Blog | Page 2 of 2 | Wolfpack Martial Arts | Kickboxing Edinburgh and Livingston

2nd April 2019
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As another month passes, March certainly was a special one and for a change we are not talking about tournament success! Of course that itself hasn’t changed with great successes both domestically and internationally.

In this post however we would like to welcome our newest twenty three members to Wolfpack’s ranks, across all the different classes and membership strands!

To highlight a few, our Lil Dragon programme is doing very well with lots of new, bubbly faces joining in every Saturday morning – so much so we launched a Thursday class at 5pm. In fact, the Saturday class at 10am is so close to being fully booked until some of those students move up into the Wolfcubs programme.

Our other programmes are filling up too, with new members in Wolfcubs (seven to eight years) and Juniors (nine to thirteen years). Our Thursday night adult kickboxing class sees over twenty students on the mats, pushing their martial arts skills and fitness to the max. It’s always a sweaty one!

Tuesday night brings our kickboxing circuits, where there is a great atmosphere and ethos. This allows new members to build their knowledge of our martial arts syllabus for their gradings and build their strength and endurance.

In all of our classes, we make sure that you are always learning and growing. Kickboxing brings many benefits: self-confidence, discipline, motivation, fitness and learning a new skill to name a few. This means that we are always striving to bring the best out of everyone training with us.

So, for those who have just joined the Wolfpack Martial Arts family, we say hello and we can’t wait to see you all in your next classes!

Remember, if you have friends or family who want to join in, remember the easiest way to book in is through the “Contact” tab on this website.


25th March 2019

Hello everyone,

Below is a video showcasing some of the students and training we do here at Wolfpack Martial Arts. This was made at one of our Open Squad Training sessions of the year – featuring our kickboxing coaches, Kevin and Natasha Baldwin, shot by one of our very own instructors, Jessica Smith.

We hope everyone enjoys this video and comes along for the next one!

Don’t forget to share!


19th March 2019
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Our very own co-founder Natasha Baldwin has been selected as one of the seeds of the Amerikick International sports karate event in Atlantic City.

Natasha has had a remarkable year to date, picking up at least one gold medal at every event she has attended. All this having been achieved only a year after giving birth to her baby Effy Rose! Her hard work and this formula for success had not gone unnoticed and shortly after her latest event, Natasha received the call from Jarrett Leiker, one of the promoters of this event – which boasts prize money for the women’s event of $2000!

Natasha will not only be representing Wolfpack Martial Arts, which is located in Scotland’s capital Edinburgh but also the companies CVS 24 and Top Ten, two sponsors she has had on board for sometime. As always, we are very grateful to have a support network around us and these sponsors play a major part.

We all wish Natasha the best for her nine week preparation camp in the lead up to this massive event, but as we know, when it comes down to hard work and preparation no one does it better.

 

Photo – Ems Photos  https://emsphotosuk.photodeck.com/


6th March 2019
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Wolfpack recently returned from the huge kickboxing event, the Irish Open, held at the Citywest Convention Centre in Dublin, Ireland. The Irish Open is an impressive competition – close to 4,000 registrations every year. The sections are large, filled with the highest level of competition. There is a reason why being an Irish Open champion is a big deal; the standard of competitors is high and everyone knows.
The fighting began on the Friday with all the light contact sections.
The continuous fighters did very well, and a huge congratulations to Natasha Baldwin, one of the instructors here at Wolfpack Martial Arts. She continues to show that with enough determination, perseverance and motivation you really can achieve anything. Natasha made the decision to make the -60kg section, as well as her usual -65kg section, with she has not attempted to make in over five years. As usual, Natasha pushed on, training hard with a perfect diet, no matter what the circumstance and was able to reap the rewards when she furthermore not only won her -65kg section but also her -60kg section! Double Irish Open champion, and this was most likely made all the sweeter as her one year old daughter was able to watch from the sidelines – all we can say is, what a role model.
Friday evening saw in the points fighting team events – our own Adam Lough was asked by his friends from the Legend Summer Camp which he attends every summer in Greece, to jump in with them. Adam fought very well with the Greeks, and they ultimately came away with the gold. Congratulations to everyone involved!
The individual adults and juniors points fighting divisions ran on Saturday, followed by the grand champion event and cadets point fighting sections on the Sunday. The rest of our team competed on these two days where we had great performances all round, and we added to our medal collection.
Our end result was three gold, five silver, and eight bronze from a squad of fifteen fighters. Great work everyone, with lots to work on before next year comes around!

