by By Dan Ninham (Oneida)
The credentials of being an elite kickboxer didn’t take very long from getting the idea to train to making the commitment to be a champion.
Sarah Carter is 29 years old, 5-10, and is in Muaythai (Thai Boxing). She lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba and grew up in Dryden, Ontario. Sarah has a career 22 win and 3 loss record.
“I grew up in the small northwestern Ontario city of Dryden, Ontario,” said Sarah. “My Cree and Métis heritage comes from my moms ‘Louttit’ side (came from James Bay and Albany area, and traveled and settled in Dinorwic/Wabigoon).
Sarah addressed her journey: “I, although not always successful, try to see the athlete life and work as a ‘we’ more than an ‘I’. Any and all success is shared. Going through training, coaching, preparing with a sense of humility. You can still be confident but you can also be humble. Respect each individual’s own journey with their athletics.”
“I value the journey vastly more than the destination or end. As an athlete you’re generally continually working towards a number of different goals throughout the years. The preparation for those goals includes who you meet along the way, how you deal with the adversities that present themselves, how you grow as a person, are all the more important and what matters in the big picture. It’s similar to the iceberg analogy, you can only see the top part, but there’s so much more underneath the surface. I value all the build up and the people that work with me and support me including the people that I get to work with and support regardless of what the outcome is.”
“I have a holistic approach to my athlete mindset,” said Sarah. “Nothing can really be simplified to one part of your own self. It’s always a bit bigger than that.”
“I have a very supportive and loving family,” said Sarah. “My grandma, aunts and uncles, cousins, parents and three younger sisters have been at nearly every sporting event that I have participated in. My parents have, without me even realizing it most of the time (especially when I was a kid) financially made it possible for me to play every sport I wanted.”
“Town baseball, community hockey, high school sports, and Thai boxing competition: my family was always in the crowd cheering and supporting me. They’re incredible and there really are no words for me to express my gratitude and genuine love I have for them,” added Sarah.
“I was in grade 8 and wanted to start helping coach hockey,” said Sarah. “Bill Salonen was the first coach mentor that I had. It was a novice hockey team that my youngest sister was on, a group of 7 and 8 year olds. Bill involved me in all aspects of the teams practices and games. Standing on the bench during a game as a coach was a huge deal for a 13 year old. Looking back it was also the first time I was put in the role of being a female role model for young girls. The coaching positions were predominantly held by the ‘hockey dads’. I never thought of myself as a ‘girl helping out’, and I felt welcomed as another coach. It was first coaching experience. From here on out I knew that there were different sides to every sport. I became interested in coaching, reffing, playing and studying all sports that I was involved in.”
“In Dryden, our radio station followed our hockey teams to our away games and provincials tournaments if we made it that far in our league,” said Sarah. “Mike Ebbeling was the radio announcer for CKDR Dryden Radio. “Over the radio, our games would be broadcasted to all of Dryden and the surrounding areas. Mike was and is an amazing hockey broadcaster. Our Dryden High School Eagles hockey games sounded just as good as if it would have been on TSN. He would say: ‘Coast to coast like butter on toast! What a goal by Sarah Carter!’
“We were playing very average high school hockey, but he made us feel very special. Our high school hockey experience pushed a lot of us to pursue hockey beyond our grade 12 year. My great grandmother was in the hospital during a playoff game and my aunt was a nurse at the same hospital, they listened to the hockey game together over the radio, that was pretty special and doesn’t happen anywhere else,” added Sarah.
“Larry ‘Bummer’ Bumstead, Owner and Coach at Northwestern Hockey Sports Camp and Jets Hockey Development, gave me my first serious job,” said Sarah. “He had very high expectations and those expectations were modeled by his own coaching. I learned to do my best and be my best. It was my first paid coaching position. It was also the first job where I ‘earned’ responsibilities such as running my own ice times and practices. My professional standard was formed working with Bummer. I learned more coaching with him about professionalism and doing everything the best that it can be. I became proud of my work and felt like I was really good at something working with Bummer.”
