Neath Valley Martial Arts

12/09/2026

Well done Elis!

06/09/2026

Today was the British National Judo Kata Championships at the Welsh Institute for Sport in Cardiff.
Kai paired with Adam Cardy to win the gold medal in Katame No Kata and become British champions.
Kai also paired with Ev to pick up the silver medal in Ju No Kata. They both also received the annual BJA award for their contributions to kata.
I paired with Ian Cardy in the Kodokan Goshin Jutsu Kata. There were five pairs competing and I’m pleased to say that we finished in the top five!

06/09/2026

It’s been another busy weekend for some of the members of NVMA.
Yesterday the Welsh National Judo Closed Championships was held in Cardiff.
Macsen was fighting along with his sister, Leah. I’ll let Macsen’s Dad, John say more:
“Both Leah and Macsen won gold medals yesterday in their respective adaptive categories in the Welsh Closed Judo Championships.”
Unfortunately, I didn’t see the fights but I know Macsen was fighting as a senior even though he is still 15. Well done Macsen & Leah!
I was at the competition doing my practical assessment to qualify as a BJA/WJA Area Referee. I’m pleased to say that I passed.

23/08/2026

What a weekend!

Yesterday, 22 August, I was in Doncaster with Elis for the British National Combat Sambo Championship 2026. Combat Sambo is a full contact Russian martial art that includes grappling and striking. The striking includes punches, kicks, knee & elbow strikes, and headbutts.

The fights are 5 minutes long and you can win by submission, knockout or by 8 clear points. Points are awarded - 4 for a throw (what would be an ippon throw in judo), 2 for a 20 second pin, or for striking.

Elis hasn’t been training in Sambo long and was representing Swansea Sambo and Neath Valley Martial Arts yesterday. Unfortunately, he was the only competitor from Swansea Sambo, but we did meet up with Mal Sanchez-Jones and his team from Barry. Mal is the head of Sambo in Wales and looked after us. The help and support that he gave Elis was very much appreciated.

Elis had 2 tough fights. He won the first one with 2 big uchi-mata throws to give him the 8 clear points.

The second fight was more difficult because his opponent knew he was a grappler / thrower, and made throwing more difficult with leg grabs and take downs. At one point Elis was 0 - 6 down. His tactics were, however, good and he came back to win 15 - 6. He picked up the 15 points with 2 throws (harai-goshi and uchi-mata) for 4 points each, a 20 second hold down for 2 points; the remaining points were for some ground and pound type striking and standing knee strikes to the head. In the process Elis took some very heavy punches (the Barry guys were calling him “Pac-Man” because of the way he ate the punches and just kept going).

It was a very well run competition and there were some excellent fighters. Some of the juniors were really impressive.

On the mat everyone was trying to kill each other but off the mat everyone was very friendly and helpful. There was a really good atmosphere there.

Elis came away as the British over 98kg heavy weight champion, and also picked up the award for the best fighter of the day (see Pac-Man above).

On the way home we called in to see Grand Master Dave Turton, 10th dan. Dave is the founder and head of our association, SDF / ASMAA. Unfortunately, due to health issues Dave is no longer teaching but he is still a living encyclopaedia of self defence and martial arts knowledge. I have known Dave for over 20 years and every time I meet him I come away blown away by what he knows. I am very pleased that Elis had the opportunity to meet Dave yesterday as unfortunately he’s too young to have had the pleasure of being on the mat with him.

All in all an excellent day.

10/08/2026

Sunday 9 August was the Welsh National Closed Judo Kata championships held at Sanshirokwai Dojo in Llanelli.

It was a good day for Neath Judo Kwai and Neath Valley Martial Arts with lots of medals being picked up, mainly by Kai!

Kai entered all available katas and picked up gold medals in Nage No Kata, Katame No Kata, Koshiki No Kata, Ju No Kata and Kodokan Goshin Jutsu Kata, and a silver medal in Itsutsu No Kata - he really needs to up his game there!

Ev was partnered with Kai for her katas and picked up gold in Nage No Kata, Kodokan Goshin Jutsu Kata and Ju No Kata, and a silver in Itsutsu No Kata.

Kai and Ev also won the best kata performance award for their demonstration of Ju No Kata.

