I have always since an early age excelled in most sports, winning countless trophies in football, cricket, athletics and softball. When I reached the age of 30 my biological clock was saying leave it to the younger guys. Being a sporting person most of my life I still needed to keep fit in some way. I had tried over the years many different styles of martial arts - Karate, Kung Fu and Ju-Jitsu - but never really stuck to any until the arrival of Jean Claude Van Damme and the movie Kick boxer. That was it for me! I had to give this exciting new sport of Kickboxing a go, and joined the Professional Kickboxing Association (PKA), the founders of kickboxing in the UK.

At the level of Purple belt my Sensei asked me if I would be interested in becoming an Instructor through their rigorous training program, and ten months later I passed my First Degree Black Belt and became a teaching Instructor with my own classes for the PKA. I worked my way through the ranks and am now currently a 5th degree Black Belt co- running the London Region of the PKA.

To add to my knowledge of Kickboxing teaching I thought I should know more how the body works so took and passed the YMCA Gym Instructor course level 2. I have been practising Kickboxing for 18 years and am now also learning Thai-Boxing, Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do and Hairojin Ju-jitsu to further my knowledge.

I have appeared and modelled martial arts techniques in 2 books (The Kickboxing Handbook by John Ritschel and The Martial Arts Guide by Claire Bone). I have written many articles for Combat Magazine, Action Martial Art Magazine in America and had my own column called “Ask Dave” in Fighters Magazine for a year, answering people’s martial arts technical and physical problems.

Through my work in promoting Martial Arts, in 2006 I was honoured to be inducted into the London Martial Arts Hall Of Fame where I received the Special Merit Award, and again in 2007 and 2008 receiving Master of the Year. In 2009 I received Humanitarian of the Year by the Board of Directors of The London Hall Of Fame. To this date, this has been one of my proudest moments due to the significance of this award.

Earlier in the year I was shortlisted for the CoOp Local Champion Award in The Pride of Britain Awards for saving a young boys life when he accidentally hung himself by the neck from a washing line whilst playing. I pulled him off a minute from death.

Also in 2009 I was inducted into The American Martial Arts Hall of Honours receiving Outstanding Dedication to Martial Arts for which I am to be honoured again in 2010 with the same award.

Over the last few years I have taught many students including martial arts movie star Scott Adkins, actress Stacey Cadman and currently Lee Latchford Evans and have been lucky enough to train with some of the world’s greatest martial artists. Through my forthcoming articles I hope to cover many aspects of martial arts including varying techniques, training exercises, events competitions and Interviews with not just the well known exponents of martial arts but also the unknown foot soldiers who are dedicated the their chosen art.

Train Hard ! Fight Hard ! Sleep Easy !