Team Ireland European's in Macedonia

The official Team Ireland Cadet & Junior national squad made up of 54 participants competing in point fighting, light continuous, kick light, full contact and forms reached levels nobody expected, by finishing in the top 5 countries on the overall medal count at the recent WAKO European Kickboxing Championships for Cadets & Juniors which was held in Skopje, Macedonia from the 2nd -9th September 2017.

Ireland finished 4th behind Italy and Hungary,  with Russia not surprisingly taking the top spot. A total of 14 gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze medals was the final count for the brilliant young Team Ireland during the week long European Championships.

Head Coach for Team Ireland, Dave Heffernan, who is also the Points Fighting national coach, made sure the strong 54 fighting squad, ranging from 10 to 18 year olds, was ready for ‘war’ every day with all the squad behind each athlete, including parents and assistant coaches no matter the discipline, day or time of bout/performance.

“The camaraderie within the entire Team couldn’t have been stronger”, says head coach Heffernan, ” All the national coaches (of each discipline), including assistant & club coaches were on hand to help and/or advise any athlete or parent for any questions, queries or prep anybody that needed it. We were all one big ‘fighting Irish family’ !”

Forms national coach Jessica Grant topped the medals for Team Ireland with 6 golds, 5 silver and 2 bronze medals. In Open Hand Hard Style, Oisin O’Maoileoin, Sarah Brookes, Aoife Bailey and Max Lennon took gold while Aaron Collins & Ben Hennessy finished runners up. Aimee Collins & Aaliyah Clarke took a deserved bronze. In Weapons Hard Style, Ryan Del Duca was the only European Champion for Ireland in this style, while Ben Hennessy, Aoife Bailey and Matthew McQuillan finished with silver. In Weapons Soft Style Adam Hansler was the only medal winner for Team Ireland but the coveted gold & European title was his accolade.
Tadhg Healy had a great performance in Hard Style Weapons but was unlucky not to medal.

Jon Mackey, in charge of Ireland’s Light Contact & Kick Light squad was on fire claiming 5 European titles with Karyna Nikitina, Ruth Conlon-Oates, Niamh Ryan, Luke Cronin and Eliza Bluma. Silver medals went to Brian Donegan, Robyn McDonnell and Ian O’Flynn. Deserving third places went to Eadaoin McCrave, Adam Condon, Dayna Walsh, Gearoid Debarbouille, and Hannah Greene (x 2 bronze).

Ring Sport national coach Joe Hagan was on his first official outing as head coach for the Irish Full Contact Team and his three person strong team didn’t disappoint. Brother and sister duo Daniel & Roisin Brady made a huge impression on the European circuit by reaching the finals of their respective divisions but were unlucky not to claim top spot. Curtis Hay (Joe’s own student) reached the semi finals in one of the toughest junior full contact divisions and was narrowly beaten, but comes home with a proud bronze medal none the less.

Point Fighting, the biggest discipline competing from the Irish delegation was equally as impressive with 3 golds, 1 silver and 3 bronze medals. Jodie Browne, Conor McGlinchey and Karyna Nikitina took home the European title while Niamh Ryan was runner up. Aidan Kerr, Lea Farrell, Eadaoin McCrave and Adam Smith took bronze. Dave Heffernan was extremely pleased and proud of his squad’s performance with some of his competitors competing in two disciplines during the Championships like Niamh Ryan claiming gold in LC and silver in PF, Eadaoin double bronze and Karyna Nikitina set another record for the KBI record books by claiming another double European Title (2015) in PF and LC.

While there were other WAKO junior female athletes that claimed the double European gold, there were none that made it two double European titles in consecutive Championships (Europeans). 17 year old Karyna did just that and with it, was awarded ‘Best Junior Female Tatami Competitor’ by the WAKO Europe coaches and referee committee.

Roy Baker, President of KBI was on hand to present the special award to the young star. Mr Baker, during the championships was also elected as President of WAKO Europe by unanimous vote, elected by committee members from the board of WAKO Europe. The KBI & WAKO Europe President, is one of the main people behind the continuous drive for full Olympic recognition (for WAKO kickboxing).

Team Ireland was so successful not only because of the high calibre of fighters/forms performers, but also because of all the coaches on hand to jump in at any corner in any given notice. The KBI coaching team was made up of Dave Heffernan (team Ireland head coach & points fighting coach), Jon Mackey (light contact/kick light), Joe Hagan (ring sport), Jessica Grant (forms), Elaine Small (head assistant) and club coaches Aine Conlon-Oates, Eamon Lawlor, Ian Kingston, Aaron O’Connor and Ilija Salerno.

Kickboxing Ireland (KBI) was also well represented on the tatamis by Ireland’s own top point fighting referee George Radford and in light continuous, Shane Begley. John Ryan was also called in to action to be part of the referee team for the championships.