Hi there,

We’re proud to share that the British Martial Arts & Boxing Association (BMABA) was recently referenced in Parliament during a debate on safeguarding in combat sports for children.

MPs highlighted BMABA’s role in setting high safeguarding standards across the independent martial arts sector. This recognition was later reinforced in a letter from Stephanie Peacock MP, Minister for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth, who confirmed that the Government values the Association’s contribution in shaping future safeguarding frameworks for martial arts.

“I appreciate [BMABA's] ongoing efforts to make martial arts safer for children.” — Stephanie Peacock MP, Minister for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth

At the same time, we are taking proactive steps to further strengthen protection for students at every level. This month we are rolling out a completely free Participant Advocate and Safe Adult (PASA) Award to all members — including instructors, assistant instructors, volunteers and even free affiliates.

Developed from our research into recurring failures in event supervision, the PASA initiative recognises that many serious injuries and safeguarding lapses happen because responsibility for participant welfare is not always clearly defined between instructors, organisers and parents.

The PASA CPD and framework will empower clubs to send students to third-party events knowing there is a trained safe adult present. Every PASA will be equipped to spot the signs of concussion, raise concerns where welfare may be at risk, and advocate for children and adults at risk who might otherwise be overlooked. This creates a clear, accountable link in the chain of command, ensuring no student is left without a voice.

This initiative forms part of a much broader package of support being launched this month to help clubs both navigate third-party events safely and host their own competitions with confidence. By combining national recognition of our safeguarding leadership with practical, on-the-ground tools like the PASA Award, BMABA is reinforcing its commitment to raising standards, protecting participants, and ensuring independent martial arts can continue to thrive safely.

Join the conversation in our Regulation Ready space here.

Hi there,

On this day back in 2012, a 20-year-old Giovanni registered the very first BMABA domain name — armed with £20 of 'start-up capital', a refurbished laptop, and a second-hand BlackBerry. Thirteen years later, what began as a small idea has grown into a community of more than 6,500 instructors, clubs, assistants and volunteers, and a student body of over 94,000 across 100 disciplines, and £2,450,000 self-generated revenue reinvested back into UK martial arts.

From the earliest members who’ve stood with us through every milestone, to those who’ve joined just recently — thank you. Every single club has helped make BMABA CIC what it is today. Together we’ve navigated COVID, heartbreak, triumph and growth — and we’ve done it without letting politics get in the way of what matters most: martial arts.

Instead of celebrating in the office, we wanted to do something meaningful. On behalf of our team and our members, today we’re proud to make a donation to Sophie's Legacy, a beautiful charity set up in memory of Sophie, who tragically passed away from cancer aged 10. Tonight, our contribution will fund a pizza night for parents staying with their children on the NICU and Howard Ward at Chichester Hospital. Too often these parents go unfed while they remain by their child’s side, and Sophie’s Legacy ensures they are cared for at such a difficult time. We’re committed to making this a regular monthly contribution going forward.

We’re humbled, grateful, and excited for what the next 13 years will bring — and we couldn’t do any of it without you.

Hi there,

We’re delighted to confirm that Version 2 of the MyBMABA Club Management Platform has landed — and it brings one of the most important upgrades yet: Payments.

Clubs can now manage everything from subscriptions and invoicing to online and offline payments directly within MyBMABA. Whether you prefer to use Stripe for seamless online billing or stick with cash, bank transfer, or other providers, the platform now supports it all.

This update means you can:

• Create and track invoices with ease
• Offer automated subscriptions and billing through Stripe
• Provide instructions and record payments for offline methods
• Manage everything in one place — fully integrated with your club’s membership records

The system has been fully tested and is live right now. We recommend clubs test-drive the feature before rolling out, but you’re free to start using it today.

And this is just the start — we’ll be opening the roadmap for Club Manager V3 very soon, with even more tools to help clubs thrive.

👉 Read The Full Update

👉 Switch On Payments

Hi there,

We’re excited to announce a major upgrade to our Club Colours framework, made possible through close collaboration with the Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts (SCiMA).

For the first time ever, clubs achieving BMABA Club Colours will soon be able to download their official SCiMA certificate and brand assets directly from their BMABA dashboard — with no duplicate systems or additional steps.

