Open Dojo days for kickboxing in Enns

Horst Scheiböck, the new president of the Upper Austrian Kickboxing and Thaiboxing Association, started the initiative to make the sport better known and perhaps find some young talent. True to the motto “Work out instead of knockout”, everyone is welcome to come and try it out for free at the Open Dojo Days. And who knows, maybe the next Stella Hemetsberger will be found this way.

Training in strength, endurance and coordination

Kickboxing is about improving your fitness by training strength, endurance and coordination: “Kickboxing is a very diverse sport.” It's fun to box on an exercise or kick in a punching bag. “It's about working out, not knocking out,” stresses Scheiböck. Sparring and competitions are always voluntary and only permitted with a certain level of basic knowledge. “The sport is suitable for all ages and fitness levels, and it is also considered to be a particularly good fall prevention tool, especially in old age, as balance is also specifically trained,” says the President of the Upper Austrian Kickboxing Association.

Various disciplines

As with skiing, there are different disciplines in kickboxing. Most martial artists train in several disciplines:

• “Pointfighting” is a very explosive discipline with short stops after each hit. It’s all about speed.
• With “light contact” you fight for two minutes, the force of the blow is 70 percent. The hit zone is above the belt line plus a leg sweep below the ankle.
• In contrast to “light contact”, with “kick light” attacks to the thigh with the instep (semi-circle kick / low kick) are also possible.

All of these disciplines are fought on the tatami (mat). The full-contact disciplines “low kick kickboxing”, “K1” and “full contact” take place in the ring. Effective hits, including the KO punch, are also valid here. In K1, knee techniques are also used. All styles are fought with appropriate protective equipment.

Finding “stars of tomorrow”

Austria has already achieved some success in kickboxing with Stella Hemetsberger from Salzburg. The 25-year-old has repeatedly brought home gold medals from international competitions – most recently at the Kickboxing World Championships in Portugal and shortly afterwards at the Wako Turkish Open in Istanbul.

With the Open Dojo Days, Scheiböck wants to take a step towards youth development: “We hope that many young talents will try out the sport and discover it for themselves. Perhaps there will be stars of tomorrow involved.” Kickboxing is also always being discussed as becoming an Olympic discipline, “we are already making provisions for that,” says Scheiböck, who is also a trainer for Olympic boxing.

All eight clubs participating in the Open Dojo Days are networked with each other and therefore regularly organize guest trainers who have achieved success in the professional field. This is exciting for every training level.

Kickboxing National Championship 2025

Next year, an Austrian national championship will take place again in Upper Austria. Perhaps with new talents who will gain their first experiences there.