Category Archives: news

This Category identifies all generic news about the club

Sunday Training 2 July

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CARISMA training outdoors, Sunday training summer 2017

CARISMA training outdoors, Sunday training summer 2017

I love training outdoors. When CARISMA started we were just training on grass in various parks and greens in Cambridge city centre.  It was lovely but we knew it could not last too long… this in England after all.  However we try to keep the tradition by (aiming at) training outdoors during all Sunday training in July and August.  I remember having summers when we manage to spend all Sundays outside, others when just one or two happened but we keep at it.  Yesterday was the first of hopefully many Sunday outdoors training and we started with a bang: a record number of 12 people attended which is a great number for a Sunday outdoor training.  It was a busy and fun lesson with members ranging from total beginners to advanced and instructors.  The temperature was just perfect in the low twenties, with a nice breeze. Way better than training in a gym on such a lovely day, it was very enjoyable; I am already looking forward to the following ones.

Great start for CUKBS 2014

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CUKBS 2014 big groupThe Cambridge University Kickboxing Society had a great fresher’s session last night with about 70 people attending which was following a very successful fresher’s fair when the committee received an unprecedented level of interest for the highly successful sport society.

in line with previous years the lesson attracted about 40 total beginners sowe started with a brief explanation about what CUKBS is, does and why people should stick to it.  CUKBS is the place for people interested in a challenging discipline which will make them stronger, faster, more agile and capable of fighting.  It’s also the place to train because:

  • it recently achieved a half blue status;
  • it has a track record of 4 consecutive Varsity victories and its team is simply undefeated since 2010;
  • in 2014 it was one of three only sports which won a Varsity match: the other two were orienteering and cycling.

After the short intro there was a usual warm up activity for the whole group then, thanks to the presence of 2 extra CARISMA instructors, we split the class in three groups:

  • Total beginners run by Massimo; we collected here all people who have never practiced a martial art.  This lesson was purely no contact and teaching a few basic techniques.
  • Intermediate run by Georgios; we gathered here people who has some relevant experience in striking martial arts and we had the opportunity of assessing their skills
  • Advanced group run by Jarek: committee members, Varsity team members and a few other students from the previous years joined this group.

Toward the end of the lesson we showed to the beginners what kickboxing looks like when performed by advanced people.  The level of participation and interest was very high throughout the lesson and for quite some time after its end we are all looking forward to the next session.  See below a few pictures, taken toward the end:

 

CUKBS wins Varsity Kickboxing 2014

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Varsity2014It is with great pride and pleasure that I can announce that on Saturday 8 March the Cambridge University Kickboxing Society (CUKBS) won, once more and for the 4th consecutive time, the Varsity Kickboxing tournament against Oxford University Kickboxing.

We will add details about the individual fights at a later stage but I feel it is  important to write this little post just to officially state our victory, already strongly celebrated on Facebook.

Congratulations to all fighters Anna, Francesca, Prithvi, Tim, Raz, Dom and Kostas that all contributed to this victory. A great thank you to all members of CUKBS, ARUKBC and CARISMA which helped with training and preparation for these fighters.  A super special thanks goes also to Duncan, Georgios, James and Jarek which all helped and contributed, with their expertise and efforts, to train and prepare these fighters. Videos and further information about the fights will follow in due course.

News about the Beginners Course October 2013

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busyclassWe had an amazing success and nearly 20 new people joined last night,Tuesday 22 October 2013, and we can easily state we are now at saturation point.  While the beginners course will continue as usual for the next 3 consecutive Tuesday and Thursday classes (e.g. 24, 29, 31) we cannot accept any more people until next order. October is notoriously a very busy month but this time we exceeded our expectations.  Depending on how things go we might have a beginners course in November but, more likey, in January.

Please notice: you must join the beginners’ course just if you are a total beginnner. Any previous experience in striking martial arts (kickboxing, muai thai, karate, tae kwon do, kung fu, etc…) is appreciated and will allow you to join without going through the beginners’ course. Please get in touch with us if in doubt.

If you’d like to check our prices please look at this page. Please notice that Kelsey Kerridge charges a day entry to every non member entering their premises.

Three wins for CARISMA at the Suffolk Combat – September 2013

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20130915_134104On Sunday 15 September 8 CARISMA fighters attended the Suffolk Combat event organised by Pete Dunnett of CKA and managed to secure 3 first places.

Here a short description of each fight:

  • Kostas Ziovas, member of the Cambridge University Kickboxing Society – CUKBS – on his third fight, was the first fighter from CARISMA being on the ring and despite a good combination of alternated punches and kicks was defeated by just one point.
  • Alex Kravetz, also at his third fight, managed to deliver some good combinations of punches and kick and securing the first win of the day albeit by one point.
  • Natasha Taylor, on her second fight, was definitely affected by nerves and not performing as we have seen her in the past.  Facing a very aggressive and pushing opponent she managed to use a variety of accurate punches and kicks to score repeatedly and secure the second win of the day.
  • Nina Street, at her first fight and with just 3 months of experience in kickboxing, managed to deliver a very good fight with variety of combinations of effective punches and kicks but she was defeated by a slightly more experienced opponent.
  • Lukasz Siobisz, at his first fight, showed a good repertoire of kicks and punches but was defeated by a slightly more skilled opponent who managed to score more.
  • Max Larkinson, at his first fight, delivered a great show with very good combinations of well alternated punches and kicks, interleaved with great foot work and accurate timing.  He secured and obvious third first for the day.
  • Jarek Rzepecki, at his second official fight despite his long experience in martial arts, delivered a good fight with the broadest variety of techniques seen on the day.  Despite what it looked as an obvious win he was defeated by judges’ decision.
  • Raz Jabary, member of CUKBS – on his second fight and following a recent injury, delivered a very good fight with some powerful combinations of kicks and punches.  Despite the initial recommendations of strictly enforced Light Contact style the referee allowed a level of contact that was way out of our expectations and Raz, somehow confused, kept fighting with a level of pressure that was just not enough to keep his opponent at bay.

A successful career in fighting sport must start somewhere and small regional tournaments are the right environment for building experience from scratch, while ensuring safety and reasonably fair judging.  We thank Pete Dunnett and his team for another well delivered event.  Videos of the fights will be available soon.