Young MMA fighter to compete in U.S championship
- Jeanelle Mandes | February 12, 2015
Leah Ann Prosper, 9-year-old from Regina, has been involved in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) going on seven years. All those years of training are finally paying off with her skills gaining her entry to compete for the first time in the international mixed martial arts championship in Orlando, Florida this summer.
She says she is excited to compete at the U.S Open ISKA World Martial Arts Championship coming up July 3rd and 4th.
“I feel kind of scared but I know that I can try my hardest,” says Prosper who is hoping to bring home two trophies.
She says when she’s not training at Spirit of the Dragon, her dad Jason Prosper works with her at home.
“We spar, we do my forms and my dad throws a ball at me and I have to dodge it,” Prosper explains her father’s training techniques outside the training centre. “My dad wanted me to learn how to defend myself just in case,” says Prosper.
The young MMA fighter who is in Grade 4 says her friends are proud of her reaching this far with a sport she loves doing.
“Lots of them are proud and excited for me to go,” she adds.
Prosper trains three times a week at Spirit of the Dragon and almost two hours at home. Sarah Prosper, mother of young fighter, says when Leah was born, her husband wanted to get her into this sport.
“As soon as we found out she was a girl, the very first thing he said is to get her into martial arts,” says mother.
She says her and Jason have been waiting for this time to come for Leah to reach further in her dream.
“I’m very excited, I just can’t wait,” she says.
The Prosper family are currently fundraising to reach their goal of $10, 000 to attend the championship.
“We sold squares for an Xbox and we had a merchandise bingo, an Indian taco sale, on the Facebook page, we are doing an art auction, we’re also going to be having steak nights, and we opened a ‘Go Fund Me’ fundraising page,” she says which racked up to $1,030 in four days. “There’s no can’t, we’ll reach our goal,” she adds.
The determined parents have four children age ranging from 14-years old to two-year old twins. Sarah and Jason phoned around Regina to find Leah a martial arts training centre and found Spirit of the Dragon.
After some Aboriginal communities have learned that Leah will be competing in an international competition, people have been reaching out to the family asking for Leah to speak to the youth in their communities.
“One Arrow wants her to go and speak on the 19th at their school and another reserve has contacted my mother [to ask us] to speak at their school,” she says.
Her advice to the parents is to support and dedicate your time for your child to reach their dreams even with the loads of work that comes with it. Leah’s advice to the youth who want to pursue a passion for MMA is to reach for what you want.
“If people say you can’t do it, don’t listen to them, they don’t really think that anybody can do anything,” she says.
Brian Parks, one of the head instructors at Spirit of the Dragon, says Leah started when the Fall of 2008.
“She has fire, she can turn it up and she’s very motivated and she likes to compete hard,” says Parks.
Parks says Spirit of the Dragon will be taking 9 competitors to the championship ages ranging from an adult category to Leah being the youngest.
“We wish her the best, one of our coaches will be going with her making sure she’s well taken care of and looked after...from a student point of view,” he says. “We know she will do well, we hope she has fun there and is able to bring out some of that fire in her,” he adds.
Leah competes throughout Saskatchewan and Alberta and is described as a very good martial artist.