Kickboxing @ Lae

A few weeks ago a young man moved into the house next door. His name : Bonni. Bonni is  19yo and hails in from the Simbu province in the Highlands and is the current PNG Kickboxing champion in the 75Kgs weight division. On several occasions Bonni popped in for a coffee and a chat.  It is during one of these conversations I found out that Lae has a kickboxing school.

Over the years I have been a student of several martial arts although never kickboxing per se.  As a young lad I was rather partial to a “blue” and have always been attracted to the fighting arts in one form or another. Over the past few years I have let the old physical fitness slip and  nowadays I would be hard pressed to get a punch in if conditions happen to reach the “biff” stage. Besides – my motto nowadays : peace better than pieces !!

Driven more by curiosity than the motivation to participate in a class, a few Saturday's ago I attended one of the Kickboxing classes in Lae town. With Eli as “escort” and digital camera in hand I ventured into town to check out the classes. What an experience !!  On the afternoon I took about 120 photos, bought some cold drinks and fruit for the boys and was asked to give a little speech at the end of the class.

Since that Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago I have:

1) Metup with John Wal (Chief Instructor) a few times in town for lunch.
2) Sponsored three young boys from West Taraka to attend three kickboxing classes a week.
3) Organised training premises for John Wal at the Telikom Training college (PTC) at Tent Siti.
4) Made contact with one of my old clubs in Sydney and currently investigating opportunities for establishing a “sister” relationship between clubs.
5) Burnt 2x CD's with the 120 or so photos I took at that 1st class (One for Bonni and the other for John Wal).
6) Still thinking about joining and participating in classes myself. Still thinking….

Most people in Lae reside in the so called settlements. These places are a breeding ground for young criminals and street boys. Parents are not able to afford to send their kids to school. No work and no school – a young boy becomes restless and starts to hang out with riff-raff and thereby looking up to negative male role models. The work that John Wal is doing is an exception to this and the boys that come to his classes are not only taught the fighting arts but the discipline and strong thinking that goes hand in hand with being a warrior.  So I made a decision that Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago – to remain involved with the kickboxing school and assist in anyway possible.

The PNG male is a born warrior and fighting comes as 2nd nature. For this reason I firmly believe that kickboxing as a sport has a bright future in PNG and during that class a few Saturday's ago, I sensed I was looking at some of the world's future champions. This sense might or might not be true but what I do firmly believe is that by assisting John in anyway I can that this will go along way to helping some of the young boys locked into the settlement/crime syndrome to break away and find a niche that will take them into the Nupela Pasin with pride, a new way of thinking and ultimately success.

Bonni has since moved back to Simbu and my understanding is that he shortly heads to Port Moresby to fight. If he wins in Moresby he will then qualify to fight in a professional tournament in Melbourne – with a 1st prize of K500,000 (AU$200,000).

Go Bonni !!

All photos from my Saturday afternoon visit to the Kickboxing class a few weeks ago can be viewed in the Kickboxing album