Seamless, Smarter Integration

Previously, earning Club Colours meant you were eligible for SCiMA recognition — but the certification itself was managed separately. Now, thanks to our partnership with SCiMA and our UKAS-accredited ISO 9001:2015 governance framework, that process is being streamlined into a single, smart platform.

Once live, clubs will be able to:

• ✅ Instantly access their BMABA Club Colours certificate, School of Excellence badge, and national register status
• ✅ Download their SCiMA certificate and brand kit (once approved by the SCiMA team)
• ✅ Track live status updates on the SCiMA public map — directly from their dashboard

This is the first time a national safeguarding scheme has been integrated directly into a martial arts governance system — making it easier than ever to demonstrate compliance and credibility in one trusted place.

Smarter Licencing, Less Admin

Club Colours is now fully powered by our intelligent Regulation Ready framework — meaning eligibility is determined automatically, based on live data and compliance across your entire club team.

Key features include:

• Real-time verification with no manual re-entry
• Role-based vetting options including:

This gives clubs of all sizes more flexibility to manage their team — without ever compromising on safety or governance.

One Unified Trustmark

The updated Club Colours programme now combines:

• ✅ Whole-club safeguarding and compliance (powered by IVY & Regulation Ready)
• ✅ BMABA licensing, recognition, and awards
• ✅ SCiMA certification (when approved)
• ✅ Centralised access to everything — fully digital, fully free

Whether you're a solo instructor or managing a large team, Club Colours provides a transparent, professional way to demonstrate you meet some of the highest standards in grassroots sport.

Already Approved by SCiMA?

If your club already holds Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts approval, it’s quick and free to link your SCiMA status with your BMABA Club Colours licence.

All you need to do is ensure your Club Colours registration is active before your next SCiMA renewal. SCiMA will then automatically connect your safeguarding certification to your Colours record — so you can manage everything from one place, with no duplication.

When Is It Going Live?

The infrastructure on our side is already up and running. We're now just awaiting final testing from the SCiMA team — and we're aiming for full rollout by 1st August 2025, if not sooner.

Once live:

• SCiMA will align all existing Club Colours holders
• New clubs will be eligible for rapid SCiMA approval
• Everything will be handled inside your BMABA dashboard

Want to get your club ready for Club Colours and SCiMA approval?
Learn more about the award, how to qualify, and how to apply:
🔗 https://mybmaba.org.uk/club-colours-just-got-smarter-now-with-scima-certification-built-in/

Hi there,

Over the past few months, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to completely transform the way we manage support for our community.

As part of this, we’ve undertaken and passed the ISO9001:2015 quality standard — a process that involved retraining our entire team, implementing clearer procedures, and setting out structured processes for dealing with concerns, technical matters, and more complex support cases. It’s been a challenging process, but one that has helped us build the sort of infrastructure our members deserve.

We’ve also welcomed Bella to the team, who now leads much of our front-line membership support. With her help, we’ve been able to ensure there’s a properly trained colleague available to help across live chat, phone, and email right through to 5pm every weekday — even when the wider team are focused on compliance, safeguarding, systems, and development work. This has in turn allowed our senior team to deal with more complex and time-consuming matters, and for the rest of our customer services team to move at pace through lower level or less complex communication.

We know that many of you have wanted more timely, responsive support from us over the past few months. Your patience during this growth has not gone unnoticed, and we’re hugely grateful for the trust and space you’ve given us to get it right.

For the past three weeks, we’ve maintained no more than 25 outstanding support queries at any one time — and on three separate occasions, we’ve cleared the inbox entirely. For comparison, this use to be well beyond 400 at any one point. Our average longest waiting query since June 14th has been 3 days, not 3 weeks.

To give a sense of scale, each week we’ve been handling more than 1,000 live chat replies, over 450 web chat conversations, 350+ emails, 100+ phone calls, and 50+ cases via tickets, WhatsApp, and Facebook. These have ranged from simple password resets and routine queries to safeguarding concerns and highly technical grade or web based issues.

We want to take a moment to acknowledge the incredible work from our internal team in getting us to this point — and to thank our community for helping us reach this new standard.

