Six students bounce on the balls of their feet, loose and primed. Mirroring their instructor, they put up their balled fists by their chests. They practice approaching the pink and blue mat, bowing, and entering a fighting stance. These little kickboxers are learning the ropes of the sport from Nitasha ‘Tiger’ Half, an amateur kickboxer originally from Saddle Lake, who offered a six-day course at the Saddle Lake Youth Centre over the Christmas holiday.
Andrew Jackson, a 10-year-old who took the course, said he was involved in tae-kwon-do, in which he has an orange belt. “I just wanted to try kickboxing,” he said, adding he thought it would complement his tae-kwon-do lessons. He learned a few things from the course, including how to improve his fighting stance and how to keep his head up when he bows to his fellow competitors.
As for Half, she was pleased to see improvement in the 11 enrolled participants’ kickboxing technique through the six-day course.
“I’m very proud of them, each and everyone,” she said. Over the course of the six days, as the students approached the mats, she noticed improvements, whether it was their ability to do an extra push-up or run an extra lap. “I went to their limits.”
In return, at the end of the course last week, the youths and adults enrolled received certificates indicating they had completed their entry to kickboxing and were promoted to white belts.
Half, who is still training to move up from a purple belt to eventually a black belt, said that she has tried other martial arts but found kickboxing to be more challenging in continuing the range of learning. A person can’t learn a move in one day, but needs to continually practice it to achieve perfection. “It always challenges you and keeps you on your toes.” She believes her students enjoyed the course as well, since each adult and youth enrolled attended every lesson.
Her mother, Martha Half, helped to organize the activity, held over the Christmas holidays, and was appreciative that her daughter agreed to run the course on a voluntary basis. “I think it’d be something interesting for them, to challenge themselves and to defend themselves if need be,” she said, explaining why she thought it was a good activity to offer the people of Saddle Lake.
It’s also a great way of shaping up, notes her daughter. “It gives you that strength and that conditioning and helps with weight loss.” The other benefit is psychological, she feels, something she knows from firsthand experience. Half trains in Virginia Beach, US, while working and studying there as well. “It helps to relieve stress. It’s kept me sane out there, being so far from home.”
Given the warm reception to the sport, Half said she will look to offer the course again when she returns to Saddle Lake next summer.