Sport In Profile UK Issue 16 | Page 48

Alex Enlund FOLLOW US ONLINE twitter.com/sportinprofile Alex Enlund SBG Alex Enlund has faced a difficult year after he was sidelined from competition due to the appearance of a brain lesion but during that time his SBG MMA South Shields set up has gone from strength to strength. We recently caught up with Alex to find out more. He told us, “I first set the SBG Gym up as a way for me to collect training partners. At the time I had to travel quite a distance to train in Sunderland so I set the gym up and then anybody that wanted to learn martial arts in South Shields could train with me.” “It has just grown from there to the point where we have a great academy with teaching for kids right up to adults in their late 40s. It just started as something to do and now it has become 48 Issue 16 my life. I compete as an athlete and for a long time didn’t receive that much coaching and so I wanted to offer other people the service that I never had. “Getting involved in martial arts can be a life changing experience for the people that get involved. One of my students who is now doing some coaching was out of work and terribly out of shape but now has turned things around and that was because of his passion for martial arts since joining the club. That is a great example of the impact it can have. “I think Martial Arts is for everybody. A lot of people have this idea of MMA Gyms being full of tough guys that want to fight. The reality of our gym is that less than 20% of our members are competing; whether you are training for fun, fitness or fighting you should do Martial Arts. “A lot of people quit on their goals fitness wise if they are doing certain