Chatham's very own UFC fighter Chad Laprise is sharing his skills with the local community.
Saturday afternoon Laprise signed autographs and held a seminar at Blair's Bootcamp Fitness & Training Centre.
"Anytime I'm able to come to Chatham it's awesome," says Laprise. "This is where I grew up, this is where I started training in martial arts so to be able to come back here and give back to the community is awesome."
Those who showed up for the seminar took part in a beginners training session led by Laprise. For those more experienced, Laprise led them in advanced sparing.
"I'm going to spend some time in kind of fine tuning their skills so they can get up to the next level also," he says.
Looking at where martial arts is now compared to 15 years ago, Laprise says momentum has skyrocketed.
"It's definitely amazing seeing all the future stars," says Laprise. "People kind of look up to me so it's my responsibility to come back and give back to the community."
Laprise adds now there's a lot more opportunities within Chatham-Kent for people to practice martial arts and master new techniques.
