NWT Kickboxing going to Nationals

On February 18th we held the first kickboxing event in Yellowknife in three years! This event was a fundraiser for the NWT Kickboxing Team to travel to Nationals in Niagara Falls, Ontario on March 30th. The event itself was a complete success and went off amazingly, however, even with the amazing support and sponsorships we received from our awesome business community, we didn’t raise any money and ended up draining our savings because of the rising costs of travel.

NWT Kickboxing ended up having to spend $45,000 on flights to get athletes, coaches, and officials from down south; this is even with sponsorship from Canadian North. The most we have ever spent on flights for an event was $17,500 and we budgeted for $25,000 due to current inflation, but nothing could have prepared us for this, no matter how well we planned (canceled flights, weather conditions, extra hotels, and the current cost of flights alone being $1,200-$1,800 each!). Now our fundraiser has completely drained us and we don’t know exactly how we will take our athletes to Nationals in 5 weeks.

In the North, there’s nothing more important than fostering our local sports teams, specifically within our youth organizations. It is these sports groups that allow our Northern youth to have a health and fitness-related lifestyle while staying clear of crime and violence and progressing in education and employment.

In just two short years NWT Boxing & Kickboxing has enrolled 70 youth amateur athletes registered with WAKO Canada (World Association of Kickboxing Organizations). This past June, we had eight athletes compete at the WAKO Canadian National Championships which is the largest combat sports tournament in Canadian history with over 500 athletes competing. We are proud to say that seven of our eight athletes medaled, and all of our athletes performed very well in their first tournament and their first fights ever. With the success of our small team, we now have more amateurs who wish to start competing.

NWT Kickboxing is not a business, we are a non-profit organization, and are currently operating with the financial support of our amazing sponsors; high-level sponsors like Gastown, Northern Industrial Construction Ltd., Wesclean Yellowknife, Wilf's Restoration Ltd., Silver Lining Contracting, Hotel Super 8, Territorial Beverages, and Midwest Property Management and our lower level sponsors like Chateau Nova, 62 Degrees North. Without these sponsors we are not able to develop athletes and travel to compete, and therefore our athletes will never gain the ring experience needed to become competitive in high-level tournaments like Nationals and Worlds. Besides training, competing is the primary part of becoming a high-level combat sports athlete. Without it, our young amateurs cannot gain the much-needed experience in the ring.

As a sponsor and financial supporter of NWT Boxing & Kickboxing, you’re showing that you’re supporting NWT athletes and helping us develop youth and keeping them and their training within the Territory. Please consider donating to NWT Kickboxing to help our athletes reach their dreams of competing in Nationals in March.