“I didn’t start Thai boxing until I was 25 living abroad in England where I took an international teaching job,” said Sarah. “I had never even heard of the sport. I tried a gym along my walking route to work called Kaang Raang Gym. Barry Thomas was the coach. He was my first muaythai coach in England. If he hadn’t been so great I would never have stuck with the sport. His coaching team of Del and Dave were wonderful.”
“Living abroad the Kaang Raang Gym became my support group and greatest friends. They supported me and believed in me. They, with Barry, helped me to love Thai boxing. Ricky, Dean and John were particularly fantastic,” added Sarah.
“Moving back to Canada I knew I needed to find a Muaythai gym to continue training,” said Sarah. “I tried out one gym, Nak Muay and knew I found it. I went from a 2-0 record in the UK, leaving England August 2016 and started with Coach Dave Zuniga September 2016, and I’m now competing on Team Canada on the world stage with 23 more fights as of July 2019. Dave has done everything from finding fights, helping fundraise, and believing I could fight at this level.”
“My favorite part of any sport or team or organization that I’ve been a part of is the relationships,” said Sarah. “I love being around people and learning about their stories. I have met so many new and different types of people with a variety of ethnic backgrounds, life stories, ages, interests, etc. There is such a small chance that my paths would have crossed with any of these people otherwise. And, I’m just so grateful they have.”
“I have only been in Thai boxing since I was 25 but I have been playing sports all my life,” said Sarah. “I played mostly hockey, basketball, baseball and golf growing up with a strong emphasis on hockey. I played hockey for Brock University and while living in the UK.”
“I have fallen in love with sports,” said Sarah. “Not only as an athlete but sports in general. With hockey I started coaching and reffing. I was able to coach at a higher level of hockey as well a higher level hockey official.”
“I enjoy working so much with the kids and young people. Young athletes, the kids’ parents, people I from the fight team I train with, the ladies fitness class and the wide range of people I have had the opportunity to meet and become close with is incredible,” added Sarah.
Sarah shares advice encourages athletes to be successful in and out it of the ring: “Surround yourself with good people. Build those people up. You will naturally have good people around you if you in turn are a good person. Be kind. Being a ‘successful’ athlete means something different to each athlete. Decide what will define your success and then find a way how you can achieve that with keeping your morals and beliefs. Through training, competition, preparation … be a good person first.”
“Enjoy what you’re doing. It will not be ‘fun’ everyday, especially when you’re starting to compete at the higher levels. But, that doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy the big picture. Make sure you love some part of your sport, remember that part and then all the adversities and struggles will be worth it. If they aren’t worth it, you will have your answer on when it is time to move on,” said Sarah.
“Have a plan and have a routine,” said Sarah. “If you want to be successful with Thai boxing you are going to need a plan and a routine. Find something that works for you. I’m not a morning person at all so I don’t go to the gym before work. During fight prep I leave work right at the end of the day and go to boxing, then Thai boxing and then usually a regular gym for extra cardio or strength. Late at night I finish with my work for school the next day. I love this so it works for me. This is the routine that I found most beneficial for me, and find what yours is.”
“Burnout is a real thing. 99% of the time, you don’t realize yourself that you’re burnt out until well after the time you indeed have burnt out. Listen to your body, and listen to the people (those good people previously mentioned) around you that are telling you that you need a break. It’s okay. It’s hard to take a break, but…do it,” added Sarah
“Be diverse and don’t be boring,” said Sarah. “I’m a school teacher, and when my students tell me their favorite thing to do is play video games a small part inside me cries every time. Make sure you have a talking point that is something neat or different. Be interesting! Maybe you’re super interested in Thai boxing, that’s great! My colleagues who have never heard of muaythai before are now seasoned professionals. Make sure you have something that you can share with the people you’re around.”
Accomplishments:
2017, 2018 and 2019 Thai Boxing Association (TBA) Champion
2018 WKA (World Kickboxing Association) Canadian Champion
2019 WAKO (World Association Kickboxing Organization) Canadian National Champion
2018 Team Canada, World International Federation of Muaythai Association (IFMA), Silver Medal, Cancun, Mexico
2018 Team Canada, Pan-American IFMA Gold Medal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2019 Team Canada, World IFMA, Gold Medal, Bangkok, Thailand
Photo Credit: Sarah Carter
