2013 has been an amazing year, once again we have managed to top what we did in the previous year. We started off with a bang with our 10th Anniversary celebration and things just got better and better.

ACMAC Dunscroft went full time and Jess, Liam & the Team put a lot of effort into getting the place just how they wanted it. Also our other schools continued to grow and are producing some great Students young and old. Rossington, Dunscroft, Conisbrough & Bentley students all have now produced National Champions in less than 3 years.

We met some fantastic people who went onto open Inspire Karate & Kick Boxing clubs. Darren, Lee, Beth & Dave came to ACMAC and started training with us and later came Sarah, then they left their previous group and affiliated to us. They are great people and represent Team ACMAC now and grade with us. They are a big part of what we do now. I really enjoyed meeting so many of their members at Seminars and Tournaments. I hope we are associated together for many years to come.

As always we held some amazing Seminars. Once again we held the Annual Certified Catch Wrestler Camp with Billy Robinson & Jake Shannon, the only one in Europe, also Dave Kovar’s Instructor College, plus 2 visits by Bill “Superfoot” Wallace, my original Instructor Kim Stones and of course Dave Turton. In addition this year we had the very first UK Seminar with comedy genius Master Ken and all the way from Australia John Nawn. Some great British talent too Drew Neal, Marty Jones, Paul Oxtoby and John Swift all taught on our mats.

In addition I taught many seminars this year, I was very lucky to travel around the country teaching Referee’s courses in Basingstoke, Bromsgrove, Exeter and at ACMAC, I taught SDF seminars in Newcastle, Hastings, Romford, Chapel en le Frith and at ACMAC, plus myself Rick Burns & Colin Beddow taught Sport Sword Instructor courses at ACMAC and in Basingstoke and Sport Sword seminars in Slough & Brigg. It was a great honour to teach so many wonderful people.

Speaking of travelling once again Team ACMAC travelled around the UK and around the world competing on a variety of circuits including WTKA, WKC, Kwon and of course Revolution with great success. In 2013 Team ACMAC won 411 medals & trophies including 9 World Titles, 7 European Titles, 45 World/European Medals, 66 National Titles & 178 Gold Medals in total from around 40 competitors in over a dozen disciplines. There was some amazing performances and some people who ruled their divisions. Hayden Lindley being the top single discipline Competitor and Sophie Hawkins excelling in all areas Points, Swords and a variety of Forms. There was many stars this year, the future is so bright.

Also this year our Demo Team really developed. There is some real talent and now we are with Hyper it is gonna get better and better. Speaking of Hyper we made a fantastic connection this year and made a trip down to Stevenage for Instructor & Student seminars. We started teaching these classes at Balby & Dunscroft, it’s a great system and so is the Superfoot System that we now teach after some of the Instructors were graded by Grandmaster Wallace. 2 great additions to the Systems we already teach at ACMAC.

It was a massive honour to have been graded in the Superfoot system and there was many gradings at ACMAC this year in MSMA, Tae Kwon Do, Kick Boxing, SDF Modern Street Combat, ASMAA Freestyle plus certified Catch Wrestlers and SDF Combat Grappling & Sport Sword Instructors. I also ran 11 Instructor Boot Camps on a Friday Night working with the future Instructors of ACMAC, they are an amazing bunch.

We are very lucky to be part of some amazing Associations long standing groups like ASMAA, SDF, Revolution, Pro MAC & Scientific Wrestling as well as a second year and a closer involvement with WTKA. We also joined Hyper & Superfoot which I already wrote about and also Verve which is run by John Swift and as well as being an Association is an equipment manufacturer and distributor, they sponsored Kev, Hayden & Suneil and I will be working with them running Instructor Training seminars. Exciting times.

Revolution grew and grew our Tournaments got bigger, the standards got higher, we added more Disciplines and we expanded into new Areas of the Country. It laid the foundations for a massive expansion in 2014.

We also held 2 in house events the ACMAC Championships & Summer Fight League. The ACMAC Championships was a 1 day event in January where students competed against each other in Points, Swords & Forms and Summer Fight League was every Wednesday throughout the summer in the 3 Wednesday night classes Sport Sword, Ju-Jitsu & Sparring. It was great experience for everyone.

ACMAC Members were nominated for and won Awards in 2013. Team ACMAC, Tia Rowe & Aidan Hughes were runners up at the Doncaster Sports Awards and myself and Mrs P were given Top Instructor Awards at the MAI Hall of Fame. Its great to win Awards outside of ACMAC. Its an absolute honour.

The final thing I will write about is a Fire that nearly burnt our HQ to the ground in July, luckily we didn’t burn down and all damages were sorted out thanks to an amazing support from our members. It was truly of comfort to know how much people think of ACMAC and how important it is to so many people. We just got stronger from this.

Finally I would like to say thank you to everyone who supported us in 2013. Our success would not be possible without amazing supportive people. All the Officials who help at Revolution and of course all Competitors and Coaches. Thanks to all the fellow Instructors who I Network with, all Association Heads & My Instructors for their support and training and all the people who booked me for seminars and those who attended them. 

Most of all I would like to thank all ACMAC Students, Parents & Family members and of course all the Instructor & Leadership Team. Personally I would like to thank my family for their support. My Dad is still such a Rock to me and 10 years on I still work to make my Mum proud, I lost her 10 years ago but her place in my heart grows year on year. Most of all Lucy, Ebony, Tiffiny (and now Rocco) for putting up with me being a workaholic. They are my motivation to be successful and give them what they want in life.

Im very lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life, thanks again. See you all in 2014.