Full Circle Martial Arts in North Belfast continues to go from strength to strength as it recently celebrated four new world champions.
The club has been in Ardoyne for over 25 years and is run by John McTasney, 6th Dan, and they have
John has taught self-defence to hundreds of adults and kids from all over Belfast and beyond over the years and has had numerous champions walk through the doors.
The Little Ninjas were set up just after Covid and started off with six kids, growing to upwards of 93 kids training over the four nights.
The kids come from all types of backgrounds as Ardoyne is in a socially deprived area of North Belfast. The club supports and trains over 35 kids who are on the spectrum with autism, ADHD, AHD, while some are non-verbal and attending non-mainstream schools.
"We help support the kids both mentally and physically, teaching them self-respect, self-worth, discipline and generally build their confidence in teaching them how to defend themselves while keeping fit, along with preparing them to compete in various mat and ring competitions right across Ireland and abroad," said John.
The Little Ninjas have competed as far away as Rhodes, Greece in the Wku World championships, coming home with no less than four world champions.
The team overcame opposition from Russia, Germany, America, Canada and many other countries.
They also fought in Malta in April at the Iska European Championships and came home with seven European champions.
In the last six months alone, they have produced four Wku World champions, 21 Wku Northern Irish champions, 17 Wka Northern Irish champions, 10 Iska Irish champions and seven Iska European champions.
This is an amazing haul of achievements, which makes it even more impressive as the club is totally self-funded, receiving no help for any of their kids or adults. The club pays for all the different fight suits and tracksuits, on top of safety gear and club gear.
