA came in the form
of the Burton BLCC event on Sunday 3rd December where a team of 7
fighters took to the ring for the the last time in 2017 to round up
an exceptional year of competing.
The
contingent consisting of Nikita Raubiska, Ehsaan Mahmood, Aadam
Ali, Qasim Hasan, Connor Aston, Declan Ward and Khuzaimah Douglas
largely competed in demonstration bouts but we managed to keep a
clean sheet of wins in the scoring bouts we took part in on the
day.
We
will have a well earned rest now until the new year where we will
once again hit the circuit hard again.
Well
done to each and every one of the USKA fighters that have donned
the USKA strip and took to the mats and ring throughout
2017.
THURSDAY 30TH NOVEMBER 2017
Between 20th -22nd October 2017 fourteen members of the USKA Fight Factory gym in Birmingham took part in the ICO (International Combat Organisation) World Championships at the
North
Solihull Sports Centre in Chelmsley Wood,
Birmingham.
The
team performed exceptionally well bringing home 33 medals including
19 Golds (and new World Champions), 11 Silver's and 3 Bronze's
which is an incredible haul from a small single club
contingent.
Here
is a highlight reel of the USKA fighters in action so you can
relive some of the action from the
Championships.
MONDAY 27TH NOVEMBER 2017
USKA IRON MAN COMPETITION
AND END OF YEAR STUDENT PRESENTATION 2017
For our end of year celebrations this year we will be doing something slightly different to previous years with an USKA Iron Man competition followed by a small party that we will round off with our prestigious
USKA student awards for 2017.
The
Iron Man competition will have individual events for points that
will be accumulated at the end of the day with all competitors
receiving an USKA medal for their
efforts.
Following
the competition we will have a small party with soft drinks and
snacks with some
party
games for the USKA kids.
To
finish off proceedings on the day we will be awarding our annual
presentation awards to students who we feel have most fulfilled
their potential and excelled in certain areas of their training
throughout the year.
You
may well have been considered for one of these awards and
the
only
way to claim it is to be there on the
day.
All
this and the presentation of our prestigious Student of the year
awards and one lucky student being awarded an all inclusive USKA
scholarship covering all their
training
and equipment costs for the whole of
2018.
We
sincerely hope you can all join us as we get together as a club to
celebrate yet another successful year at the USKA Fight
Factory.
Our
competition will start at 1:30pm with our party and presentation
estimated to start at 4pm to 5:30pm (subject to change depending on
numbers)
Tickets for the event
are as follows...
Iron Man Competition
fee £10.00 (Which includes entry to the party and
presentation)
Iron Man Competition
Spectators fee £2.00 (Which includes entry to the party and
presentation)
There is no charge for
children 3 year and under to the presentation and
party.
Tickets
can be purchased at the USKA Fight Factory reception with the
deadline for entrance to the Iron Man competition being
on
Thursday 14th December.
SUNDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2017
The
last open competition of the year saw Seven USKA Fight Factory
fighters take to the ring and mats in what turned out to be a long
and testing day at the WKU English Championships at the North
Solihull Sports Centre in Chelmsley Wood Birmingham on Sunday 26th
November.
The
team headed by coach Kelly and Quinn consisted of Ehsaan Mahmood,
Harvey Adlam, Charlie Pearce, Lucy Kings-Wheatley, Declan Ward,
Aryan Singh and Khuzaimah Douglas had some tough fights throughout
the day against at times some World class opposition and managed to
bring home 8 English title belts, 6 Silver medals and 2 Bronze
medals which would have to be considered to be a good haul of
results from such a small contingent.
As
always with the open competition circuit we dropped a few decisions
that be rights we should have won and on the flip side of that won
a couple of decisions that maybe should not have went our way.
Unfortunately it is all swings and roundabouts and the nature of
the sport in this type of competition and we are smart enough
sometimes look at the performance rather than the result and work
out what we need to do to improve next time out from
there.
With
only one more time to do battle at the BLCC in Burton this weekend
it is nearly time to hang up the gloves for the year and give
ourselves a well earned rest from competing ready to pick it up
again in the New Year to do it all over again in pursuit of Golds,
titles and trophies.
Well
done team, proud of you guys as always...
Osu!
SATURDAY 18TH NOVEMBER 2017
15
Little Ninja's impressed friends, family and grading examiners at
the latest USKA Little Ninja's grading examination on Saturday 18th
November at the USKA Fight Factory.
The
hour long exam featured a gruelling relay circuit, basic
techniques, padwork and exercise routine which each and every
Little Ninja flew through with flying
colours.
