Waringstown’s secret weapon, Scott Watson is once again set to represent Northern Ireland in two 2024 World Championships after ‘clocking up’ title after title following his initial 2022 World Championship win.
The 10-year-old – who trains under junior coach Garry Nelson and dad Brian Watson at Fight Club NI in Lurgan – is now a four time World Kickboxing Champion and six time Northern Ireland Champion.
And he’s not stopping there. A confident Scott is now preparing to bring belts back from the WKO Open World Championship at the Metrodome Arena, on August 16 and the WKU World Championships in Greece, in October 2024.
Related: Waringstown boy Scott kickboxes his way to two world titles
Of his successes so far, dad Brain told Armagh I: “He was about nine years old when he won his first championship in Wales. He really started clocking them up when Covid finished.
“He’s the most decorated child in the country. That, I can assure. I go to fights with him and Scott fights at -30kg category and I can’t get children to fight him.
“Scott fights at the -30kg category because he only weighs about 28kg and he’s very small for his age but he does pack a punch! In training he’s always fighting heavier people. But when it comes to fight days it’s hard to get matches.
“He has 11 belts in total and I would say about 50 medals to go with it. He displays them in his bedroom all hanging up on the wall. I’ve a curtain pole from one side of the wall to the other just to hold the belts. If we wins any more now I’ll have to get a second one!”
Scott with ten of his Championship belts
Eager to give Scott every opportunity to succeed, Brian is now engaged in an intense drive for sponsorship.
He said: “Every year I have to try and raise between £3000-£6000 to try and cover costs. The more he’s winning the more I’m trying to find bigger sponsors to come on board, hopefully for a two year period.
“That gives us then a piggy bank to do at least one World Championship for him this year and a piggy bank to be good to go again then next year.
“We are set to go in August for WKO and then again in October for WKU. The main focus at the minute is the August championship but any funding left then will start going to the next one.
“Sometimes we get businesses come on board at £500 or others at £350 and lots of local businesses come on and help out with £50 or £100 here and there, but what we would really need is businesses or companies that would be happy to support him and, if we got the right business to come on board and do that, we could look into putting their logo onto his kit and T-shirt, things like that.”
Brian explains that kickboxing is “totally self-funded” and despite his best efforts to gain sponsorship he will likely cover a bulk of the cost himself.
But, for a child like Scott who has already gained so much through kickboxing it’s paramount that every avenue is exhausted to get him to the tournaments.
Continued Brian: “It’s everything to Scott. He trains three nights a week in the gym and extra nights running and things like that. For a 10-year-old he’s very active. He plays football two nights a week and we are away to fight shows at least once a month. It’s a full on commitment.
“It’s a lot about discipline and respect. It’s character building too. That’s a big, big part of it.”
Brian has now set up a GoFundMe page for any individual or business who wish to help get Scott that big step closer to achieving his dream.
Any businesses keen to support Scott with a long term sponsorship should contact Brian via email at watson.kickboxing@hotmail.com.
