Coach Aaron Davis kicks of 2024

Hi All,

2024 has well and truly begun as we roll into March and we have already had a very busy first 2 months.

All kicked off on Sunday 18th January with another amazing visit from Coach Aaron Davis Head Coach of MKG Southampton and MKG European Technical Director. This time he was also accompanied by his equally talented wife Coach Sarah Davis and their awesome daughters Isla and Hannah.

The day started when we were joined by some of Titans (4-7 yrs) and Warriors (7-12yrs) who were put through their paces by Coaches Isla and Hannah. Beginning with a good warm up to relax the bodies and nerves of some of our members and then it was straight into some Self defense drills. Both young ladies did a great job demonstrating and communicating the details of the drills which included basic Arm Drags, knees, Hammer fist and also their loud voices to help protect themselves should the need it. Lastly they introduced some Double stick drills which for our Titans in particular was new as they only just begun to learn some of the fundamentals of the Filipino Martial Art of Kali in class but as always they did an amazing job and most importantly the had a blast doing it.

Also assisting and learning form Isla and Hannah where two members of leadership team Aisling and Ella who also did a great job and it was such an inspiration to see these four young ladies taken charge with such confidence and skills. The future is bright for both MKG Southampton and North Dublin for sure.

Once the Titans and Warriors had showed over here skills it was time for the bigger kids to have some fun with members of the MKG North Dublin Teens and Adults Blend programs along side some martial arts friends but local and from over the border in Northern Ireland being put through our paces by Coach Aaron Davis for 4 hours.

Coach Aaron assisted by Coach Barry Bell from Unity JKD Lurgan started by warming very up with some basic drills from Ghost Elusive Combat. A striking system developed of Coach Phil Norman in the UK and as the name suggests it’s primary focus is on using elusive footwork and evasion skills and tactics to avoid being hit while at the same time being able to still score on your opponent. As you may imagine this art requires a certain level of agility, speed and timing and as such it is definitely a great workout to start the day and get everyone warmed up and Smiling.

Coach Aaron then moved from striking to weapons training and more specifically Double Stick drills from a Filipino martial arts system called DeCampo 1-2-3 Original. This is largely a largo mano or long range style that was developed during the era of full contact stick fighting tournaments and all though on the surface it may seem like a very simple style as it only has 3 strikes at it ‘s core. It is in fact quite intricate once those basic moves are learnt as it number of variations and possible uses of those strikes appear to be endless. This section of the seminar was definitely a highlight for most of in attendance as was challenging physically and mentally, but it was also clear that Coach Aaron has both a passion for sharing it and a talent for demonstrating it. We will be exploring DeCampo 1-2-3 Original more in the near future that is for sure.

After a short lunch break we were soon back to action with Aaron share more Kali assisted by visiting Coach Anthony Soares a senior student at MKG Southampton. This time Stick and Dagger from the Inosanto/MKG curriculum which included some variation on the fundamental drills as well as some more advanced counters and disarms as well as some fun bayonet additions not seen before by anyone attending. The last section of the day was a few rounds on the Thai Pads with demonstrations from Coaches Isla, Sarah and our own Coach Courtney. A signature of the MKG method as per it’s founder Guro Rick Faye every finished the seminar feeling a little tiered after working hard, but smiling after having tons of Fun.

We finish of the seminar with Coach Aaron Davis welcoming three new associate instructors to the MKG family Darren Murray, David Butler and Terry Donnelly who received their associate level 1.1 certificates and promoted Coach Barry Bell of Unity JKD to associate level 1.2. All four had been working really hard over the last 6 months training and the submitting their videos for review and we congratulate them all on the their a achievement and we look forward to seeing them continue to learning and improving over the coming years.

As I shared at the beginning it was and is always are great honor to have Coach Aaron and his family travel over and share their wealthy of knowledge and skill with us and in particularly seeing the amazing talent of both Isla and Hannah is an inspiration to us as Coaches here at MKG North Dublin. It was also truly awesome to see how well our Titans, Warriors, Teens and Adults some of whom have only been with us a few months really having fun trying new things and helping each other out. It’s at events like these that we really get to see the wider MKG Family ethos at play and I for one an super proud of everyone that was able to join us on the day.

Big thank you to Coaches Aaron, Sarah, Isla, Hana, Anthony and Barry for sharing the knowledge, skills and talent with us. Thank you to MKG North coaching team Courtney, Darren, Dave and Leaders Ella and Aisling for all your help in the run up to the event in Class and on the day with our younger students. Also a big thank you Catherine, John & Marta for all you help on the day it really was appreciated. Lastly a special thank you everyone that attend from our mighty Titans & Awesome Warriors to our fabulous Teens and Adults as well as our guests from outside our club who took the time to join us again we hope that we will see you all again soon.

If you were unable to attend making though don’t worry we have more fun ahead as we are very very pleased to confirm that Guro Rick Faye the founder of the MKG will returning to Dublin for a two day seminar on the 11th and 12th of May 2024. This is a not to be missed event for anyone of our students here at MKG North Dublin and anyone in Ireland interest and or training the arts of Bruce Lee Jeet Kune Do, Filipino Martial arts of Kali and Panantukan, Silat, Muay Thai and more. Watch this space in the coming days for more details.