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Little fighter

by Diane Leach
6/ 5/2008

BRAVE Millie O’Shea is fighting fit these days – and has the gloves to prove it.

A year ago little Millie was battling cancer, but now she has taken up Thai boxing.

The four-year-old is one of a growing group of youngsters to join Sparton Thai Boxing Club, which opened in Whitworth eight weeks ago.

Millie’s mother, Mrs Susan O’Shea, said: "She wanted to do disco dancing, but can’t until she’s five. So she’s joined her brother Jack at Thai boxing and she simply loves it."

Millie is currently in remission from the kidney cancer and her mother said: "Millie’s illness affected the whole family, especially Jack. He would get fed up with things and found it difficult to concentrate. This has given him a focus and he’s meeting new people. He can’t wait for training nights - and all three of the kids are out like a light when they get to bed. The exercise is helping to build Millie up. She saw specialist this week and I asked him if it was okay for her to do. He said she should carry on."

All the parents the Observer spoke to at the club eek agreed that the children love Thai boxing. The discipline and exercise was doing them good.

Equally, they were adamant in their condemnation of the Cutting Edge programme Strictly Baby Fight Club, screened on Channel 4 last week. It showed children as young as four and five in fighting bouts, with their parents egging them on. One nine-year-old was shown in five two-minute rounds in front of 1,000 paying adults in a 23-ft metal cage.

Another child, a five-year-old girl, was seen sobbing before a fight.

Gordon Estlick, a former world champion bronze medalist, said the programme gave the wrong impression of the sport and described it as ‘sensationalist’.

He said: "They made it look like full contact fighting, no club I know of would sanction that. They made it look like a blood sport, when in fact it’s no different to other martial arts such as Karate and Taekwondo. In Thai boxing, there can be no head contact until they are 18 - unlike boxing, where the age is 11. The children wear a body shield, shin guards, head guards and 12oz gloves and I’ve never known anyone to be injured - unlike some other sports."

The martial art is a passion with Gordon, who is greenkeeper at Lobden Golf Club. Now 40, he fought for 15 years and was British heavyweight Thai boxing champion.

A member of the Sparton club in Middleton for 25 years, he adopted the name when he opened in Whitworth.

Training nights are on Tuesdays and Friday and regularly attract 40 enthusiasts aged from just three to 40 plus.

Gordon said: "We teach them discipline and self control, not aggression, and how to defend themselves. In the ring you have to control your emotions, because if you don’t, you’ve lost. The club is very popular with the kids and they are very well behaved. We start with exercises and stretches, then they have a bit of a spar with the adults and practice their moves."

"Our youngest is Shelby, three. She’s only playing, but she enjoys herself and likes to join in."

Shelby’s mother, Natasha, said: "My son Joshua also comes to the club. The children find it a lot of fun, but it’s also providing them with discipline and exercise. There’s no head contact and Gordon stresses they must never use it here or outside."

Of the Cutting Edge film, she added: "I think some of those parents were deluded, the film made it look really bad. Since Joshua started coming it’s done him the world of good. It’s giving him confidence in a good way."

Natasha Collier agreed. She said: "I have no concerns about my son, as long as he wants to do it. I think it’s better than sitting at home watching the telly, or stuck on the computer."

As far as these ’baby fighters’ are concerned, Thai boxing is strictly here to stay.

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