Tyler Atkin - champion kickboxer

In July we announced that the Old Bostonian Association would be sponsoring BGS student, Tyler Atkin in support of his participation in the England team at the 2015 WFMC world amateur kickboxing championships held in Germany this month. We are very pleased to hear that Tyler has brought home the gold medal for being placed first in his category at the championships.

As a condition of the sponsorship we asked Tyler to write a report of his experiences. Here is Tyler's report.

My WFMC journey

Day 1: Today I woke up at 12 o’clock in the morning, as we needed to travel 3 hours to Manchester airport. We arrived there at about 3 o’clock in the morning and we had to wait for Wayne (the coach) and the rest of the team. Once Wayne arrived, we all got our team kit, which was white with red stripes. One we had got our kit, we got changed into it. As soon as everyone had finished, we proceeded through the airport and on to the plane. 

The plane journey was meant to be around about 1 hour and forty-five minutes. However we managed to get there twenty minutes ahead of schedule, so we had to wait outside for Frank the bus driver to take us to the hotel. We ended up spending about an hour on the bus, and we arrived there at about 3 o’clock in the evening. When we got to the hotel, we went inside and got our keys. We went into our designated rooms and unpacked. When we had finished, we had to chill until 6 o’clock. I had nothing to do, so I threw on some shorts and a tank top and went into the hotel gym. I spent about an hour in there and then I went back up, so that I could have a shower and change into something nice. 

We went down for dinner and we saw an all you can eat buffet. I couldn’t eat too much though, as I wanted to make it under 40 kg tomorrow. So I ended up having a salad and some meat. I then went back up and started watching Netflix. Shortly, Richard (my step-dad) came upstairs and we all fell asleep. 

Day 2: Today I woke up at about 8 o’clock and I got changed into my team kit. Today was weigh-ins, and I was hoping to get in under 40kg. I went down for breakfast and then Wayne said we had to be downstairs for 9 o’clock. I went upstairs, grabbed some stuff and went down. We had to order 3 taxis, so that we could all go at once. We got there and had to wait outside for about ten minutes. We then went inside and got some forms to fill in. I went upstairs to weigh myself and I was 38.8kg, so I had made weight. I then gave my form in and we went home. There wasn’t much to do, so I went on Facebook until it was dinner time. When it was dinner time, I went upstairs and put loads and loads of salad on my plate. At this point I allowed myself to eat as much as I wanted, as I didn’t have to watch my weight anymore. 

After dinner, I went upstairs and went to bed… 

Day 3: Today was the big day!!! I woke up early, so that I could get some breakfast and get a taxi to the event. When we got there, we found a place to put our bags and sat down. 

Not long after I sat down, I was asked to stand up and walk somewhere. I was given a Switzerland flag and was to walk through a crowd when I heard the person say Switzerland, this was part of the opening ceremony and signified the joining together of the countries. I did as instructed and stood there for a while. Soon after I was told to give the flag back and I went back to our team. I went and got changed and waited for my fight to be called. When it did I went into the ring and fought. I caught my opponent in the tummy with a front kick which made him sick and wasn’t able to continue, so I won. I got changed back into my team kit and waited for the rest of our team to fight. Once everyone had finished, we all went back to the hotel and had some dinner. After that we all went upstairs and got some sleep for the final tomorrow. 

Day 4: I had been waiting for this day my whole life!!! I repeated my usual morning pattern and got a taxi to the venue. We all waited for the ending ceremony to end. Once it did, I went upstairs and got changed into my fight kit. I heard my fight get called and I went in the ring. I was nervous, however slightly confident. I heard the bell ring and went straight into competition mode. Me and this other boy went all two rounds, he was a very tough world class opponent but fortunately I won by decision. I collected my medal and certificate and went to the hotel. When I got back I went to the dining room and stuffed my face with food. We were all very tired, so after dinner we went bowling and went to bed. 

Day 5: Today we went back home and flew from Dusseldorf. One of the fighter’s dad’s picked us up from Manchester and took u all home… 

Here is the link to my fight.

OBA sponsorship for Tyler Atkin

The Old Bostonian Association is pleased to be able to sponsor Tyler Atkin, a student of Boston Grammar School, who has qualified for a place on the England team at the WFMC world amateur kickboxing championships to be held in Germany in October 2015. The OBA has helped him towards his goal to raise £699 required to send him to the championships.

My name is Tyler James Atkin, I am 12 years old and currently a year 7 Boston Grammar school student. As you probably know kickboxing is my hobby and has been since I was four years old! The gym I attend is pride UK and is located in Broadfield Lane industrial estate. Through my eight years of kickboxing I have achieved many ranks, and right now I am a second degree black belt which I worked very hard for and managed to achieve earlier this year.

