Martial Arts, Norwich
Martial Arts In Norwich
The Black Belt Academy is the longest established Martial Arts Group operating in the City. It was founded by Master Richard Vince (currently 7th Degree Black Belt) back in 1980 when he started teaching classes at the Crome Recreation Centre on Telegraph Lane, Thorpe End. Within a year he had expanded and was also teaching classes at the Duke Street Recreation Centre.
Classes continued to grow and at one point membership was in excess of 500 students, it was quite common to see class attendance of 50+.
After the closure of the City run recreation Centres, Master Vince moved his classes to Lakenham Sports and Leisure Centre where he enjoyed 11 years of coaching with great support from the owners and staff there.
These days however, Master Vince is far more concerned with the quality of his coaching and that of his instructors. At the Acdemy headquarters on Bull Close, Norwich class sizes are more usually around the 20 student mark and, when they are busy, there are usually 2 or more instructors to ensure that the instructor/student ratio stays at 20:1 or less.
Master Vince also coaches a limited number of students on a one to one basis. These are usually people who find it difficult to make group classes or who would like to progress at a more rapid rate. Most students take between 3 and 5 years to achieve Black Belt depending upon their natural ability and their level of committment. One to one students however can significantly shorten this time frame due to the more intense nature of the learning.
The Academy has a very simple philosophy on success;
"If you are one of our members you will become a Black Belt and continue to achieve Black Belt Excellence in your life for as long as you remain a member"
Its a simple and reassuring philosophy that has helped over 25 students achieve Black Belt Status within the last 12 months.
The Birth Of A Kickboxing Syllabus
In the late 1980s, as Master Vince's international Karate career was coming to an end due to his increasing involvement with Kickboxing, he discovered that most Kickboxing schools did not have a grading system in place to help their students progress and achieve excellence.
With his background of classical Martial Arts training and Kickboxing competitive successes, he decided to develop a syllabus that would provide his students with physical and technical challenges and lead them in small steps to Black Belt Excellence and beyond. He spent much time, with the input of his own instructor (Grandmaster Blackwell 8th Dan), and created a belt grading system that is now used by many Kickboxing groups throughout the World. This syllabus is designed entirely to take a student from unfit beginner to a finely tuned and physically toned Black Belt athlete.
Kickboxing classes at The Black Belt Academy are currently taught by Adam Wigley one of Master Vince's logest standing and most respected students. Master Vince said of Adam;
"He is an excellent coach and always seems to get the balance between pushing students and coaching technique, spot on. He is well respected by his students and the other instructors and has played a major role in building up the Academy's large kickboxing student base."
A Kickboxing class in full swing
The Kickboxing classes follow the general pattern of Martial Arts at present with slightly less than 50% of the students being female.
It is great to have a balance of sexes and IF the girls lack anything in physical power they certainly make up for it with precision and efficiency.
Satellite Classes At The Hewett School
Our close involvement with the Hewett School SSCo (School Sports Coordinator) lead to the Academy starting classes at the School. we have a mutually beneficial arrangement where we provide classes for their students and we get to hire their excellent facilities.
We are pleased to have a presence on the South side of Norwich as we appreciate that it is not convenient for everyone to travel across Norwich to visit our Bull Close headquarters.
The Hewett classes are instructed by; Mr Fitch (Chief Instructor and Business Director of the The Black Belt Academy), Mr Branson and Mr Lee three of our finest instructors.
Classes are popular and we enjoy a steady flow of new students at this venue.
Little Dragons, Hewett Students & a Group of Junior Students
