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Four Years at Laburnum Street — 36 Years of ProKick
TODAY 1st August 2026 marks four years since the first official class took place at the new ProKick Gym on Laburnum Street, East Belfast. Four Years at the New Laburnum Street site — totally 36 Years of ProKick and 54 Years in Martial Arts — and the story is still being written. Four years sounds like a short time. But when we look back at what has happened inside these walls — and where the ProKick name has travelled from them — it is remarkable.
After decades operating from the famous old ProKick “Tin Hut” in East Belfast, Billy Murray spent years pursuing the dream of creating a permanent, modern home for ProKick and the generations that would follow.
This anniversary also gives us the opportunity to celebrate something much bigger: 36 years of ProKick and 54 years in martial arts for ProKick founder and head coach Dr Billy Murray, former four-weight professional world champion, international promoter and coach who has produced 18 recognised world champions, alongside countless European, Intercontinental, British and Irish champions.
But championships have never told the whole ProKick story.
ProKick is about people.
FROM THE OLD TIN HUT TO A CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE
The journey to Laburnum Street didn’t happen overnight.
After decades operating from the famous old ProKick “Tin Hut” in East Belfast, Billy Murray spent years pursuing the dream of creating a permanent, modern home for ProKick and the generations that would follow.
Following more than five years of development, and with support from the Northern Ireland Executive, Urban Villages Initiative and Belfast City Council, that dream became reality.
An Open House took place on Sunday 31 July 2022 and, on Monday 1 August 2022, the first official class began in the new state-of-the-art ProKick Kickboxing & Fitness Centre of Excellence. ProKick described the new facility as a safe, shared space for young and old, with its principles displayed across the building:
Never Give Up - Hard Work Pays Off
The official launch later brought together representatives from government, Belfast City Council and the community. At that launch, the work of ProKick was recognised for providing a welcoming environment for people regardless of religion, race, gender, sexuality or ethnicity, as well as for its contribution to physical and mental wellbeing.
That matters to us every bit as much as another championship belt.
FOUR YEARS — 17 EVENTS AND COUNTING
One of the dreams behind the new building was that ProKick wouldn’t simply have a training gym.
We wanted a home for the sport.
A venue where a youngster could walk through the door as a complete beginner, learn the basics, progress through the ProKick system, and eventually step into a ring in front of family and friends.
The Champions Fight League helped make that possible.
By April 2024, CFL9 was already the ninth ProKick show staged in less than 18 months at the new venue.
By June 2026 we reached CFL17, with the Bash ‘n’ Mash event at Belfast’s Stormont Hotel.
These haven’t simply been club shows.
International fighters and teams have travelled to Belfast, championship contests have been staged, rookies have experienced their first competitive matches, and established ProKick athletes have been given a platform to move towards professional and international careers.
CFL15 in December 2025, for example, brought Scotland, Germany, Holland and Ireland together in Belfast, including two WKN championship contests and a sold-out audience.
And we are already preparing CFL18 — The Next Generation of Future Champions — on 20 September, deliberately turning the spotlight away from the established stars and onto debut fighters and young prospects.
That’s what building a sport is about.
Not just creating champions.
Creating the next generation.
BELFAST TO THE WORLD
The new headquarters may be in East Belfast, but ProKick has never been confined by four walls.
Over these four years our fighters have continued travelling internationally, carrying the ProKick name and Northern Ireland with them.
Germany. Switzerland. Ukraine. France. Spain. Malta. Cyprus. The Netherland. Japan and beyond.
In June 2024, for example, a ProKick team of eight travelled to Paphos for an international WKN event, ranging from experienced competitors to teenagers and 10-year-old Leo Smith.
In November 2025, five more ProKick fighters headed to Nicosia.
And 2026 alone has seen ProKick teams travelling repeatedly to Cyprus and elsewhere for international competition. In May, four Belfast fighters competed on a 15-fight international event involving athletes from Cyprus, Greece, Northern Ireland, Malta and Poland, broadcast on television in Cyprus and worldwide through ProKick.TV.
That international experience isn’t reserved for a handful of stars. Young developing fighters are being exposed to different countries, opponents, cultures and environments.
They leave Belfast representing ProKick. They come home with experience that no training session can replicate.
CHAMPIONS ARE PART OF OUR HISTORY
ProKick earned the name “Home of Champions” long before Laburnum Street.
Billy Murray began martial arts in the 1970s, started training fighters in the early 1980s and opened his first full-time martial arts centre in Newtownards in 1985 before the ProKick name became established around 1990.
The ProKick archive records a journey from a Belfast fight stable into an organisation whose athletes have competed throughout Europe, Asia and North America.
