Vipers win Euro medals on competitive debuts

Chief instructor Dale Taylor entered the sextet for the WTKA European Championships held in Chesterfield and, although acknowledging he had thrown them in at the deep end, he has every confidence in their ability.

“The tournament had over 500 competitors with several martial arts schools from all over the UK,” he said.

“As you can imagine this certainly was throwing them in at the deep end, entering them in a European Championships in their first ever tournament, and this is why I am so proud of what they achieved.

“Out of all the students I have, I only picked the ones who have been the most dedicated and showed that they could handle being in a competitive tournament environment.

“On the day I was unable to attend due to my grandad being ill so I sent one of my instructors, Sensei Ben Ingleby, to coach them for the day in my absence, and he did a great job.”

The competitors were Kamile Karvelyte, Sarunas Karvelis, Sofia Ingleby, Dexter Ingleby, Aiden Cook and Jack Cook and they came away with one gold medal, two silver medals and one bronze medal.

Kamile won bronze in her point fighting category, Sofia took a silver in her traditional Korean forms category.

Aiden won a silver medal in his point fighting category but was unfortunately unable to continue and potentially win gold in the final due to dislocating his toe, while his brother Jack went on to win gold and become a European champion in his point fighting category.

“I would just like to give a special mention to Aiden who suffers with autism and when he first came to Viper didn’t want to fight as it scared him, instead just wanted to come and do the pad work,” said Dale.

“I explained to him that he must confront his fears and never run by letting anything stop him in his life.

“He listened, now loves sparring and sets a great example in every class he trains in.

“Only a few weeks ago he was hospitalised with a chest condition which resulted in him being put on a nebuliser to help him breathe, yet two days later, despite this, he still turned up to training.

“This young man made so many people proud of him at the competition.

“He had 17 competitors in his division and the only tears he shed was that he could not continue in his final due to his dislocated toe and win a gold medal.”

He added: “We also had another two students who narrowly missed out on a quarter-final place but will come back stronger and better for the experience.

“I am immensely proud of all six of them and what they achieved.

“They have now inspired the rest of the students in the martial arts school and I hope that Aiden's story inspires so many others out there too.”

Viper Martial Arts Academy Mansfield teaches the disciplines of Kickboxing, Sport Karate and Taekwondo.

Classes are open to all abilities - beginner, intermediate and advanced - starting from five years of age and up.

They also offer the opportunity of family classes for families that want to train together.

Viper are based in Mansfield town centre and anyone wanting further details can find them on Facebook or contact Dale on 07891 817142.

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