WKU English Title - King of the Ring

Greg Darmon took the title of Pro Full Contact WKU English Title 'King of the Ring' in Notts end of Feb with style in a first round Knock Out.
From the bell he caught his opponent with an unexpected hopping sidekick to the nose for his first strike followed by a barage of comonations, his opponent took two standing counts and was visibly shaken , Greg used his awesome power to finish his oppnent off and the fight was stopped at 1min 6 seconds. within the first round. Well Done Greg - Thanks to those that came to support - always remembered and appreciated. A big thanks also to his Full Contact coach Titch (pictured right) & Pro Manager Cris (pictured left)who were both in his corner.

Peterborough Series 2007 part 1

Team Impact took to the mats in Peterborough for the first in the 4 part series. Main Coach for the day - David Marshall also coaching - Tracie Darmon.
All competitors taking on strong opposition,First sections of the day were Kata & Weaponry. There were strong TKD contenders from many other local areas with some good traditional forms whilst Jessica Pope and Ellie Butler demonstrated there skills using Dbl Nunchakus & Kamas. Jess took a 3rd place and Ellie performing her form to the best standard to date took home a medal.
Fighting sections were up next next with the younger girls all measuring into the same height section. This was a well attended section and our girls triumphed with Ellie Butler 3rd, Jessica Pope 2nd and Casey Marshall taking a well earned 1st place.In continuous the outcome resulted in similar circumstances with Ellie taking a hard earned 3rd place, Casey taking a second place and Jess using her footwork well to take her to 1st place.
In the under 5'8 boys sections Zak Ward and Chris Machin took some trophies. Chris once again tried his hand in points despite is being very new to him, after a few blackbelt opponents he took a 3rd Place with fellow team member Zak Ward taking a 2nd place after a time extension in the final and missing out on gold by one point.
In continuous as usual the after there qualifying fights the lads slogged it out against each other, and as usual both having very different styles(Thai vs freestyle) the score was close and infact a draw, after a 30sec extension, Zak had shown his fast hands were just enough to take the win,
Ladies Sections next:Coloured belts points. Sadie Walton took on a former contender in the final taking the fight to extra time and finally proving that footwork works! And took the first place.Karen Bailey entered the adults sections on the day and took to the final for pointstop against a very leggy trigger kicker, however her training around this technique was to prove no problem and took the win. In continuous Karen didn't perform to her usual standard but had a good crack anyway, taking 2nd place.
Lea Addelsea also padded up to contend on the day but due to an Admin error his section was overlooked and by the time this was realised it was too late for him to win......until next time Lea.......

WAKO British Championships 2007

A Massive Well Done to:Karen & Zak who both return with Silver Medals from the WAKO British Championships on Saturday in there Continuous Sections, Karen also returned to the competition on Sunday to enter the points section in which she gaine a 3rd place.Well Done both of you - Brilliant achievment!

