Vancouver Canada Sport Kickboxing Federation History

Martial arts and Kickboxing

In recent years, kickboxing has become an increasingly popular practice for self-defense, general fitness, and as a contact sport.  Originally developed from various fighting styles including karate, Muay thai, and boxing, kickboxing is a type of martial art that combines kicking and punching.  Kickboxing is generally considered a hybrid martial art as it came about through the combination of various elements of traditional martial arts styles.  Since the 1990s, the sport has helped contribute to the popularity of mixed martial arts which further combines ground fighting to its repertoire of fighting techniques.  The history of this combat sport can be broken down to its evolution in Japan, North America, and Europe.

Kickboxing is not a particularly specific term making it somewhat more difficult to pinpoint the history of the sport.  The earliest forms of kickboxing seem to be derived from early Indochinese martial arts which eventually also lead to modern forms of muay thai.  With respect to modern representations of kickboxing, the history seems to date to the 1950s in Japan when martial arts masters first started to combine karate and muay thai fighting styles.  As the popularity of these new fighting styles grew, competitions between muay thai and karate fighters eventually lead to the first kickboxing events in Japan.

By the 1970 and 1980, kickboxing began to be practiced outside Japan in North America and Europe.  Kickboxing governing bodies were formed, but the distinction of kickboxing from karate was still not clear.  Indeed, in Europe, kickboxing did not thrive as a sport until the ‘90s.  Institutionally, kickboxing was not differentiated from karate until the formation of two international bodies: the Professional Karate Association was formed in 1974, and the World Kickboxing Association was formed in 1976.  Once kickboxing was finally understood as an independent sport, its popularity began to grow worldwide.

Vancouver Canada Sport Kickboxing Federation History

In the 1970s, the first kickboxing events were introduced in Germany, though there continued to be important differences between Japanese-style and American-style kickboxing.

Similarly, the Sport Kickboxing Federation (SKF) was founded in 1988 to address the fitness aspects of kickboxing.  SKF endeavored to integrate the cardio, fitness, and self-defense training elements of kickboxing with a complete sport that included rules and regulations for tournament-style competitions.  With an international representation, SKF created a system that allows members of various age groups and fitness levels to train at all levels from novice to expert.

Subsequently, the emergence of kickboxing for general fitness grew from a kickboxing craze in the 1990.  Indeed, kickboxing classes are popular throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia for both men and women.  The popularity of kickboxing for fitness should be easy to understand.  As a sport, kickboxing provides a full-body workout that combines strength and cardiovascular training in a fun and exciting way.  Kickboxing combines cardio, squats, arm and leg movements that target whole body health safely and effectively.  Not only does kickboxing support a healthy weight loss plan, it is also a great sport for maintaining fitness.  As a side benefit, kickboxing teaches self defense and self discipline making it a great activity for men, women, and even kids.