Controversy at Saints?

I have been meaning to write this blog for a while, it follows on from the recent Herald article regarding my husbands new Ultimate fighting den. The article made one faux-pas in stating that ultimate fighting or cage fighting as it is more commonly known has few rules when in fact the sport follows the rules of the Nevada State Athletic commission, this commission actually advises more rules and regulations than the British Amateur boxing clubs therefore making the sport considerably safer. Ultimate fighting is also a hard sport to master as it is a mixture of boxing, kick boxing and ground work so a fighter needs to be proficient in all areas to do well.

Since the article was written Devon & Cornwall constabulary have released a statement denying involvement with the ultimate fighting den, this is despite the fact that the week before Saints Open day, two D & C officers had entered the gym and had talked about referring youngsters to the ultimate fighting den. It seems that D & C are just worried about public opinion rather than what is best for the young offenders they are working with. I understand that they have to be very careful as to what they get involved with but by denying any involvement they are implying that the officers never entered the gym or that my husband or the Herald have lied about the story.

As Sid points out the focus of fighting sports is to teach discipline, whether you like fighting or not, for these youngsters violence is quite often part of their lives already and they just need re-educating. Sid asks you to consider the following points: You are not likely to see a trained fighter drinking or taking alcohol, you are not likely to see a trained fighter down union street brawling, fighters at Saints develop a huge sense of self confidence as they are pushed beyond the realms of their own personal expectations. Sid talks about one young lad who is going through a difficult time and points put that the lad has never had any form of positive praise from his parents, the lad is always told he will never be good enough, training at Saints has given the lad hope that he can succeed at something and this will be a new skill that he can apply to other areas of his life.

The Herald article did also mention that Saints was working with youngsters from the Zone formerly the Youth Enquiry Service, this activity started last week and proved extremely successful with all the participants. Surely this is more proof that martial arts / fighting sports can be used as a positive form of physical and mental exercise. Take Christi Campbell for example, she was a young girl who came to the gym lacking in confidence and is now a World Champion Thai boxer who has grown vastly in maturity and has seen an improvement in her academic work.

Christi has two major fights coming up, the first will be against Jojo Calderwood from the Griphouse gym in Scotland, Jojo has an undefeated 9 win record, Christi then goes onto fight seasoned champion Jackie Short, as Sid says this will be a battle of youth versus experience. Both bouts are eagerly anticipated.

Even Christi's Dad is participating in an interclub being held in Plymouth today courtesy of Wildkick gym, you can read the full info on Christi's blog but for those of you who are too lazy to click the link here is a picture (below right) of Darren in training mode!

My main point today is really aimed at the people who have written very naive comments about the Herald article on the cage den, most of these people have commented without any knowledge of the sport which they are so keen to judge.

I will now partly descend from my soap box to cover a few other bits of news, you may remember me writing about the scandalous decision over the recent Rob Hingston fight, if you want to watch the full fight then click on this link to view the full 7 round fight, judge for your selves who won!

Well it is off to the interclub for me which means that sadly I have missed Penny Scaffolds baby shower, the fabulous Amy tree will be there and will be passing on my apologies for lack of attendance. Also this week will see the return of the Lordette of Darkness and a subsequent reduction in my stress levels.

Stay Healthy,

Sam x