A BOROUGH martial arts expert has reason to be cheerful this weekend after scooping national success at the annual British Martial Arts Awards in Shropshire.
Eddie Quinn, who runs self-defence classes for adults and youngsters throughout Solihull, picked up the martial arts ‘System of the Year’ award in recognition of his self-devised method of teaching self-defence.
Named The Approach, Eddie teaches his training method to security companies and police officers around the world.
The 50-year-old was also nominated for ‘Man of the Year’ and ‘Reality Instructor of the Year’ – where he finished runner up in both of those categories.
Eddie, who dedicated his award to his first instructor Steve Maycock, said: “I am totally humbled and overwhelmed.
“To win one of the awards was fantastic, but to be nominated for three completely blew me away.
“What makes it all the more special is that the nominations are voted for by the members of the public who follow martial arts.
“I had a very bad experience that almost cost me my life when I was younger.
“I was determined the situation was never going to happen to me again so I took up martial arts and thanks to Steve’s support I really caught the bug.
“I started to take it seriously and I studied many different methods of self-defence.”
Eddie’s 20-year-old son Jake has now joined his father’s business and assists with coaching duties – enabling the pair to take their popular classes out to more people.
Jake, who was at Lilleshall to see him win the awards, said: “Dad’s a fantastic role model and great inspiration.
“Not just to me, but to so many people who know him – I’m not only very proud of him but there’s been so much goodwill from so many people since news of his success began to spread.”
For more information about Eddie’s self-defence classes, call 07702 307822 or email [email protected]
