KICKBOXING FOR BOTH CHILDREN AND ADULTS!

Kicx Academy proudly serving Gloucester since 1988

Kicx Academy has Classes in Gloucester, Perfect for Kids, Teens, and Adults Martial Arts Lessons.

Who we Are And why You Should Train Here

The goal with Kicx Academy is not just to run a martial arts school.  That is easy.  We want to run an Educational Facility that specialises in Personal Development and Family Fitness with a Martial Arts Theme.  Since we’ve opened, we’ve been dedicated to changing the lives of people one person at a time, through a programme called The Leader In Me.  We use martial arts as the vehicle to teach people to be the best they can be, especially children.  We strive to provide a safe, comfortable and welcoming atmosphere for all students and family members. We take pride in creating an environment for individuals to achieve, develop and succeed in their personal goals.

We strongly believe that martial arts can be for everyone, regardless of age, gender or experience levels. Throughout all of our Programmes, students will not only learn the necessary skill sets to protect themselves on the outside, they will learn how to protect themselves on the inside.  There inner voice will not say, you can’t, it will say YOU CAN! We stand behind our realistic and practical approach, confident it will enable every member to achieve greatness and live their best life..

Get To Know Our World Class Instructors

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Master Instructor Kyoshi Stephen Thompson

  1. Master Thompson started Karate when he was 10 years old. It was in Longlevens Community Centre and the instructor back then was Chris Rudge.
  1. He was awarded student of the year in the association, it was called the AMAA. The person who awarded him this was Clayton Murrain. The association back then had over 2000 members in it, so it was a huge deal.  Bigger than that though, Clayton told Stephen that one day he would become an instructor in Karate.  From that day on he wanted to run his own schools.
  1. Passed his Black Belt under Clayton Murrain. He was only 15 years old.  These days children a lot younger earn this rank, but back then he was one of the youngest in the country.
  1. Started an apprenticeship as a carpenter
  1. After a disagreement with his instructor , he decided to go his own way and started his own club.
  1. Won the British WAKO championships held in London
  1. Won Gold in the European WAKO championships in Spain, beating the World Champion in the final.
  1. Opened up the 1st Full time Centre in Gloucester, called it Gloucester Martial Arts. Went full time teaching.
  1. Competed in the World Karate Championships in Venice. Won all the sections he entered.  Individual Gold, Overall Champion and he was the England Team Captain, and they won Gold.
  1. Went to Argentina and again won 3 Gold medals
  1. Had to close full time centre. Was not making enough money to keep open.  Started teaching in Kingsholm Fitness Centre, and went back to being a carpenter.
  1. Went to World Championships in Canada, again won 3 Gold medals.
  1. World Championships in USA. Won 2 Gold medals, individual and Team.  But not overall this time.  This was his last tournament.
  1. Opened up his next full time centre. Called Georges Fitness and martial arts.
  1. Read the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This changed EVERYTHING.  He wanted to run schools that were all about personal development first. 
  1. Opened up a fitness cente in the same building, so people could do martial arts and train in the fitness gym
  1. Even though he had Georges, he was still working as a carpenter and paying staff to run the gym. One night he had his tools stolen from his car.  He went and replaced the power tools as he needed them for work.  The next night, they were stolen again!  He decided he had enough, and gave up being a carpenter, and concentrated on running Georges
  1. Closed the fitness gym because the martial arts was going so well. Helping people with personal development was key to that success.  He partnered with Everton Smith (they travelled the world competing in the fighting days)  changed the name to Karate World.  Everton ran the Welsh schools, Stephen England.
  1. Stephen had one of the biggest schools in the UK with over 400 members in one location.
  1. Opened up a second full time location in Kingsholm
  1. Moved to Churchdown and had a Dojo at home. At the start he had fitness equipment and a dojo.  Eventually though, he got rid of all fitness equipment and kept the dojo.  Taught private lessons and small groups of people.  Staff also trained in the Dojo.  This was the start of “Kicx Academy” in Churchdown.
  1. Over the next few years he went on to open five full time centres in England, two in Gloucester and one in Tewkesbury, Cheltenham and Worcester. All five were very successful. Over the years they have been sold and instructors went their own way.  Cheltenham is still going strong.  Mr Rudman owns the school now and calls it Cheltenham Martial Arts.
  1. LOCKDOWN. Full time centres were forced to close because of Covid. Master Thompson never stopped teaching though.  He was forced online, as was every other school in the UK.  Through this period he was able to knuckle down and researched everything to do with The Leader In Me programme, which was an educational programme that was teaching the 7 Habits to school children all across the world.
  1. Was excepted as an official Leader In Me school. The first full time martial arts academy IN THE WORLD to be accepted.  Now he could teach a structured, recognised personal development programme that was based on the first personal development book he read all those years ago.  Asked to right a programme that other martial art schools could use in their schools.
  1. The main academy is still in Churchdown. The idea was to go back to Kingsholm, but now the Kingsholm location is just used for big gradings and courses. We have started teaching Leader in Me in schools across the country.  Master Smith in Newport is also part of the Leader In Me movement, and is excited to be rolling it out in Wales.  We are also partnering up with JAMATS in Gloucester, to teach adults with learning difficulties the Leader In Me.  Exciting times are ahead!

Kicx Team Members

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Kaye Williams

Kaye started training after her children were in the class.  That was back in 2009, now you will see her training in the adult class, and helping with instruction.  An inspiration to everyone. 

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Ben Sansom

Ben has been training since he was 6 years old, back in 1998 and has been a Black Belt since 2006.  He loves helping in the school, and has a real care for the wellbeing of all the students.  If you need anything, see Ben!

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Kelly Liu

Kelly first started her son at Kicx.  Then after watching for a while, she though she would start in the Ladies Only.  Here we are, 10 years later, she is on her 2nd Black Belt, has got super fit, and is a great instructor

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Max Gill

Max started training when he was 3 years old.  He is now a 3rd Dan Black Belt and is a martial arts expert.  He has won tournaments and enjoys competitions.  He is an excellent instructor, and is a role model for the kids to look up to.

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