This episode features gold medalist, 17-year-old Amir Marouani, who is one of Brazilian Ju-Jitzu's emerging talents. Plus our Bartholomew Hall goes out to visit one of Kent's grassroots girls football clubs.
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00:00 Hello and welcome along to Invictus Sport, the only show on your TV dedicated to wrapping
00:19 up all of Kent's sporting action. I'm Abbey Hook, here's what to expect on Friday 25th
00:24 August.
00:25 The Lionesses' legacy - we visit one Kent girls squad prepping for their new season.
00:32 Serving up a new sport, we check out Cranbrook's Pickleball Club to see how the rising indoor
00:37 sport works. And I'll be joined here in the studio by the Tunbridge team who's looking
00:42 to emulate Conor McGregor's MMA success.
00:46 But first a round up of the headlines. Daniel Bell Drummond has described Kent's exit from
00:51 the One Day Cup as a tough one to take. Despite a strong showing by the current title holders
00:56 earlier this week as they visited Hampshire on the Isle of Wight, it ultimately fell short
01:00 for what was needed. Hampshire's batters, already set for the knockout, swiftly chased
01:05 Kent's targets of 3-2-5. Tom pressed 78 off 75 balls. Next up, Kent faces Nottinghamshire
01:15 in the county championships at home starting on September 10th.
01:20 Now a swim training school founded by a trio of Olympians, including Olympic gold medalist
01:25 Becky Adlington, is set to open in Kent. Named Swim, the centre will be sharing a unit with
01:31 the JD Gyms at the former Toys R Us site at Horsted Retail Park in Chatham. Champion swimmers
01:38 Becky Adlington, Steve Parry and Adrian Turner are behind the business, which specialises
01:43 in teaching children all the way from newborn to 11 years how to swim and gain confidence
01:48 in the water. Speaking on the announcement, she says she hopes the opening in Chatham
01:53 will provide life-saving skills to the community.
01:57 And Sittingbourne FC have rallied around their kitman after a brain tumour diagnosis. Kieran
02:02 Payne, described as a hugely popular figure at the club, also works as a matchday steward.
02:07 Brookies boss Ryan Maxwell has told Kent Online that Payne is an example of just how important
02:13 people are to football clubs like them, before going on to say that he sounds like he's in
02:19 good spirits and has even expressed concerns about missing games. Everyone here at Invicta
02:24 Sport wishes Kieran and the team all the best as well.
02:28 Now footage has emerged this week of the scene of a car crash which appears to have involved
02:32 multiple members of Gillingham FC's first team. The video shows a BMW carrying Gill's
02:39 players after it crashed into a wall on Woodlands Road in Gillingham. The players believed to
02:44 be involved include right-back Che Alexander, midfielders Johnny Williams, Timothy Dowing,
02:49 George Lapsley and striker Macaulay Bond. It's understood they were on their way to
02:53 or from training. Club representatives have declined to comment, stating it's not a club
02:58 issue.
03:00 While sticking with Gillingham and ahead of their League 2 clash against Colchester, the
03:04 club has announced the signing of a new winger, former England youth player Connor Mahoney.
03:09 The 26-year-old joins the Gills from Huddersfield Town on a season-long loan. Mahoney has spent
03:16 the majority of his career playing at Millwall, where he made 58 appearances and scored five
03:21 goals. Meanwhile, manager Neil Harris says his side can't take the foot off the pedal
03:25 after winning all four of their league opening matches so far.
03:29 "Going into Saturday against Colchester, previous games are relevant, we carried that momentum
03:34 but it's a completely different game. It's a tough change, they've got some real attacking
03:37 threats and some really good attacking threats, a lot of pace, really good on the counter-attack
03:42 and we've just got to make sure that our mindset is exactly the same as it has been."
03:48 Now just a heads up, there sadly won't be a new episode of Invicta Sport this coming
03:52 Monday as it is a bank holiday so enjoy it. But that doesn't mean we aren't short of any
03:56 sporting action this weekend. So before we continue, here's a quick look at the football
04:00 fixtures.
04:04 As we mentioned earlier, Gillingham will take on Colchester on Saturday. The Gills have
04:08 won seven of their past 13 games against the Youths. The last time Gillingham won their
04:13 opening four games was in the 1995/96 season, a streak which was ended by their home match
04:19 against Noloth and Colchester, something fans won't be hoping to repeat.
04:22 In the National League, and Ebbsfleet welcome the Kidderminster Harries this weekend. They'll
04:27 be hoping to bounce back after that 4-1 defeat last time out.