Bsoton Series 2007 part 1

Impact Members triumphed in the first of the this years 4 part series taking many series points to set them up onto good stead for the championships. This is a new competition and was run very well for its early stage.
Kickboxing and Weaponry Instructors Tracie Darmon and Muay Thai Coach David ‘titch’ Marshall were on hand during the day to put the students through the paces.
First categories were kata/forms. With Jessica Pope (10) taking 2nd Place in the –16yrs creative forms categoryusing double nunchakus and Karen Bailey (15), taking the 1st place in the –16yrs and also the 1st place in the 16yrs+ creative forms sections using the 5ft Bo staff.
Semi Contact and Light continuous sections followed. With Freestyle student Johnny Bryan trying his hand at competition for the second time alongside 1st time SC competitor and Thai boxing Student Chris Machin. Both Lads stepping up there game and claiming placements. Johnny with 2nd Place in SC and Chris with 4th place. Chris who has now been competing for some months in LC claimed a brilliant 2nd place in the advanced LC section only being taken over by fellow Impact club member and bronze world medallist - Zak Ward (15 – Boston) Freestyle and Weaponry student Zak Also claimed 1st place in SC on the day with a ‘sudden death’ fight against a club instructor from Peterbroough. Thai Boxing student Lea Addlesea took on some of Bostons and Sleaford Members in the LC section ad ended up taking a well earned 2nd Place. Freestyle and Thai Student Reece Marshall had a few rounds of LC fights and finally took a well earned 4th place.
Girls and ladies were up next. Starting with Jess Pope, having measured inch over her normal category finally move up the next height section and prove that being the shortest isn’t always a disadvantage. In her LC section Jessica fought several rounds taking a well earned 2nd place. In her points section she met several other girls including fellow team member Casey Marshall. Jess took a first place whilst Casey fought extremely well and has improved hugely since her last comp in 2006 and this proved so as she took the 2nd place in SC and also the 3rd place in LC. Sadie Walton took the points for 1st place in ladies intermediate SC and also went on the Ladies Advanced SC Section where she fought more on the attack rather than counter this time and took the second place trophy and points. Karen Bailey Competed in the girls and ladies fighting sections as per kata. She claimed 1st place in the +5’5 girl SC and also 1st in LC. She also took 1st place in he ladies advanced SC and entered the Mixed adults openweight section for LC taking first place above all the heavier men! Karen is now in training for WKA World Title Full Contact show that is to be held in Newark on Marh 10th and will aired Sky’s on Eurosport where she is facing current full contact British champion Jade Grier. Impacts Full contact coach and Champions Greg Darmon & Titch are putting her through her paces in preparation
.All of the club members and instructors wish her luck in her new path and many will be there for support.

Greg gets 3ed Dan

Congratulations to Greg who passed his 3rd Dan kickboxing grading today under examinar Cris Janson Piers of BFKKO/WFKKO. Well done and keep up the good work!

EMA Jan 07

Weapons first, Jess and Karen were a little rusty, but did there best both taking the 1st place points for the series in kids and adult sections.
Dec was up in the peewee fighters section, he fought hard and the final was to go to extra time and decs opponent score the winning point just on the bell, giving dec a 2nd place and those all important points for the year.
Josh was asked to compete in the next height category as he was the only contender in his. Giving away on average 2-3 years he fought through the rounds to the 3rd place fight off which he did extremely well. And despite losing, we think this is the best we have ever seen him fight. Fighting giants should be his hobby!
Jess was on for points next and although not her best performance to date, she persevered and took the winning points for the series.
Karen in ladies continuous next. Giving away a fair amount of weight Karens speed and competition experience took her to unanimous 1st place and those added points for the series.
Karen barely took her pads off and she was then called back for ladies points in which she fought in the final against a fairly fast fighter, however her hand speed combos were to prove extremely worthy of her 3rd gold of the day.
Greg was up next and fought in 100kg + continuous section after indulging over Christmas, however after several rounds took a win on the final round by unanimous decision.
Last fighter of the day was Zak in the under 16’s points over 5’4. After a few rounds, found himself in final against a decent leggy fighter, it was pretty much point for point until the last 20 secs where zak simply couldn’t find a way to get them back and took a well earned second place.
Good luck for next week to the whole team who will be going!

Impact Gym Sleaford - Full contact british pro chamoion

British Pro Title FightFighter Greg Darmon (Sleaford) Coach – Titch, Cornerman, Scott Little both from Impact Gym., Vs Tim Niblett (Mansfield)
From 2007 Cris Janson Piers is to become Gregs Pro Full Contact manager.
Gregs Notes from our website:
Greg trained hard for this fight because he wanted to put the record straight after his previous fight where the same opponent won by a very close decision. His coach Titch pushed him hard in the run up to the show and has done a cracking job with his style of fighting.
The fight: rounds 1&2 Greg was mainly contacting clean punch and kick combinations using his footwork to keep away from his opponents attacks.
Round 3, Greg picked up the work rate and closed the distance down. Greg caught his opponent with some solid punches to the head which backed him up against the ropes and as he covered his head with his guard, Greg threw a power roundhouse to his ribs which stopped the fight for an ‘8’ count. Greg continued putting the pressure on but he hung on to the end of the round.
Round 4. Greg pressured more and tried to catch his opponent with some KO shots with not much of a reply on his opponents part, as the end of the round approached Greg picked up the work rate again as he could see clearly his opponent was now unsteady on his feet, but he showed he was very durable and hung on the end of the round again.
Round 5Greg slowed down the tempo a small amount as didn’t want to make a mistake and caught with any clean shots. Greg was still throwing some good combos, and made sure he did just enough to win the round.
As the bell rang I was relieved as I thought I had won, and after the announcement and judges cards with a unanimous decision were in, the referee raised my hand to the crowd and this confirmed his first British title in Pro Full contact, something he has worked towards for a long time after taking all of his continuous titles around the world.
It was by far his best performance in the ring so far and he would like to thank his coach Titch and everyone Impact for coming and supporting him in the crowd.

