Newcastle kickboxing club brings home 17 medals from WKC World Championships in Portugal

A kickboxing club in Newcastle has brought home 17 medals from the WKC World Championships in Portugal. Emily Kelsey, 15, from Walkerville, and five of her teammates, represented England at the event from October 26 to 1st November, coming back with an impressive haul of accolades.

Everyone from the Universal Martial Arts team who was attending the competition: Emily Kelsey, Neve Cunningham, Logan Matthews, Fleur Wilson, Kyla Holland and Allanah Savage, were fundraising to ease the financial burden on their families, something which Emily's mum Carolyn was also involved in.

Carolyn said: By the time we'd done all of the fundraising, which included a Summer Fair at the club, we had enough to cover a good chunk of the costs of each competitor, which as parents, we were grateful for, as the competitions are not cheap to enter."

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Emily and the rest of the team took part in a twelve week intensive programme ahead of the competition, with Karate Kid-style training on the beach. The squad also travelled down to Blackpool to take on some other fighters who were competing in Portugal, to get used to sparring with different opponents.

Speaking of her experience at the event itself, Emily said: "It was nerve-wracking in the build up, but by the time we got there, we just wanted to get onto the mats and get started. When you're successful and win a match, or even a whole category, it is such an amazing feeling that I don't know how to describe.

"Seeing the amount of different countries who were competing and feeling the energy in the arena when we got there was incredible and we were also able to relax during the downtime, when we weren't fighting, which was great as we're all really close friends."

Emily's gold medal came in the tag team event with her friend Neve, which sees two competitors tag in and out of the match at tactical times. In an all-England final, it was the girls from the North East that prevailed, adding to the team's huge success overall.

As well as the trip bringing the teens closer together, the parents also benefitted, and their friendships developed during the week long trip. Competitions begin again in February, with the championship winning team now getting a well-earned rest.

Carolyn added: "Everyone of us parents are so happy for them, as they have put in so much hard work to get to this point. The club are so supportive and everyone has been amazing with the fundraising so it is just great to see Emily her teammates earn this success."