Well
done to all our successful graders who showed once again that the
standard of our youngest students are continuing to go from
strength to strength.
SUFYAAN QAYUM - LITTLE NINJA'S RED
BELT
FATIMAH ZAHRA - LITTLE NINJA'S RED
BELT
ALI
ASGHAR RAZA - LITTLE NINJA'S RED
BELT
KIAN WATKINS - LITTLE NINJA'S RED BELT
NICOLAS ZAMAREK - LITTLE NINJA'S RED BELT
JASMINE BERNARD - LITTLE NINJA'S RED BELT
CONNOR WATKINS - LITTLE NINJAS RED BELT
ADYAN ALI - LITTLE NINJA'S WHITE / YELLOW STRIPE BELT
AYANN ALI - LITTLE NINJA'S WHITE / YELLOW STRIPE BELT
LILLIE
JOHNSON - LITTLE NINJA'S WHITE / YELLOW STRIPE
BELT
JULIA
GLOWACZ - LITTLE NINJA'S WHITE / YELLOW STRIPE
BELT
ARIYAN
CHUDASAMA - LITTLE NINJA'S YELLOW
BELT
DEAN FAHD - LITTLE NINJA'S YELLOW BELT
ISAAC
HARIS - LITTLE NINJA'S YELLOW
BELT
RYAN HULANCE - LITTLE NINJA'S YELLOW BELT
Harvey Adlam
SATURDAY 11TH NOVEMBER 2017
Keeping
the wins coming on Saturday in Lincoln USKA Wonder kid Lennon
'Lightning' Fortey won a three round Unanimous decision against Rio
Van Zelst from TKMA Gym in Wigan in a Full Contact bout on the
First Feud Kickboxing show at the Lincoln Fight
Factory.
Lennon
had been ill all week dropping over 2kg in weight but refused to
pull out of the contest and although not vintage Lenny he showed
more than enough to win all three rounds on the judges score
cards.
SUNDAY 5TH NOVEMBER 2017
The latest BLCC event at the Aero-Kick gym in
Birmingham featured 16 USKA Fighters in action over 16 well matched
contests.
The fight team consisting of Nikita Raubiska,
Aadam Ali, Jovan Basra, Mohammed Ibrahim Khan, Danyal Zahoor,
Hammaad Shand, Charlie Pearce, Eisha Basra, Abdulmalik Abdullah,
Shakeel Hussain, Qasim Hasan, Sami Kelly, Hamza Farooq, Connor
Aston, Haatim Shand and Khuzaimah Douglas put on some really good
performances only conceding two decisions over the whole
day.
The entire ICO Team England squad of 18 competitors did equally as well with
24 Gold, 22 Silver and 13 Bronze.
The icing on the cake and to top things off on the flight home from Italy the team bumped into recording artist Ed Sheeran and spoke to him where he asked how they all got on and congratulated them on their success.
TUESDAY 24TH OCTOBER 2017
So
it's on to the next one for 7 USKA Fight Factory fighters when they
fly off to Italy in the early hours of Wednesday morning to compete
in the Unified World Kickboxing Championships in Tuscany Italy from
the 25th-29th October.
Fresh
off the back of last weeks ICO World Kickboxing Championships in
Birmingham the team headed by coach Neil Kelly consisting of Harvey
Adlam, Charlie Pearce, Sami Kelly, Connor Aston, Lucy
Kings-Wheatley, Khuzaimah Douglas and Aryan Singh hope to emulate
their success where they collectively earned themselves 18 medals
including 11 Gold, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze
medals.
MONDAY 16TH OCTOBER 2017
Well fight week is finally here for our 14 USKA / ICO
Team England fighters who will compete this weekend
at
the
ICO World Championships 2017 in Birmingham
England.
The
Team consisting of Ehsaan Mahmood, Jemmima Mahmood, Harvey Adlam,
Charlie Pearce, Derelle McKenzie, Laylaa Mahmood, Lennon Fortey,
Sami Kelly, Connor Aston, Lucy Kings-Wheatley, Declan Ward,
Khuzaimah Douglas, Aryan Singh and Lauran Lang have trained
extremely hard over the last 7 months in preparation for these
Championships to get themselves in tip top physical condition and
are looking forward to seizing the opportunity of lifting a World
title on home soil.
USKA
Coaches Neil Kelly and Sean Quinn feel that each and every one of
our fighters have put in the work and all that is left for them to
do is to get themselves focused mentally for battle and cash in on
all the hard work and sacrifices they have made in order to get
themselves to this position.
