Founder and chief Instructor, Senior Grandmaster (GM) Sken was born in 1955 in Numpi, Ampur Tron Thongsaenkun, Uttaradit Province in the North of Thailand. In 1962, Narong Kaewpadung, GM Sken’s Father, was appointed to the law enforcement authority for the village. Because he was unbending in his belief that justice had to be served regardless of rank or status, he won the respect and admiration of many in the community. However, after arresting a local gangster for theft, Narong became a target for criminals in the area. Tragically, in 1963, GM Sken’s father was assassinated. GM Sken was then only 8 years old. GM Sken trained in Muay Thai until he left Thailand and settled in the Manchester area of England in 1977 where he continued to train and teach until this very day.

In 1990, Brett Harrold made the move to the United Kingdom to experience what the other side of the world had to offer. One thing led to another and he ended up training at Sitnarong Muay Thai with Sandy Holt and travelling to train with (then) Master Sken. He established himself as one of the premiere fighters in Great Britain, topping off his career by winning the British Light Heavyweight title. Along the way he also captured the English National L.H., English Northwest Area L.H., Scottish Northeast Area open Kickboxing and East Scotland Heavyweight Kickboxing titles. 1997 saw Brett return to New Zealand, ending up in Christchurch where his teaching career really got moving.

He decided to start teaching Muay Thai in early 1998 and his first ever student was a young(ish) man by the name of Dougal McKenzie. It wasn’t long before word got around of a new Muay Thai coach in town and what started as private lessons grew in to a burgeoning club that had to “move out of the garage”. Thankfully shared space was available with Karl Varley of Kyukoshin and the club was able to expand to including a fight team which rapidly took the South island by storm, winning many National and South Island Titles. That gym in Cashel Street became home base for many years and allowed the club to grow and include students for general training and not just fighters.

Some time later the club moved in to bigger premises on Waltham Road. This was a fantastic gym and included a full weights and cardio area as well as a personal training room and even changing rooms and a shower! But alas, the gym did not survive the September earthquake of 2010 and the club ended up developing a somewhat nomadic lifestyle until 2013 when more permanent (and now current) facilities became available in Woolston.

2015 has seen the new gym finally completed and the club has gone from strength to strength in both regular student participation/numbers and also fight team results with more National and South Island titles being captured. Brett and Dougal have also undertaken a number of fight promotion evenings/afternoons in both Wanaka and Christchurch, with the Christchurch ones being held at the gym itself as it has 240sqm of floor space and a full time 6m x 6m ring.