Our results from the 2025 youth Sanda nationals
Our Youth Sanda Team ready for action
GEtting ready for the COMPETITION
Combat sports are not easy! You cannot just rock up to a fight and expect to win, you must first prepare for your opponents. This process is called a ‘fight camp’. In fight camp the athlete must prepare both physically and mentally for the intensity of the upcoming bout. This is a gruelling process and takes true grit and determination to complete. It is a process that we at Sanda Kickboxing Academy take very seriously, win or lose, our guys are ready; and they definitely were for this competition.
Long day, challenging day
These events are always very long, very boring and mentally taxing days. Our athletes arrived at the venue at 8:30am and our first athlete did not fight until 4pm with our last one fighting at 8:30pm.
The length of the day in itself is not an issue, it is the aprehension of competing that is draining. It is hard to understand unless you have competed in a combat sport but there is nothing quite as exhilarating and exhausting as the adrenaline rush you get from the challenge of combat and the waiting is the hardest bit.
This is especially draining for our young athletes, I am pleased to announce that they all performed well and overcame the challenges of the day.
Our results: Gold, Silver and Bronze. The trifecta
Our results
Our first competitor up was Heath fighting in the age 11 to 12 year old 37kg to 39kg category. We are happy to say that he dominated his first bout outscoring and out throwing his opponent from bell to bell coming out the clear winner. Unfortunately, he then found himself in the bathroom vomiting… well safe to say he could not continue and his competition ended there. It was a shame as we truly believe that he would have gone on to win gold as he had done for the two previous years.
Next up were Deo competing in the 15 year old 50kg to 55kg category and Mijo fighting in the 16 year old 55kg to 60kg category. Both had very tough opponents with Deo making it the final with a 4 times national champion, but unfortunately neither got the gold!
Ivor was our last competitor and we are happy to say that in his first ever competition he won the gold medal defeating two tough opponents to get there. He has only been training for 8 months but has been dedicated from the beginning and his hard work paid off and he is now the national champion.
Ready to go!
How we handle wins and loses
We have a saying in our club “win or lose, we are here to fight”. It’s a mentality that no matter the result we will give it our all, past that, well the cruelty and beauty of fighting is that there is an element of randomness and no matter how prepared we can still lose. It also is not important if we win or lose the important thing is how hard we prepared for the fight, how hard we fought and what how we continue afterwards.
There are always lessons to learn and the mentality we take forward will determine our results and progress in the future. A clear example of this would be someone becoming lack in their training after winning. We are happy to say that Ivor was in the gym the next day.
Become part of the team
If you're based in South London and looking to challenge yourself, why not come along to one of our classes? Whether you're aiming to compete or simply want to take your training to the next level, we’re here to support you every step of the way. Click the link below for more information and to see how we can help you reach your goals.