Billy’s own competitive career saw him become a four-weight professional world champion, beginning with his first professional world title victory over Richard Hill in 1989.
From there came the champions Billy produced himself:
18 recognised World Champions, alongside European, Intercontinental, British, Irish and other championship winners.
And the production line continues.
Grace Goody’s story is one example of what long-term development means. Starting at ProKick as a child, she became a champion in Japan before adding European honours. By the end of 2024, she had secured European K-1 titles in Berlin and Hamburg.
Today another generation — Jay Snoddon, James and Dan Braniff, Grace Goody, Owen White, Reuben Graham, Max Murray, Leo Smith and many others — continues that tradition.
But there is another group of people whose achievements will never appear on a championship record.
And they are every bit as important.
THE CHAMPIONS WHO NEVER STEP INTO A RING
Thousands of people have passed through ProKick over the decades.
Most never wanted to fight.
They came because they wanted to lose weight.
Get fitter.
Learn self-defence.
Build confidence.
Find some discipline or structure in their lives.
They came after difficult periods in life, looking for somewhere to belong.
Over the years we have worked with people struggling with addiction, alcohol, depression, low self-esteem, isolation and countless personal challenges.
A kickboxing gym can’t solve every problem.
But it can give someone somewhere to go.
A reason to get out of bed.
People who notice when they don’t turn up.
A coach who expects more from them.
A target for next week.
And sometimes that little bit of structure is the beginning of something much bigger.
The ProKick archive itself describes how the gym has helped thousands of people in and out of the ring, from children as young as six to adults well into their 60s, through fitness, self-defence and confidence-building.
Those people are ProKick champions too.
OUR CHILDREN — THE FUTURE
Perhaps one of the achievements we are proudest of during these four years has been expanding what we can offer children.
We’ve created dedicated children’s events, development opportunities, gradings and international experiences — but the objective isn’t to turn every six-year-old into a fighter.
It’s about giving them something positive.
ProKick’s junior programme puts enjoyment at the heart of training while developing confidence, friendships, fitness, discipline and self-defence. The programme has welcomed children with a wide variety of additional needs and circumstances.
In April this year, the Laburnum Street gym was again filled with young members progressing through their belt grading, earning that feeling of achievement that comes from working towards something and succeeding.
And just last month, more than 40 children from Venture Kids came through our doors for a morning of exercise, fun and kickboxing.
That’s the community side of ProKick in action.
Because a child doesn’t have to become a world champion for martial arts to change their life.
If they become more confident, more respectful, healthier, more disciplined and believe a little more in themselves, we’ve won.
HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE. MANY BACKGROUNDS. ONE PROKICK.
Walk into Laburnum Street on any busy week and you’ll understand what ProKick is.
Children and grandparents.
Teenagers and professionals.
Complete beginners and international champions.
People from different countries, cultures, religions, faiths and backgrounds.
Some want a world title.
Some just want to survive their first five-week beginners’ course.
And they train under the same roof.
The ProKick website describes today’s club simply: an inclusive environment for beginners and world champions alike.
That sentence says a lot about what we’ve tried to build.
There is no political or religious divide inside the gym.
You’re judged by your attitude, your respect for others and the effort you’re willing to put in.
Never Give Up - Hard Work Pays Off.
FOUR YEARS — BUT 54 YEARS BEHIND IT
So today isn’t simply the fourth birthday of a building.
The bricks, glass, ring, bags and equipment are important, but they’re not ProKick.
The people are ProKick.
Four years at Laburnum Street.
36 years under the ProKick name.
54 years of martial arts for Billy Murray.
18 world champions produced.
Countless other championship titles.
17 CFL events in the new era.
International teams travelling the world.
Children taking their first belt.
Adults taking their first kickboxing class.
Former members bringing their own children — and even grandchildren — through the doors.
And thousands of ordinary people who simply wanted to make themselves a little stronger than they were yesterday.
When we opened this building four years ago, it wasn’t the finish line after years of fighting to make the project happen.
It was another beginning.
There is still more to build, more youngsters to inspire, more fighters to develop, more communities to reach and, hopefully, many more lives to influence positively.
To the Northern Ireland Executive, Urban Villages Initiative, Belfast City Council, everyone who helped make the new facility possible, every coach and volunteer, every fighter who represented us, every visiting team, every parent who entrusted us with their child, every member past and present, and every person who has supported ProKick:
Thank you.
You helped build something that is much more than a kickboxing gym.
You helped build a community.
You helped build a family.
You helped build a place where world champions and complete beginners can stand side by side.
And after four years at Laburnum Street, we’re only getting started.
PROKICK — THE HOME OF CHAMPIONS
Hard Work Pays Off.
