Ella Simmonds was seven when she walked into a kickboxing gym with her dad for the first time and remembers training in a dress.
Now 15, she holds a black belt and her younger brother is following in her footsteps.
Siblings Ella and Alfie, 12, are members of Sharks KMA who train in Goode’s Gym in Croesyceiliog.
I met the pair before their class last Friday evening.
Mum Danielle Simmonds said: “By the time Ella got to seven she’d been to all different clubs, the typical ballet, brownies and everything else. She didn’t take a liking to any of it. My husband used to do kickboxing so he said ‘I’ll take her along and see if she likes it’ and she absolutely loved it and has stayed ever since.
“They [Sharks KMA] teach you a lot of self-discipline and respect. When they were younger if they were ever playing me up a bit I would say ‘I’m going to tell sir and miss and it would shake them up.
“I remember when she first went, her very first session here, she came home and I posted something on Facebook because she said, ‘I’ll be a black belt one day’ and now she is. I just think it’s an amazing achievement.”
Ella said: “I remember when dad first mentioned kickboxing to me, I didn’t think I’d like it. I went from training with my dad all the time in my dress to being a black belt.
“It’s weird. I remember my first day here.
“I remember my trainer telling me I had to bow into the room and bow back out.
“[I love] the friendships I’ve made and the fitness. I love it. We have a lot of fun there as well. Over the years we’ve made loads of friends and they do summer camps and stuff like that.”
To get a black belt she had to do five-hour grading: “It was really hard. They wanted to test our fitness and our stances. We did sparring, two on one, so it was two people fighting one person at the same time. That was really hard, challenging.
“On Sunday I’ll be going to a tournament. I’m going to be a referee. To be a referee you have to be a black belt. It’s interesting.”
She’s now training twice a week while revising for her GCSEs.
Alfie joined Sharks KMA when he was five.
He said: “I love the fitness and how you learn to protect yourself.” I asked him what he thought of his sister gaining her black belt.
Alfie said: “I think it’s amazing and I’m proud of her. And I think she’s a really good black belt. I think that I can aim for black belt now that I know my sister has done it.”
He’s hoping to be put forward for his black belt grading “around October” later this year and said: “She [Ella] is going to be helping me with skipping and Korean and just everything.”
The Croesyceiliog School pupils also learn Korean because this is the language used in lessons, gradings, and tournaments.
🥋 Sharks KMA train in Goode’s Gym on various days and times for different age groups. For more information contact Dave on 07990 802556 or email [email protected]