After growing up fatherless, Wilmington kickboxing teacher motivated to be good dad

As a child growing up in Durham, Kelvin Bass never had a relationship with his father.

"I was angry," Bass said. "You know, 'Why don't I have a dad?"

Bass, who moved to Wilmington 12 years ago, was raised by his mother and grandmother, who told him, "Don't worry about it. You got us."

Still, Bass said he needed and sought out a father figure. In 1987 he found that father figure, of all places, at the mall. There, a 14-year-old Bass, a fan of the films of martial artist Bruce Lee, happened upon a demonstration by the man who would become his first teacher.

"I saw him doing a demo and said, 'I want to do that,'" Bass said. "I was good. So I didn't stop."

After going on to win multiple fighting tournaments, Bass has now been a martial arts instructor for more than 20 years, starting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and since 2010 in Wilmington. He teaches the "Muay Thai" style of kickboxing at various locations around town under the moniker Hammer Muay Thai Kickboxing, named in honor of Larry Borden's Hammer Gym in Fort Lauderdale, where Bass said he learned to be an instructor.

Bass, who has long braids, an imposing build and a winning smile, said his goal is to teach and to be a father figure to kids who need one while also being a good father to his 10-year-old son, Kain, who has already won several youth fighting tournaments and has picked up the nickname "Bam Bam."

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Bass has a nickname as well — "The Axeman" — which he got from perfecting a kick in which he lifts his leg high and brings it straight, forcefully down, like an axe.

Mastering fighting techniques teaches structure and discipline, Bass said, which is something he needed as a kid and found both through his martial arts instructor and through his high school teacher in the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps, or JROTC.

"That was my two loves," Bass said. "My father was not there for me, but I still had that structure. Those two guys changed my way."

Bass has two adult children: a son, Jejuan, 28, and a daughter, Amber, 22.

He's a single father to 10-year-old Kain, which is something "I'm learning to deal with," Bass said. "I don't want the week on, week off. I want to be right there with him every day."

He tries to be a role model to his son, Bass said, and teaches Kain to show respect to his mother and other adults, and to be a leader both in martial arts classes and in school.

Sometimes, Bass said, his son tells him, "'You're hard on me.' Well, I want you to do good. And everything I'm telling you and showing you is going to help you for the rest of your life."

Understandably, not everyone wants to risk the injuries associated with competing in a sport like kickboxing. Bass himself has had multiple surgeries and dealt with such injuries as a torn Achilles, broken thumbs, a broken nose, broken toes, a torn labrum and "a lot of concussions."

But martial arts training and kickboxing training also has its benefits, Bass said.

"You train, you run, you hit the bag or jump rope, sit-ups, push ups. You're gonna be so healthy doing this."

In addition to the private lessons he teaches, Bass said he's looking to expand his mission to help at-risk youth, perhaps through schools or the court system.

"My thing is to give back to the community, let these fathers know they need to be there for these kids," Bass said. "They need us in their world and that's the truth, you know. And not having a father, I understand that."

Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com. 

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington kickboxing teacher Kelvin Bass aims to be good father