For a long time, I was the only woman who trained regularly at my gym. I love training with guys all the time, but there is something to be said for the value of another female presence. Whenever I see another woman in the gym, I get excited at the prospect of training with her because it’s not an opportunity that I often have. In September, Katy turned up. In the second part of this Read more
This week, Natasha Sky published an article on her blog about her experiences of training and fighting while on her period. I’m glad that she did, because I’ve often thought that it was an issue that was worth writing about. I also particularly like the way that Natasha was totally up-front and unashamedly honest about a subject that’s rarely spoken about in general, let alone in Muay Thai gyms. Since I read her article, I’ve been Read more
The legacy of a fighter is often summarised by their record, but there is so much more to fighting than winning and losses.
Awakening is a new website for women in martial arts. Founded in 2012, it provides a platform for female fighters to promote ourselves and a network through which to find and support each other. One of the ways that they’ve provided this is with the Global Female Martial Arts Register, where athletes can submit all their information for Awakening to build them their own profiles. They’ve now taken a step further with the Awakening Female Read more
There’d been a six-month gap between this fight and my previous one, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but to say that I was eager to get back in the ring would be a huge understatement. During that break, some changes had been made to my training, so I was looking forward to seeing how it would all come together. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one from the gym who was fighting. There Read more
Today, I had one of those sparring sessions where I got so frustrated that I started crying. I wasn’t hurt or upset, and I didn’t have to stop training. Tears just seemed to come out of nowhere as I drew breath in between rounds. This has happened to me several times before, and each time, it’s been uncomfortable to deal with. This sparring session was a particularly difficult one, as the partner I was working Read more
It’s been far too long since my last fight. Five months, in fact. After a year of pretty much non-stop fighting, I knew I’d need a break, but I never intended for it to be this long. After that fight, I took a couple of vacations, one back home and one to visit friends in Bali, which were very much needed, but I still found it hard to tear myself away from the gym. This Read more
Getting kneed or kicked in the ladyparts is not something that I hear female fighters talk about very much, but it happens. For me, it happens far too often. I have a distinct memory of receiving a hefty teep to the pubic bone in my second fight, which wasn’t much of an issue. But in the following fights, knees to the groin seemed to become the weapon of choice of a few of my opponents. Read more
Anyone who’s ever done any level of Muay Thai training will have experienced the type of padwork where the trainer tells you every strike to throw. ‘One, two, kick!’ While it certainly has its benefits, it’s not the only way. Recently, I’ve started to enjoy a much more fluid style. Freestyle Padwork Now, my trainers won’t tell me what to throw in padwork. In fact, they almost avoid using words altogether. Instead, they simply hold Read more
A friend of mine recently returned to the gym after spending more than a year away, and upon catching up with me, remarked that I had changed since he’d last seen me. He meant this entirely as a compliment, adding that I’d become totally focused and that he was proud of what I was doing. On the other hand, I also recently reunited with some other friends, who I hadn’t seen since before I started Read more