The
competition at the North Solihull Sports Centre in Chelmsley Wood,
Birmingham will be held over three days from 20th-22nd October with
all our fighters taking to the ring and mats on Friday and
Saturday.
If
anyone would like to come and cheer on our warriors in action
tickets for the event are available on the door at a cost of £10 a
day or £20 for the three days of fighting
action.
We
wish all our team the very best of luck and have every faith in you
guys to do yourselves, the USKA Fight Factory and your country
proud... Osu!
SUNDAY 8TH OCTOBER 2017
Busy
one today for the USKA team at the BKA BLCC event in Burton On
Trent with 16 fighters in action in 18 individual
bouts.
The
team headed by coaches Kelly and Quinn consisting of Nikita
Raubiska, Ehsaan Mahmood, Jemmima Mahmood, Yahya Kiani, Laylaa
Mahmood, Charlie Pearce, Shakeel Hussain, Lennon Fortey, Sami
Kelly, Connor Aston, Haatim Shand, Lucy Kings-Wheatley, Ra'ees
Kiani, Declan Ward, Khuzaimah Douglas and Lauran Lang fought
superbly not dropping a single decision throughout the day and
turned in some sterling performances against some very talented
opposition.
This
was a great warm up for the team for the ICO World Championships
that will be held in Birmingham in less than two weeks time where
they hope to replicate some of today's
success.
SUNDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER 2017
A
split squad of USKA Fighters took to the road on Sunday both at the
WKKC Ippon Challenge in Bradford and the WUMA British Championships
in Worcester.
The 8
fighter Bradford team consisting of Harvey Adlam, Charlie
Pearce, Sami Kelly, Connor Aston, Lucy Kings-Wheatly, Declan Ward,
Aryan Singh and Khuzamah Douglas and Khuzamah Douglas under the
watchful eye of Coach Sean Quinn had some mixed results bringing
home 1 Gold, 3 Silvers and 1 Bronze.
Some
down to dubious decisions and a few down to what have we have to
hold our hands up as being below par performances.
In Worcester a 4 fighter team consisting of Laylaa Mahmood,
Lennon Fortey, Ra'ees Kinai and Lauran Lang coached by
Amer Kayani fared better bringing home 3 Golds and a 1 Silver
amidst tough competition.
Win, lose or draw it's all about chalking up some more experience
on route to bigger and better things in the future. No doubt
adjustments need to be made in certain areas for some of the team
but I think that has been recognised and shortcomings will be
addressed.
Well done to everyone in action representing the club... On to the
next one!!!
SUNDAY 17TH SEPTEMBER 2017
Another
day and another grading at the USKA Fight Factory on Sunday 17th
September this time with the USKA Ladies Division in action
with seven candidates attempting their next
belts.
Under
the scrutiny of USKA Ladies division instructor Ruqayya Griffith
and USKA Chief Instructor Neil Kelly the ladies were put through
their paces and at the end of the grading were awarded their new
belts with very impressive grade results across the
board.
Our
star grader today taking her Red Belt was Aisha Ali with a
score of 87 / B+.
Congratulations
to all our graders on their excellent
results.
SATURDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER 2017
Saturday
16th September seen another 40 USKA Fight Factory students
successfully progress to their next belts at the latest USKA club
grading.
Despite
the obstacle of Ramadan and the Summer holidays that would usually
see us face a quiet grading 22 Red belts, 14 White belts, 2 Yellow
belts and 2 Orange belts battled the three and a half hour
examination under the scrutiny of Chief Instructor Neil
Kelly.
Top
Mark and star grader accolade went to new White Belt Eesah
Hassanjee with a fantastic 95 / A-
grade.
Congratulations
to all our graders for their efforts today. All licences will be
returned and certificates handed out on your next
sessions.
SUNDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER 2017
Another
day, Another competition for the USKA faithful with 14 of our
fighters this time competing at the Eclipse BLCC event in
Wolverhampton.
With
some very interesting matches in prospect the contingent of Ehsaan
Mahmood, Jemmima Mahmood, Hammad Shand, Charlie Pearce, Laylaa
Mahmood, Shakeel Hussain, Hamza Farooq, Sami Kelly, Lennon Fortey,
Lucy Kings-wheatley, Haaris Ali, Declan Ward, Aryan Singh and
Khuzaimah Douglas put on some great performances against some
really good opposition conceding only one defeat in 15
contests.
Every time a fighter climbs through those ropes they find out a
little bit more about themselves that will help them on their quest
of becoming the best fighter they can be. Win, lose or draw
valuable experience is gained so that improvements can be
made.
Thank you to Fran Zuccala and Kyle Williams at Eclipse kickboxing
for their hospitality and a great day of kickboxing
competition.