Impact Gym Sleaford - Xtreme Warriors ITV - Qualified

Xtreme Warriors for ITV television - Bit of a different day as the majority was run on one or two mats for filming reasons. However with some really good support from parents we hade a good day and most students qualified for the sections in which they wished to do so in.
Zak Points 2nd -QFinal scores were 6-3 Qualified
Zak continuous 1st QUnanimous decision - Qualified
Cris continuous 2nd QQualified
Lea Continuous 3rd QQulaified
Keiron - points out by sudden death in eliminator round.
Jack - points. out in eliminator round
Jess - 2nd weapons Qualified
Jess - 1st points -145cm QQulaified
Jess - 2nd points -155cm QFinal score was 6-3
Karen - 1st weapons QQualfied
Karen continuous 1st - QUnanimous on all rounds, final split decision.
Chloe - points 1st Qfinal score 8-6
Chloe - continuous Blackbelts QQualified (higher category)
Ellie - points - 2nd QFinal Score 4-9
Aimee - points - 1st QFinal Score 9-4
Those who qulified received certificates and will also recieve official invitations to the finals by post along side qulifiying medals. Well done to everyone and keep you eyes peeled for the ITV adverts approaching next year! Photo coming soon.

6 members of the demo team went along with Tracie to visit schools around sleaford today and good reports flowed all round town.
Demo team were:Ellie Butler - KamasAimee Kinsella - Bo StaffDec Stanley - kamasJosh Stanley - Bo StaffJess Pope - Double nunchakuskaren Bailey - Bo Staff
Most school pupils have never seen creative weaponry before and were clearly impressed by all the different levels of achievment and different weapons.
All schools gave really positive feedback and i'd like to thank the team for a really good demo, well done.
Thanks to Mandy Pope who helped with lifts also - Tracie.
(keep your eyes peeled for the report in the standard that one of the schools will be doing.)

Impact Gym Sleaford - Black Belt Grading

Triston Bellaby passes his Black Belt Grading.
This saturday Triston was tested to the core and after finishing his grading with a 2 mile tyre pull sprint up the highest hill we could find, he made it. Another member of our blackbelt club.
We have trained with Triston for nearly 8 years now, so it is a very personal acheivment.Well done mate.

3 members went along with Greg to the WAKO English championships
results were mainly in our favour and were:
Instructor Greg Darmon1st Points -74kg blackbelts3rd continuous -74kgblackbelts
Karen Bailey - 2nd in girls continuous over 5'5 black belts3rd in boys and girls -16yrs creative weaponry.
Jess Pope2nd girls points over 4'4 black belts3rd continuous over 4'4 blackbelts4th in boys and girls -16yrs creative weaponry.
Aimee Kinsella - 2nd in girls points, white -orange belt under 4'8
Well done guys! - will be a while before papers report so sit tight.

