TONY Stephenson treated his two daughters, Isla and Tírna, to Wonka at Cinemax Bantry lately – but even though he ended up watching the blockbuster on his own, he didn’t mind.
By coincidence, Ian Kingston and his wife Gillian were there too; a birthday day out for their young man of the moment, Aaron. Like their dad, Isla (5) and Tírna (3) are huge fans of Ian. He is not just Tony’s friend and kickboxing coach, but is also like an uncle to his daughters.
‘Tírna ended up sitting on Ian’s lap, eating his popcorn and watching the movie, and Isla was with Gillian,’ Tony says.
‘I was watching my kids love playing with him and was thinking what can’t this guy do. He goes up a level all the time.
‘Ian has had the most positive impact on my life, hands down.’
Two-time world champion Tony says he owes Ian a lot, for his influence on and off the mat. His admiration for the Drimoleague man who founded West Cork Kickboxing Club is shared by so many locally and outside this region.
Ian Kingston is kickboxing royalty. He’s a legend of the sport. The top-class fighter who became a world-class coach. The competitive kickboxer who won national titles, and world silver and bronze, but when injuries cut his fighting career short, the student then became the teacher that everyone wants.
‘Ian was a very good fighter, but everyone knows his true value is as a coach,’ says Tony, one of the huge success stories of West Cork Kickboxing Club which is home to national, European and world champions. The club is well into double figures in world (14) and European championship titles (11) – incredibly, all without funding – and there’s a common theme to all these triumphs: Ian Kingston, who will be inducted into the West Cork Sports Star Hall of Fame this Saturday night. A deserving accolade for one of the true unsung heroes of West Cork sport.
Hall of Fame entrant Ian Kingston is the man behind the success of West Cork Kickboxing Club.
Lily de la Cour, like Tony, is one of Ian’s biggest fans. Under his guidance the Bantry woman developed into a world-class kickboxer. The best in the business. Incredibly, she won World and European gold at both junior and senior levels. Ian was always in her corner; that cool and calm presence in the good days and the bad.
She recalls fighting at the WAKO European Junior Kickboxing Championships for the first time when she was 13 years old. That trip to Portugal is 16 years old now, but her memories endure. One in particular.
‘I was probably the youngest in the continuous fighting section I was fighting in and was up against girls who had a good few years on me. Somehow I made the final, and was up against this girl who had ruled the world,’ Lily recalls.
‘She hammered me in the first round. I was so far behind. I hate losing, I turned around to Ian and I remember I was losing my focus; I was so annoyed and frustrated. But he knows all his athletes so well.
‘Before we went into the last round – and I was being hammered – Ian put his hands on my two shoulders and he said “Lily, give me a smile”. He told me to remember why I was here, that we love this sport. It made me stop fretting. Instead, I smiled. He calmed me down so much. I didn’t win the fight but I brought it back within a point.
‘Afterwards my dad asked me if I was alright, and I said it was the best fight I ever had! Ian knew I needed to settle down because if I get angry I lose my focus and things don’t work out.’
Ian knows his fighters inside out – and that’s repaid with absolute trust. His passion and love for kickboxing is infectious. It all started in the mid 1980s, in his teens, and almost 40 years on his enthusiasm hasn’t wavered. His dedication to his athletes is incredible, one of the many traits that help him stand out from the crowd.
Take the latest chapter in Tony Stephenshon’s story as an example. Tony (31) fought at the European Games last summer, and controversially lost a quarter-final; the manner of the defeat stung. The fight wasn’t fair, he insists. The original plan was for Tony to retire from competition afterwards, take on a bigger role as a coach at West Cork Kickboxing Club and help ease the pressure on Ian. But the project changed.
‘Afterwards I said I wanted to go again and that means training for another four or five years, and Ian didn’t even hesitate. He said “if that’s what you want to do, let’s do it, I’ll help however I can.” He puts his fighters first, always,’ Tony says, and Lily agrees. She has a list of adjectives ready to describe Ian. Humble, empathetic, modest, talented, fiery (‘you can quote me on that,’ Lily laughs), motivated, self-less, committed, and generous.
‘No matter what any of us ever wants to achieve, be it a junior looking to improve their fundamental movement or someone wanting to win a world title, Ian always gives us the time that is needed to make that happen, including his own personal time which is obviously a huge sacrifice,’ she says.
Tony, like Lily, has been trained by Ian since he was six years old. As a kid Tony had a stammer, and admitted he was short of confidence, but within one year of joining West Cork Kickboxing Club and being coached by Ian, his stammer was gone. One of the many reasons was he believed his coach was like the martial arts movie star Jean Claude van Damme and was the best in the world. As an adult, Tony can fully appreciate just how lucky he is to be coached by Ian. The values he teaches the kids who walk in the door of the club – respect, discipline and self-control. And he gives them huge belief, too.
Time for another anecdote. Dylan Green has been with the club for over ten years. He trained hard, but the breakthrough was slow in coming. Three years ago he won a national championship title. Travelled to the worlds that same year, but lost his first fight and was gutted. Three weeks later he went to a major international in Bristol where he won his division and beat the new world champion. Last year Dylan travelled to the 2023 WAKO European Kickboxing Championships in Istanbul, won a bronze medal and is now ranked fourth in the world. Ian believed in Dylan, watched him grow and improve, and this is where the real satisfaction lies. As a coach, he’s in a league of his own.
‘He has the best brain for the game, he sees things that others miss, he knows the right thing to say, he knows his fighter inside out and he always has the tactics sport on – and that's why I trust him so much,’ Tony explains.
‘He is the guy you want in your corner. He is the guy everyone wants in their corner. Everyone in the kickboxing community knows and respects him so much. He’s one of a kind.’
One quick story to finish. Lily de la Cour targetted back-to-back world senior titles in 2017; she would have become the first Irish fighter to win two senior world titles consecutively in her discipline. She lost the final, controversially.
‘There were a lot of things involved, things out of Ian and my control. We were so shocked after the decision. We shook hands with everyone, left the arena and went to the changing room,’ Lily explains.
‘Ian sat in front of me and we didn’t talk to each other; he was so upset it hadn’t worked out. It was a real moment for me, that this man wants this as much as me, that he wants it for me. He was as devastated as I was. It just showed how invested Ian is in us all.’
Now the man that has given so much to everyone who has placed their trust in him will stand in the spotlight for his contribution to West Cork sport and be inducted into the West Cork Sports Star Hall of Fame on Saturday night – and it’s what this local legend deserves.
