Griffiths kicks on to the top level (From Warrington Guardian)

Griffiths kicks on to the top level

7:30am Saturday 5th May 2012 in Sport

NICK Griffiths is celebrating becoming the 47th adult member to pass the Okami dojo’s black belt kickboxing exam.

The 27-year-old completed the gruelling exam at the weekend, breezing through the required modules for someone to become an assistant level instructor, which included basic teaching skills, first aid, refereeing, judging, corner-man work and demonstrating various weight training methods.

He completed fitness and striking tests, before free-sparring under Thai-kickboxing rules for 15 minutes over five rounds of three minutes, allowing full-contact kicks, punches, knees and elbow techniques against former professional British champion Rhys Edwards, a 4th Dan instructor with more than 15 years experience.

He then completed the exam with the famous Tamishiwari, or board breaking, test, breaking two or three boards using kicks, knees, elbows and open-palm techniques.

Thanks to the dojo’s advanced training programme, which includes six cycles of eight weeks doing six training sessions a week, he successfully passed his black belt in exactly two years, accumulating a record of 15 contests with 11 wins in this time.

This also saw him become the IKF British super-welterweight champion (K-1/MTR), winning the title at the 2011 amateur kickboxing championships last November when he defeated Peter Coke of Leigh.