CARISMA has an unofficial Facebook group named Carisma Cambridge (Cambridge Riverside Martial Arts) and it’s a place where current and former members of the club interact and exchange messages, post photos, videos and events.
While we invite all members of CARISMA to join this group we like to stress the fact that this website is the official source for all information about CARISMA.
CARISMA was recently invited to run demonstrations of Kickboxing and Multicombat at the Martial Arts Festival UK that was held in Leicester on 4 and 5 April 2009.
A group of CARISMA members was selected to represent the club in the 3 half hour shows running on Sat 4 April.
A big thank you to James Bush, Heley Matthews, Robin Turner, Georgios Evengelinos James Weatherall and Zeb Pietras for their time and effort to help with the success of these demonstrations.
Please leave comments at the bottom, after having seen the video:
9 fighters, between CARISMA, CUKBS and ARUKBC, participated in a Light Contact Competition organized by Pete Dunnet and the Combat Academy Kickboxing in Thurston (near Bury St. Edmund, Suffolk).
The overall results are extremely encouraging:
Andrea Cristofaro(*): second
Andrew Gillham: winner
Carlos Virvez(*): second
Heidi Holmes: winner
Ian Chau: second
James Waddell: winner
Nas Salmi(*): second
Robin Turner: second
Sam Goldsheider: second
(*) people at their first kickboxing competition
CARISMA fighters showed once more to have a distinct style, good technique and all those qualities that a martial artist should have by definition: even those at their first experience entered competently the tournament and stood their ground with good performance.
Please have a look at the videos:
Andrea Cristofaro
Andrew Gilham
Carlos Virvez
Heidi Holmes
Ian Chau
James Waddell
Nas Salmi
Robin Turner
Sam GoldScheider
Another very successful grading for CARISMA: 7 yellow belts, 1 orange, 1 orange second, 1 green second, 3 blue and 2 brown belts were awarded. The overall grading tests showed great committment and preparation from all participants.
Well done to everyone for the consistent effort put in it!
Grading Mar 2009
The Cambridge University Kickboxing Society celebrated a great success with 2 national titles at the University Kickboxing Championships 2009 held in Canterbury, Kent on Sunday 1 March. Heidi Holmes from Darwin College, fighting in the under 58Kg category, managed to defeat 3 opponents before qualify for the final and winning brilliantly against a very skilled opponent. James Waddell from Magdalene College, fighting in the under 82Kg category, managed to defeat 4 opponents in order to qualify for the final and winning by unanimous decision against a very aggressive opponent.
University Championship 2009
CUKBS had large group of participants including people that just 10 days before were fighting in the Varsity match against Oxford: unfortunately though none of the Varsity winners could make this event. Other fighters representing CUKBS were: Heley Matthews, Leo Schwartz, Sam Goldsheider, Peter Stovall, Frank Gorringe, Dinike Jayamaha and Ian Chau: the last three fighting in their first competition.
The competition hosted over 200 fighters from university kickboxing clubs from around the country and it was a true challenge given the house rules: full contact was allowed to the body while controlled (light) contact was required for face strikes.
Massimo Gaetani, head coach for CARISMA and CUKBS commented: “I am extremely pleased of these results. At this competition as well as during the Varsity match we demonstrated that superior technique is a winning factor. Now at our second year of collaboration I can see a great improvement in the performance of the individual members as well as a very strong motivation of the team as a whole. We are already training toward next years competitions”
Leo Schwartz, CUKBS president, added: “We were extremely happy with the way CUKBS performed at the University Championships. All our fighters acquitted themselves with style and showed a lot of fighting spirit. Standing out was James Waddell’s devastating round-kicks to the head and spinning-back side kicks. Heidi also devastated two of her opponents in the first round with relentless combos resulting in two technical knockouts in her first two bouts! We were disappointed to find out that Frank after decimating his poor opponent with obviously superior technical skill was failed by the judges decision but are confident he will prove a fearsome opponent in future years. Finally all our boys in the 82kg and below category did fantastically, all reaching the semi-finals with a good combination of punching and kicking techniques executed in fluid combinations. Many thanks to all those who helped out, the future looks very promising for CUKBS”
We would like to thank Soren for the precious help in dealing with the organizers and support with the coaching, Chris for photos and driving and Bradley for the video filming.