The South African Kickboxing Association are proud of their athletes Photo SAKA
South Africa – Kickboxing is a sport adored and followed by many South Africans. South Africa recently competed in the Junior World Kickboxing Championship. Although not picked as one of favourites, they put on an impressive showing.
Aslam Mahomed, President of the South African Kickboxing Association, started his journey at a young age and has never looked back. His family has been involved in the sport for as long as he can remember with his father being in it for the past 78 years. Mahomed’s entire family is involved in kickboxing. He believes a family “that kicks together, stays together”.
“I started kickboxing when I was an 18-month-old baby basically. I started kickboxing with my dad, my brothers and sisters, who are all involved in kickboxing, it’s a family sport. My dad is 83 and he’s been doing kickboxing for the last 78 years. We grew up doing kickboxing over the years and we just progressed and carried on with the sport. It passed on from generation to generation.”
Participating in the World Kickboxing Championship
Recently the Junior World Kickboxing Championship was held in Italy. It is by no means an easy task to get in, explained Mahomed. One has to win various tournaments before they can be selected and only two participants are allowed in each category.
“You first go through a process of selections. You’ll get your districts. Your districts will participate as your province. Your province participates at the national championships and then you are selected. Either you make the national team or presidential team and only two athletes per category can participate in the World Championships. These athletes then travel to the World Championships but before that there’s a process of coaching by instructors. It’s very vigorous training sessions that happens, coaching sessions to get these athletes prepared.”
A delegation of 102 members went for the Junior World Kickboxing Championship. From there, 44 were athletes, one was a referee, 36 were coaches and 26 supporters. South Africa came home with 10 medals which Mohamed believes is a great achievement given the competition faced.
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Going from athlete to coach to sports administration
Mohamed started out his career as kickboxing athlete but eventually transitioned to a coach before dealing with admin work. As a coach, one can still compete in the senior championship. Although Mohamed still coaches, he has chosen to work in admin as well. An organisation with no good structure will eventually crumble.
“When you get involved from athlete to coach you have to decide. I’ve got more involved in the administration. I’ve been into sports administration for the past 25 years. You have to make a decision that I will coach the athletes but I will be involved in the admin because if you don’t have a good structure, if you don’t have a good administration then you can bring the organisation down. That’s where our key focus is on, the admin development.”
It is crucial to get the admin right. This involves everything from coaching structures to the training regiment. South Africa was ranked 34th out of the 63 nations that participated.
Getting ready for the Olympics
With the Olympics coming up in 2028, there are many tournaments to attend to get the athletes ready for the biggest stage of them all. In August the African Championship was hosted in Benoni. Out of 20 countries that applied to participate, 12 made it. From these 12, a team was selected for the combat games that will take place in Riyadh next year. This tournament is crucial to selecting who will go on and represent South Africa.
“We have a delegation of 12 athletes that’s going to represent the African continent at the World Combat Games next year which is like the Olympics of kickboxing. Then we’ve also got entry for the European Olympics which is next year in Europe and that’s our build up to go to the 2028 Olympics.”
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The benefits of kickboxing
Kickboxing is a sport that provides one with many benefits. Besides building one’s fitness and physique, it also provides one with the knowledge to defend themselves. Physically it is a great sport but it also has its mental benefits, explained Mohamed.
“If you look at the five maxims of kickboxing or martial arts, it is character, sincerity, effort, self-control and etiquette. If you look at the discipline process it gives athletes discipline and your best performance in education. If you go back and go into history and if you do research, you’ll see athletes perform very well academically. With this type of discipline it also gives you protection. It gives you self-confidence.”
The future for Mohamed
The future of kickboxing is bright with many opportunities to grow the sport. Mohamed is currently focused on sending a team for the World Cup next year which will be held in Istanbul. After that the National Championship will be a week after Ramadan. The focus is now on improving kickboxing in South Africa.
“We are also looking at the Hungarian Cup and the Wacker World Senior Championships which is out next year around November. The reason why we are pushing at all the European championships is because the European countries are the best performing countries currently. That’s why we’re developing and in order for us to develop we are going to start bringing some of the European coaches down and have seminars because then we are going to start growing.”
Without a doubt sport brings people together. It is the one thing that can unite everyone. For anyone ready to start the journey, it is never too late or too early to start the journey, said Mohamed. The aim for the future is to build the sport in rural and urban areas. To give everyone a chance to experience the sport and grow with it. For now, the future of kickboxing looks incredibly bright with many exciting developments ahead.
