Sansum Martial Arts to launch new academy in Forres
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A NEW martial arts academy is set to kick into action in Forres from next week.
Sansum Martial Arts is set to run new kids' classes at Forres Community Centre from Wednesday, January 11.
The Sansum family started their first martial arts academy in the town in 1999 before branching out UK-wide.
Classes, which will be aimed at kids aged between three and 12 years old, will be taught by Theo Sansum, with his mother Kate looking after students and their families.
Theo said: “My family are obsessed with martial arts and I’m really excited about opening my first academy in Forres.
"I’ve been learning how to coach for the past four years, both at Moray College and in the family business, and I’m looking forward to building a great team in the town."
The Forres Sanscum Academy will run three classes on Wednesdays. Little Dragons (age 3-5) from 4.30pm to 5pm; Little Ninjas (age 5-7) from 5pm to 5.30pm and Terriers (age 7-12) from 5.45pm to 6.30pm.
Theo, running the classes, comes from a strong martial arts background – with his brother a multi world champion who was an Olympic Team GB athlete for more than 12 years.
His father Lee Sansum is a grand master and has recently written a book linking his martial arts story to his work as a bodyguard in war zones and for the world's rich and famous – including Princess Diana.
The appropriately named 'The Bodyguard' made Amazon's best-selling list.
Lee Sansum said: “It’s great to see my boys taking over the teaching in the academies and it’s so special coming back to Forres where it all started out over 22 years ago.
"Our kids classes focus on resilience, confidence building and teamwork and we have great results with children from all sorts of backgrounds.
"We use our unique style of martial arts to deliver our training and eventually some of the students get into the sport once they feel more confident.
"Theo and Damon will be competing at the Karate World Championships in Dundee next year which will be extra special for our family as the last time we did this both Damon and I won European titles. Hopefully my boys will both have great performances next year on home soil."
Anyone wanting to have a free try class with the Sansum Academy can call Kate on 07775918079 or visit the website at sansumkickboxing.com for more details.
