5th Dan Black Belt, and British, European and World Champion Chris Hoyles is the founder of Windrush Kick Boxing Club. He called it Kick Boxing because of the experience gained from different styles;

"I started training in Lau Gar Kungfu in February 1980, in Finstock Village Hall. The instructor was Brian Green.

I went on to train under Steve Faulkner in 1981 in Chipping Norton and Banbury.

Between October 1983 - 1986 I boxed for the Witney ABC Club, then continued with Abingdon ABC until my last fight in the ring in 1990. I gained my coaching badge and returned to ABC to coach until 1996.

During this period I was also doing Kungfu. Between 1985 - 1991 I was training under Clive Parkinson. I taught at Clives club in Witney from 1989 to 1991, but was still having lessons at his club in Cowley, Oxford, as well as training in Full Contact Kick Boxing.

I went Squad Training in Birmingham with the Lau Gar team once a month. It was from there that I was picked to represent Britain at the World Championships in Berlin, where unfortunately I came second to a German man on points!

I went on to train under Alvin Mighty in Banbury, where I stayed until 1994. Early that year I started Karate under an instructor from Chile called Moses. He was a very hard and knowledgeable man who taught me a lot; we did a lot of body conditioning. I trained with him until he moved to America, then started Tae Kwon Do at a club in Witney. I did Tae Kwon Do for about a year, acheiving a couple of gradings in this style. It was at this stage that I decided to start my own club.

I became affiliated to WUMA (World United Martial Arts), and it is with this association that I have won British, European and World Titles."

Yours in Sport

Chris

Chris won the 'West Oxfordshire District Council Sports & Arts Achievement COACH OF THE YEAR AWARD' in 2009 and the 'WUMA Coach of the Decade Award' in 2008.