Dundonald girl becomes stick fighting champion

A seven-year-old County Down girl has become a martial arts world champion.

Kirsten Brockbank, from Dundonald, won Gold at the World Championships in Portugal competing in stick fighting, in the Phillipine discipline of Kali.

It's in the family - mum Hazel won silver in the adult class and a team bronze, and her dad Mark is the chief coach at Raptr Martial Arts.

"I just like waving a stick around and hitting other people with it," said Kirsten with refreshing honesty.

"She did so well," said Hazel. "We're so proud of her. You could see the confidence come out, because she's naturally quite shy, and the most important thing is she had fun."

Sitting cross-legged on the mats in Queen's Leisure Complex in Holywood, unconsciously playing with her gold medal, Kirsten reflected on how she won her title.

"It was a bit hard, because the other kid was really good at it as well. But it was mostly fun, the main thing is, whilst I was thinking about it, I was hitting him," she said.

Kali stick fighting might sound violent, but an increasing number of extremely non-violent people are practising it.

Their discipline is remarkable.

As chief instructor, Kirsten's dad Mark sells the idea to people sceptical about what they might be getting into.

"We say 'have a go, put the armour on, put the gloves on, and here's the stick'," he smiled.

"When people start to do it, it's just one of those things that you love, that you didn't know you love, it's becoming very popular for us, everyone who's done it really really enjoys it."

With seven medals at recent competitions, the Raptr Club is starting to get noticed.

If Kirsten has impressed by winning a world title so young, watch out, her little sister Hayley is coming.