On Sunday 25th May the Grimsby strike team travelled down to Worcester for the WUMA battle of England tournament and racked up some impressive victories! 7 fighters from the Grimsby freestyle kickboxing club based on Orwell street, Grimsby fought their hearts out against some strong competition and showed that they had definitely put some hard training in to get the results.
Dion Leshone-Goodfellow, 11 years old fought in the point fighting categories of –135cm and the taller category of –145cm both being of an advanced level and came away with two 1st places in his sections and a 1st and a 2nd place in the overall section. His movement and timing were impecable allowing him to blitz his opponents so fast that they didn’t see it coming on several occasions. Dion’s reflexes were so sharp that as soon as his opponent started to lift their leg for a kick he had already moved in with a quick backfist to score the point. Dion only just missed out on making it four 1st place trophies when he faced a taller and older opponent in the final of the overall section where he did himself very proud! Dion’s experience at tournaments has given him the edge over his opposition this past year and his ability is really starting to shine through!
Emily Allison, 9 years old fought in the –145cm intermediate point fighting section where she came out fighting like a machine. Emily took the fight straight to her opponent with aggressive movement leading her into a sharp side kick followed by hard punches to the head. The points were racking up for Emily with this tactic although her opponent did catch her on the way in a few times too, one went straight to her shoulder which damaged her arm with the impact. Emily fought on with this aggressive plan and soon found herself drawing on points with only seconds to go and on the final attack her opponent just managed to score a clean shot which scored. Emily proudly came away with a 2nd place and the knowledge that she fought the best she could gaining experience all the time!
Paul Whetton, 11 years old fought in the –155cm and also the taller category –165cm at intermediate level and showed some real promise on the mats. This is Pauls first year on the tournament circuit and is gaining experience all the time. His skills were sharp on the day scoring points and moving really well with precise footwork although the nerves started to show slightly for Paul and his reactions to fire those techniques were a little slower than usual allowing his opponent to counter attack and score. Paul fought excellently and came away from the tournament with a 1st place in the taller category, a 2nd place in his normal category and a 2nd place in the overall section too, he also gained some more experience ready for the next one!
Daniel Balch, 15 years old fought in 4 categories on the day including a mens adults section which pushed his skills to the limit. Daniel blitzed his opposition in his +165cm point fighting category and secured a 1st place with another 1st place in the overall section too. Daniel then went onto do the same thing in the +165cm continuous kickboxing category where he showed off his fast footwork and reactions with clean and precise shots which gave him the two 1st places. Daniel stepped up into the mens continuous -60kg section and did himself proud against a tough opponent. Daniel took some heavy blows to the face which left him bleeding from the nose but also gave as good too with some real technical fighting. The outcome was a well deserved 3rd place.
Jessica Ward, 14 years old fought in the –155cm point fighting section and gave a great performance with accurate and clean shots to her opponent scoring points with punches and kicks. Jess’s movement was better than the last time she fought which gave her more options when it came to firing that technique. Jess has been working so hard in the gym to get to the next level on the tournament circuit and it showed on this occasion that her confidence is building all the time. The outcome was a 2nd place and then Jess went straight into her next section which was a big jump up to the adults ladies category of –60kg point fighting. Knowing she was the younger fighter she came out of her corner and charged down the opposition with some very aggressive blitzing showing again that her confidence has grown. Jess came away with a respectable 3rd place in this tough section!
Callum Graves, 16 years old fought in the –65kg mens point fighting section and surprised himself at what can be achieved when you work hard in the gym. Callum was fast and sharp on the mat with good blitzing techniques and his shots were very accurate which pleased the refs and he took the fight to win a 1st place in his section. In the overall final he came face to face with a very seasoned fighter which dented the confidence of Callum slightly as this is his first year as a fighter but that didn’t stop him from attacking and coming extremely close to actually winning. He came away with a 2nd place and bags of experience. Callum also fought in the mens –65kg continuous kickboxing where he met a tougher and older fighter who just wanted to knock him out. Callum stood his ground well although the win went to the opponent at the end of the round giving Callum a 2nd place.
Evan Balch, 11 years old fought in the –155cm point fighting section and started the fight with great movement and aggresive kicks which sent his opponent back into the edge of the area where he trapped him well before firing an accurate punch which scored on several occasions. Evans opponent soon realised what he had to do and started to change the plan slightly and came back with some shots of his own to level the score up. As time went on Evan tried his best to move around the area to find the correct angle although his opponent kept beating him to it and eventually took the win giving Evan a runners up place. Evan also fought in the –155cm continuous kickboxing against a bigger and stronger opponent who dominated the fight from start to finish. Evan tried to strike and move although his opponent was on top of him throughout the round giving Evan a 2nd place.
Coach John Tomlinson said “I am so extremely proud of my fighters and their performances on the day not because of the trophies that were won but because they all went out there and put all that hard work into practice and listened very well in deed to the plan. My fighters have so much talent at such a young age that it’s very exciting to think about what the future holds for these young stars and where this can take them. They all work so hard in the gym and they all deserve to be recognised as superstars within the martial arts.”
BACK ROW FROM LEFT: Paul Whetton, Callum Graves, Jess Ward, Daniel Balch, Evan Balch.
FRONT ROW FROM LEFT: Dion Leshone-Goodfellow, Emily Allison