22nd February 2019
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FIGHTER’S CORNER!

This is a new feature on the Wolfpack blog where we catch up with world class fighters and get their insight into the competitive world of kickboxing. Our first fighter features Elijah Everill, who is arguably Great Britain’s most in form fighter, and also a keen friend of Wolfpack.

 

KPB: “So Elijah, when did you start training and what did you fall in love with early on?”

EE: “I started training when I was 4 years old – I always wanted to be like the one of the Ninja Turtles or Power Rangers that I used to watch all the time on tv. That’s what got me started. I’ve always loved fighting ever since I can remember, even if it was just play fighting as a kid around the house, I absolutely loved it. Then when I started doing martial arts, learning proper techniques and practicing actual drills, that’s when I really fell in love with it and I knew it was my passion. Not once looking back as a child did I ever think “this isn’t really for me” or “I’m thinking about quitting”, I never went through that stage, ever. Martial arts really became my life and it did so very quickly. I feel very lucky to have found something I love doing from such an early age.”

KPB: “Your achievements are endless… what do you regard as some of your biggest?”

EE: “I currently have 11 WAKO world titles and 5 WAKO European titles in a mix of Cadet, Junior and Senior categories across all styles: points, light contact, kick light and team events. I’ve also won every other major WAKO tournament numerous times over. This is something that I’m really proud of. However there are certain moments in my career so far that stand out to me and are the most meaningful due to the circumstances.

The first one would be when I won the Senior Irish Open -57 light contact division, I was 14 years old fighting against grown men and also a weight category below (-52kg as I was an old cadet) I even got the chance to fight on the night of champions show in the ring, it gave me such a buzz and I’ll never forget the feeling when I won, it was a back and fourth war which to this day is probably one of my favourite fights that I’ve ever had. Another one was when I won the European championships in Spain 2015. I was fighting 3 categories that week, point fighting, light contact and kick light and within my first fight of the championships, I broke my ankle. The next day, it was black and blue and I was struggling to walk never mind, fight. But anyway, I continued throughout the competition and fought on another 11 times before winning a gold medal, definitely a rollercoaster of a week, believe me, but I’m very proud of myself due to the mental toughness and heart that I showed during the event to push through the pain and keep fighting on.

KPB: “You obviously excel in a magnitude of styles; what’s your favourite?”

EE: “I don’t have a favourite style, I just love to compete so it doesn’t matter the discipline – I like them all equally.”

KPB: “Who do you consider the best kickboxers in the UK right now, favourite European and American fighter and lastly your stand-out youth?”

EE: “It’s difficult to pick out the best kick boxers in the UK because there is such a wide variety of talent out there across all disciplines and associations. Growing up my favourite European fighter was always Grillo, I loved his mentality, his ferocious blitzing speed and the passion that he brought onto the mat. As for Americans, the All Star team, Ray, Jack, Robbie (who is Canadian) in particular. Crazy to think that I’m actually apart of that team now having idolised those guys for so many years as a kid. And of course I can’t leave out Jadi from that list, another amazing fighter who is very knowledgeable both inside and outside of the mat. As for talented youth, I wouldn’t know where to start, I’m both very happy and excited about the future of kickboxing here in GB, it’s looking to be very bright with all these awesome kids coming through right from younger cadets all the way up to juniors.”

KPB: “With that in mind do you have any words of wisdom for the younger generation who aspire to emulate your achievements?”

