LEWIS Greathead will travel to Italy next month to represent Great Britain at the World Light Continuous Kickboxing Championships.

Stuart Watson

LEWIS Greathead will travel to Italy next month to represent Great Britain at the World Light Continuous Kickboxing Championships.

The 13-year-old Scorpion Kickboxing Academy member was chosen by the World Association Kickboxing Organisations (WAKO) for the junior squad after impressing at four selection trials across the country.

The Stowupland High School pupil had originally earned his place on the trials by reaching the final of the Nottingham-based British Open Championships earlier this year.

Since his selection - for the Under-37kg category in the Under-16 age group - Greathead has been training flat out, attending up to five club sessions a week to train with 6th Dan instructor Mark Trent as well as training at home with his black belt father Paul.

Trent said: “He really has been training like a mad man. Everybody at our academy deserves a pat on the back but Lewis in particular deserves special praise.

“He is so dedicated to his training. He has just joined a boxing club for extra fitness and he has even started to help teach at some of our junior classes. The younger kids really look up to what he has achieved.

“I went with him to the first set of trials and they really were tough, the selectors were watching everyone like hawks. His selection is a great achievement as he really was up against the very best in the country.

“He's a gritty fighter with very quick hand and leg speed which is a bonus as normally you have one or the other. The main thing though is that he genuinely is a really nice young man.”

Greathead, who also enjoys playing the trumpet and electric guitar, is currently a second degree black belt in karate and first degree black belt in Thai kickboxing.

His selection builds upon a growing list of success stories for the Scorpion Academy, based out of the Mid Suffolk Leisure Centre, who in recent years have produced a number of international level fighters, including European Championship entrant Curtis Porter.

The Scorpion Kickboxing Academy is now looking to raise the funds required to send Greathead and his father to Naples next month. Those that would like to sponsor his trip should contact Mark Trent on: 07708644162.