The Wanganui martial arts fraternity has joined forces to provide a one-stop shop for five different codes.
The five codes, judo, ju jitsu, Brazilian ju jitsu, kickboxing and mixed martial arts, now all operate out of the former YMCA Recreation Centre at 159 Wickstead St.
The new complex is nowaptly called the Wanganui Martial Arts Centre and is a dream come true for judo maestro Wayne Watson, from the city's largest martial arts club, The Wanganui Judo Club.
"My goal over probably the past five years has been to set up a centre bringing a few codes together, but finding the right building and getting them all together has been difficult," Watson said yesterday.
"This new building is ideal. It's central and has the space to accommodate us all. This will be of great help to us all. It will reduce overheads and provide an environment for the codes to grow and develop."
Each code has its own coaching staff and many are almost household names in the world of competition. The mixed martial arts, for instance, is a collaboration between judo, kickboxing and other codes and features top exponents Kyle Gallacher, winner of the New Zealand Muay Thai cruiserweight last year, and Craig Mercer who had the perfect start to his kickboxing career earlier this month with a debut win at the Eruption 3 card in New Plymouth. Both are members of the Assassins Guild MMA.
"We've only been here a week and already some of the smaller codes have grown their memberships," Watson said.
The collaboration between the various clubs is expected to produce even more national and international competitors from the River City.
"Traditionally we have produced competitors who have done extremely well in national and international events and that can only get better with this set-up," Watson said.
