| History of Kickboxing |
Kickboxing first appeared in the United States of America in the mid 1970's. he reasons for its inception were predominately born from the frustration of top ranking traditional martial arts competitors, who wanted to expand on the revolution that was taking place at hat time.
Some of the original pioneers of Kickboxing in the USA were Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace, Benny Urquidez and Chuck Norris, all of whom had traditional black belt Karate or Taekwon-Do backgrounds.
These pioneers needed to est their skills in a different arena, indeed that of a boxing ring. So was born the sport of Kickboxing. These fighters had been used to fighting in a "point, stop" type of competition where their stamina and spirit were hardly ever called upon, and even they were in for a shock.
The Kickboxing fights were not choreographed exhibitions, with two men pitting their considerable skills in a non-contact style, rather they were exhausting brawls where the fighters were reduced to physical wrecks by the sheer exhaustion of their efforts. The fighters soon realised that traditional methods were a waste of time and energy in these situations, and soon thought about which other fighting styles they could adopt.
The pioneers turned to western boxing, and looked on with envy as professional boxers seemed to maintain their technique and fitness levels over, in those days, fifteen three minute rounds. Clearly the skills and training methods of boxing had to be learned in order for Kickboxing to progress.
Thirty years have passed since those pioneering days, and Kickboxing is now recognised throughout the world as a martial art in its own right.
South Hams Kickboxing is the same as all other Kickboxing Groups, in that is is an eclectic art i.e. is made up of what seems good from other arts and fighting sports. Therefore whilst some of the kicking techniques have roots in the Korean martial arts such as Taekwon-do, there are also techniques take from Muay Thai as well as western boxing.
With the assistance of the World Kickboxing Association (W.K.A.), we have produced a syllabus that will satisfy any student who not only wants to keep fit, but study a scientific martial art and possibly compete "in the ring" as those original pioneers did! |
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