Three fighters out of Huncar’s Warrior Arts went to Calgary this weekend to test their mettle in the Five Elements WKU provincial try outs in the Five Elements headquarters on Macleod Trail. This was the first outing for the HWA crew after moving to their own home in the Rocky Mountain Martial Arts Family Centre.
This outing was a controversial one for the Cranbrook fighters who all brought back trophies, but for two of the three who went this was not the way they wanted to get the first three trophies for the new gym.
Representing HWA were Seth Ryley, Carter Duncan and Brody Harris, aged 13 to 14. These young warriors trained hard and left blood and sweat on the mats at the RMMA facilities. Preparation for this kind of competition is intense and these young men worked without complaint. Padwork, bagwork, sparring, shadow boxing and very hard fitness training is a must for any combat sport fighter but for Muay Thai fighters hard work is the currency that pays for fighting skills.
Seth Ryley had a great time in Calgary. In continuous fighting, he was grouped with a handful of fighters and managed to come home with a first place trophy. Seth, unfortunately, was unable to continue in any of the other categories as he suffered an injury to his jaw in the continuous competition but coming home with a first place trophy on his third outing as a kick boxer was a pretty great accomplishment. This being the second time in three competitions is quite impressive.
For Carter Duncan and Brody Harris the experience was not a great one. They wanted to do a little tougher competition so entered the K1 Kickboxing and Muay Thai provincial tryout competition, however no other fighters their age wanted to contend with low kicks and knee strikes to the body so they ended having to fight each other. This was not what the boys wanted after travelling to Calgary and working so hard.
However, fighting in front of a crowd is always a good experience and they are both ready to test themselves again.
All the fighters did their gym and their community proud by being brave enough to travel out of town and having the courage to fight under the pressure of being in front of a crowd.
It is an experience that many wonder about but few experience. To do it with composure is an accomplishment indeed — and these young men did exactly that