As I settled in to watch some of
the matches in progress, I heard a loud scream and a young
man quickly leaving the sparing area holding his nose which
was bleeding profusely. A young lady was accompanying him
as they left the center sparing area. I soon learned that
the young lady I had come to see was the person who had
injured her sparing partner and was accompanying him to the
rear area to receive medical attention. Then came the
myriad comments about the skills and power of that young
lady.
Her name is Kaylyn Hornbeak and
she is a 5’1” sophomore at Springfield High School.
After making sure that her
sparring partner was not seriously injured, she returned to
the sparing floor to continue training.
Not really knowing a lot about
kickboxing at the time, I was surprised to see a young girl
sparing with a much older and physically larger male
opponent, but to my surprise she handled the adults as
formidably as she would an opponent of her own age and
size. After the session ended, her sparring partner,
McKantz Archer, came over and elaborated on the young girl’s
skills. “She’s very good,” he said. He continued praising
her for several minutes before returning to the sparring
floor.
At the end of her session I had
the opportunity to speak with Kaylyn and her mother,
Chervonne Curry. I learned that Kaylyn began her career in
kickboxing when she was in the third grade at Wildwood
Environmental Elementary School. At that time they didn’t
have a gymnasium so they provided karate lessons for the
students. The Sensei [Japanese name for teacher]
contacted Kaylyn’s Mom asking that she consider kickboxing
for Kaylyn as she showed a great potential for future
success as a kickboxer. |