A.R.D. Training Camp

After a long training camp; from over the Christmas period until the middle of February, three of the guys from A.R.D. Training Camp headed up to Birmingham with the rest of the team to compete in the British Kickboxing Championships - we had Keith Ellis & Tyler White competing in the full contact discipline and World Champion, Nathan Bye, competing in the Veterans Light Continuous category. 

 

After a couple of hours in the car, the guys got weighed in, with Tyler weighing in at 59kg, Keith weighing in at 84kg and Nathan weighing 90kg - all the guys had made the weight and so all that remained was the long wait until the fights got going - part of the fun at kickboxing competitions is that there is a lot of waiting around for the matches to be made and for all competitors and officials to get ready and in place.

 

Unfortunately the WAKO’s this year did not run as smoothly as they have on previous years, with a few administrative and technological issues which caused both some minor and significant delays! 

 

One of those significant delays was in getting Nathan’s bout underway, at 7pm they were still nowhere near close to his contest taking place and so it was decided that we should forfeit that bout as by the time it had taken place and the team had got home it would’ve been gone midnight; therefore, Nathan did not end up competing in the championships this year, but was a great asset to the team none-the-less by assisting in the corners with head coach, Andre.

 

After a few hours of waiting around, Tyler was up first and had a straight final in the under 60kg category. After a challenging 3 round contest and a decent performance, Tyler lost via decision. Despite coming on strong in the 3rd round and beginning to break his opponent down with body shots, it wasn’t enough to sway it in his favour. 

 

Despite losing his bout, he did very well in holding his own against a very experienced and successful opponent - a fighter who had won titles at British and European level already and also five times at World level.

 

A short while later, Keith Ellis was in the ring about to face off against English Kickboxing Champion Luke Rummings, from Trevor Spencer’s Gym in Stevenage. Friendships between A.R.D. and TS Kickboxing were temporarily put aside as the two 84kg fighters battled it out for supremacy and after a solid performance Keith won via decision after a closely contended and highly skilled bout. It was a great demonstration of high quality full contact kickboxing from two very dedicated athletes! 

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It was a great moment for A.R.D. Training Camp as we had yet another WAKO British Champion in Keith Ellis and what better person to go down in our list of Champions. Keith has had a tough career, competing in boxing, kickboxing, K1, BJJ and MMA - he has had numerous ups and downs and has dedicated a significant chunk of his life to combat sports; therefore, dealing with all the pros and cons that come along with it, such as losses, injuries, biased decisions and the heartbreak of pull-outs.

 

It was a great feeling seeing Keith’s hand raised in victory and everyone at the gym is immensely proud of him for his dedication, persistence and for that brilliant performance!