Olé olé olé olé!! That was the Irish roar when the hand of young Dublin Kickboxer Lauren Bradshaw was raised as she beat Turkey in the final of the WAKO European Kickboxing championships which were held in Krynica, Poland in Septmeber.
Bradshaw who trains out of Jon Mackey’s Red Star kickboxing gym in Cabra qualified for the event having won the Kickboxing Ireland national championships earlier in the year. Having trained consistently and in some cases twice daily for the past six months the young Dublin girl was in tip top condition on arrival to Poland.
Her coach Jon Mackey added: “she was prepared physically and mentally like never before. Lauren’s an experienced international fighter but when we made a decision to step things up a notch and enter the WAKO’s we knew there could be no room for error, everything had to be prepared. Mind body and spirit.”
The WAKO championships are renowned for their high standard, drawing the the cream of Kickboxers from across Europe, the event itself has become known as the “kickboxing Olympics”.
Lauren fought in the +70kg light contact division. She took out a Macedonian fighter on the first day, she dominated that fight over the three 2 minute rounds. In the next round on the following day, the Croatian current world champion awaited her.
“You can always hope for a bit of luck in the draw” said Mackey “but this draw was a tough one. Macedonia are known for their tough fighters, they keep coming forward. To meet the current world champion in the next round was daunting. We planned that night, we researched and came up with a game plan to deal with the world champion and it paid off.” Mackey added.
The Croatian started strong and went into the lead early in the round but Lauren’s experience was to shine, she sussed out the Croatian and closed her down in round 2 bringing herself into the lead. In round three Lauren caught her a back reverse turning kick and brought the world champ to her knees twice with nicely timed foot sweeps. Lauren was victorious and into the finals to face Turkey who had dispatched Russia and Poland in days previous.
“The following days final was preceded by a night of planning and study. We found our Turkish opponent was a national WTF taekwondo champion. So we put our strategy together”
Said mackey
The Turkish girl was a good foot and a half taller and had a deceptive lead leg but that wasn’t to phase Lauren she took control of the fight early on which put the young Turk under pressure. The pressure caused the Turk to default to WTF style kicking which meant she came forward off the back leg every time only to walk clean onto Lauren’s lead leg, and then she destroyed her on the inside with the hands.
Battered and bloodied after three rounds Lauren got a unanimous decision and was declared WAKO European champion.
“I was just delighted! I was very anxious about this event because it was a huge step up for me but we put the work in and prepared right for it. I’m just over the moon!” Said the young Dub on her victory.
“I would just like to thank everyone who helped with the fundraising, Dunnes Stores were fantastic with sponsorship, my primary school St Catherine’s offered great support and still do and all my friends and the families at the Red Star gym for all their support throughout the year, most importantly though I want to thank my coach, Jon Mackey he has been training me since I was 7. He has been there every step of the way. He has a unique ability to bring out the best in his fighters I just want to say thank you” Said Lauren as she wraps up a very successful year.
Kickboxing in Ireland is huge. Under the guidance of the national governing body for the sport, ‘Kickboxing Ireland’ it continues to progress the sport across all the disciplines.
“KBI are to the fore of the development of kickboxing in Ireland. All the coaching and support work is done voluntarily. In gyms across the 32 counties of Ireland young kick boxers are being trained for the world stage. However none of these gyms receive any support or subsidy from local or national government.
“The amount of work being carried out by coaches across the country is outstanding. It is sinful really that no support is offered from local government in developing these gyms and the young fighters. Kick boxers from Russia have their training paid for, and their expenses covered by their local government. They understand the importance of the work being carried out at a national level. In Ireland many full time gyms are being strangled by council taxes and extortionate rates bills. Some gyms have even closed down due to this. Ireland needs to get its act together for our young amateur combat athletes, it’s a disgrace to know that a 2 year old stallion is given more breaks in this country than any junior involved in our sport. Something needs to change” Jon Mackey