From this point forward, we won’t allow any slipping back. With programmes like Club Colours and RegulationReady maturing, the successful relaunch of MyBMABA, and our club management platform now live, we’re excited about what comes next. With support now running as it should, we believe the next six months will be some of the most impactful yet for our community.

If you've been in touch over the past couple of weeks, we really hope you've noticed the difference in response rates.

Thank you for being part of it. 🙌

Hi there,

Earlier today, BMABA CIC held a high-level meeting with officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to discuss governance, risk management, and safeguarding across the UK’s martial arts landscape.

The conversation focused on the need for effective national oversight—without placing disproportionate pressure on grassroots clubs. We shared our vision for a system where credible governing bodies and associations take responsibility for regulatory standards, enabling community clubs to focus on safe, high-quality delivery.

We also explored the complexities of regulating a diverse sector, including clubs teaching multiple styles, operating for self-defence rather than competition, or working with at-risk communities. These nuances were well received, and we strongly advocated for the enormous value and professionalism present across the independent community.

Our role within the Martial Arts Safeguarding Group (MASG), which is supported by Sport England and DCMS, continues to ensure the voice of the independent sector is heard at the highest level.

We’re also sharing evidence of our national frameworks—such as Club Colours, Regulation Ready, Suitability Vetting, and more—to help shape future policy.

This marks an important step forward for recognition of the independent martial arts community, and we’ll continue to represent our clubs in ongoing DCMS, MASG, and SCiMA discussions.

Click here to read the full update >>

Hi there,

We’ve just released a major update to help clubs better manage instructor compliance: Suitability Vetting is now live in your Account Verification dashboard inside MyBMABA.

While we’ve tracked suitability internally since 2021, this is the first time it’s been fully visible, editable, and centralised—giving you complete control.

It now affects:

• ✅ Regulation Ready completion scores
• ✅ The National Coaching Register (public-facing profiles)
• ✅ All account verification checks
• ✅ Account completion percentages
• 🔜 Club Colours (coming soon)

You can now clearly define for each team member:

• Who’s actively teaching
• Who isn’t currently teaching
• Who is working with adults only

Your compliance requirements will automatically adapt. That means no more penalties for instructors or volunteers who aren’t in regulated roles.

This is especially important for clubs previously blocked by child-specific safeguarding rules. With Suitability Vetting, you can now:

• Mark team members as Not Currently Teaching
• Exclude adult-only roles from child-related compliance
• Phase in checks and training without damaging your club’s standing

This also lays the groundwork for a major change to Club Colours, which will soon be more accessible and representative of real-world teaching roles.

We have huge news coming for Club Colours – our biggest step forward in national recognition since 2020. Stay tuned!

Read the full update here →

Hi there,

Sport England, alongside all five UK Sports Councils, has today released the final report of the Safe Sport Project — a sector-wide roadmap for reforming how safeguarding, welfare, and complaint handling are managed across all levels of UK sport.

The report calls for sweeping changes, including the creation of a new independent leadership body, a unified national safeguarding framework, and an independent complaints and resolution service. It challenges sports bodies to shift away from reactive, legalistic systems and toward a more preventative, person-centred, trauma-informed approach.

This marks a major turning point for UK sport — but for BMABA, it’s a direction we’ve already been travelling for years.

Many of the report’s most ambitious proposals are systems and values we already have in place. These include:

• A fully transparent, public-facing Instructor Verification Register
• Club-wide vetting and licensing oversight through our Club Colours programme
• Comprehensive compliance checks across DBS, insurance, safeguarding, and first aid
• The Regulation Ready framework, which maps and verifies DSL, SENCO, and other key safeguarding leadership roles
• Dedicated, qualified internal safeguarding oversight within our organisation
• Independent external audits and professional reviews to ensure our standards remain robust and credible
• Proactive investment in trauma-informed coaching and inclusive safeguarding training

While many organisations are just beginning to prepare for the standards this report outlines, we’re already delivering on them. We welcome the Safe Sport vision and will continue working to ensure our community-led martial arts sector is recognised, respected, and part of this national conversation.

For our instructors and clubs, this means you can continue focusing on delivering safe, inclusive martial arts — knowing your affiliation with BMABA keeps you not only compliant, but ahead of the curve.