Over the years I have participated in many competitions and have collected lots of trophies. This year though is particularly special to me because at the beginning of the year I competed at an event called the WFMC British championships and placed first in a category called K1. Because of this I was invited to be a part of team England and compete in the WFMC world amateur championships in Hagen Germany between the 14th-19th October later this year. As you can imagine to have an opportunity like that after so many years of dedication, hard work and training, was one I was thrilled about and so grateful to have. 

In order to make my trip possible I have been fundraising, and once again would like to thank you for your big donation! Boston Grammar school have also been so kind to donate £50 towards my trip and my form tutor has a shrapnel jar to help towards my target too.

I am lucky to have a kickboxing instructor who is dedicated to helping me and his other students to succeed. So far my training regime has consisted of two kickboxing sessions a week, one circuit training session, one black belt club training plus sparring sessions. I have also been using the treadmill and spin cycle at home. And squad sessions are arranged for team England to train together. I am very fortunate as school has also been very supportive and has offered to let me train during my lunch time if I wish to do so.

In return for the sponsorship the Old Bostonian Association has asked Tyler to keep up posted of his progress, so I hope to be reporting again on him in the not too distant future.

William Swain - British Schools Modern Biathlon champion

William Swain (photo Boston Standard)

William Swain admitted he was ‘delighted’ to be crowned the British Schools Modern Biathlon champion on Sunday. The Boston Grammar School pupil won the under 14 boys’ title after competing at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

"I was delighted when I found out I’d won," said William, who turned 14 on Friday. "I finished 13th last year, so my aim was to finish in the top 10. I exceeded all my expectations."

William finished the 1,600m run in 13th place before completing the 100m swim - in the pool which was used at London 2012 - in third.

After a nervy hour-long wait for the final standings to be released, William discovered he had finished in overall first place.

William, of Almond Walk, Boston, trains four times every week at Spalding’s South Lincs Competitive Swimming Club. He admits that swimming is his preferred sport, even if he does enjoy athletics training at school, under the watchful eye of teacher Richard Anderson.

After claiming 13th spot in the final at Crystal Palace last year, William booked his place in this year’s showpiece event after winning his heat in York. He began the final ranked in 13th, but finished the event on top.

"It was amazing to compete in the Olympic Park, especially in the pool," William added.

Richard Anderson commented to the OBA that "William has trained really hard, but this is a super surprise!"
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Interested in playing cricket or other sports?

Old Bostonian Association Cricket Team 1965

As you should be aware by now, the 2014 football match between the "old boys" and Boston Grammar School will take place on 3 April at the school. See the relevant article for more details if you want to be a spectator - I believe that we now have enough players and officials.

Together with the annual General Knowledge Quiz, ably MC'd by Richard Anderson, and the Snooker Tournament, which, following the death of its previous organiser, Paul Mould, failed to take place in 2013, the football match makes up the group of recently held competitions between the "old boys" and the school.

In the past there were other competitions: cricket, tennis and golf come to mind but there were probably others.

The Old Bostonian Association President, Peter Sharman, tells me that someone has shown an interest in organising a cricket match. There's no date for it yet, nor even a guarantee that it will happen, but if you might be interested in taking part, please indicate you interest to Peter, either by email (president@bostonian.org.uk) or via his Facebook account - he is a member of the Boston Grammar School Alumni group at Facebook.

If cricket isn't your thing, or even if it is, perhaps you could think whether you might be able and willing to organise a competition between the "old boys" (under the name of the Old Bostonian Association, but not necessarily involving only member of the association) and the school. While it can certainly be a sporting, event, it doesn't have to be. Again, send any suggestions to Peter Sharman, you could add a comment to this post, or if you're a member of the Facebook group, why not start a discussion there and see if there is interest in your idea.

Just a footnote about the snooker, while, as indicated above, the death of Paul Mould put a spanner in the works of the annual tournament, a new organiser was appointed in 2013 and apart from running out of year, there was another reason for the competition not taking place: Nigel Wainwright was unable to raise a school team. A proposal was made to have a competition between "young" old boys and "more senior" old boys, so if this situation continues, we could be looking for even more snooker players than usual when this year's competition is being organised.

New Wiki Articles (29 December 2012)

Pitcher Cup Winners 1973

I have created a few new articles in the OBA wiki today. There's no particular theme to them.

• Pitcher Cup Winners 1973
• Trip to Russia 1966
• Air Raid Shelters
• Speech Day 1959
• Debating Society

1991 Athletics

Boston Grammar School Sixth Form Sports Day 1991

When I set up the OBA Wiki project I intended to post at least one article a day. That was a resolution that was bound to be broken occasionally, and so it has been. It has been a few days since I posted a new article, but then in that time I set up this blog, so I can forgive myself.

I like the medium of a Wiki. Not only can many people contribute (and you are welcome to contribute to it) but you can get lost and when you start off intending to contribute an article on one subject, you can end up writing something on a totally different subject, or contributing small corrections or updates to many different articles. Whatever you do, it's all good, it's all progress.