WKO Kickboxing Competition

Sunday 4th Feb myself, Karina, and three of our kickboxing students (Sam, Lukas, Charlie), as well as Charley’s dad and brother were back up to Barnsley for our second WKO kickboxing competition. Sadly our other fight team member, Alex, was not able to attend this time.

It was the second competition for everyone and they all put on a real show and had some great fights.

Lukas was first up, and in his category he was up against three other fighters. Unfortunately he didn’t win his first fight and he was pretty annoyed with himself and we all knew he could do better. After a break, he was back on the mat for a fight for bronze medal and in a complete turnaround, he was absolutely fantastic and came out a clear winner, and was the delighted recipient of a bronze medal.

Sam was up next and he had an epic two-round fight which really could have gone either way. He got some beautiful shots and techniques on his opponent and I was pretty sure he’d done enough to get the decision. Sadly though, it didn’t go his way on the day and he lost, very narrowly.

Charlie was the final fight for our guys and despite putting up a great fight, he didn’t win this time (he was hoping for back-to-back victories after winning last time). It was a really tough fight though and Charlie definitely showed his resilience and fighting spirit. He gave, and took, some great shots in what were a fast and furious two rounds.

I was incredibly proud of the three WCA fighters. Their continued improvement, their etiquette before and after the fights, their hard work and dedication to actually get to the point of representing WCA in a competition (I don’t make it easy for them!). Not many people can stand opposite a complete stranger – one they know is trained in martial arts – and confidently put their skills to the test. So when you see them in class, do give them a pat on the back.

What is also really pleasing for me is that we as a traditional martial arts club – of which kickboxing / sparring is quite a small proportion of what we actually do – we can go and compete with clubs that are very much tailored to competitions and come away with victories / very close fights.

So well done guys, we’re looking forward to the next competition at the end of April.