Read and comment on the full report in MyBMABA;

Hi there,

We’re pleased to officially launch MyBMABA Club Manager – a purpose-built, all-in-one platform designed by BMABA CIC specifically for martial arts instructors and clubs. Launched in BETA around three weeks ago, we're now locked in on V2.

This new system brings together the tools you need to manage your club effectively, support your students, and meet key compliance obligations — all from one secure dashboard. Developed entirely in-house, it reflects years of insight into the day-to-day challenges faced by grassroots instructors.

Now available to all members, Club Manager is integrated directly into the MyBMABA platform and can be accessed immediately.

Key features include:

• Student management with live licence and insurance syncing
• Attendance and grade tracking
• Certificate design and issuance
• Accounting & Budgeting
• Club Planning & Management
• Incident Reporting and more.

If you’re an instructor or club lead, simply log into MyBMABA and click “Club Manager” to begin using the system.

What’s Next: V2 Launch with Payments Integration

We’re now preparing to roll out Version 2 of Club Manager, introducing a fully integrated payments system powered by Stripe.

This upgrade will allow clubs to:

• Create and manage recurring membership plans or class payments
• Automatically collect and track student payments
• Monitor income, missed payments, and member churn in real-time
• Reduce admin and streamline student onboarding

The payments feature will be entirely optional, but we expect it to be a game-changer for clubs looking to simplify billing and scale efficiently within the BMABA ecosystem.

When Is It Launching?

Version 2 will begin rolling out in July 2025, with phased early access offered directly through the MyBMABA dashboard. Clubs will be invited to connect their Stripe account and start configuring membership plans as soon as access opens.

What Should I Do Now?

• Log in to MyBMABA and explore the new Club Manager features
• Begin managing students and compliance to prepare for V2
• Keep an eye on your dashboard notifications for rollout updates

This platform is part of our ongoing mission to support independent martial arts clubs with powerful, affordable, and secure digital infrastructure — not as a commercial product, but as a member-first service created by a grassroots CIC.

If you have any questions or want help getting started, just message us here on Intercom. We're here to support you.

Hi there,

If you’ve been around BMABA for a while, you’ll probably have seen our slogan cropping up here and there — To High Places by Narrow Roads. It might look poetic or a bit philosophical at first glance, but it’s not just a catchy phrase or branding fluff. It’s something deeply woven into who we are as a community, a CIC, and a team.

This slogan wasn’t chosen in a boardroom, surrounded by consultants. It emerged slowly and organically — like so many of the most meaningful things in our journey — through reflection, adversity, and resolve. It’s a line that represents not just where we’re going, but the kind of people we’re trying to be as we get there.

The Narrow Road: Discipline, Integrity, Sacrifice

The narrow road isn’t glamorous. It’s not fast, it’s not easy, and it certainly doesn’t come with a crowd. It’s the route of personal responsibility. Of doing things the right way, even when nobody’s watching. Of integrity in business when cutting corners could be faster. Of upholding safeguarding, governance, and licensing standards without compromise, even when it makes us unpopular or unprofitable.

You’ll have seen it in your own clubs too — choosing to build something meaningful and safe for your students, even when cheaper, easier shortcuts present themselves. That’s the narrow road. You’ll have walked it already, whether you’ve realised it or not. I would wager a bet it might even be why you were attracted to BMABA in the first place – I’ve always found those with integrity have a radar for it in others, too.

High Places: A Shared Aspiration

But what of the high places?

They’re not just about size or commercial success. They’re about being the best version of what we set out to be. For us, that means building a resilient, ethical, and independent martial arts infrastructure that isn’t just about ticking boxes — but about transforming lives. It’s about creating a home for clubs and instructors who have felt overlooked, underestimated, or just plain fed up with the status quo.

It’s about raising the sector’s standards without selling our soul. About giving students and communities access to martial arts that actually changes lives, not just fills classes.

That’s a high place. And the view from there is worth the climb.

For me personally, it’s about leaving a legacy that extends long after my life ends. Something my children can look at and be proud of. Something that rescues children who grew up like me – in poverty, without hope. As many of you will know, I’ve been reflecting a lot in my private journals lately about discipline, growth, and what it means to live a good life — not just run a good company.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE HERE