My son Deklan is a naturally kind and gentle boy, who as an only child has never had to endure the competition and ruff and tumble of other siblings. Reading how daunting and challenging schools can be these days I was very keen to get him involved in self defense but wasn’t sure what was going to be the best fit for him.

In a chance encounter at a community fate we saw the Arakan stand and after talking to the guys I was really impressed with how friendly the team was and how passionate they were to get Deklan into his first lesson. And here is the part that grabbed me the most, the training is done outdoors in parks and school grounds while wearing shirts and shorts and everyday shoes, now that’s real life training. We booked in straight away for our complimentary lesson and Deklan couldn’t wait to get started.

On the day of his first lesson Deklan was quite nervous but Ryan his instructor made him feel completely relaxed and the lesson was a great mix of training and learning through fun games. At the end of the lesson Deklan ran straight up to me and asked if he could do more training tomorrow and the next day, which was a sure sign he loved it. He has now been training for over 3 years and as much as Arakan is about learning self defense and getting fit I have seen Deklan grow in confidence, co-ordination, self respect and self belief. 

Deklan now jumps at every opportunity to do extra lessons and group training and he totally loves going to school holiday training days and he wears his Arakan uniform with absolute pride.

I can honestly say I have been totally impressed with how Arakan has taught him practical, useable skills in real life environments and we look forward to many more years involvement with the Arakan family.

Mark Sculley