Kickboxing – for Youths & Adults
It’s not what you think, that is for sure!
For most the word kickboxing means learning to fight, getting in the ring, going home with knocks and bruises – Not Anymore. Our Sport Kickboxing is designed for anyone wanting to improve fitness, self esteem and confidence.
We are a family based club. Our aim is to encourage anyone with any fitness level to try out our system and work at their own pace. Our attitude is that it’s better to be in the class doing something rather than at home doing nothing.
Some of our members took up Kickboxing a year ago after doing little exercise in the past. One year on they are all now green belts, have lost weight and their fitness and confidence has improved greatly.
A Typical Lesson
Kickboxing rounds last 2 minutes, with energising dance music being played to aid training. After warming-up, the session progresses on to the Punch Bags, where you’ll be working with a partner, learning various punches and other techniques. Next, it’s on to the Kick Shields focussing on various Kicks and how to use them in self-defence.
The Middle part of the lesson focusses on footwork and timing. This can be done with or without your partner and is commonly known as “Shadow.”
The Final part of the lesson is the fitness training “Stamina,’ which is designed to gradually improve your fitness over time.
Ego is not the Name of the Game
Our professional Instructors are here to welcome you into the world of SAMA. We want to encourage and work with you to find the best way forward to improve your fitness at your own level. During training, if you need to stop and rest, then stop and rest!
How to Start / What to Wear
Please feel free to come along anytime – even just to sit and watch to see what our Kickboxing has to offer.
T-Shirt and jogging bottoms, or similar, will be just fine. Bring a bottle of water and a towel if you want to.
Equipment
Wraps are provided as part of the uniform and everyone should be using wraps to protect their knuckles, wrist and thumb joints. Training with wraps is a good way to learn new techniques as they ensure correct hand position – it hurts a bit when you get it wrong.
Once confident with a technique a student can choose to use boxing or lighter bag gloves. Boxing gloves enable more power to be delivered with a greater margin of error, and less chance of injury. Some students may prefer sparring mitts or open hand gloves.
Similarly, foot protectors are an option to consider for high grades when working for extended periods on kick shields or sparring.
Syllabus and Progression
SAMA has applied a structured approach to Kickboxing and uses a belt grading system similar to Karate to ensure students learn techniques progressively and with adequate practice before attempting a grading.
Grading occurs every few months (2-3 months for early belts) and follow a similar format to classes with all eligible students performing their grading concurrently. As the grading progresses each grade drops out until only the highest grade remains. There is a strong emphasis on endurance, and stamina sessions for higher grades that will last for long periods.
Middle / Intermediate Grade Students
Intermediate students are expected to have greater dexterity when skipping, displaying a range of skills, and to skip vigorously. This will develop naturally over time.
Students should be more agile, delivering good power and technique with increased mobility between strikes. The syllabus will include more complex punch and kick combinations and involve advanced kicks that will test stability, control and accuracy.
When sparring, students should be exploring contact and concentrating on the relevant technique for the distance to their opponent. Note that contact sparring is entirely optional and not a requirement.
Students should now be learning to breathe properly whilst training and at some point should find and be able to recognise their endurance limit for future reference.
High / Advanced Grade Students
Fitness and stamina play a key role towards becoming a viable kickboxer and this should be reflected in the student effort and attitude to training. Most punch and kick transitions and combinations have been explored but it is now up to the student to mould these into their own style.
Training will involve ‘chasing-the-bag’ on both mitts and kickshield, with the student treating each session as a training bout. Students are encouraged to train to their limit and with a variety of opponents to identify their weaknesses and improve their overall fight potential.
For those students pursuing competitive full-contact Kickboxing, they can prepare by sparring in class with head and mouth guards with the ultimate goal of competing at tournaments that are held regularly throughout the year.
SAMA West Sussex 