04:31 Now to the National League South. Dartford visit Averley, still searching for their opening
04:36 win of the season. Dover will host Worthing, whilst eighth place Maidstone take the trip
04:40 around the M25 to Hemel Hempstead. And the Tunbridge Angels are at Yeovil Town.
04:48 And Chatham Town are looking to capitalise on their winning streak in the Isthmian Premier.
04:52 No losses so far. They have Potters Bar Town at home. Folkestone and Victor take on Hashtag
04:57 United away. And this evening at 7.45, Margate will kick off again against Chess Hunt.
05:06 Now you might be missing Bartholomew. I'm not alone, because he is joining me on the
05:10 line now. He's in Herne Bay this evening, as the Herne Bay Rangers have just started
05:14 their weekly training session. Here's Bartholomew now. Hello Bartholomew, how's it going?
05:20 Hello Abby, hello everybody. It's going well. It's a lovely Friday evening here in Herne
05:26 Bay. Now I wanted to come here because I wanted to introduce you to a girls football club,
05:30 one of the many grassroots clubs that we have in the county. They're called the Herne Bay
05:34 Rangers. They're part of the Herne Bay FC's youth division, and they're the sister club
05:38 to the Herne Bay Youth FC. Now we are almost a week on from the end of the World Cup, so
05:44 I thought we'd come down to one of our local football clubs to see, even if this early
05:48 on, we're starting to see a bit of a buzz and a bit of a rise in demand in girls football
05:54 really, local girls football. And we can see that we have a few over there getting warmed
05:59 up for the beginning of their weekly training session. But one person who can answer that
06:04 question more than anybody else is Justin West. Thank you very much for coming on Justin
06:08 today. No, you're welcome. Thanks for having us, much appreciated. Yeah, we really appreciate
06:11 coming here. And also welcome to Invicta Sport as well. Now, Justin, what has the World
06:17 Cup done to your club this year? Have you been watching it? Have you seen any sort of
06:20 uptake in demand? I think, to be fair, it's happened since 2019 when they won the Euros
06:26 basically. The uplift from there was absolutely fantastic. It's only grown strength to strength
06:32 each time them Lionesses step on that pitch. They've got further than they did when we
06:36 expected them to get to the final. Did we? Did we not? I did personally. That's because
06:41 I'm a fan of the girls football. But more importantly, it's going to kick us on to the
06:46 next stage. These girls are excited. And the truth is, when you see people and what they
06:52 do, whether it's an everyday job or whether it's a professional footballer, the girls
06:56 have got someone they can look up to, someone they can believe in, someone they can become.
06:59 You can only become what you see. So these girls now have given them a platform to become
07:05 better, to become a professional or play at the highest level, even at grassroots or academy
07:10 level. Now girls football is on the rise, this gives us all the opportunities to do
07:14 that. I think it's brilliant. Absolutely. Can I just ask you, we're missing you a little
07:17 bit on the screen there. We've got you back now. So it is so important, as you mentioned,
07:22 that these clubs exist and that they're funded as well. And luckily for you all, you won
07:26 a competition that gave you £500 during the World Cup. I've got a bit more information
07:31 on that. Active Life, they're a leisure charity that runs sports centres across the county.
