Young kickboxer wins provincial championship
Martial arts runs in the DiFalco family; nine-year-old enjoys battling at tournaments
Nine-year-old Dominick DiFalco has a love for martial arts that runs in the family.
DiFalco, a Grade 4 pupil at St. Teresa School, won his first Muay Thai kickboxing provincial championship on Nov. 10. He captured the gold medal in the 30-kilogram kick light division at the WAKO Provincial Championship at the Canadian Japanese Multicultural Centre in Toronto.
His parents Anna and Danny DiFalco have always been interested in martial arts. His father trained in kung fu and kickboxing and his mother in kickboxing in their youth. They were never as successful as Dominick who has also won multiple provincial medals including two gold in jiu jitsu.
“I like going to competitions and meeting new people and having the experience of doing a tournament,” said Dominick, who won two bouts to claim his gold medal.
It was a special moment when they put the gold medal around his neck.
“I remember thinking this is probably a dream. The tournament is probably tomorrow and I’m just dreaming of this,” he said.
Anna says it was purely coincidence that she and her husband shared a passion for martial arts.
“I think we found the opposite sex of each other and married them,” she said, with a laugh. “We hit it off and were much alike.”
Danny showed Dominick some skills as early as two but it wasn’t until he was six he joined World Championship Martial Arts (WCMA). It was when Dominick saw a friend show off some karate moves at a birthday party he urged his parents to enrol him in a gym.
While he’s competed in jiu jitsu for four years the provincials was his first Muay Thai competition.
“His coach Jason Mancini asked if he was interested in it because he thought he would do well at it,” said Anna. “It’s amazing he’s doing this well at this age.”
“I couldn’t be more proud,” said Danny.
“I don’t want to compare it to some hockey parent trying to live through his kid. We always said to Dominick, when he asked if he could do martial arts, that once you stop having fun, that’s it. You stop. A lot of people think because both my wife and I were interested in it that we pushed him into it.
“He just has a love and a passion for it and it’s really nice to see that he enjoys it so much. He’s so much above and beyond anything we did already at such a young age. It’s a testament to his hard work. He’s in the gym every day. Nothing comes easy. He puts in the work and he earns it.”
In his opening bout, DiFalco defeated Callum Robb from Kalsamrit in the first round.
“The first fight I was really surprised,” Dominick said. “The kid I went against has already won medals in Muay Thai tournaments and I still won against him.”
In the final he was beating Wilhelm Blythe from Bruce Count Martial Arts handily when his opponent got frustrated and struck him with all his might. In the younger age groups it’s supposed to be light contact and the referee disqualified him for losing control.
“In the second round I got him in the corner and started hitting him. I let him out of the corner and he hit me as hard as he could and got disqualified,” said Dominick.
The family wasn’t very familiar with WCMA when they first took Dominick to the gym located in the Brookdale Plaza.
“Everyone treats you like a family there,” said Dominick.
“The coaches there are amazing with the kids,” said Anna. “You couldn’t ask for better people to help them along their journey.”
“Being involved in martial arts throughout our lives,” said Danny, “and seeing different clubs in different cities we really like the way they are with the kids and how they treat people. It’s about respect. It’s a great atmosphere for our child.”