Andy Crittenden’s Martial Arts Centre was opened in January 2003 by Andy Crittenden and a group of loyal students with the help and support of the Dave Turton & The Self Defence Federation.

Andy had worked as a Instructor for Master Kim Stones for 6 years but then decided to go it alone and found the premises on Sandford Road in Balby and the Centre opened 6 weeks later.

We were originally in the downstairs part of the building but after the success of our first few months we quickly moved to the larger part of the building which is where we have been operating from since May 2003.

We originally just taught Tae Kwon Do & Kick Boxing but then went onto teaching SDF Self Defence, Mixed Martial Arts and eventually the Multi Skilled Martial Arts system that now provides the back bone of the training at ACMAC.

We taught MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) for quite some time and were taken in by the new craze of the Martial Arts, this took us all around the UK on some of the biggest shows around the Country including shows that were televised. We even had the UK’s Top MMA Fighter Michael “The Count” Bisping teach at our Centre. As well as Mike I have been very lucky to train with 3 of the greatest MMA Fighters of all time Royce Gracie, Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture who I trained with when I visited his gym in America.

We had a great time with the MMA but decided to focus all of our efforts on the new Multi Skilled Martial Arts system and this created a great friendly atmosphere and our reputation grew as a Professional Family Martial Arts School. Our goal has always been to provide training for everyone, from Children to Adults, males and females.

We have spent a lot of time training our Students for Competition in many aspects of Martial Arts such as Point Sparring, Light Contact Kick Boxing, Full Contact Kick Boxing, Korean Patterns, Creative Forms, Weapons Forms, Submission Grappling & MMA, all with a great deal of success, we have produced many British Champions and have even had students selected for the England Team at the World Championships.

We are a Black Belt School which means we treat everyone who comes in as our next Black Belt. However we do not follow the trend of fast tracking Black belts, our Black Belts are developed over many years of study, from 4 to some times 7 or 8 years training to 1^st Dan. It is our ethos that a Black Belt has Discipline, Dedication and Respect, they are also Confidence, Fit, able to Defend themselves and has a great understanding, knowledge and skill in their chosen Art or Arts. I have spent many years learning different Martial Arts in order to pass onto my students and make them the best that they can be.

We have always had an open approach to learning and have had many different Masters teach here such as Royce Gracie (BJJ) Dave Turton (Self Defence), Trevor Roberts (Ju-Jitsu), Mike Gould (Nagasu Do), Larry Hartsell (Jeet Kune Do), Pat O’Malley (Rapid Arnis), Johnny Huskey (Catch Wrestling), Phil Glover (Muay Thai) Stevie Smith (Boxing) and so many other great Martial Artists with many more to come.

As well as training seminars, competitions, fight nights we have also ran many demonstrations, family social events, kids parties, adults events and so much more, we want our Centre to like a 2^nd home and many of our students feel that it is.

I have been very fortunate to have always had a great staff team, a lot have come and gone but some have been with me since day one and are still very loyal and supportive now. Right now the Team is the best it has ever been and I feel it is the best team I have ever worked with. I am very grateful to have such a good team and the backing of Dave Turton of the SDF and Andrew Morrell of the CMAA.

2 other people that deserve a mention are my Mum and Dad who helped set up my school, my Mum inspires me to be successful and my Dad has supported me in every way.

Many people have achieved their goals at ACMAC, come along and try a free lesson and see why we are so popular.