07:36 They essentially invited teams like yourselves to nominate themselves every time the Lionesses
07:41 won a game during the World Cup. Now that £500 that goes towards your team, in particular
07:46 the under-13s, what does that mean to you, £500? Well, any bit of sponsorship that we
07:52 can get from any company is always welcome for grassroots football. We'd like to thank
07:57 one of our sponsors, MKM Building Supplies in Canterbury, has donated £700 towards our
08:02 kit. So that's fantastic. The Active Life competition was something that we just went
08:08 into for a bit of fun. Didn't really expect to win it, but when we got announced we'd
08:12 win it, the girls were excited. I was over the moon, because the one thing we wanted
08:16 to save up for is a VO. Now that VO is a great piece of equipment because it allows the game
08:22 to be recorded. And like I've said before on the station, when it's recorded people
08:27 get to play it back, people get to watch it, they get to see those memories. Not just now,
08:31 but when they're older, when they may have kids or grandkids or friends and family gets
08:35 here, but you also get to stream these games. So when people can't necessarily be at the
08:39 game, they might be at work, but they might be able to put it on and watch it. So for
08:42 them it's even fantastic to see their kids still playing football, because we all do
08:45 shift work a lot of us, so unfortunately we're not always at the games. And I just want to
08:49 ask really quickly, without that funding and without that brilliant sponsorship that you
08:52 do get, who sort of picks up that bill? Often we hear that it's the parents, is that the
08:57 case here as well? It would be, and the parents would put their hands in their pockets and
09:02 try and contribute, or we would do other fundraising activities, like we'd do a beach clean, we'd
09:06 do a car wash, we might do a sponsored walk or a sponsored run, we'll do whatever we can
09:11 to raise funds. And our community here in the bay is absolutely fantastic because they
09:15 do help us out wherever they can. Well, we did speak to Active Life, obviously the charity
09:21 that run that competition, and we spoke to one of their organisers during the competition
09:27 about why they set it up, and this is what they told us. It's very much, as you read
09:31 through the nominations, there's a lot of new teams out there, often very dependent
09:36 on volunteers and the kindness of their community, but the cost of the footballs, the cost of
09:40 the subscriptions, making sure that it's inclusive, they're all the stories that really resonate
09:44 with us when we come to judging it. It's a critical barrier around it in your teens,
09:48 especially as a girl, but also for boys, is that you lose the habit, so you gain it and
09:52 you lose it, and then we don't see you being active for potentially 10, 15 years. So all
09:57 of those pathways, choices, and just keeping you active in a way that inspires you, motivates
10:02 you, engages you, and especially with the lionesses, it's doing it with a friend that's
10:05 one of the biggest things you can do, is if you're with a cohort of people, it helps with
10:09 your motivation, it helps with the camaraderie, it helps you hit goals, etc. etc.
10:15 And of course we couldn't come here without actually speaking to the squad themselves,
10:19 we just tried to bring a few of them over. Now can you first of all, can you introduce
10:22 yourselves for me, and tell me how long you've been playing for the club here?
10:26 I'm Sasha West, I don't know how long.
10:29 You've been here since you were what, five? So how old are you now?
10:33 Eleven, six.
10:34 Twelve!
10:35 I'm not twelve!
10:36 A good six or seven years for yourself, and you?
10:39 My name's Annabel and I've been playing for the club about a year.
10:43 Brilliant, fantastic. So I want to ask you both, you know, the World Cup was obviously
10:46 just done, we got the whole country rallied up to support the lionesses, what did you
10:51 think of the competition?
10:52 It was very good, they played very well.
10:56 Fantastic, and yourself?
10:58 England battled well.
11:00 But of course we all know what happened at the very end, they did miss out on the title.
11:05 You guys, you know, you play week in, week out, you play in your league games, sometimes
11:09 you'll get some wins, sometimes you'll get some losses, how do you deal with those pushbacks?
11:15 Just try and win the next games.
11:17 Fantastic, and yourself?
11:18 Practise and come back harder.
11:19 Of course, coach, what's your message to the team when they're going into, I mean obviously
11:23 the new league starts in just a few weeks' time in the middle of September?
11:26 These girls, quite proud of them because thanks again to Active Life I must say, they've given
11:30 us extra training, I think you've just come back from the gym haven't you?
11:34 So they've given us free to the end of September, that's their team gym by the way, so any teens
11:38 out there that want to get fit for the pre-season, get yourselves down there, sign up if you
11:41 need to, I think that's brilliant from them.
11:43 But from our point of view, we are getting ready for the new season, we're looking forward
11:46 to it, and like we said, it's a new challenge for us, new division, we just crack on.
11:50 We've got to go to a break now, thank you all for having me today, and we'll be hearing
11:55 more after the break, lots more Invicta sport to come up in just a few minutes.
11:58 Well done guys.
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15:10 >> Hello and welcome back to Invictus Sport live on KMTV. Now next this evening, whilst poor weather might have left you inside this summer, it could be time to try out one of Kent's rising new sports. Originating in the US, Pickleball has five Kent clubs with a sixth one on the way. Often described as a tricky sport, our reporter Finn McDermid went down to Cranbrook to check it out.
15:33 >> Well, you wouldn't think it was August from the weather outside today. So what better way is there to avoid the rain but by playing some indoor sports. Pickleball is becoming an increasingly popular game in the UK. But what makes it so special? Well, I went to the Weald Sports Centre in Cranbrook to find out just what scratches that Pickleball itch.
15:56 >> Played on a badminton court, the game is somewhat like tennis but with paddles instead of rackets and a focus on tricking your opponents into a bad position. As well as keeping on the good side with the many different fouls like stepping over the serve line or not dinking in the kitchen, which is essentially just volleying too close to the net.
