After
the full USKA squads outing to Newark the week before
it was not surprising that a smaller team signed up
to fight in the Goldstar open competition at the Aston
Villa Leisure Centre on September 3rd.
The mat based competition with preliminary rounds being
over only 1 short round is not everyone's cup of tea
but nevertheless we had 6 fighters turn up to see if
they could make an impact on the trophy positions for
the day.
First up to represent USKA was mat newbie
Tyler 'The Steppin Razor' Shakespeare.
On arrival for Tyler it was apparent that his junior
category would see him clash with team mates Reiss Larvin
and Jake Richards. With this in mind and with the absence
of usual cadet rulers Qasim Nisar and Tommy Collett,
Tyler stepped up to fill their shoes and try and make
some impact in the under 18's cadet advanced grade category.
Tyler after receiving a bye in the first round was matched
in the final against old ring nemesis Richard Sidwell
from DEMMA in Oldham.
Tyler had met Richard twice before in the ring first
beating him on points and in their second encounter
battling to a draw.
The much improved Sidwell with his sights on a Midland
Area full contact title fight in two weeks time was
using this bout as a tune up and Tyler was looking to
reverse that previous draw and make a successful mat
debut.
Tyler unfazed and confident at the task ahead of him
started the bout with good combinations and excellent
boxing technique.
Controlling the centre of the mat Tyler did not at all
look like a duck out of water and made the transition
from ring to mat with no problem at all.
Tyler is phenomenally strong for his age and facing
a fighter 3kg heavier and 4 years older than him wasn't
in all honesty giving him too much trouble.
Tyler finishing the stronger and sustaining the more
effective pressure over the two rounds scores him his
first mat victory and put to bed any thoughts about
the pairs last meeting where a draw was awarded.
Well done Tyler on what i would class as joint USKA
fighter of the day.
Next up
'Relentless' Reiss Larvin and Jake
'Rattlesnake' Richards would contest
the over 5ft 4" under 16's advanced grade categories
final.
Both showed good variety of technique and excellent
control as you would expect giving a superb display
of light continuous at it's best.
With both fighters already resided to the fact that
it was going to be a gold and silver to USKA no matter
what way the referee scored it they fought relaxed
with smooth variation in technique.
Referee and judges scored the bout to Reiss with Jake
more than happy with his silver placed position.
Another straight final now this time
with Mark 'The Killer
Kicker' Sedgwick taking on his opponent
from the Blackpool kickboxing gym in the under 5ft
under 16's advanced grade category.
Mark is growing in confidence every time he competes
seems to get better and better in every competition.
Mark a good few levels above his opponent flew through
the gears and mixed and picked his techniques superbly
systematically dismantling his man hitting him with
everything and the proverbial kitchen sink.
Another first place trophy for the killer kicker and
also the joint unofficial award of USKA fighter of
the day for his inspiring performance.
Next up was a tough ask for USKA's Stacey
Richards just missing out by centimetres
on the under 4ft 6" and instead having to mix it
in the girls under 5ft category against the older girls.
Lil' Stace was matched against her namesake Stacey 'The
Terminator' Hawkins from the Tamworth Kickboxing Academy
in her final and it was looking like it was going to
be a tough one even before the first bell with USKA's
Stacey giving away age and an awful lot of experience.
The bout started with Little Stace caught in the firing
line of The Terminators vicious attack. Not only aggressive
Miss Hawkins has brilliant kicking technique and Lil
Stace was getting caught with clean body punches and
head kicks not giving her a chance to mount her own
attack and stem the flow of The Terminators assault.
Stacey shaken and somewhat stirred finished the first
round and made her way back to Coach Kelly with a somewhat
dejected look on her face.
After listening to Neil's pep talk on survival Lil Stace
started the second round with a much tighter defence
no longer in it to win it but to get through it safe
and sound.
A better round from the USKA girl but no doubt about
the decision. A well deserved win to the Tamworth Terminator.
Lil Stace showed alot of heart a resolve in this bout
and never was a truer word spoken when they said that
you learn much more in defeat than you ever could in
victory. This was definitely the case for Lil Stace
today.
Last up for USKA was Noor
Muhammad in the under 4ft 4"
under 16's novice to intermediate grade category.
This looked to be the biggest division of the day
with some good fighters in it.
Noor in his first round match up faced a young fighter
from the DEMMA camp.
An improved Noor worked his combinations well keeping
the pressure on to outwork and outkick his opponent
and secure him the victory and a place in the semi
finals.
Noor's semi final was against a tough young fighter
called Callum from the Select Freestyle Squad. Callum
had eliminated talented prospect Sammy Pollard in
the first round of the competition so we knew he was
going to be no push over.
Noor continued where he had left off in the first
round fight mixing his punches and kicks together
effectively and sustaining the pressure for much of
the round.
Growing stronger and stronger and finishing with a
spin kick to the head Noor again took the referee
and judges eyes to again win and move him forward
to the final fight of the competition.
The final match for Noor was against what looked like
the biggest and strongest fighter in the division
from Dudley's Black Country Combat gym.
The BCC fighter had good boxing technique that had
overwhelmed all his opponents up to this point and
looked like he was going to try to apply the same
tactics in this his final fight of the day.
Noor to his credit fought fire with fire and at times
outkicked his man only to again give up the lead on
the receiving end of the BCC boys punch volleys.
The second round was again a good battle back and
forth only for both fighters to tire three quarter
of the way through it.
This was Noor's opportunity to play catch up but unfortunately
for him he was too tired to press the fight any more.
The bell sounds and a close decision and first place
trophy is awarded to the BCC fighter with Noor on
this occasion having to settle for the Silverware.
USKA's tally for the day a very respectable one at
3 gold's
and 3 silvers.
Well done to everyone for their efforts.