My Passion With Matt Hamilton

A YEAR ago my friend, James McComb, persuaded me to go along to a training session at BodyFlo gym in Hillsborough where they teach a variety of martial arts including Thai boxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

He’d been training there for a while, and really enjoyed the sessions and I was tempted to go and see what he was doing there. I went along and since then I’ve been completely hooked.

The first training session gave me a real buzz and I was instantly addicted to it. Since then I have trained every day of the week.

Although the gym offered different martial arts and cage fighting, I found myself drawn to Thai boxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. For those that don’t know, Thai boxing is a standing-based martial art using knees, elbows, kicks and punches to strike the opponent. Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a ground-based martial art, working with locks and chokes to submit an opponent.

My daily training involves sparring with my friend, James Thomson, at the gym. We go through moves and replicate fights so we can anticipate opponent’s reactions and hone our skills to deal with anything that’s thrown at us.

The feeling I get after a hard training session is worth getting a bit battered and bruised. I’ve broken bones in my feet and hands, but I still keep at it. The gym has a great reputation and we are lucky enough to train with former world and European champions in Thai boxing, and trainers with extensive experience. It’s great to be around people you can admire with such understanding and knowledge of the sport.

In the last year I’ve become part of the small group of people in the gym that compete in national competitions including ground fighting championships. I love the competitive nature of ground fighting, anything I can win, I’ll have a go at.

In March, I competed in the English Open UMA Ground Fighting Championships in Staffordshire. It attracts the best fighters from across the country and the standard was very high. I finished as champion in the Under 85kg category. It was the second competition I had ever taken part in.

I really enjoy the experience of competing, and it’s a great feeling to win after all the hard work training. It makes it all worthwhile. I’d fully recommend the training for fitness alone as well as helping to relieve all the stress and tension you get from daily life.

I’m still training hard every day with my friend and I’ve even introduced some work colleagues to the sport. I am also working hard to try and arrange for some events to be held at Owlerton Greyhound Stadium, as it would make an ideal venue. As long as all the training goes well, I hope that my next competition will be in November.