Lee Matthews

Lee Matthews (born 3 December 1976) is a British entrepreneur, UK armed forces paratrooper, and a multi-award winning kickboxer. He is the founder of British Military Martial Arts, the largest chain of martial arts centers in the UK, and Kicksport, an online retailer of martial arts equipment.
Matthews is a 4th Dan in Kickboxing 4th Dan in Sport Karate, and a 1st Dan in Karate and currently represents Great Britain as a heavyweight kickboxer in the WAKO nation Kickboxing team and competes all around the world. Apart from that, he is also a renowned teacher with over 1000 students under his belt.
==Early life and education==
Matthews was born on 3rd December 1976 at the Wrekin Hospital in Telford. He started training for jiu jitsu at the age of 8 and after a couple of years began training for Lau Gar Kung Fu and competing in state-level competitions. 
As a child, Matthews moved around a lot. He briefly lived in London before moving back to Telford and then on to Oxford, where he joined various local clubs and gained extensive expertise in a variety of styles.
When Matthews was 15 years old, his family returned to Telford from Oxford where he began training at the ECKA, a full-contact karate club, with instructor Logan Easy. At age 16, he won the nationals in points and full contact. Later, he travelled to Groningen, Holland, with the WKA, where he won a junior World championship. Lee then continued to compete until he was 18 and enlisted in the British Army.
==Career==
Matthews became a member of the Parachute Regiment at the age of 18 on 5th December 1994. He first worked for B company before moving to HQ company. He was afterward transferred to a support company, where he received mortarman training and served with the infamous 3 Para mortars. During the late years of his tenure there, he was also a PTI for the Parachute Regiment recruits in Phase 1 training.
While he was still serving in the army Matthews joined a Dover full-contact kicking group at the age of 19 and began training and competing with them. Lee began his training with the Kidderminster Winsper family when he was 21 years old.
At the age of 25, Matthews resigned from the Army and founded British Military Martial Arts, a martial arts school. Within a year of his leaving the service, his school expanded into a full-time martial arts facility. Matthews competed internationally for over 10 years after leaving the army and represented WAKO GB most years at the European and World championships. He retired from fighting at age 35.
Matthews has grown British Military Martial Arts to over 100 independent locations, 18 of which are full-time martial arts centres, and the full-time martial arts centre in Tweedale near Telford currently serves as the corporate headquarters. The company is currently the largest chain of martial arts schools in the UK and it is still expanding. Matthews’ another venture, Kicksport is an online retailer of martial arts equipment.
==Awards==
Throughout his career, Matthews has won multiple national and international awards which include: 
* 10 x WAKO British Champion
* 2 x WAKO pro European champion
* WAKO World team champion
* WKA Junior world champion
* WMKF full contact points World champion
==In the media==
<youtube width="300" height="300">KPhfGwWklMs</youtube>  
<youtube width="300" height="300">Xqq0dUhvFZQ</youtube>  
<youtube width="300" height="300">PYimCJTJHxE</youtube>
==References==
==External links==
* Official website
* Official website
* Personal website
Category:1976 births
Category:Living people
Category:British Entrepreneurs
Category:British kickboxers
Category:British martial artists
Category:British people