We look forward to the next BLCC scheduled for the 8th October at
the
BKA Kickboxing gym in Burton On Trent.
SATURDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER 2017
Following a few no shows we were left with a
smaller than normal Little Ninjas grading examination on Saturday
9th September at the USKA Fight Factory where 6 enthusiastic
and committed Little Ninjas were put through their paces in front
of their family and friends.
The grading consisted of a testing endurance
relay circuit, basic technique, padwork and finessed off with a
fitness circuit.
In
probably the best showing at a Little Ninjas grading yet all 6
students were successful in passing their new belts and were
awarded their new belts and certificates by USKA Chief Instructor
Neil Kelly.
Congratulations to all our Little Ninjas on receiving their
new extremely well deserved belts.
Little Ninjas Grading Roll Of Honour....
Zaara Hussain --- USKA Little Ninjas Red
Belt
Julia Glowacz --- USKA Little Ninjas Red
Belt
Lillie Johnson --- USKA Little Ninjas Red
Belt
Ariyan Chudasama --- USKA Little Ninjas White /
Yellow Stripe Belt
Keon McNamara --- USKA Little Ninjas White /
Yellow Stripe Belt
Zain Amer --- USKA Little Ninjas Purple
Belt
SUNDAY 3RD SEPTEMBER 2017
On the road again this week for team USKA this time to Rotherham for the 2017 WKA English Mat Sports Open Championships.
SUNDAY 27TH AUGUST 2017
6 Fighters from USKA competed in the ring on Sunday 27th August at the
WRSA British Championships in Walsall.
Originally with 9 fighters entered unfortunately matches could not
be made due to pull outs for Derelle Mckenzie, Sami Kelly and Aryan
Singh leaving the team consisting of Charlie Stokes, Charlie
Pearce, Shakeel Hussain, Lennon Fortey, Lucy Kings-Wheatley and
Lauran Lang to represent the team in the Ring Full Contact and
Light Continuous divisions.
We finished the day with 7 British Champions and 1 silver medal
which was actually against one of our own fighters in the final
which pretty much left us with a clean sheet across the
board.
Moving on now to next weeks WKA English Championship in Rotherham
for hopefully more of the same.
Well done team USKA... Osu!!!
FRIDAY 18TH AUGUST 2017
The
forth in a series of USKA Fighter Focus video's profiling some of
the talent from the USKA Fight Factory gym in
Birmingham.
In
this episode we feature the elder statesman of the gym Mr Amer 'The
Hammer' Kayani.
Only
starting the sport at the advanced age of 42 The Hammer has
incredibly picked himself up 2 English Titles, 9 British Titles, 3
European Titles and a Unified World Title showing that age really
does not matter when you are dedicated and determined enough to put
the work in.
This
insight offers inspiration to anyone who is feeling that they are
too old to make their mark in their chosen
sport.
SUNDAY 13TH AUGUST 2017
USKA
Fight Factory had 19 fighters compete in 21 bouts on Sunday at the
Aero-Kick BLCC Back in Brum XI event at Community Aero-Kick gym in
Birmingham.
The
Competition was a memorial competition in memory of the former BLCC
Vice President Dave Whitfield who sadly passed away following his
fight with Cancer two weeks ago.
The
team in attendance were Nikita Raubiska, Jemmima Mahmood, Ehsaan
Mahmood, Aadam Ali, Mohammed Ibrahim Khan, Charlie Stokes, Laylaa
Mahmood, Charlie Pearce, Derelle McKenzie, Shakeel Hussain, Hamza
Farooq, Sami Kelly, Conor Aston, Lennon Fortey, Lucy
Kings-Wheatley, Hattim Shand, Declan Ward, Khuzaimah Douglas and
Lauran Lang.
With
impressive performances across the board we only dropped two
decisions on the day leaving coaches Neil Kelly and Amer Kayani
very happy with their teams work.
To add
the icing on the cake USKA Fighter Derelle McKenzie was awarded
junior fighter of the day following his mature and commanding
performance against an opponent two years his
senior.
The
next BLCC event will be held at the Eclipse Kickboxing Gym in
Wolverhampton on 10th September where the USKA team will be back in
action.
WEDNESDAY 2ND AUGUST 2017
We will be opening
next week on Tuesday 8th August and Thursday 10th of August from
12pm-2pm for some daytime open training
sessions.
The open mat allows
you to practice your own thing making use of all the
facilities.
If you are on a
pre-paid pass this session will be included if not it will be as
our pay as you go cost of £6 for the
session.
All
welcome! 
