Six Young Kickboxers all set to represent Team GB

Six young athletes will be flying out on Sunday 16th of September to Jesolo, Venice in Italy to compete at the WAKO Kickboxing Junior and Cadet World Championships. These six kickboxers all training out of Evolution Martial Arts in Boston are Mackenzie Warrant, Talon Chambers, Zac Baldry, Jake Peppercorn, Nesta Baxter and Chelsea Leggatt. They will all be representing their country in a couple of weeks were chosen after their hard work by Team GB selectors.

The Six in their new Team GB uniforms -

Left to right - Nesta Baxter, Chelsea Leggatt, Jake Peppercorn, Mackenzie Warrant, Talon Chambers and Zac Baldry

The WAKO Kickboxing Junior and Cadet World Championships 2018 is looking to be one of the biggest and best championships yet. The championships in Italy will hold host to athletes from all five continents from 62 countries including Australia, Azerbaijan, Chile, Guatemala, Iran, India, Moldova, Morocco, South Africa,New Zealand and USA. Of these 62 countries, 2296 young athletes all aged 18 and under will be fighting to earn the prestigious title of WAKO Kickboxing World Champion.

For Mackenzie Warrant, 12, Zac Baldry, 15 and Jake Peppercorn, 17, this will be there first time representing the Great Britain Kickboxing Team at this high level. Mackenzie will be fighting in the Younger Cadet (10-12yrs) Boys -42kg Point Fighting, Zac will be competing in the Older Cadet (13-15yrs) Boys -57kg Light Continuous and Jake will be fighting in the Junior (16-18yrs) Boys -89kg Point Fighting.

For Talon Chambers, 12, this will be his second time representing his country and he will be competing in the Younger Cadet (10-12yrs) Boys +47kg Point Fighting.

For Chelsea Leggatt, 18, this will be her third year representing Team GB and will be looking to go one better at this Championships after earning a Silver at the European Championships last year. Chelsea will be fighting in the Junior (16-18yrs) Girls +70kg Point Fighting and Light Continuous.

For Nesta Baxter, 18, this will be her sixth consecutive year to represent WAKO Team GB. Last year Nesta became the European Champion in her division as well as being chosen as the Girls Team Captain for Team GB. Therefore Nesta has high aims for the upcoming World Championships.

The Six in their official Team GB Tracksuits. Left to right - Jake Peppercorn, Zac Baldry, Nesta Baxter, Talon Chambers, Chelsea Leggatt and Mackenzie Warrant.

They have all been training exceptionally hard up to these championships in which they all have big goals which they hope to fulfil.Their training camp ahead of the World Championships began some eight weeks ago and has mainly been held at their club, Evolution Martial Arts down Fishtoft Road. Their training has consisted of Drills, Fight Work, Speed and Endurance Running, Swim Training, Circuit Training, Strength and Conditioning on top of their normal training regime. With two of these young athletes being just 12 years old it shows their dedication and tunnel vision to achieve their goals at such a young age.

Everyone at Evolution Martial Arts would like to wish these six all the best at the upcoming Championships. Finally a big thank you to all of the coaches and support from Evolution members for all of their help especially head coach Linda Baxter.