A fighting chance

Multiple karate champion Peter Michaels aims to give the youth in Hout Bay a fighting chance to uplift themselves by learning and competing in martial arts.

Michaels runs free classes offering a range of disciplines, including boxing, muay thai, kung fu and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Hout Bay MMA aims to get fighters into big promotions and earn recognition.

The gym falls under the umbrella of NPO Harvest Youth Project, which runs various programmes for underprivileged children.

It was started in 2013 and does not require members to pay joining or subscription fees. They have more than 30 members, boys and girls, from the age of 7.

Founding member and community liaison of Harvest Youth Project, Michaels, 28, from Hangberg, is a kung fu specialist and head instructor at the gym.

He decided to teach MMA because he found that children in underprivileged communities were not aware of what it encompassed.

Better known as Spike, he says this is his way of giving back doing what he knows best.

Michaels has enjoyed success at both national and international level. He is a man who knows all too well about overcoming adversity, having grown up in orphanages after the loss of his grandparents who were raising him.

He was introduced to the martial arts world at the age of 16 as a boxer and later transitioned to kickboxing, muay thai and kung fu.

Michaels has been crowned SA champion in kung fu four times from 2013 to 2016 and went on to compete against the world’s best in kung fu in the 2015 World Championships in Indonesia where he earned sixth place.

Michaels says his mission is to pass on his skills to a new generation.

He says it's not about making money but playing a positive role in his community and making sure children don't have to grow up under the same difficulties he did.

He wants them to know there is a home in martial arts. “We don't make any of our students pay, it's about giving back to the community.

“Everything we have at the gym is through donations and what we want to see is these kids growing in this sport and going on to be champions in their respective disciplines."

Michaels wants to make sure his students compete in as many amateur events as they possibly can as he believes that is the only way to really make them fall in love with the sport.

He was supposed to take part in the Professional Fighting Championships (PFC) Amateur Fight Night held in Milnerton a week ago but his opponent pulled out.

However, one of his students, Richard Chiwururwi, 20, did take part in the event and won.

Michaels says Chiwururwi is talented and one of his most dedicated students. “We set up this platform for underprivileged kids and we want to see them being very successful.

“Looking at someone like Richard, his work ethic and dedication in his art, is what we want to see, he will go far in this sport. We don’t just want them competing in amateur events, we are targeting big promotions like the EFC,” says Michaels.

He admits there is much work to be done in terms of promoting the sport and making sure fighters earn a good living through it.

“We will make it work, martial arts was a way out of many challenges for me growing up and now that I found a home here I will do all I can to make it a safe space for others. But we are going to have to push it to a level where the sport is easily accessible to a lot of kids out there and make sure they start at an early age," he says.