Impact Gym Sleaford - WAKO European junior championsips

Two members have returned from Croatia competiting in the junior WAKO World Championships with Bronze medals in Light continuous kickboxing.
Both Karen Bailey (15) of Sleaford and Zak Ward (14) of Boston both members of Sleaford Impact Martial Arts & Boxing Gym have been in training for many months and the hard work has paid off. Both members of the GB Squad came back from there first world championships with medals and are over the moon. Karen narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in creative weaponry using the Bo Staff byt just one point.
http://www.impact.moonfruit.com/

Impact Gym Sleaford - peterborough series

mpact Martial Arts & Boxing Gym – Kids TeamPeterborough Series 17th September 2006 Some surprise results in this competition from some new team members:
Kieron Trollope 10, taking a well earned 3rd place in the boys under 4’8 points section, taking on some black belts and seasoned competitors alike, Kieron used his cool manner and speedy techniques to take him through to 3rd place after 4 gruelling fights. Kieron also picked up 2nd place in the continuous section.
Josh Stanley 9, took a second place in the creative forms section (bo staff) after training extremely hard on his weaponry and kicking skills he finally scored higher than fellow team member and WAKO British champ Jess Pope (double nunchakus) as Jess picked up a close 3rd place - who is coming up tops next time? Jess has been spurred on to win the next one josh!
Josh also took 3rd place in the kids continuous section under 4’8 and was also a medallist in the boys –4’4 points section
Jess Pope 9, Ever the crowd pleaser, took a well deserved win in the girls –4’4 points section and as usual entered into the next height category also with the –4’8 girls and took another trophy with a 2nd place. Also Jess entered the boys and girls continuous section and took a fantastic win using her amazing kicking skills.
Medallists on the day were:Jacob Brunt,8, boys points and mixed continuousAimme Kinsella,10, girls –4’8 points and mixed creative forms. Perfoming for the 1st time at competition in both Aimee did extremely well and executed her form with brilliant precision.Reece Kinsella 5, Reece entered into the Pee Wees sparring section and narrowly missed out on 4th place in a very busy category. He fought amazingly well for the first time at competition and his future looks exiting on the mats.
Dec Stanley 7,Pee Wees Sparring was all about Dec on the day – the crowd loved him! After watching him perform his weaponry form (Kama’s) the crowd were eager for more of ‘Super Dec’ and he didn’t let the down, 3 sparring rounds later taking 4th place.
Well done the all the guys and Good luck for next time!!!

Impact Gym Sleaford - Kelham Hall Boxing

Kelham Hall Dome - Friday 28th July 06The music started...and onto the runway stepped out Steve, taking a moment to show the crowd his skills and soaking up the atmosphere. Into the ring and menatlly prepared.
Round one. Steves opponent rushed him and steve handled it brilliantly, out jabbing him and moving off his opponent with ease and skill using some very decent combinations.steve took the first round
Round 2Steve was looking very fit still but his opponent had started to flag due to his explosive start, this was a good opportunity for Steve to pick him off for the whole round with single and combinations, moving round the ring with decent footwork.another round to steve.
Round 3Despite Steves punches being solid as a rock, this man would not hit the deck. Although defeated he refused to fall and held on by grabbing at every opportunity, simply making our Steve look more the proffesional and skilled and this showed in the fight result.round 3 to Steve.
Judges Ruled. Unanimous Win to Steve Spencer form Impact!Well done Steve....Olympics next?Steve took

Impact Gym Sleaford - Black Belt Grading

Brilliant news, at just 9 years old and after 3 years training, the day had come for the dynamic duo to show the judging panel (Greg, Tracie, Matt & Karen) just what it is you need to become a Black belt at Impact. Guts, determination, sweat (lots of) and tears (also lots of ..bless) we pushed these until they couldnt stand any longer and they proved the dedication by sticking with it though to the end of the gruelling exam. This is what it means to become an Impact Blackbelt. There are many adults who havent managed to pass this exam.
Two brilliant examples of how kids should be.
We are very proud. Well donesigned, Greg, Tracie, Matt & Karen

Got to hand it to him. Greg pulled it out of the bag on the day and has now taken the title of cimac world cup Full Contact Champion! Well done greg.others also competing on the day were, Karen ,Jess, Zak and Chloe. Jess came away with a 2nd and a 3rd place in points and continuous and despite karens best performance to date at competition for her form, she didnt get placed as her and jess' section was dominated by european and swiss chamions. Lets hope compeiting abroad at the end of the year for some of these guys will help with experience.

