With less than a month to go until the World Association of Kickboxing Organisation World Championships take place in Bosnia, training is in full swing at Mulwaree Muay Thai.
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Boasting three fighters in the Australian team, out of 16 total, the Goulburn-based club has the most representatives from a single gym in the national side.
"Out of all of Australia, for Goulburn to do that is pretty good," Darcy Sullivan, owner and head coach of Mulwaree Muay Thai, said.
Sullivan himself is one of the three representatives from Goulburn. He will make the trip with Tegan Taylor and Amy Kollosque, who both won three medals at the WAKO National Championships in May.
All three fighters have been well-seasoned with a number of bouts in 2019, and Sullivan will leave no stone un-turned in their preparations.
The most difficult aspect of training for a competition in which they know very little about fellow fighters, styles, and skill levels, is the inability to plan for specific scenarios.
So, Sullivan intends to prepare his fighters for "everything in general".
"All different types of opponents, whether they might be taller or shorter than us, if they're orthodox or southpaw stance, if they're predominantly boxers or kickboxers," he said.
"The most important thing is that we're fit and strong, that's our main focus."
Having spoken to the coaches of the Australian team, Sullivan was warned that "there's no way we'd be able to imagine what to expect" in Bosnia.
The ominous advice from his coaches left Sullivan and his team slightly nervous about their prospects, but all the more determined to exceed the low expectations.
"We're trying to prove everyone wrong," he said.
"Especially in a fighting sport where you don't just lose, you kind of get beat up."
Both Sullivan and Taylor are stalwarts of the combat sports arena, and thus more at ease in the ring, but Sullivan knows better than to underestimate Kolosque's physical gifts despite her relative inexperience in the sport.
"Tegan and I, we've done a lot of training overseas before and have even fought overseas before," Sullivan said.
"But Amy trains a lot harder than Teagan and I, so I think she'll exceed everyone's expectations. She's a phenomenal athlete, she picks things up really well.
"The Australian coaches have got high hopes for Amy."
The WAKO World Championships will take place in Sarajevo, Bosnia, from October 19 to October 27.
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