I entered the Kodokan Goshin Jutsu Kata with Ian Cardy. Ian runs Neath Judo Kwai. Between us we are 130 years old (he’s doing the heavy lifting there), and we have over 100 years of martial arts experience. We thought knowledge and experience would help us. The good news is that we survived and picked up bronze medals for third place. The bad news is that there were only three pairs competing in that kata. Never mind, we can try again next year. Hopefully, we will be older and wiser then!

28/06/2026

It’s been a busy weekend.
Yesterday we had the annual Neath Judo Kwai charity seminar to raise money for the Childhood Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT). Then today some members of the club traveled to Basingstoke for a Tenjin Shin-yo Ryu Jujutsu seminar with Paul and Lee Masters.
It has been an excellent weekend of martial arts.

02/04/2026

https://www.britishjudo.org.uk/cadby-morgan-kelly-shine-as-british-kata-continues-to-rise/?fbclid=IwZnRzaAQ7uH1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEerKys_TvFI3wOAn2-64WPFf6u0lWapzZV3pqaLOCcpdTWBUymFlJoAvE7qLA_aem_pSwXujzvkgGUlQz8xBhXJg

British Judo continues to make waves on the European stage with Ev Cadby and Kai Morgan-Kelly at the recent EJU Kata event in France & Poland

28/03/2026

A quiet weekend for Kai, just popping over to Poland to represent Wales in a Judo kata competition. He, and his partner Evs Cadby, picked up the silver medal for their Ju No Kata. As can be seen, Kai literally bent over backwards to put on a good performance.

21/03/2026

I am very pleased to say that we have three new black belts in the club.

Meriel, Elis and Kai have been awarded their 1st dans in combat jujutsu after a grading that took place over two consecutive evenings. I am very grateful to Ian Cardy 5th Dan, Sensei and Andrew Richards 3rd Dan, Sensei for their assistance with the assessments. Ian is the chief instructor at Neath Judo Kwai and a British Judo Association / Welsh Judo Association senior examiner. Andrew is the chief instructor at Neath Shotokan Karate. Both are extremely experienced and knowledgeable martial artists.

On the first evening the grading focused on various Taiho Jutsu and Judo katas. All three showed a high level of technical knowledge and proficiency.

The second evening focused more on combat / self defence. This included demonstrating pre-emptive striking combinations, defences against planned attacks, and defences against unplanned attacks / randori. Techniques were demonstrated against both unarmed attacks, and weapon defences attacks sticks and knives.

They all did extremely well and have definitely earned their new grades. This grading was, however, only the icing on the cake. They have all worked very hard to get this far.

Meriel started training in Jujutsu (Goshin Jujitsu) under Billy Doak 8th dan, Shihan in 2002. She took a number of years out due to having children before returning to train in Combat Jujutsu at Neath Valley Martial Arts.
In addition to jujutsu Meriel is an accomplished judoka and holds the grade of 1st kyu brown belt. Meriel has fought competitively in judo including the Welsh National Championships, and is a former member of the Welsh National Judo Squad. Meriel also holds several kata certificates and is a level one coach.
Meriel has been an assistant Jujutsu instructor for several years and is always willing to help and support fellow students.

Elis started training in jujutsu in 2013, age 5. He has trained consistently since then and also cross trains in judo (2nd dan), Shotokan karate (2nd kyu) and Taekwondo (2nd kup). Elis has also recently started training in Sambo.
Elis achieved both his 1st and 2nd dans in judo competitively by line up on the day before he turned 19. He competes regularly, and is a member of the Welsh National Judo Squad. Elis also holds several kata certificates and is a level one coach.

Kai started training in Jujutsu in 2019. He also trains in Shotokan karate (1st dan), judo (1st kyu) and Taekwondo (1st kup).
Kai has competed in all of the above arts and is a former member of the Welsh National Judo Squad.
Kai is passionate about kata and
has competed both nationally and internationally. He has picked up several gold and silver medals at the Welsh and British kata championships, and also a gold and bronze medal at a recent competition in France. Next week he’s off to Poland to represent Wales again.
Kai has also competed in various Taekwondo competitions both in sparring and patterns.
He holds judo kata certificates of various levels in all the judo katas and is also a level one coach.

The three of them have a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge, and are a real asset to the club. They have a wide knowledge base and I hope in the future they will focus on deepening this knowledge. Now the learning and hard work really begins.

22/02/2026

Huge congratulations to Kai and Ev who along with a few other intrepid Welsh judoka have been accross to France this weekend to represent Wales in a kata competition. Kai and Ev won gold in Ju No Kata and bronze in Nage No Kata. A fantastic achievement!