16:15 >> Well, this is me after playing Pickleball for about two hours. You can see behind me everyone else is still going, putting my fitness levels to shame. Now here I have a Pickleball racket and a Pickleball ball. So it's not quite like tennis. It's a little bit harder.
16:30 I was shown the ropes by some of Cranbrook's players and managed to win my first game, though I had my fair share of fouls. Hopefully to keep my winning streak, I asked an ex-badminton player and club member Peter on the tactics of the game and how he keeps up with younger players.
16:48 >> We have got people who play by power. The harder they hit it, the better they like it. It's not the way to play. The soft return or one diagonally will pull them out of position. So when they get it back, your partner is there, placed, hammer it into the space that they vacated. Yes, there's a lot of thinking that goes into it.
17:16 >> It looks like Pickleball, similar to other American sports we've adopted, like volleyball, basketball and skateboarding, is only set to grow in the UK. With 7,000 members at the moment, Pickleball England are aiming to have 25,000 members in two years. Now if you're looking for a low-impact game or want an indoor sport to see you through this poor summer weather, Pickleball might just be for you. Finn McDermid for KMTV.
17:42 >> Our next guest on Invicta Sport is a teenager from Tunbridge Wells who wants to emulate MMA superstar Conor McGregor. 17-year-old Amir Marwani is one of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu's emerging talents of the past few months. Amidst taking home a tournament gold medal earlier this year, Amir's bouts have been given live coverage on UFC. Impressive. The blue belt has achieved all this after taking up the sport just under two years ago.
18:09 >> Well I'm pleased to say he joins me in the studio now. Amir, thank you so much for coming in. It's great to have young people in sport on the show. I want to ask you first, how did you start off getting into this sport and picking up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
18:23 >> So initially I started out in lockdown watching UFC fights. The first card I ever watched was UFC 249. From there it just expanded out in interest in combat sports and I decided to pick up Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in an effort to become a complete martial artist and become a good MMA fighter.
18:42 >> Well we can see some pictures of you on the screen now. What's it been like, your journey? Because it's been such a short one, you've only been doing it a couple of years as we just heard. How have you grown over that time?
18:54 >> There's been just a lot of ups and downs, like early on losing, then growing from it and progressing, really coming into my game. That's just how it goes, combat sports in general, just learning, progressing, just getting to where I am now.
19:08 >> Did you ever worry about doing a combat sport and what that would mean? Because we see it a lot, we see it in sports documentaries when we look at boxing or MMA and the damage it can actually do, the permanent damage it can do, did that ever cross your mind?
19:22 >> It is a factor that I have thought about but I think if you're going to get into the sport there is risks you have to take. Like you sign a waiver, you can die in any form of combat sport. It's a dangerous sport but that's part of the thrill of it.
19:35 >> I know your parents must be watching this now, how did they feel when you said to them, this is what I want to do now?
19:41 >> My dad, he's a big fan of combat sports himself actually, he's the one who showed me the UFC but my mum, she's a bit...
19:48 >> On the fence?
19:50 >> Yeah, she doesn't like seeing me in any situation. I had a combat jiu-jitsu match earlier this year with open palm strikes and she was practically crying seeing me get hit.
20:00 >> So how does that differ? Open palm, for people that don't know what that means, what do you usually do and why is the open palm different?
20:07 >> So in the jiu-jitsu rule set there's usually no striking but since this is combat jiu-jitsu we could strike with this part of our hand which is actually quite lethal.
20:17 >> Quite powerful.
20:18 >> Yeah, so if you hit with this palm on the right spot you can knock someone out pretty well.
20:23 >> And you can see there how close combat is, combat sport for a reason, how close you are there. What's that from, what match or, looks like you won there.
20:33 >> Yeah, that was from an All Stars event, that was my last match that I competed at Juvenile a few months ago.
20:40 >> And earlier this year it was the Polaris event, I don't know if you've mentioned that already, it was in London, live streamed on UFC, sold out event, how did that go for you? Tell us more about that event in particular.
20:53 >> So actually my coach Alex Salisbury came to me and he said they want me on the card which was a shock because Polaris is one of the biggest shows in Europe, streamed on the UFC Fight Pass, so I saw it as a great opportunity to go test myself on the big stage.
21:08 >> How did it go when you were there?
21:10 >> It was a lot of nerves leading up to the match, it was quite a tough environment against a very experienced opponent, went up a weight as well and just gave it my best shot. I wasn't able to get the victory that day but it was a good experience.
21:22 >> Well it led to more later success which we will talk about but how do you deal with those nerves because there's nothing quite like it, about to walk into a ring, an octagon, whatever you call it and you know you could get beaten up here, how do you deal with those nerves? Is there a special ritual, routine you have?
