SHIDO Martial Arts

Well done to all our fighters that competed at the Rise of The Warrior event on Friday 🥊🔥

It was great to hear all the lessons, growth and realizations that your fights brought you. Internal growth is the main reason for competition. It's not about the journey, but who you become throughout the journey.

You all showed tremendous courage and heart when facing your opponents, the competition was tough but you all fought to the end with your warrior spirits intact. We are extremely proud of all of you!

"𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒, 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠, 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟" - 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑛 𝐶𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑧

Throughout the event, all the officials cast their votes for their nominations for the best fight and best fighter of the night award. A big congratulations to two of our SHIDO Warriors for winning these awards!

Keagan Du Plooy won the Fighter of The Night Award for his excellent performance in his second fight of his Kickboxing career 🏆 You worked hard for this and it definitely showed in the ring!

Nicholas Swart won the Fight of The Night Award in his back-and-forth battle in the last fight of the evening 🔥 It kept the crowd on the edge of their seats and showcased quality Kickboxing in the ring, well done!

A massive congratulations to Celeste Le Roux for attaining the rank of 3rd Degree Black Belt 🥋

You conquered immense obstacles and overcame overwhelming odds to reach this point, and this is why we are so proud of the martial artist that you are today. As we always say, if you want a Black Belt around your waist, you must first wear one around your heart... And you definitely do!

Like a true Black Belt, you not only implement martial art principles in your training, but also in the rest of your life, including your career. Reaching the level of 3rd Degree now opens you up to a new part of the martial art journey with its own challenges and lessons, but as you always have, we know you will evolve into an even stronger and skilled martial artist as you work through this phase of your journey.

Throughout your martial art journey, you faced massive challenges that would make most people crumble. But it didn't stop you, you are a true example of a warrior! Part of these challenges was to go from fighting at the World Championships, to being told by various doctors that you'll never be able to do Kickboxing again, to returning to the sport, becoming SA Champion again, learning the whole new SHIDO curriculum from white to black, and going to the World Championships again this year! This demonstrates your powerful warrior spirit! You are the embodiment of perseverance and conquering the impossible 👊🏻

Congratulations on your new rank 🙌🏻 Thank you for everything you do and for being such a fundamental part of the success of our team.

Our team finished 2022 off with a bang at the Rise of The Warrior Event 🥊 Many of our students had their first fights in the ring, and they made us incredibly proud!

In our philosophy, a tournament is an arena where we test ourselves physically, mentally and emotionally. Pressure, resistance and adversity reveal the truth of our growth and progress, so the world of competition is a perfect testing ground for character development. As the saying goes, "𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 - 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯."

A student at SHIDO does not simply train to become a fighter; we train to develop our character and forge ourselves into balanced and well-rounded human beings, and it makes us incredibly proud to see the growth that took place at this event 🙌🏻 Many of you showed bravery and stood firm in the face of adversity; you showed strength of character, emotional control, and many of the essential qualities of a true martial artist. This is the real reason we compete, and it makes us super proud to see how you all improved throughout 2022! Well done to every single one of you!

2023 is stacked with opportunities, and we know you will all achieve great things in the year ahead 🥊🥋

𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝟯 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 🥊

Well done to our team on their exceptional performances yesterday at Great North 3 🙌🏼

We had 7 fighters at the tournament and overall we brought back 18 gold medals🥇 and 2 silver medals 🥈 Everyone showed a lot of growth and improvement and we are extemely proud! All your hard work paid off 👊🏼🔥

What an awesome experience for Nicholas at the WAKO World Championships in Italy 🇮🇹🥊

We are extremely proud of his performance! The draws gave him two strong opponents at his first World Championship, and he without a doubt proved that he could hold his own against some of the best junior Kickboxers in the world 🙌🏼

𝗙𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝟭 - Nicholas Swart (RSA) 🇿🇦 vs Zlatovslav Ivanov (BUL) 🇧🇬

In his first fight, Nicholas faced a tough and strong opponent from Bulgaria. It was an extremely close fight and Nicholas won the first round with good combinations that forced his opponent to exit (to step off the matted fighting area, which results in -3 points)

In the second round his opponent came out stronger, but Nicholas stood his ground in an exciting final round. But unfortunately his opponent took the victory with a 3 point lead.

𝗙𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝟮 - Nicholas Swart (RSA) 🇿🇦 vs Darius Kustanczi (HUN) 🇭🇺

In his second fight at the WAKO World Championships, the pace picked up as his opponent immediately pressed forward with kicking combinations that forced him to exit. This put Nicholas behind on the scoreboard, but he immediately retaliated and forced his opponent to exit as well. It was an exciting first round where Nicholas showcased his boxing skills with excellent combinations that put his opponent under pressure.

In the second round, Nicholas pushed the pace and brought the fight to his opponent. After both of them exchanged kicks and punches for the duration of the round, the judges unfortunately awarded his opponent with the victory by 2 points.

To represent the country on this level is an honour, and you not only held our name high, but South Africa's name as well 🙌🏼 Well done Nicholas! You have a bright future in this sport! Keep up the hard work, bringing back a medal at the next World Championships is well within your reach 🏅👊🏼

Nicholas weighed in at 46,4kg and successfully made weight for the Under 47kg division at the WAKO World Championships 🙌🏼

Today he will be making his international debut as he takes on Zlatovslav Ivanov from Bulgaria 🇧🇬 and Darius Kustanczi from Hungary 🇭🇺 in the qualifying rounds.

Good luck Nicholas, we are so proud of how far you've come in the 5 years that you have been at SHIDO 🙌🏼 You worked hard for this moment, and you earned this opportunity through climbing the ranks and training hard with immense passion and dedication. Now for the biggest moment in your martial art career, to represent South Africa against the best Kickboxers in the world 👊🏼🇿🇦

𝗪𝗔𝗞𝗢 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 🇿🇦🏆

Well done to Burton, Celeste, and Nicholas on their performances at the WAKO African Championships!

Here are the full results:

• Burton Haupt - Gold medal for Low Kick Full Contact🥇

• Celeste Le Roux - Gold medal for Light Contact 🥇 Gold medal for Low Kick Light 🥇 and a Silver medal for Point Fighting 🥈

• Nicholas Swart - Gold medal for Light Contact 🥇 Silver medal for Low Kick Light 🥈 and a Silver medal for Point Fighting 🥈

Your hard work paid off this weekend and you all showcased your warrior spirit 🙌🏼 This was the final event for Nicholas before he travels to the WAKO World Championships in Italy 🇮🇹 Almost time to fly the South African flag high!

Celeste was the most active fighter this year in our fight team and it showed in her strong perdormances this weekend 👊🏼 Burton took the opportunity to fight at his first WAKO event on 2 days notice due to a fighter who had to withdraw from the tournament. If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready!

Well done to all three of you, you made us super proud!