The first time I saw Royce Gracie in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, all I wanted to do was Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It was UFC 4 and he tapped out Dan Severn in the final with a Triangle.

A few months later in 1998, I got my traditional Jiu-Jitsu black belt and a few months after that, I went to a Carley Gracie seminar. It was my first lesson in BJJ and afterwards I knew I wasn't going to be satisfied with anything else.

For a while I waited for BJJ to reach the North East while training in Judo and Sombo among other things. Eventually I realized BJJ wasn’t about to come to the North East unless people like me went away and learnt it and opened our own classes.

So I listed a few clubs that were in a few hours reach of home. The second one I went to was Darren and Helen Currie’s in Pontefract and I didn’t bother trying any of the others. I started training with Darren and Helen in late 2000 and am grateful for everything they’ve taught me.

Our club’s been going a little while now. We train hard, but in a safe and friendly atmosphere. It’s good to have somewhere on our doorstep and we’ve been lucky enough to get Darren and Helen, and Chris Haueter up here for seminars recently.

I got my blue belt from Matt Thornton in February 2002 and my purple belt from Chris in February 2006.