Impact Gym Sleaford - judgment day

SLEAFORD STANDARD REPORT21 June 2006 - http://www.sleafordtoday.co.uk/
YOUNG MARTIAL ARTISTS MAKE BIG IMPACTA MARTIAL arts club has enjoyed more competitive success this month.Members of the Sleaford-based Impact Martial Arts Gym have picked up awards at three competitions.
In the Judgement Day event held at the NEC in Birmingham, which attracts top martial arts exponents from around the world, Karen Bailey, 15, came second in points and in continuous in the Under 16, under 5ft 8in category.
Fourteen-year-old Zak Ward, in the Under 16, under 5ft 8in class, finished second in points, while Chloe Sands, 14, was third in points in the Under 16, under 5ft 4in category.
Four members of the Impact team also returned from the Cimac British Championships with trophies.Club coach Greg Darmon picked up a second place in continuous and came third in points.
Karen Bailey finished third in points and in weaponry in her class and Zak Ward second in continuous in his section.
Nine-year-old Jessica Pope, competing in the Under 16, under 5ft 8in category, was first in points and third in weaponry.
Greg, Karen and Jessica were also among the prize winners at the EMA (European Martial Arts) grand championships at Boston.
Greg won both the advanced points and advanced continuous titles to become the grand champion in both.
Karen was second for points and third for creativity in her section, while Jessica, competing in the Under 4ft 5in category, came first in points to win the grand championship for points.
Youngsters Jack Porter, 10, and Joshua Stanley, 8, also performed well in the competitions.

Impact Gym Sleaford, Kelham Hall Fightnight May

Well what a venue! The Dome it was really good atmosphere too - cheers to all that came and supported our boys..
Well first up - Gregs fighter backed out (obviously heard about that deadly tornado!)so we saved all of our energy for Steves's bout.
Steve stepped up in the ring to the sound of a thousand people from Newark cheering for his opposition, but somehow managed to put this over his head and really brought it home to his condender who upon hearing this was steves first fight, though he had an easy ride. WRONG! Steve stepped up to plate and was obviously the fitter fighter landing a some good crosses and rocking his opponent. Steve took a few shots too and it really was round for round until the 3rd and last where his opponent steamed forward a tad more than our steve and took the fights winner title. Thumbs up to our Steve who's first boxing bout will NOT be forgotten to all that was there.

Impact Sleaford - EMA Boston

EMA Boston 2nd April 2006
All round good trophy haul.
Cimac World Champion Greg Darmon took two comfortable gold medals in -75kg continous and -75kg points events finishing one fight with a KO with a tornado kick.
Next up was Sadie Walton taking a 1st place in the womens -65kg points section, was quite a tough round as Team NSBB were contending with good fighters, so her glory was well deserved. She also took a 2nd place in the Adults Creative Weaponry section.
Karen Bailey fought well in the girls Blackbelt cadets section but settled for 3rd place as did sparring partner Zak Ward in the boys blackbelts cadets.
Fighter of the day goes to Mark Frost. Who having just taken his white belt, took a well earned 2nd place in the mens under 80kg points section. Mark who has trained in boxing at Impact Martial Arts Gym, has recently started training in kickboxing also. He was understandably nervous at his first competition, but with coach Greg Darmon in his corner they teamed up well to take some lovely head kicks adding to the brilliant score.

Daisy Darmon

Style: Kickboxing and Weaponry
Name: Daisy Darmon (from good blood!)
Age: 4
Grade: Green Patch in Lil Impact kickboxing and freestyles the weaponry.
Sessions per week: 0/5 dependent on mood!
Martial arts acheivments to date:
Possibly youngest weaponry competitor in the UK!
NSBB pointstop Winner
Is in the Demo Team
Likes: Swimming, Apple juice, pizza, crazy bongoes and strawberry milkshake, Bratz dolls, reading & bananas
Dislikes: Vegetables, mardy people.
Random Fact: I like the blue slide at crazy bongoes! (well...we did say random i suppose).
www.impact.moonfruit.com for more info

