Red Star Kickboxing coach Jon Mackey, has been recently elected to the coveted position of Irish national coach for the governing body of Kickboxing in Ireland.
The election to this senior position within the organisation comes on the back of some very prestigious wins for his fighters on the national and international circuit. Well known international circuit fighters such as Lauren Bradshaw current European kickboxing champion, Eliza Bluma current world kickboxing champion and Brendan Kenny world silver medalist all fight out of Mackey’s gym.
Since becoming assistant national coach in 2013 Jon Mackey has been working with the Irish national teams both senior and junior and has built reputation as a technical coach with a unique understanding of kickboxing sport sparring.
After the election, Mackey had this to say:
“To be trusted with the development of our national teams is a huge honour for me. I’ve been teaching and training kickboxing athletes in the Dublin 7 and 11 areas for over 12 years now. Over those 12 years we have brought many prestigious titles back to Dublin. In 2013 at the European championships in Poland the director of coaching , Michael McDermott, spotted the work I was doing and asked me to become involved at a national level with Kickboxing Ireland. This was the turning point in my coaching career, it allowed me to work along side an absolute legend and tactician in our sport – Mr Ian Kingston who had been Irish national coach for over 10 years. Since 2013, I had been his apprentice, listening, observing and learning the tactics, concepts and techniques used at an international standard. To take over from Ian on his retirement from the role is a dream come true.”
