Community Spotlight

Art of 8 Martial Arts team fielded five athletes in the annual WAKO Canadian National Championships. It is a very prestigious tournament that sees the best Canadians from coast to coast compete. We brought home 1 Championship (gold), 1 silver, 1 bronze. Jaxen WIldman got invaluable experience competing on the big scale at only eight years old. We are excited to see him perform in the future. Our only adult at the nationals, Robert Caswell (41yrs), performed incredibly and won his first tournament bout by Technical Knockout. Unfortunately, he received a serious low blow in his second fight and it prevented him from continuing his quest for gold.

Athlete Name: Gabriel Goe

Division: Low Kick Rules (punches to the body/head, kicks to the legs)

Athlete Age: 13yrs

Outcome: Bronze • Eligible to be a part of 2023 WAKO Canadian Junior Team

Athlete Name: Jai-Kristoëff Jones

Style/Division: K1 Kickboxing Rules (punches to the body/head, kicks to the legs, knees to the body)

Athlete Age: 14yrs

Outcome: Silve;• Eligible to be a part of 2023 WAKO Canadian Junior Team

Athlete Name: Oshiya Newby Morgan

Style/Division: K1 KickboxingRules (punches to the body/head, kicks to the legs, knees to the body)

Athlete Age: 13yrs

Outcome: Gold• Eligible to be a part of 2023 WAKO Canadian Junior Team

Upcoming Competitions

A team of four will be travelling to Iowa, USA to compete in the very prestigious annual TBA-SA Classic World Championships where we will compete under Muay Thai Rules with punches, elbows, knees and kicks. Jai-Kristoëff has also qualified to represent Team Canada at the WBC World Youth Games;in Calgary (August 12-14).We are working to bring 5 world championship belts to Orangeville this summer:

• Jaxen Wildman - 8 years old

• Mjöer-Micah Jones - 7 years old

• Jai-Kristoéff Jones - 14 years old

• Martello Jones - 37 years old

We also have a few other non-tournament bouts coming in July and August with a mixture of both adult and youth athletes competing.

Other important facts:

• Oshiya is the first national K1 Kickboxing champion from Dufferin County, and also the first female athlete from this region to do it.

• Art Of 8 Martial Arts Academy is the first Dufferin County martial arts school to field a team in these highly competitive (K1 Low Kick) divisions at the national level

• Art Of 8 Martial Arts Academy will be the first school from this community to field athletes on Team Canada in the above divisions at the respective World Championships in 2022/23

Photo Credit and Article: Art of 8 Martial Arts