If you had asked me over two years ago if I would be doing Muaythai, I would have responded with ‘what is that’ and now I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. After driving past Riddlers week after week on my way to Gymnastics and always wondering what it was all about, I thought it was time to give something new a go. Muay Thai at Riddlers has changed me in ways I never thought was possible in such a short time. I have not only matured, but have gained a whole new level of confidence which has taught me to never give up when things get hard. Its taught me to always believe in myself and push above where I think I can go.
When I first started, I enrolled in kids classes and it wasn’t long before I had moved to intermediate. During this time I knew I wanted to work up to fighters and made sure I never gave up on this dream. Eventually, I was asked if I would like to join fighters and have my first fight. Unfortunately having two people pull out meant a delay in my first fight, though I told myself I was not going to give up it made me want to train harder and taught me to just embrace the journey and be patient as my coach would always tell me .I then got asked to travel over to Adelaide to have my first fight which was a huge success. It was confirmed I was in the right place and knew that I could not see myself doing anything else.
Training 5 days a week and attending school full time has taught me how to organise myself, as this combination requires a lot of planning to make it all work. Being a part of Riddlers makes me feel as if though I am part of a large family who look out for each other and help one another to live out our dreams of being the best people we can be. I am in my element when I train and love that I am surrounded by people who feel the same way and have the same passion. Each week you are faced with a new skill in your training session and one you didn’t think possible, but I manage each week to push myself to become better and stronger. I feel such a privilege having the opportunity to be a part of this journey and am embracing it. It is such an honour to train with such high class trainers and people with so much experience. Riddlers Gym has truely changed me as a person for the better and I would not want it any other way.
AND HERE'S WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY ABOUT MONIQUE..
Monique is a trainers dream. She started at Riddlers with no background of martial arts and has applied herself in all areas since the first day she stepped foot in the gym. Her discipline and desire to improve is something that we can all learn and draw inspiration from. At only 15 years old, she is tackling full time fight training and school... and somewhere in there, a social life with friends and family.
She started in our kids classes and with massive amounts of dedication to her training, she is now a familiar face in our fight team - learning and mixing with our best fighters, and of course surrounding herself in happy, positive people that are driven to succeed and bettering themselves on a daily basis - what more can you want for your child?.... and all of this, from driving past our front door, wondering what was inside.
Also, our 3 year old son absolutely loves her, and kids are always a pretty damn good judge of people we think :).
Thanks for showing us how amazing a 15 year old kid can really be!
