History
Who are We?
The club originally began in Leeds under the instruction of Master Kim Stones in 1986. Back then one of the most popular Martial Arts was Tae Kwon-Do. In 1991 Paul Landreth-Smith who was already training in Kickboxing joined the Leeds University Tae Kwon-Do club and eventually became the Head Instructor.
All of the Instructors at Twin Dragon have trained in other Martial Art styles than Tae Kwon-Do and at first the only other system offered was Kickboxing.
Through the organisation of Black Belt Schools International, most of the instructors at TDMA have travelled to the United States to train with some of the best instructors in Sport Karate (Lauren Kierney, All American Forms Champion), Krav Maga (Ernie Kirk leading Krav Maga instructor), Kickboxing (Jeff Jimmo Kickboxing and Sambo champion), and Mixed Martial Arts Brazilian Ju Jitsu (Joe Mullings owner of The Armoury, a leading MMA training gym where Hermes Franca, UFC Lightweight contender, trains and Kurt Pelligrino - Brazillian Ju Jitsu Black belt and UFC fighter)
This has lead TDMA to become a Premier Martial Arts school offering some of the best and most progressive Mixed Martial Arts training in the world.
Why Twin Dragon?
The Dragon is a powerful symbol in world culture appearing in almost every society.
In the West the Dragon is the personification of all our fears. Fears of the outside world, challenges we face, our own inner fears. It is seen as a thing to be slain and conquered, thereby conquering our own fears. St George is the Patron Saint of England (and a few other countries) famous for slaying a dragon.
In the East the Dragon is perceived as an ally, a figure of strength and beauty. Far from something to conquer it is a thing to aspire to be like:- fast, strong, confident and graceful.
Many people in recent years in the West have discovered the benefits of Eastern values, the most obvious of these being the Martial Arts.
So Twin Dragon Martial Arts Schools have the Twin Dragon name to symbolise the inner struggle that we all face in one aspect of our lives or another. One dragon represents our personal fears and challenges. The other dragon represents the strength we gain and have when we conquer our fears and become stronger people.
It is not as a few comedians have suggested that the clubs are named after the 80’s computer game Double Dragon!
The most challenging person we have to ‘beat’ in training is ourselves. This is reflected in the training system which promotes skillful development and enjoyment for all present.
So called ‘Martial Artists’ with attitude and a desire to prove themselves to everybody else need not apply.
Real Martial Artists with a desire to prove themselves to themselves and excel are welcome.
History of Premier Martial Arts
Other Martial Arts.
You will almost certainly heard of Martial Art Styles such as Karate, Tae Kwon-Do and Judo which have a long history and a high profile. There are also other less well known styles but all generally fall under certain ‘umbrellas’ of style which the general public understand to a limited fashion.
The one thing almost all of these more well known Martial Arts share is a long history and a tie to (usually) a far Eastern country whose language and dress forms a part of these Martial Arts. It is for this reason that Martial Artists typically wear the white suits (or similar) and describe the movements they perform in the native tongue of the style.
However, these styles were developed hundreds and sometimes thousands of years ago and so many of the techniques were designed to be applicable during the time they were developed. For example many wrist locks and attacks are developed around the fact that people often carried a weapon such as a sword and it was very important not to allow them to draw this weapon or the un armed fight would quickly become a very uneven battle! Although this is not a problem in itself as these technique are interesting and help to preserve the culture of the style, they are often no longer relevant.
Modern Martial Arts
In recent years many more progressive instructors have realised that the old ways of training, although very good, are outdated in terms of their relevance to the modern world. Martial Arts training in the West has followed various trends, or fashions, and the current trends are a mixture of ‘Mixed Martial Arts’ and ‘Combative Systems’
Mixed Martial Arts
This is the term used to describe the rapidly growing sport of combat sports best known in events such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC. MMA is a combination of each of the 4 main combat ranges - kicking, punching, wrestling and grappling. To be successful a fighter must be proficient in all these ranges to be able to cope in the ring (or Octagon in the UFC). Love it or hate it, training in MMA is the best and most complete way to develop your sport Martial Arts skills to the highest level in terms of ability and fitness.
Combative Martial Arts
This side of the Martial Arts has always been around but was lost to many especially in the West until fairly recently. Almost all Martial Arts have gone towards sport in one way or another and so have inevitably become stylised due to the particular rules of sparring that were introduced. Most of these rules are to protect the two competitors and allow them to walk away from the end of the bout.
Combative Styles are designed to forget these ‘pleasantries’ and get down to the basics of destroying an opponent as quickly as possible. They are designed for the military, police and self protection. The common factor in all the various versions is that they don’t look pretty, they are very violent and don’t take long to learn (months compared to years for a ‘normal’ Martial Art).
What is Premier Martial Arts?
In the
They could see the trends that were happening and so they took the best elements from all the styles, discarded what was superfluous and developed a system which encompasses the essential skills needed to make Martial Arts training relevant in modern society.
Sport Karate - this is aimed primarily at children and teaching the flash (cool) moves that many people associate with Martial Arts. Humility, Respect, Determination are just some of the Qualities of a Champion members develop. High energy, physically demanding forms as well as light contact points sparring are the main focus of the training.
Kickboxing - extremely popular with children, adults, male and female. This tough workout is a great stress buster and intense cardio workout. Hard core pad workouts form the basis with sparring to strict rules for that extra push.
Self Protection - forget the rules - this is fighting to win! Based on the extremely effective and combat proven system of Krav Maga (taught to the the Israeli Defence Forces) this workout not only teaches you to do the moves but also uses training techniques to make them instinctual.
MMA - no modern system would be complete without MMA! These classes use Brazilain Ju Jitsu, adapted kickboxing techniques and wrestling to punch, kick, throw and make your opponent tap out! But don’t worry the workouts may be hard but the classes are designed to learn in and not get hurt.
Uniforms - modern, functional clothing is worn that you can wear to and from training without looking weird!
