Meet the Team

Mark Pengelly

Founder & Director, 6th degree Black Belt in Kick-Boxing, 1st degree in Tae Kwon Do, Head Coach at Blaze Bridgwater & Taunton.

Mark has been training in martial arts since 1991, over 33 years. His initial martial arts training achieved him his Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do in 1996; shortly after which he transitioned to Kick-boxing and now holds the title of 6th degree. He has been teaching children and adults for over 25 years and has built up a vast framework of teaching methods during this time. In 2002 he founded Mark Pengelly’s Schools of Kick-Boxing Ltd to share his wealth of experience in technical understanding, application and inspiration and has since trained fighters to European Championship levels and organised large semi-contact competition events. In the summer of 2022 the club’s celebrated the 20th Birthday making them one of the longest running clubs in the region.

Mark holds certificates and diplomas in coaching, WAKO refereeing & judging, safeguarding, emergency first aid, data protection and is DBS checked, licenced & affiliated with the British Martial Arts & Boxing Association. Mark also worked as a firefighter OIC for many years and calls upon his work-based training to maintain a high level of health and safety in his classes.

Mark is Blaze’s chief coach, head grading examiner, head referee & competition judge, lead health & safety officer and is a club safeguarding officer.

Loves: Reaching and helping more students as the club has grown.
Hates: Being called ‘Sir’.

Bryony Pengelly

1st degree Black Belt, Head Coach, Business Manager, Director and Safeguarding Lead

Bryony started training in kick-boxing in 2005 and, after taking some time out to raise children, achieved the title of Black Belt in 2019.

Bryony holds BTEC level 3 certificates in both Self-Defence Instruction & also Conflict Management and is a trained member with the National Federation of Personal Safety. She has worked with children & teens for over 20 years in martial arts & youth work and is passionate about inspiring lives and building confidence and empowerment through exercise and self-defence skills.

Loves: The Black Belt Mindset.
Hates: Negativity.

Claire Rose

1st Degree Black Belt, Assistant Coach at Blaze Taunton

Claire achieved her 1st degree Black Belt in Karate in 2011 and made the transition to kick-boxing in 2016 to pursue her passion for sparring. Claire has fought in full-contact shows and semi-contact tournaments in both kick-boxing and karate and holds certification in WAKO refereeing and judging.

Claire is a competition referee & judge, an assistant coach at our Taunton club and is a grading examiner.

Loves: Sparring.
Hates: Wasps!

Adey Pocock

1st degree Black Belt, Assistant Coach

Adey has been a member of the club since 2011 and achieved his first degree black belt in 2019. He commenced assistant coaching in 2019 when his children joined the club to follow in their Dad’s footsteps.

Adey is a grading examiner.

Loves: An insanely hard, beast of a warm-up.
Hates: Boiled carrots.

Richard Boyne

Assistant Coach at Blaze Taunton

Richard has been a club member for over ten years since he started his training in 2014. He became an assistant coach with BLAZE in 2019 and is a club grading examiner.

Loves: Skipping.
Hates: Cheating on press-ups.