Kickboxing and I found each other at the perfect time in my life. I was going through some emotional, mental, and physical trauma at that time and found that martial arts was able to centre me mentally whilst giving my physical conditioning a complete overhaul. It was unlike anything that my former (and much younger) athletic self had known.

The day I drove to a local UFC Gym in the States and, on autopilot mode, joined in a lunchtime kickboxing class, I will always count as one of the best days of my life. I still get the same feeling that I did that day on leaving my very first class as I do after my most recent. That being, gratitude.

Since getting back to Australia in mid 2014, I have been only able to focus on the art of boxing, as I wasn’t able to find a gym that focused on kickboxing as well. Unfortunately, a couple of personal setbacks, including spinal surgery 14 months ago, then kept me sidelined for the greater part of 2016, until I mentioned on Facebook, Feb. 2017, that a goal of mine was to start kickboxing again as I was needing that kind of physical and mental lift.

Enter then the lovely Eilish, letting me know that Artgym had a 4:30pm kickboxing class with Joe every Friday. And I was there! What I love about Joe, is that from my very first class, he ensured that he kept the entire class at the same pace, grounded in the same set of basics that we have slowly built up from, moving forward at a comfortable pace with each new week. I’ve also been fortunate enough to benefit from one-on-one training with Joe weekly and he has single-handedly, reignited that physical and mental spark for kickboxing and martial arts that I needed, through his patience, expertise, humour, gentle nudging to push the pace, and the constant variety of the program.