We are all very proud of Sophie representing Scotland and bringing back a bronze medal - here is her story.
"During the October Holiday I was lucky enough to compete in the World Kickboxing championships in Orlando, Florida, as part of the Scottish Team. On Sunday there was an opening ceremony which was loud and thrilling. We were all chanting the Scottish national anthem and singing funny songs. There were lots of other countries including big teams from the USA, Canada, Puerto Rica and Venezuela, they were all dancing and marching just like us.
On Tuesday I had my first fights. I competed in a “points” fight and my open weight fight. Neither of these ended the way I wanted, the competition was very tough, but it was a good experience and I am still proud to have represented my country.
On Wednesday I had my Light Contact/Continuous fight, this is my best discipline. In the semi-final I fought a girl from England and it was a tough fight but I felt that it had gone well. When it finished I went to my coach and he said “well done you smashed her”. But the judges thought differently and I had lost. There was a gasp from the crowd who also thought I had won. I was very disappointed and my coach was very angry and said that he couldn’t understand why the judges had voted that way. There were a number of other poor decisions for Team Scotland that day. It was a hard day for everyone.
On Friday it was finals day, there was lots of cheering and it was an amazing atmosphere. Team Scotland got 10 gold, 12 silver and 22 bronze medals, including mine. I didn’t fight on Friday but it was exciting to watch everyone else who was. After the finals I was called up to the podium to collect my bronze medal and while I would have liked better I was still very proud of myself and inspired to do even better next year. Overall it was one of the best experiences of my life and I hope to be able do it again!"
Written by Sophie - IM