It’s been a strong start to the year for our competitive athletes with the success of our home boxing show, and impressive performances by our muay thai and MMA athletes at external competitions. Looking into 2025, we heard from Fight for Peace’s Sports Development Manager Silvino Domingos, who shared his perspective on the exciting journey ahead and some of our competitive aspirations.
“We have quite a lot in the pipeline and a lot of ideas of how we think this season should play out. A key focus for us this year is continuing to increase women’s participation in competitive sports. We’ve already seen a lot of progress in this area, and in the past three months, two women have competed across boxing and muay thai, marking a huge improvement from previous years.
Young boxer, Raluca has already had her first competitive bout with her teammate Asmaa preparing to join her, and Maëlle has represented Fight for Peace a number of times in the muay thai arena. This is an area we are particularly proud of as we understand some of the barriers young women face in accessing combat sports, especially competitively. We plan to carry on building a strong pathway for women athletes to excel in this area.
We’re also keen to prepare our boxers for the regional championships which typically take place in September and October. With many of them still competing in the development category, these events are key in providing valuable experience and recognising their progress alongside peers of similar skill levels.
MMA has been another exciting area of growth for us since reintroducing the sport 18 months ago, and have since focused on building a strong foundation for our young athletes. Team members Tommy and Sahil kicked off the new year with their first non-decision interclub, designed to get them used to the competitive atmosphere. It was a great success and we were really excited to see them both represent Fight for Peace in the competitive space. As we push forward, we hope to see more of our MMA athletes ready for their first interclubs and official competitive bouts.
Our junior athletes are also showing great promise, with several already competing and more preparing to enter the ring. Juniors Kenzo and Hussein stand out as advanced boxers who train alongside their older teammates, regularly taking part in sparring sessions at different clubs to gain different experiences and sharpen their skills.
Hussein recently had his first bout at our boxing home show in February, and Kenzo moved beyond skills bouts to compete officially. Both athletes won their bouts and seeing them progress is a testament to their dedication and the support of our coaching team.
As we look to develop more competitive athletes across the board, we introduced new FUNdamentals sessions for our youngest age groups. This will allow young people to start working their way through grading systems giving a strong sense of progression and development, while also retaining the fun of participating in sport.
Providing this initiative that recognises young people’s achievements in a more structured way not only motivates young people but also provides opportunities for sparring and eventual competitive bouts. We hope this will help us see a rise in younger athletes wanting to progress into the competitive space, and we’re excited to implement our grading systems across all sports in the coming months.”