About Cooktown Full Boar Thai Boxing Club
Cooktown Full Boar Thai Boxing was started as a one-man operation in a small
tin shed in Rossville, 40km drive from Cooktown in Far North Queensland. Recently
retired South Pacific Champion, Vince Parkes wanted to keep a hand in the sport
of Muay Thai and chose instructing as his field of choice. Vince started with
one pair of gloves and slowly built up his store of equipment, spending thousands
of dollars from his own bank account. The gym’s first unofficial member was
a young David Roberts.
As Vince became more confident in his instructing ability, he progressed to taking classes in the Gungarde Hall in Cooktown twice a week. He soon had a keen following of men, women and children. With his dream being to train fighters, some potential candidates were soon uncovered. David Roberts, Josh Rhodes and Zeke Beckett, all local lads, were the first to put their names down for fights on the Australia versus Thailand Muay Thai fight night in Mackay in 1998. With the success of his Cooktown classes Vince decided to try something closer to home so he started taking classes, mainly for kids, in Rossville. This proved to be a great success, with all the local kids wanting to try it out at least once. The truly keen were soon weeded out from the rest and Vince began to do a taxi service between Cooktown and Rossville, taking the dedicated boys and girls into his classes in Cooktown twice a week. Talented female fighter Kelly Marriage was uncovered around this time, originally training to get fit after having a baby, she liked it so much she went on to have two fights. A young Braid Jackson, Sarah Martin and the Blomeley brothers all started around this time also. Braid Jackson has gone on to become a Queensland Champ and a professional Thai boxer, while Sarah Martin is having her fourth fight and the Blomeley brothers are still dedicated club members and fighters.
Vince continued, without any funding or sponsorship, to buy equipment out of his own pocket, with a few small contributions from committed members of the club. A steady stream of fights continued from the onset and The Full Boar Thai Boxing Club began to gain a name for itself. Near the end of 1999, the Full Boar Thai Boxing Club had a major move. The first full-time professional Muay Thai gym in the Far North QLD region had been established at No. 9 Hip On St. For three success-filled years, “The Gym” was one of the most popular places for local youth to congregate and join in training, as well as learning some great life skills, such as self-defence, self-esteem and pride in their heritage. The gym now contained a motley assortment of men, women, kids, fighters and non-fighters. There were indigenous people, Italians, Maoris, and Thais, creating a diverse field for the gym to focus on and encouraging the involvement of the community as a whole.
During this time, the club finally became, legally and officially, a real club! Full Boar was incorporated and affiliated itself with the World Muay Thai Council, which is the only worldwide-recognised official body in the sport of Muay Thai.
November the 6th, 2001 marked another huge milestone for the gym, with Vince Parkes holding his first fight night in Cooktown. The night, dubbed “End of Dayz”, was a roaring success with over 800 locals and a few from further afield, showing up to make the night a truly special event for Cooktown and the beginning of an annual event. Gyms from as far away as Mackay, Sunshine Coast and Cairns were flown up to participate in the inaugural event and all went away with a heightened sense of respect for the Full Boar gym and the close knit community of Cooktown. Vince soon had people falling over themselves to be a part of his next show and numbers in the gym were at a steady high. Full Boar also continued to be a successful participator in shows from Melbourne to Cairns, with Full Boar members raking in the wins and a few title belts, including the North QLD and QLD titles.
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