In a flagship achievement for Okehampton, the town’s Thai kickboxing centre recently announced that it had received the go-ahead to establish Okehampton’s first-ever amateur boxing club.

Team Chaos Muay Thai and Fitness Centre have worked closely with the Amateur Boxing Association throughout the lockdown to set up the club officially, which has now been accepted into the amateur boxing circuit and will go by the name Okehampton A.B.C.

Head coach Steve Pender said: ’We’re really really pleased. We can get more people involved because Thai kickboxing is not for everyone so we needed a boxing club as well — they’re two different sports, you see. It’s something on a broader spectrum. We’re trying to have a variety of things in our club to suit everyone.

’Every area in the UK basically has some form of boxing club and boxing is quite well-known [as a sport]. So it was something lacking in the area. Exeter has one, Launceston has one, Tavistock has one and now we’ve been able to bring all that to Okehampton.’

Covid restrictions held back the club’s entrance into the amateur boxing circuit but Team Chaos have now confirmed that it will hold its first session on February 7, which will cater for ages 12 upwards.

Coach Pender hopes that the club will prove to be a great success and lead to the formation of a junior and adult boxing fight team in the future and encourage more people to attend training sessions as the centre has seen a fall in attendance due to covid concerns and restrictions on the number of people allowed in the centre at any one time.

’I think we’re going to be able to put juniors and seniors into competition level and grow that as well as the club on top of what we’re already doing,’ he said.

’At the moment we’ve been limited with our numbers and obviously it’s getting people’s confidence to come back and train.

’Not a lot of people are coming in, like the children in school. There used to be 31 in a class but before Christmas that went down to 15 children. The parents are very reluctant to send their children to the club because of the close contact.

’I think the main thing is to try and live normally because we’ll all quite trapped at the moment and we don’t know what’s next. I think it’s that way right across the board.’

Established in 2012, Team Chaos offers kickboxing and Muay Thai, also known as Thai boxing, training along with other workout sessions and is known worldwide for its training programme.

Over its lifetime the fitness centre has gone from what British world kickboxing champion Christi Brereton described as a ’spit and sawdust’ atmosphere to a renowned club, which has produced several world and European kickboxing champions including Christi herself, and an important centre for Okehampton.

The club now attracts athletes from outside the Okehampton area with some members travelling from as far away Taunton, Newquay, Bude, Sidmouth and Honiton.

Team Chaos has received support from several local community interest groups and charities in the past including Okehampton United Charities and the Round Table. Both groups helped to fund the club’s revamp in 2018, when a full-sized boxing ring, punch bags and judo matted area were installed in the centre.

But, as Coach Pender said, the centre does not just teach people to fight.

’We have individuals that our club has helped find that inner confidence and self belief and have then had inspiration to join the army or forces,’ he added.

The centre has also worked with people suffering from mental health conditions and groups such as OCRA and the Okehampton police to tackle the rise in anti-social behaviour.

For more information, visit www.teamchaos.uk or email [email protected]