Bon voyage! (From Free Press Series)

Bon voyage!

5:50pm Thursday 9th October 2008

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STAFF at an Abergavenny High Street store have raised nearly £150 in order to send 11-year-old Heidi Davies to the World Kickboxing Championships.

Heidi is the reigning English and Welsh national champion and on course for the double again in 2008. Earlier this year she retained the European Championship she won in 2007.

But funding such blossoming talent is tough for parents Deborah and Paul and that is where Bon Marche come in, raising £142.10.

Heidi’s mother Deborah, who grew up in Gilwern, said: “I was just talking at the counter and next time I went in they offered to do a raffle. I brought some stuff in and they provided some other prizes and I’m very grateful that money will go towards club fees, travel costs, everything.

“She used to train at Ebbw Vale but the club closed down so we take her to Cheltenham three times a week. Then she competes once a month all over the country.

“In 2006 we went to Malta and she won there, and now she’s going to Greece in November. There’s then the possibility that we could be going to Trinidad and Tobago in two years’ time.”

Heidi lives in Blaina and last month began studying at Nantyglo Comprehensive in Brynmawr. She competes against boys and girls of all ages, both in stop-start points matches and continuous fight-to-the-end bouts.

But she first took up kickboxing when her older sister was brutally stabbed in 2003. Her sister made a full recovery but the incident inspired young Heidi, then aged just six, and her classmates to take up self defence.

Deborah continued: “Some of her friends didn’t like the physical side of it but she just carried on. It’s not just kickboxing, she likes hockey, netball and football too but she can’t fit it all in.”

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