EE: “My advice would be first of all to make a decision on what you want to do in the sport, set goals, challenges and targets to aim for. Once you know what you want, stop at nothing to get it, do whatever it takes, whether that be travelling thousands of miles up and down the country to train, earning and spending your own money to get to tournaments, running miles on Christmas, birthdays, holidays etc. Me and my parents did all that for years and continue to sacrifice to this day. Nobody is ever going to give you anything on a plate, you have to go out there and take what’s yours and be willing to outwork absolutely everybody. As the saying goes,
“when you want to succeed as bad as you wanna breathe, then you’ll be successful”.”

KPB: “For someone who has won so much what’s left for you goal-wise and what keeps you motivated?”

EE: “I will never settle, there’s always more to achieve no matter how much you think you have done. Right now, my goal is to win all the open weights and collect as many grand championships as possible. I also want to win all the big events over in the US because I believe that if you can win on both continents, you can truly say you are one of the best in the world. Not many have done it and I want to be one of the few, so it’s a challenge that really motivates me. Then when my fighting days are over I want to be known as one of the best to ever compete in this sport.”

KPB: “Lastly when will you be visiting us again in Edinburgh?”

EE: “Hopefully very soon once I can figure out a free date, always love training with you guys and being able to train with such a like minded, extremely dedicated athlete and champion in Natasha, is always a pleasure.”

 

Thank you Elijah! It was great catching up with you and to get such a great insight into your world. We look forward to your visit and always know our students will benefit from your knowledge.


10th February 2019
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In late 2018 we, Wolfpack Martial Arts, decided to throw our doors open and restructure how we run our tournament fight team. This was due to the fact that so many external fighters were attending our open squad trainings to improve their level of kickboxing, that it simply felt like the next logical step was to offer support and coaching outside our own four walls. We closed our squad trainings to Wolfpack members only – the idea behind this was to be able to spend more focussed, dedicated time with those that are similarly dedicated to us, our values and principles.

Our new team structure allows fighters to tap into our sponsorship pathways, no matter what level or ability they have. There is something for everyone!

This is all down to the large influence of our new main sponsor CVS 24 Recovery. They specialise in all areas of car and commercial vehicle repair, and recovery. They offer breakdown, recovery and roadside assistance for Edinburgh, Livingston, Fife, Broxburn, Newbridge M8 and Glasgow. So, if you’re in the area and need a hand, you know who to call!

Out of this, we plan to expand the opportunities and benefits for our team to rival any other sponsorship deal in the UK. In January this year alone, we have spent over £3000 kitting the team out in a brand new Top Ten custom fight suit, new t-shirts and paid for team events at our first international event of the year the WAKO Golden Glove, held in Italy.

The Wolfpack team has already shown amazing success; coming 7th out of 125 teams at this event with an impressive medal count and some stellar performances, and there’s no doubt that this success will continue throughout 2019.

Through training together every Saturday morning the team has bonded together quicker than we could have hoped and with 20 fighters competing at the WAKO British next weekend, we are sure these friendships and bonds will build even more. We are proud of the way that our team has cheered on and supported each other – not only in the arena, but also behind the scenes.

For now? Our team is in place, only going from strength to strength! However, due to the volume of enquiries, we will open the doors once again later in the year to increase the strength of the pack.


8th February 2019
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Introducing: “Member Spotlight”

This exciting new feature will be a regular occurrence on our blog where we will highlight one member every month, and discuss specific elements of their training here at Wolfpack.

Recently, we spoke to Georgia and found out a little more about her training and specifically some of the classes she attends.

MEMBER PROFILE
Name: Georgia Campbell
Age: 16
Years of training: 6
Belt: Brown Belt Black Stripe

Q: “So, Georgia you are one of our most regular attendees to our ‪Tuesday night‬ fitness class (7pm) – what is it you enjoy about this class specifically?”

A: “I enjoy Tuesdays as they have been beneficial to my overall fitness, and I like the sort of circuit-based training. I feel like I am suitably challenged each week, and have seen good progress over the past few months as a result.”

Q: “What goals do you have this year looking forward into 2019?”

A: “For my goals this year I would like to work on going forward when sparring, particularly to utilise my blitz more often. In general my goals for this year are focused on continuing to improve my overall fitness and strength, and to work on muscle definition. This year I am also aiming to become a faster runner.”

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Georgia and we look forward to seeing you grow over the next year!