Nemesis Martial Arts
Tiring but challenging, excruciating but rewarding, varied but rigid, ridiculous but 
enjoyable. However else you wish to describe a Nemesis session there is one thing for sure…..it is never boring.
A loyal group of 80-100 people make up the Reading club known as Nemesis Martial Arts and the longest standing members have followed Sensei Peter Felix, 4th Dan Wada Ru, for close to 10 years. Students range from school children through to university students, doctors, teachers, mechanics, plumbers, police, nurses, doctors, door men, and almost every other profession commonly seen.
Nemesis is not a club based solely around making money. The club is all about finding members who wish to train under the Nemesis banner and undertake the challenges 
imposed upon them by the instructors. Grades are not merely presented to beginners to keep them interested, they must be earned. Classes are differentiated appropriately to ensure all levels of students are challenged sufficiently. The club has a very professional yet sociable atmosphere and it is not uncommon to see a black belt training with a coloured belt or beginner at any given time. What sets Nemesis apart from the other clubs in close proximity is their energy and attention to fitness. It is considered an average warm up if the students have only performed 50 push ups, 50 burpees, 50 sit ups, and 50 squat thrusts.
The club primarily fuses traditional Karate with Sport Kickboxing but has moved with the ever evolving world of Martial Arts and now incorporates elements of other styles to give the students and team the best chance of an all rounded education. This is also largely due to the growing teaching base Nemesis provides. It now boasts 10 black belts th
rough the Nemesis grading criteria. Four of these black belts have also earned black belts, or are considered advanced practitioners, in other styles. This allows the club to teach elements of Muay Thai, Taekwondo, and basic grappling. All instructors have different strengths ranging from Kata, self defence, fitness, fight theory and practice, and many others. Sensei Peter Felix appropriately assigns the instructors to teach to their strengths to make sure the students are receiving the best teaching the club can provide.
Nemesis Martial Arts maintain a strong professional relationship with the other styles training in close vicinity and are always keen to work with different clubs in the name of education and challenge. The club recently ran a “Cancer Spar-a-thon” which raised in excess of £6000 The event attracted representatives and teams from over 5 clubs showing the strength of the relationships Nemesis has built. They have done this through consistently attending competitions and 
supplying a competitive number of fighters and kata performers that have always given good accounts of themselves as both competitors and people. As the number of black belts has grown so too has the clubs attendance at advanced Martial Arts seminars where again the club has always performed strongly and been within the top 10% of attendees. A loyal and hardworking fight team have been carving out a strong name for the club having attended large events such as Clash of the Titans and other such tournaments as Cimac Superleague, WKA Golden Gloves, the Watford open and many others. The club currently boasts 3 WKA Pro-Am British Champions, one European Champion as well as 2 previous World Champions in Karate and Taekwondo.
An Average Day at Nemesis:
As a faceless “newbie” (new member) enters the Saturday morning session in track suit bottoms and baggy t-shirt he apprehensively looks around at the smartly dressed peers bowing as they enter the sports hall. Each has a different yet similar look to them. From 
various backgrounds and age groups they all have one thing in common, determination. Anyone without such an asset has long since deserted the club and would probably have not even invested in a uniform. Far from being left alone and ignored the “newbie” is quickly greeted and met by the vast majority of entering students. As Sensei Peter Felix enters the hall the students begin to line up exchanging nervous glances. Just what has he got in store today? What has he remembered? What books has he read since last session? What film was he watching last night? What did he find online to kill us this morning? All these factors may affect what Sensei Peter Felix will present his class with. As the usual warm up instruction begins “Running round the hall!!!!” the students forget this nervousness and begin to pair up in their runs with their normal training buddies. The newbie is quickly swept up in this and finds themselves explaining to a coloured belt their motivations for coming to the session. They will soon have more in common than they realize, they will both soon be very very tired. As the drills become harder and harder the newbies are given their escape routes “Beginners only do 10 repetitions, intermediates and advanced 50”. This is where the first and most important test begins for our newbie……..if the newbie elects to do only 10 we will probably not see them again next week……. but if they chose to aim for 50, even if they only manage 30, then we have found ourselves another true candidate for team Nemesis.
As the door closes on another Nemesis class the groans and moans of all attending from newbies to black belts are clear to hear. They shout, roar, sweat and complain that the drill is killing them. One thing is for sure though, every single one of those complaining will be back next week and with only one foot out of the door they will already be talking, or at least thinking, about that great class they just completed.
Chris Djaelani and Peter Felix