Three Yellowknife kickboxers competed in the Wako North American Championships last month – and came home with three medals.
The inaugural championship was held in Markham, Ontario and included a handful of European and South American competitors as well.
“It went fantastic,” said John Stanley, who coaches a kickboxing program out of Yellowknife gym, Stanley Boxing and Fitness.
Two of the athletes Stanley took to the tournament were youth who are already the current Canadian champions in their class, but their coach said this tournament was “a level up.”
“They were very nervous going into this competition because it was going to be people from other countries. But you know, it turned out to be phenomenal for them. They came away just beaming with confidence,” he said.
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“My first fight was pretty good. My second I wasn’t my best, but it’s a learning experience,” said Dominic St-Cyr, 12, who took home a silver medal in his final in the +47 kg division.
“It felt great,” he said of his win. “[It] would have been better if I got first, but it is what it is.”
Meanwhile, teammate Vann Richards took home bronze in the -37 kg division.
“I like kickboxing because I used to play soccer, but then I just felt like that was a bit boring. So then I decided to join kickboxing, because I felt like it’d feel better for me and I can have lots of room to move a lot,” said 11-year-old Richards, who only started training for kickboxing competitions earlier this year.
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Zain Alhomosh, the only adult representing the NWT at the event, won a silver medal in the -64 kg division. He’s continuing on in the international circuit and will compete at the senior world championships in Abu Dhabi in November.
Stanley says kickboxing is “growing every day” in Yellowknife, in part thanks to the success the club has had of late at national and international level.
“We went from one or two competitive athletes to now we’ve got 15 competitive athletes out of probably 100 kids in the program,” he said.
“Every time we bring back a belt or bring back a medal, the other kids are kind-of like, ‘Oh, I want to try that.’”