21:38 >> I think it's just a combination of being in there, having experienced it you know what it's like because the first few times you go in there you're going to be nervous no matter what but the more you compete, the more you go in there, the less it affects you. As soon as you step on the mat, that's when all the nerves go.
21:54 >> Well let's actually take a look at a bit of you fighting now and we'll see what the audience thinks of it.
22:02 [Music]
22:29 >> I can understand how your mum feels now, I would be terrified. We saw your opponent tap out then, how close do you leave it before you tap out because you don't want to admit defeat, you don't want to end the game but you don't want to injure yourself either so what's the level, do you have something that you go by or is there a general rule?
22:48 >> So it really depends on the submission you're caught with, so there was a strangle which cuts off the carotid arteries so it's a blood choke and he can leave it quite late because it takes quite a bit of pressure to make you pass out whereas something else like say an arm bar or a kimura is a joint lock where that can just break you.
23:06 >> So that's more pain that you tap out from is it?
23:09 >> From experience you know at which point your limb is going to break and you know I have to tap out now whereas chokes are a little more vague but you roughly know I'm going to black out here so I should tap.
23:22 >> Before this interview we had pickleball up on the screen, this is sounding a lot more dangerous the more we talk about it. Now tell us about one of your key highlights, you bounced back and you won gold at a tournament in Brighton, how did that feel?
23:36 >> Yeah that felt good, it was a weekend after Polaris so I was coming off a loss and it just felt good to get back out there and compete. I dropped down a weight class.
23:45 >> In that week? So you dropped down a weight class, I imagine you trained during that week as well, is that enough time to train and then get gold? Clearly you were determined.
23:54 >> Yeah I know that day I needed to win so I took a lot of training and the good thing about training is you do sweat a lot so the water comes off you and that's weight as well.
24:04 >> So how important is it, the weight class, is that a key part of it?
24:08 >> I think especially in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu it doesn't matter as much because technique dictates a lot of the exchanges but weight does play a factor when say for me I'm 17 against adult men who weigh more than me, it can lead to tough situations.
24:24 >> Incredible, it's amazing that you're doing this right at such a young age to hopefully your career to just shoot up very quickly, we don't have long left, what would be your message to people watching this that are thinking that looks like a sport for me?
24:35 >> Say go out there, try it, have fun with it, don't do it if you don't enjoy it and just be aware of the risks of competing in any combat sport in general.
24:43 >> Okay well we'll be having you back on our sofa when you've won all the gold medals, when you've gone on to the UFC, when I think we have the next Conor McGregor here, well thank you very much Amir, it was lovely to talk to you, really interesting sport that you play, thank you.
24:55 >> Thank you.
24:56 >> Now that is full time on today's episode of Invicta Sport but just before we go there's just a bit of extra time for us to take a look at this week's Action Replay, here's Bartholomew.
25:06 >> Welcome along for this week's Action Replay but first today we start in traffic, not to worry though as this juggling man spotted in Dartford is here to make the journey a little more exciting.
25:18 >> The video filmed by Bradley James on Prince's Road has been shared all over local groups on social media and whilst this man is entertaining motorists in Dartford, did you know that the history of juggling goes all the way back to Egyptian times, although I'm not quite sure they had the same sort of traffic jams.
25:34 >> Next up and we have this video sent in from Medway, local driving instructor Nigel Fox has swapped the car for the park as he sent us this video of him taking to the track at the Great Lines in Medway.
25:46 >> Nigel is an avid runner regularly taking part in runs around the country and his local park run, keep it up Nigel.
25:53 >> And finally for this week's Action Replay we have this stunning display from the Red Arrows who flew down to Folkestone to delight fans at an air show.
26:02 >> The performance includes the usual grandstand spectacle including this large heart in the sky with its very own arrow right through it.
26:10 >> Well it's safe to say that the arrows stole the hearts of those at the air show this time around.
26:15 >> That's it for this week's Action Replay, who knows maybe next time it could be you featured on Invicta Sport, so make sure to send in your clips and pics.
26:24 >> And as Bartholomew said don't forget if you want to appear in next week's Action Replay then you can, it doesn't matter who you are or what you're up to we will share it on Invicta Sport.
26:33 >> So for your chance to share your sporting action at the county tag us in your videos and pictures on social media @kmtvkent.
26:40 >> But that really is full time on today's episode of Invicta Sport, Bartholomew will be back next week, bye bye.
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