There’s no keeping a good fighter down and that’s certainly true for Hastings Kickboxing expert Carl Denne.

In the teeth of the pandemic Carl has taken the brave decision not to hunker down and ride out the storm but to take the bull by the horns and move his thriving club, Hastings Kickboxing Academy (HKA) to bigger, brighter and better premises and in the process fulfilling a childhood dream.

HKA has been serving the community for over 20 years, whether it be through its confidence building classes, anti-bullying workshops, or school visits and the new move confirms that the club has no intention of taking its foot off the throttle. 

Carl says: “Despite the difficulties 2020 has bought all of us, we have continued to strive for excellence in all that we do.

“We went through the process to ensure all of our classes were socially distanced and Covid safe and when full lockdown came into effect we took it in our stride and simply moved our lessons to online classes via webcam instead. 

“We have a strong mentality that the community we serve is also an extension of our own family and we have attempted to keep that bond throughout the last few months. Whether it simply be a chat with someone who is self-isolating, offering support to those that need it, or running daily social media updates about the Academy. This mutual support has enabled both us and our members to do what we love, and we are pleased to say it has paid off.” 

The HKA family has continued to grow even in the face of this year’s difficulties and stands at more than 200 members and that’s what gave Carl and his team the confidence to take the next step in the develolment of the club.

He says: “We’re now pleased to announce the next huge milestone in the development of HKA, a brand new fully equipped Academy! 

“It’s almost twice the size of our old home and is based on Maunsel Road, in Castleham Industrial Estate. It will be home, not just to HKA, but also to the brand new Hastings Community Hub.” 

This joint venture with Rainbows Parenting and Children’s Services will keep HKA’s core values at heart.

It will provide support to members of the community in everything from providing a creche facility, parent and child support groups, home education, special educational needs support, one to one family support clinic, a state of the art fully equipped sensory room and much more. 

“We believe that 2021 will be our biggest year yet,” says Carl, “not only has our membership grown, our premises have got bigger too, we are also incredibly fortunate to have had the unending support of our community in everything that we’ve done. This alone has provided us with the confidence, and drive to continue to push ourselves to ensure the next 20 years will be just as amazing as the first.” 

All of our services, including the community hub will resume from the January 4th. 

For details on how to get involved or how we can help, contact the Kickboxing Experts on social media, or via 07496299925.