For the Townsman/Bulletin
Fighters who trained out of RMAMA still making waves after their club closed.
It was a sad day for Coach Joel Huncar when he closed the door on Rocky Mountain Academy of Martial Arts in August of last year. However he knew that this was not the end and the month of February was proof that he was right.
The RMAMA fighters and coach did not have to look for a new home for very long, Master Simon Wachon invited the RMAMA crew into his facility and it is now out of Evolution Martial arts that they train. Coach Huncar is teaching kids and adults out of evolution in the arts of Muay Thai and Arnis. But last month they put their training to the test and jumped back into the competition circuit.
On February 7th three of Coach Huncar's fighters travelled to the Progressive Fighting Academy in Lethbridge Alberta to compete in continuous sparring kickboxing tournament. Dante Young, Age 9, Quinn Robertson Age 15 and Tyson Hirscher Age 18 represented the Cranbrook team.
Young unfortunately lost a couple of split decisions and came away with a very respectable fourth place and a lot of praise for his skill. Robertson and Hirscher on the other hand blew through their competition, not losing a single fight and came away with two gold medals.
For Robertson, this being his first kickboxing tournament the gold medal was extra sweet.
Three weeks later Robertson and Hirscher went to represent their club once more. On February 28th they travelled to Calgary and again Robertson fought another continuous kick boxing tournament at Mike Miles New Gladiators 22 in Calgary Robertson again made short work of his opponents and came away with a first place trophy.
Tyson Hirscher on the other hand stepped it up and was the main event in a full contact three round Modified Muay Thai smoker (Non sanctioned fight). The fight was fierce but Hirscher's knees to the body of his opponent took the wind out of his sail and that combined with Hirscher's incredible stamina and pace got him a unanimous victory over his opponent, Jordan Boa from Champions Creed in Calgary.
RMAMA may be gone but the bond that was created there is still strong, fighters, coaches, families and friends are still supporting each other and still working hard.
If one thing was proven from this last month that from the ashes of the past hard work and determination and new allies are going to create some stronger fighters and Cranbrook still has a home for Muay Thai and Arnis at Evolution Martial Arts.