Steve Pearson
Steve began training in 1987 and was awarded his 1st Dan Black Belt in December 1990. He is also a fully qualified Taekwondo and fitness instructor.
Steve's focus during his training has been very much tournament and competition based as his list of title successes suggests. Steve has 14 years of tournament experience in both Taekwondo and open martial art events.
He has won the British Taekwondo championships for several consecutive years and many other national and international martial arts titles. As well as this he has won the world open Taekwondo championships in 2000 and with his years of tournament fighting knowledge and experience.
Steve specialises in what actually works on the mat and is an excellent fitness coach and motivator. Steve has regularly sought out and trained with the best coaches he could find, and in 1994, used this knowledge and experience to set up the Steve Pearson School of Martial Arts (now the Range Academy), teaching Taekwondo, Kickboxing and more recently, MMA.
During its existence the club and teaching have evolved, incorporating more effective tournament, fitness and self defence techniques, and perhaps most importantly, incorporating scientific methods to ensure students train as safety as possible.
Steve has himself continued to develop, by achieving a 4th Degree Black Belt, and working closely with his fellow coaches and club technical advisor, one of the leading Mixed Martial Arts exponents in the country, Mark Weir.
Steve's Competition History
Commenced Training : 1987
1992 English TKD Champs - 3rd
1992 British TKD Champs - 2nd
1993 English TKD Champs - 1st
1994 M.A.I. TKD Champs - 1st
1994 English TKD Champs - 1st
1995 English TKD Champs - 1st
1996 English TKD Champs - 1st
1997 English TKD Champs - 1st
1994 British TKD Champs - 2nd
1995 British TKD Champs - 2nd
1996 British TKD Champs - 1st
1996 Italian Open Champs - 1st
1996 Dutch Open Champs - 1st
1999 German TKD Champs - 3rd
2000 Cheltenham Open - 1st
2000 World Open TKD Champs - 1st Mw
2006 KB Black Belt 2nd Dan achieved
Mark Dearnley
Mark is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and is our specialist BJJ/grappling coach.
Stan Marshall
Range Academy has recently welcomed Stan Marshall to be part of the coaching team assisting Steve and Mark in MMA sessions as well running Saturday morning's sparring and grappling session for adults and teenagers.
Matt Ewin
Introducing our new MMA Coach, Matt Ewin. Former Cage Rage - Extreme Brawl - Ultimate Combat British Champion, Cage Warriors World Champion and Ranked number 1 middleweight in the UK for 2 years.
Dan Ward
Dan Ward began his study of Martial Arts in 1980 with Judo and Karate. He then began studying Bujinkan Ninjutsu in 1984 and currently holds a 10 degree black belt under Grand Master Masaaki Hatsumi.
As a former Met Police Office he holds qualifications as an Officer Safety Instructor, Firearms operative and was Riot Trained. As a member of the DPG, Dan's duties included providing armed protection to the Diplomatic community.
Dans first Amateur MMA competition was in 2004, and for a period was ranked 5th in the BAMMA Open Championships.
In 2020 Dan joined the directing staff at POLARM International. Providing instruction for Civilians, Police, Military and Public/Private Sector Security Forces internationally, in the world of firearms, close protection and anti-terrorist activities.
Dan also holds a Level 3 AET teaching qualification and is currently a Brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.