Kelly became interested in martial arts as a child after watching fights by Bruce Lee and Muhammad Ali.
[8] Kelly started catching arrows at his annual martial arts night in 2000,[7] getting the idea from watching the feat performed in the film The Last Dragon.
After working out the stance and the hand technique, training myself to open and close my hand over 70 times in 5 seconds, I worked out how to master catching arrows, both sighted and blindfolded.By 2009, Kelly was Australia's most successful Guinness World Records holder, with 18 titles[3] including the record for the most arrows caught in 2 minutes which he obtained in 2001, catching 10 whilst standing 13 metres from the archer,[9] and the record for the most paintballs caught in 2 minutes whilst blindfolded which he obtained in 2003, catching 11.
[13] In 2014, Kelly obtained the record for the most coach qualifications across multiple sports, being a qualified coach in bagua, association football, kung fu, mixed martial arts, ninjutsu, qigong, rugby union, rugby league, tai chi and tai chi dao.
[16] Kelly was the first person to perform live on Guinness World Records television series in both India and China.