April 2003 Newsletter
by Sensei Martin Blakeway

Evening fights - Fight Card (so far matched)
Welter Weight bout - Chris Whiting (Chongshin Do) V Jason Skully (Gatwick Kickboxing)
Middle Weight bout - Arron Dovey (Chongshin Do) V Garrett Grant (Nomads Kickboxing)
Light Heavyweight bout - Ben Vowels (Chongshin Do) V Jim Tucker (Nomads Kickboxing)
Cruiser Weight bout - John Skeldon (Chongshin Do) V Russel Smith (Gatwick Kickboxing)
Also Fighting on evening show >
Phillip Williams (Bloxwich Chongshin Do) John Farrelly (Sutton Chongshin Do)
PLUS Top quality Semi-Contact & Semi-heavy bouts

Full Fight review with photo's - Click here

WOW - What a Night
I arrived home around 11pm - sat and reflected on the days events - one word to sum it up - SUPERB.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who fought, helped and watched the event -
Some members need a special mention - more on them later- So what happened

The day show 11am - 6pm Chongshin Do V The rest !!
49 fights - all but a small handful, had a Chongshin Do member fighting against another kickboxing club - Fantastic support from you all - Oh and I don't want to say I told you so - but who was buzzing for hours after with the adrenaline rush from hearing your name announced and being ushered into the ring with cornermen, taken through a short briefing with the Ref (Steve) to having 3 mind blowing adrenalin pumping minutes. ?
Yep thought so ! -
Well done to you all - you not only put on a great show but did yourselves and the club proud and conducted yourselves in very sportsman like way with the correct spirit for such an event - well done
For those who could not make it the show started around 11.30 after registration and matchmaking - first up were the kids - all enjoyed the experience very much and what a thrill for them with a great crowd giving them the atmosphere of a championship show. Right from the start Sensei Steve Pride managed the fights superbly and kept the kids fights light and enjoyable for all.
The adults were a mixture of novice bouts and competitive bouts - once again the contact level was kept to the required level by Steve and our fighters put up some great fights with most successfully beating their opponent. I am especially pleased with the lower grades who competed - some only training for a matter of weeks - yet willing to test themselves against more experienced members- I hope you learned from the experience -
you don't know what to think until you experience it - now you have - what do you think?
The Docker brothers did a superb job cornering for many of our fighters. Other Black Belts and senior grades were doing key tasks in running, time keeping and judging. The show went like clock work! And to the audience - it was seamless.

Consider this - We are NOT just a kickboxing club -
Consider this - We ARE a multi style Martial Art - we have much more in our syllabus than kickboxing -
So how come our fighters can do battle with full-time kickboxers and beat them at their own game -
I put it down to the Spirit within the group - everyone who attends wants to enjoy themselves but train hard - The Way of the Spirit certainly is a group respected within the Kickboxing clubs out there!! -
Look out cause they ain't seen nothing yet!

The Evening show and Main Event
The evening show was a full fight card with 9 fights ranging from exhibition fights to semi-contact bouts, semi-heavy and full contact fights.
The huge crowd that attended were given a night to remember as the roof of Sutton's Town Hall was well and truly blown off with the atmosphere of Superb kickboxing entertainment. Many of the main fights getting the audience off their seats with standing ovations !!
Of course there would be no show if the members of Chongshin do had not volunteered to be part of it - All the fights had at least one Member doing battle against the rest - with mixed results some we won some we did not but all can hold there head up and say they did themselves and the club proud. Thanks and well done to all.
Full Fight review on following pages.

This just leaves me to say thanks to the many that helped - James took great care of the shop, Ben Vowels during the day did a valuable job in time keeping, as mentioned before the Docker brothers for great cornering and judging, Chris Whiting supplied & set up the PA, Matt Bryan & Wayne (daytime) - Matt, Chris, Martin (evening) for fight control, Steve for video, and I'm sure many I have not mentioned - Thanks
Last but by no means least - I want to thank Sensei Steve Pride for a truly superb job in the ring - he was there for 10 hours straight (only a very short break for a small bite to eat & loo visit) he was there controlling the fights better than anyone I have seen. This was echoed by ALL the visiting camps - I am sure Steve will be called upon for more Kickboxing events within the BKBU and he will establish himself as one of the best they have. Massive thanks to you Steve - Superb !