Bristol Based team: ‘Team Bristol’ have just had 6/7 Junior Kick boxer’s selected to represent Great Britain for the forthcoming WAKO European Championships in Macedonia in September.

The juniors who are aged between 10-15yrs old all train with ‘Team Bristol’ coaches Sharon Gill and Sean Viera between 5-6 days per week giving much of their time and energy to their chosen sport of Kickboxing. They give up any spare time they have outside of school and studies to train hard and have committed and disciplined themselves fully to their sport. WAKO (World Association of Kickboxing Organisations) is among one of the top Kickboxing governing bodies in the world and has a very good reputation and standard.

The team from Bristol that is in the running are:

Hayden Challenger 10-12yrs -28kgs

Jack Sowersby 10-12yrs -32kgs

Liam Holden 10-12yrs -37kgs

Rio Williams 13-15yrs -42kgs

Grace Chandler 13-15yrs -46kgs

Isabelle Whitmore 13-15yrs -50kgs

Cory Cook 13-15yrs -57kg

Two members of the team – Rio Williams and Isabelle Whitmore are current junior world champions, winning last year in Ireland, where Cory Cook is currently ranked No.1 in his weight and is both the reigning world and European Champion.

All these athletes have great standards and will be taking their training schedules very seriously leading up to the championships which are being held in Macedonia at the beginning of September. However, due to the sport not being recognised by our country, these athletes and their families have to fund themselves for this opportunity.

Already this year, they have travelled internationally to compete against the world’s top fighters in their divisions in, Ireland, Athens, Croatia, Italy, Amsterdam, and Hungary and the cost is adding up.

The total cost for each athlete to go to Macedonia is over £800 each. This cost will cover travel expenses, 7-night accommodation and fees for entering the event. We are trying to raise £3000.00 between all of these juniors to give them the opportunity to represent their country and do what they do best and bring those gold medals back to Bristol.