Brendan Westwood
Brendan Westwood – the founder of MKG Bournemouth
Brendan Westwood established MKG UK back in 1999 – the first Minnesota Kali Group based school in the UK. Over the subsequent 20 years, he fostered the growth of the ‘MKG method’ approach to martial arts in the UK, helped establish other MKG schools across the country and into Europe, refined the delivery of the curriculum to all levels of student, built an annual UK-based martial arts camp from scratch, and was promoted to level 4 instructor under Guro Rick Faye.
Brendan had a genuine ‘everyman’ experience with martial arts. Spanning over 30 years, he first tried martial arts when he was 12 years old – a friend of his introduced him to Judo – but he became side-tracked with other sports. However, he kept a lingering desire for the martial arts…
It wasn’t until 1991 that he ventured back into the arts through learning Wado Ryu (Karate). He enjoyed the training and the mentality of competition – but there was still something missing, and after 18 months he drifted again into other types of fitness training…
The old cliché of watching Bruce Lee movies finally influenced him back at the start of 1994. Whilst seeking out anything like Jeet Kune Do in his local area, he found an instructor called Colin Sherred:
“When I met him he just seemed larger than life, and what I didn’t realise at the time was that he was going to shape my martial arts career.”
Colin was an instructor under Guru Dan Inosanto – an important custodian of JKD. Initially starting in Filipino Weaponry and then onto Thai boxing and grappling, over the next 18 months he trained in every class he could, and taking one-to-one sessions with Sifu Sherred at least twice a week. He had finally got the martial arts bug, and nothing was missing. With the technical arts of Kali and Panantukan, and the more physical Thai Boxing and grappling he had finally found what he was searching for.
At the end of 1995 he was offered an apprentice instructorship under Sifu Sherred, which he embraced with both hands. Over the next couple of years Sifu Sherred introduced Brendan to many high-level instructors – Dan Inosanto, Rick Faye, Phil Norman, Terry Barnett, Marc McFann and Rick Young to name but a few. It really opened his eyes to the wider world of martial arts, made him feel very humble, and how open you should be for each individual to grow.
Through Sifu Sherred’s advice, in 1997 Brendan attended Sifu Rick Faye’s Summer Camp in Minneapolis and after 4 eight-hour days of training was awarded an affiliate instructorship under Sifu Rick Faye. The camp covered so much of the arts he couldn’t really take it all in, but it was a great experience for him, and one he repeated for the next five years in a row.
Over the years he continued to train with other instructors, but his main influence has been Sifu Rick Faye,
“I have acquired a Level 4 instructorship in Thai Boxing, Filipino Weaponry, Jun Fan Gung Fu and grappling arts, I am also a qualified Panantukan (Filipino boxing) Instructor in the MKG method. I am constantly striving to improve not only my knowledge but my ability to perform the arts. Unfortunately in 1999 Sifu Sherred passed away, it was a great loss to the martial arts world but also to me personally. Without his input I wouldn’t of met all the instructors I have and I wouldn’t of had the opportunity to continue training with Sifu Rick Faye and for that I am eternally grateful.”
Brendan went on to have the honour of representing Rick Faye’s school and brand in the UK and Europe. As the European Director of MKG he was responsible for training new instructors from England, Scotland and Wales (and maintaining their skillset), as well as delivering seminars in various dojos in the UK to promote the MKG Method. He also established the annual 4 day MKG UK Spring Camp at Calshot – where over 100 martial artists from around the world gather to not only learn, but truly immerse themselves in the ‘MKG Family’ that unites so many people for differing backgrounds.
Listen to Brendan discuss his perspective on martial arts on Mick Tully’s podcast.
Sadly, despite a well-fought campaign over the last 6 years of his life, Brendan lost his battle with cancer in 2019. He leaves behind a legacy, that our school is honoured to continue.
Brendan Westwood
1971-2019
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