Dumbarton’s Maia Bisley rounded off a golden year by earning her black belt in kickboxing.
The talented 12-year-old came through a gruelling nine hour process to earn the award, which she was presented with at the top of Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.
It marks the perfect end to a superb year for the Dumbarton Academy pupil, who won silver at the World Kickboxing Championships in Italy earlier this year and took home five golds from the Bristol Open last month.
And proud mum Kim said earning a black belt was a remarkable feat of endurance.
Kim told the Lennox: “When they go through every belt they go through each move almost 10 times. All whilst bouncing on the spot.
“We took the dog for a two hour walk and they were still low down on the belts.
“In the eight hours previous they had gone through every belt of the syllabus. In itself that took almost six hours.
“Then they did 10 pad rounds and 10 sparring rounds. Then there was a fitness test. All before they had to run to the top of Arthur’s Seat in under 58 minutes.
“We had been up a couple of times, we knew if you were feeling at your fittest and feeling refreshed then you could do it just fine.
“But their bodies were broken. They had been going for nine hours.
“Parents put themselves at different points in the journey. I walked to the top with the dog and by the time I got to the top I had the fear for them all. It was really dark and the last bit is really rocky.
“People were coming down – but nobody was coming up because it was dark by the time they got to that stage.
“Two of the mums heard a voice shouting ‘come on Maia’ ‘you can do it Maia’ and they weren’t sure who it was who was shouting on her. But as soon as I heard her I knew it was Maia.
“She collapsed in a heap at the top and said she couldn’t run anymore!
“Everyone was crying. It was so emotional.
“Her coach, Kevin, had said to bring our tissues. I knew I would be a bit watery eyed, but I was prepared for it being such a hard slog for them.”
Despite the gruelling test of endurance, Maia was back at school just a day later – and Kim revealed that she even had the energy for a spot of guising.
She continued: “You can imagine the next day how sore she was.
“She still went to school though. She had time off to compete in Italy and down in Bristol, so I told her that unless she couldn’t physically walk then she had to go to school. But she was really keen to go.
“She had PE that day and they gave her a wee award, and she had a laugh about that because she could barely move on the day she got it.
“She had a night off training for Halloween. She went through nine hours of torture one day, and the next day was dressed up and going out to get sweets. It’s such a contrast!”
And with Maia now set to step up to the next age bracket, Kim knows she’s ready for a new challenge in 2023.
She added: “It’s an exciting new challenge for her.”
