Being a muay thai fighter in Winnipeg only half the battle

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This article was published 25/03/2022 (1312 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s nothing easy about being a muay thai fighter. In essence, your opponent is trying to kick your head off.

But forging a career as a muay thai fighter from Winnipeg is particularly difficult. Just ask Sarah Carter.

She owns a career 27-3 record and has competed in the U.S., Mexico, England, Thailand, and Argentina, but not once has the 31-year-old middle-school English teacher had the opportunity to fight at home in Winnipeg. That’s because since 2012, the Criminal Code has made it mandatory for combat sports to be regulated provincially as a provincial sports organization (PSO) to have amateur events.

Sounds simple enough, right? Well, not so much. There’s a lot of hoops to jump through and mountains of paperwork to be filled out to get PSO status in Manitoba. The long, strenuous process hasn’t slowed down Carter — who trains at Dave’s Gym (formerly known as Nak Muay Gym) under coach Dave Zuniga — but it has certainly forced her to work extra hard to stay in the game.

“It’s been frustrating and, honestly, expensive. A lot of the time, things aren’t covered and what is covered doesn’t cover the cost of the whole trip,” said Carter, a Grade 6-8 teacher at St. Charles Catholic School. “Dave and I went to Kansas City for a fight and it’s like a 12-minute fight and we drove for 16 hours or something. And I have to take two days off work and Dave has to be away from the gym, so the cost is one of the frustrations.

“And when you’re competing, you don’t have your local fans or get to fight in front of your family or friends. I have so many people that support me that have never actually been able to see me fight.”

But Carter and Zuniga, who went 30-10 with 17 KOs in his professional fighting career before retiring in 2011, are trying to change things for the next generation of local talent. Before the pandemic, the two worked together to start Muaythai Manitoba and will be applying to become a PSO through Sport Manitoba later this year.

There’s finally light at the end of the tunnel as the International Olympic Committee recognized muay thai — similar to kickboxing but allows the use of elbows and knees — as an official Olympic sport last year.

Muay thai will likely make its Olympics debut in 2028.

“When you’re starting out, it’s really hard to get to the next level. If you want to have some practice fights, they’re called interclubs (and) we can’t do that here,” Carter said.

But athletes from Ontario or locations south of the border can participate in interclubs — so it’s hardly a level playing field.

“Here, the biggest struggle is getting that experience before having an official first fight… no one in Manitoba has been able to have a hometown fight, so it’d be amazing to help people have that experience.”

The story of Carter’s introduction to muay thai is, indeed, intriguing. She has Swampy Cree/Métis roots and grew up in Dryden, Ont., playing hockey. After getting her teaching degree, Carter chose to teach abroad in England for two years, and while there happened to walk past a muay thai gym that offered a free lesson to newcomers.

Carter, 25 at the time, figured she’d give it a shot, and the rest is history.

She had her first two fights in England before moving to Winnipeg to take a job at a hockey camp. She was also an assistant-coach with St. Mary’s Academy hockey program for two years before muay thai took over the bulk of her schedule.

Zuniga has been Carter’s coach since she moved to the Manitoba capital.

“I came here not really having any friends. I moved here by myself and had no family in Winnipeg. But the gym was immediately my friendship spot. My best friends now are from that gym and we feel like family,” said Carter.

In short order, Carter became one of Zuniga’s prized pupils. She has represented Canada at several international events, highlighted by a gold medal at the 2019 World Muay Thai Championships in Thailand.

“Her first fight with us, you could tell right away she’s a winner. She wants to win,” offered Zuniga. “She’s very competitive. She’s got that will to win and that winner’s type of character …it shows in her fights.

“She’s even avenged two of her losses. (At) the world championship, she lost to a Russian her first time and then beat her clean the second time they fought. There’s nobody like Sarah. She’s a legit Olympic level world champion in muay thai.”

However, Carter has indicated because she’s in the twilight of her career, an Olympic appearance likely isn’t in the stars. But she’s not ready to hang up the gloves just yet.

“The big thing for me that I want to accomplish is I would love to fight locally,” she said. “I’d love to fight in front of everyone who has supported me and show them what this is about.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31