{"id":1739,"date":"2013-08-07T10:26:00","date_gmt":"2013-08-07T09:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shop4martialarts.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1739"},"modified":"2023-05-19T13:59:13","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T12:59:13","slug":"tom-bowker-martial-artist-of-the-month-august-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shop4martialarts.co.uk\/blog\/tom-bowker-martial-artist-of-the-month-august-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Bowker – Martial Artist of the Month [August 2013]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to August edition of Martial Artist of the Month<\/em><\/strong>, a section dedicated to YOU \u2013 the martial artists of the world.<\/p>\n

In this month\u2019s edition, we interview Thai-boxer, Tom Bowker<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"tom-bowker-thai-fight\"
Tom Bowker (red shorts)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Please can you tell us a bit about yourself?<\/strong>
\nMy name is Tom Bowker, I am 16, and I live in Bolton, England. I am a blue grade armband in Thai boxing, and have red belt with yellow stripe in Judo.<\/p>\n

How old were you when you got into martial arts and what made you want to learn?<\/strong>
\nI started to do martial arts when I was 7. I started doing Judo, Boxing, and Kick-boxing. I wanted to start because I had watched it on TV and thought “I want to do that”, so my mum took me down to do Judo but everyone was a lot bigger than me and I didn\u2019t really enjoy it that much so my dad took me down to do boxing for a little while and I wanted to just learn how to fight.<\/p>\n

Which martial art did you learn first?<\/strong>
\nI started of doing Judo for 2 years and then went into boxing and I did that for about 1 year. I stopped doing martial arts because I wasn\u2019t interested any more but then when I was 13 I joined a kick-boxing gym and trained there for a few month but I just didn\u2019t feel like it was for me. When I turned 14 I wanted to do boxing and found a gym and started to train. After about 3 months I decided I want to do something else, so I searched everywhere and found a local Thai-boxing gym about 10mins away from me, so I went down to train and I loved it and have been going ever since.<\/p>\n

\"tom-bolton-thai-boxing\"
Tom with Bolton Thai Boxing members and head instructor, Sandy Holt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Have you entered any competitions or participcated in any demonstrations?<\/strong>
\nI entered my first competition in 2012 in Southport, which was a Thai boxing fight, it was my first fight, and I was a yellow grade armband in Thai-boxing. I was nervous because it was my first one, unfortunately u lost by split decision. After the fight I loved it so in 2013 I had another one which was on my home show at holiday inn, after losing my last one it made me want to win so bad, I won it by unanimous decision. 4 Months later I had another on the same show and I won by unanimous decision again.<\/p>\n

I have taken part in a few demonstrations – 2 in the Bolton town centre, 1 at BCC Garage and 1 at Westhoughton High School<\/p>\n