Lee Douglas

Martial Arts Coach and Self Protection Expert

I'm the founder and owner of West Coast Martial Arts. A martial arts training centre in the UK, specialising in Krav Maga. Like most people my age, martial arts has always been a big influence on my dreams. Through screen films like 'Enter The Dragon' and 'The Karate Kid'. A passion for learning and training martial arts has continued to grow all my life. Starting martial arts from the age of 8 years old, I've been training over 35 years..... I started competing when I weighed just 32 KG, these days just one leg weighs more than this. At university in Liverpool, I trained and competed around Europe in Nippon Kempo and Judo. After finishing university, I was able to study for an apprenticeship at a Budokan (Japanese Martial Arts Centre). I've also trained as a Kickboxer and won a world title with the WKA (world Kickboxing association) and finally travelled to Israel to qualify as an Expert in Krav Maga with KMG (Krav Maga Global). Although I'm now coaching full time, it was not always like this. With a Masters Degree in IT I've worked for several large organisations around the globe including Vodafone, BT, Fujitsu and more recently the Federation of Small Business as a projects and change expert. This has given me a lot of professional experience with managing people, transforming the way that businesses operate and the importance of continuing improvement. Being fully committed to a passion like martial arts and building a professional career is very hard on your body and soul. Whilst chatting about my dreams with my wife in the car. She pulled the car over, slammed on the brakes and said "...coach full time martial arts or shut up barking on about wanting to do this". So I quit my job and flipped careers to a full time coach, just like that! Married with 2 kids, 7 dogs, 1 cat and a snake. I value freedom of choice, fun, family, health, serving people, knowledge and progress. These are core to my beliefs and you can see these values in all of my actions. There's more information about me on my website www.kravclasses.com My goals are to continue inspiring children and adults to live amazing lives through the martial arts. I would also like to get a small holding, raise goats and start my own line of goats cheese. Watch this space :)