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END OF YEAR MEANS TROPHY TIME!
It’s the end of the year, and that means sports clubs all over the country will be honouring their students for all their hard work. From the most improved, to the top-performing, there’s nothing like the presentation of a trophy to give a tangible feeling of well-being.
People need to feel motivated and inspired – so whatever the sport – give them something of quality to treasure, and inspire them to do even better next year.
At 1st Place Trophies we’ve been providing sports clubs with some of the most amazing mementos, and we’ve noticed a real uptake in recent years in combat sports – from boxing through to mixed martial arts.
For those of you who don’t know your Thai Boxing from your Taekwondo, here’s a quick lowdown on each sport, and some links to the type of trophies we’re able to provide.
A combat sport between two people, boxing involves use of the fists. It’s a highly dangerous sport, so the rules are tight and supervision is essential.
The contestants fight a series of 1 – 3-minute rounds, and the victor is declared if the opponent is knocked out, too badly injured, or unable to get up within a count of 10 seconds.
Professional boxing evolves in the early 20th century – initially it was unregulated. Bare-knuckle fighters would compete for prizes at fairgrounds. However, during the 20th century, it gradually became more respectable, regulated and sanctioned sport.
Bouts took place mainly in Britain and the USA, with the National Boxing Association in America behind the move for ‘title fights’ after 1920. They later became the World Boxing Association. The Boxing Federation was then founded in 1983.
In order to be the ‘Undisputed World Champion’ (think Rocky Marciano, Muhammed Ali, George Foreman, Lennox Lewis etc)..... a boxer has to be acknowledged by the three different governing bodies (WBA, WBC, and IBF).
Professional bouts typically range from ten to twelve bouts, though less significant fights can be as short as four rounds.
In professional sports boxing, protective headgear is not allowed.
This sport falls into the category of those used for self-defence, fitness and contact sport.
More of a hybrid sport, it uses kicks and punches, headbutts, elbow strikes and clinches in order to take down the opponent.
Kickboxing has contributed to the emergence of mixed martial arts via further hybridization with ground fighting techniques from Brazilian jiu-jitsu and folk wrestling. There’s no single international governing body although they do include the International Combat Organisation; the World Kickboxing Association and International Sport Karate Association among others.
With the lack of overall governance, it’s been difficult to establish a singular world championships, so it tends to fall to individual promoters to hold their own events, with their own variants on the rules applicable at the time.
Karate was initially taught in secret, practiced only by the nobility and upper classes. This is perhaps why it’s true origins are still undecided.
The modern form of Karate is credited to Gichin Funakoshi, who built his first dodo (training centre) in Tokyo in 1936. Today, karate is little-changed, with students learning techniques to strike, kick and punch, along with form – something that requires balance and power for offensive and defensive moves.
One of the two Asian arts in the Olympic games (Judo is another) – this sport is used as part of Korea’s military training. Originating in 1946, it’s a weapon-less art of self-defence that differentiates from others by its use of precision kicks (Taekwondo originally meant ‘the way of the foot’). Based on ‘The Theory of Power’ it harnesses breath, speed, concentration, equilibrium, mass and reaction force in order to fight effectively.
Dubbed by The Guardian as ‘the toughest, most exciting sport in the world’, K1 combines karate, kick boxing and kung-fu. Five 3-minute rounds ensure competitors fight to full capacity for the entire time, ensuring thrills for the duration. Competitors are brave, bold and so fit it’s breath-taking. Not for the faint-hearted!
JudoJudo means ‘the gentle way’ – it’s a modern martial art that was created in 1882 by JigoroKano.The only other Olympic martial art, it contains a competitive element that requires the opponent to be to be thrown to the ground, taken down (by means of a ‘sweep’) or pinned/immobilised to the ground, or held in a joint lock or choke hold. Points are awarded for the moves which fall into three categories – throws/grapples/strike techniques.
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, from a variety of other combat sports and martial arts. Various mixed-style contests took place throughout Europe, Japan and the Pacific Rim during the early 1900s.
The origins of wrestling can be traced back to ancient Greece, where it became an official sport. And today, there is no one particular style – some practice a type of wrestling that allows gripping of the clothes, others where it’s forbidden. Across Iceland, through to Switzerland and Turkey, through to the USA and Europe, wrestling’s popularity has continued to grow.
Brazilian JiuJitsu promotes the concept that weaker or smaller contestants can successfully defend against a stronger/heavier assailant with the use of correct leverage and technique. By taking the fight ‘to the ground’ they are then able to apply joint-locks and chokeholds in order to triumph.
What is your sport of choice? Take a look at our trophies in our online store for inspiration.