CARDIFF Martial Arts won 27 medals at the South Coast Martial Arts inter-club championships at the weekend.
About 100 members from SCMA clubs including Cardiff, Plymouth, and the South Hams took part in Taekwondo and Kickboxing events at Coombe Dean School, Plymouth on November 5.
Club owner and chief instructor Kevin McCabe said: “The inter-club events are a good starting point for students who haven’t really competed before to get a bit of experience. Once they’ve had a bit of experience and come to two of three events we invite them to come to the national championships.”
On the day, Cardiff Martial Arts won 11 gold medals, nine silver medals, and seven bronze medals in pattern and sparring events.
Women’s Black Belt pattern medal winners, Helen (Gold) and Phoebe (Silver)
The Cardiff Martial Arts students will have another chance to defend their titles at the SCMA Inter-Club Championships in Cardiff on February 5, 2017.
Cardiff Martial Arts Taekwondo and Kickboxing club was started in 2005 by Mr McCabe after he finished a Physics degree at Cardiff University.
About 40 classes are taught every week throughout Cardiff in areas including Cathays, Grangetown and Llandaff North to 450 members. Three-quarters of members are under 12, with children aged four to seven taking part in Little Dragons classes.
Over the past 11 years, Mr McCabe said the popularity of martial arts peaks when a new Kung-Fu Panda movie is released.
“Martial arts has a good reputation for instilling respect and discipline and a good moral character, so parents see this and they might not fully understand what martial arts can do but they have an idea,” he said.
Mr McCabe said an initiative called Touch Gloves, similar to Sport England’s This Girl Can, has been started to try to encourage more younger girls to take part.
