Jamal Lewis
Instructor
In September 2009, while in my second year at college I chose to sign up to a self defence class for after college known as an enrichment course. I met Chief Instructor Tony Lloyd who led the class and he went through with us a few basic punches, kicks and hand to hand combat. After completing the first class and enjoying everything that I learnt on that day I realised that this was something that I want to continue learning throughout.
As the weeks went by and attending all classes that was on at my college in Morden I then discussed with Tony about possibly coming down to one of his classes in the Tooting branch, to that point it led me to joining up as a member very quickly in November 2009.
After joining fighting fit I started off training in the tooting branch on Saturdays to start with to ease myself in and get into the swing of things. Then as 2010 kicked in another class at tooting opened up on a Monday which allowed me to train twice a week.
Throughout my time training as a beginner I was very keen to learn and achieve many things within the club which started off by achieving a very high grade in my Yellow belt in March 2010 and the same for Orange belt in the summer of that year and quickly followed by Red belt in the autumn. By that time I had attended variety of classes and getting to know different branches, with different students and different instructors, and this continued to refresh.
My Journey into wanting to learn how to defend myself started back when I was a victim of an assault back in May 2007 at the age of 15 years old. As I was on my way home from a police cadet meeting between the hours of 2100-2200 I came across an old student who attended my school. He wanted me to do something which made me feel uncomfortable and as I refused to do it he then struck a number of punches in my face that left me feeling scared and in shock. Soon after just before he left me alone he threatened to shoot me if I had told anyone what he done to me. That left me feeling very uncomfortable and very sick to the point where I ran straight home. That was when I said to myself I needed to learn how to defend myself to prevent this happening again.
In December 2010, upon achieving my Green belt, we had the end of year achievement ceremony to which I was awarded Martial artist of the year for my dedication and commitment throughout the year.
The following year I suffered a bit of a set back when I lost my dad due to lung cancer in late January 2011. But despite that I never allowed it to stop what I enjoyed doing to which I continued to motivate myself, carrying on where I left off by moving up the belts and achieving the rank of brown & white belt by December 2011.
When 2012 came around I got myself more involved with the club by gaining my brown belt in June that year, completing the course for becoming an instructor and competing in a number of competitions along the way, having gained all this experience it gave me that extra push to go on and work towards gaining my black belt which I eventually achieved in March 2015.
I now occasionally assist with teaching at some of the classes and keep all the doors open as to what I could do next.
What Students Are Saying
The instructors are extremely approachable, knowledgeable and friendly. The system is very relevant for today in terms of skills, competitions, self defence and offers different martial arts within the same club. Students and instructors are respectfull and its a great place to get fit, learn a martial art and self defence. Great for kids, woman and men of any fitness or skill level. A lot of families also attend, perfect distraction from the phone or tablet!
The instructors are helpful and encouraging, I am middle-aged, overweight and not very fit but never feel embarrassed because of the welcoming ethos. Tony has always been very encouraging and supportive, he loves getting people fitter and giving them the skills to defend themselves.
Super friendly instructors, the sessions are fun & full of life, all the kids enjoy it, my two kids were shy and lacking confidence but now I see a lot of improvement, will definitely recommend FIGHTING FIT to my friends & family