Hi, My name is Liam Richards. 

I’ve now been training Martial Arts for 25 Years, I’m a 5th Degree Black Belt. I continue to push myself to improve and grow as a Martial Artist and person and I find it very rewarding to inspire others to do the same.

My first martial arts class

I remember my first ever Martial Arts class in an old library in Sheffield, England. 

I asked my parents to take me to a class as I was inspired by watching the Power Rangers on TV. 

They thought it would be a great idea as I was started to get bullied at school so they wanted me to defend myself. 

I wanted to achieve my Black Belt and make myself and my parents proud. 

The biggest struggle was my confidence. I didn’t believe in myself and it showed in the way I walked and talked. I was a shy boy and I was sick of people bringing me down. I had to stop comparing myself to others and just be myself. 

I achieved my Black Belt and stood up to the bullies. 

After winning British, European and World Titles in the Sport ironically the Blue Power Ranger Mike Chat came over from America and picked me to be on his performance team.  

Britains Got Talent

I then called my friend Danny up and asked if he wanted to go for Britain’s Got Talent. He liked the idea and we said it would be cool if we got showed on TV. 

Although I had this dream of performing Martial Arts on TV, I still lacked belief in myself and deep down I didn’t feel good enough. 

We made it through the first round and it was then time to perform in the Manchester Palace Theatre in front of thousands of people and the judges, Simon Cowell, Pierce Morgan and Amanda Holden. 

As we waited to go out and perform we felt even more nervous. I remember feeling the pressure of this opportunity. They then called us through to the waiting room where we were interviewed with Ant and Dec. 

I remember as we were about to walk out on stage it felt like I had thousands of butterflies flying around in my stomach. The voice inside my head started to say, what kid you forgot it, what if you fall over and I had to focus my mind and just go out there and do my best. 

All of a sudden I realised Instead of letting the nerves hold me back I needed to turn them into excitement.

This was an opportunity of a lifetime and I knew that we walked hard and was ready. 

I shook Danny’s hand and said, “Come on, let’s do this!” 

The plan was to act as if I was confident in myself. I would focus my mind and body and give it everything that I had got. 

As we walked out on stage, the bright lights hit us and we could see the judges. 

Our family was cheering and the crowd was clapping for us too. This made us feel even more excited to perform but then I remembered that we needed to answer some questions on the microphone. 

Public speaking was my biggest fear. I was scared of mixing up my words and looking stupid. 

Amanda Holden asked, “What is the dream?” and I said, 

“The dream is to become stuntmen and travel around the world performing.” 

That wasn’t the dream really, I was just put on the spot and I said the first thing that came to my head. It was really to help change people’s lives through Martial Arts.

We walked to the back and held our hand up for the music to start. Now we were in the zone. 

At the end of the performance, we got a standing ovation at the end of our performance. 

All three judges, including Simon Cowell put us through to the next round. 

We then set our eyes on the final. We worked hard and reached the final of Britain’s Got Talent in 2008 as Strike. 

We inspired thousands of people to start Martial Arts which made us feel very proud. 

The whole experience raised my confidence to new levels. I stepped so far out of my comfort zone that I continued to grow and believe in myself. 

I wasn’t going to let fear ever hold me back again and I would continue to work hard to achieve my goals. 

Opening My School

Since then Britain’s Got Talent we have performed at 22 arenas across the UK including O2 arena with 15,000 people.

 I’ve done 2 skydives, a bungee jump, competed in Jiu-Jitsu and awarded Martial Arts School Owner of the Year and International Martial Artist of the Year. 

We’ve grown our academy and we are helping 400 members to Excel in Life in our community. 

We now have a very successful Martial Arts School because we do our very best constantly improve what we do to better serve our members. 

We really care about our members as individuals as we know the impact we have in their lives. 

It’s time to EXCEL,

Liam Richards