Tracie Darmon

Tracie Darmon (28) is senior instructor and her specialist area is weaponry using 5ft staff, kama's and nunchakus. Also studies under Paul Fowler using the Tiger Hooks.
Grade: 1st Dan Kickboxing, 5th Dan Weaponry
She also likes to dabble in semi-contact sparring, both of which she has collected an array of medals in various competitions over the years, she is also in the current WKA GB Squad and is currently 3 x WAKO British champion (2005 - Hard style, 2006 Soft style and hard style). Having been on the British WAKO Judging panel, Tracie believes that you can never know enough about varying martial arts skills and constently trains in other styles to better her own perfomance in weaponry.
Likes: Watching weaponry students progress from knowing very little to holding their own at comps against people who have been on the cicuits for years.
also likes the friendly atmosphere the weaponry comps have - even in our own sections we all find that we are cheering each other on - its brilliant to be a part of that.
Dislikes: people who claim to be champions who only go to small / muppet comps - get out of your comfort zone!
Also dislikes bullies - It's why she started training.

Greg Darmon

Greg Darmon (30) is the Chief instructor and coaches Impacts adult classes. He is a WABBA qualified instructor.
Grade: 1st Dan Kickboxing
Greg's specialist area is in light continuous, Boxing and semi-contact sparring at which he currently holds many of the countries top titles. He is currently selected to be in the GB WKA and is also in the prestigeous GB WAKO Squad for both light contact and full contact and holds the WKA British titles for 2005 and the WAKO British titles for 2003, 2004, 2005 and now 2006. Greg can only be described as an awsome fighter - however he is very humble and rarely talks about his accomplishments. greg is Sleafords current Sportsman of the year.
Greg also entered the full contact arena in 2004 and 2005 and has proven to be a force to be reckoned with. His last fight (last round knockout) was on Eurosport and is fighting for the WAKO Pro British Title in 2006
Likes: "There are some really talented people on the WAKO team this year. I learnt so much from talking to them" "I've had some bad local instructors over the years as a student, but I ended up hooking up with Owen King (NSBB) from Nottingham who is just an awsome fighter and a brilliant instructor"
Dislikes: People who talk about how good they are at fighting within the the first minute of meeting them. If your good - your reputation will already be known for good reason.

WAKO British Championships - Impact Martial Arts & Boxing Gym

This really is the toughest comp on the UK circuit. It is the one that all of our martial arts friends aspire to - only one place per section is sought after for that World Championship selection. And boy did we do well this year. All rounds were 2 x 2mins
Greg Darmon taking 1st (now 4 years in a row...who said you are too old when your 30!)

Oli Platt took a 3rd - having watched his semi final fight on dvd agains Chris Collimoore from Team Swat, i've got to say he rocked him quite a few times - well done matey.
SadieWalton took on Team Swat member and it was point for point until last 30 secs of second round where she dropped 2 points. Best sadie has ever fought. Definite promising boost to her fighting skills.
Karen Bailey claimed 1st in her points and 3rd i her continuous section, she put herself into the ladies section (also sadies) and fought established world fighter - Top Ten team member Lorraine Hughes. Although outclassed by a proffesional, karen did extremely well and fought back hard to gain her points.
As the youngest competitors in the comp by over 13 months - Jess Pope and Dannielle Bradley fought hard against much (we really do mean MUCH) taller and older kids and pulled some lovely points out of the bag - Danni scoring several spinning hook kicks the the head - beautiful!
Weaponry - It was nice to see the Forms sections picking up a WAKO this year , there were lots of creative competitors of a really good standard.(as usual the music went bananas and the back up cd wasnt reading on the music system - despite a soundcheck when we arrived!)
Jess Pope - WAKO british champion!using her double nunchakus form and here exellent kick combo's Jess found herself as National Champ - girls 16yrs.
Karen Bailey (Bo staff) taking 2nd and Danni Bradley (Bo staff) taking 3rdnot bad considering they had to change walkons ect...due the music change.
Sadie Walton taking 2nd Place ~(Bo staff) - and performed her staff routine a lot more accurately than in the club!
Tracie Darmon took 1st in Soft weapons using the tiger hooks and 1st in Hard using Bo (now 2 years running)

visit www.impact.moonfruit.com for all club details