It started with a free class when Madelyn Kaufman was 5 years old, and has since grown into a years-long passion of training and fighting. And, competing internationally later this year.
Kaufman, 13, trains in Muaythai, a combat sport and martial art from Thailand that allows fighters to use their fists, elbows, knees, and shins to hit, grab, or sweep their opponents. While she started at 5, she was 10 when she began training seriously, with the goal of one day competing with the United States team at the International Federation of Muaythai Associations (IFMA) Youth World Championships. Think of it as the Olympics for muaythai—and she’ll join the team to compete in Greece in November.
“I wanted to join the team because it has always been a dream. When I was little, I always wanted to go to IFMA, but in October of last year and January this year, I fought two girls who had already been to IFMA and been on the team,” she said. “I beat them both, like pretty obviously, so that gave me the confidence to try out for the team.”
An eighth grader living with her parents and siblings in Carlsbad, Kaufman also maintains a rigorous training schedule at Elite Kickboxing Gym in Vista, alongside earning As at school. She took some to talk about her love of Muaythai and her goals in the sport, and traveling to compete against other top fighters (with some help from her mom, Natalie Dolce, who runs Kaufman’s Instagram account with content of her training and competitions at @madelynthecaptainkaufman).
Q: What appealed to you about muaythai?
A: When I was little, and I’m still like this now, I didn’t like the feeling that much of being on a team because I felt like I couldn’t really rely on my teammates. Like, if somebody else was doing bad, it made the whole team do bad, or we’d lose the game, or something like that. So, I like being by myself.
Q: What is your training schedule like?
A: Now, it’s six days a week, Monday through Saturday. I go to the gym, and then I teach the kids’ class, and then I’ll train for two-and-a-half hours. Then, every Sunday, I do a long run. A few times a week also. (Dolce says that during the week, they head to the gym at 3:30 p.m., and finish around 8 p.m. So, she trains for about four and a half hours each day.)When you first started training, was there a particular move you were fascinated by that you wanted to learn?
Muaythai is basically like kickboxing, but you’re allowed to use your punches, you kick, and then you’re allowed to use your knees. You can knee (your opponent) in the body; and then elbowing. It’s basically a punch, but without your hand, so just hitting them with your elbow. You have to be a certain age to be allowed to throw them (elbows). I’d always practice them by myself when I was little and try to teach myself how to do them. We weren’t allowed to do them yet, but now I’m able to, and they’re still my favorite. (The move is allowed in Arizona and Delaware, but in California you have to be at least 16, says Dolce.)
What I love about Carlsbad…
I really like the beach. I don’t love the ocean, like going in the water and stuff like that is just not my thing. But, I love just being there and seeing all like the pretty waves and the sand. I also like to run up the beach in the morning, before this stuff comes up. It’s beautiful.
Q: What part of Muaythai do you feel strongest in now? Why do you think you’re strongest in that area?
A: I think elbows are my favorite, but my stamina and endurance is better than anyone because I run a lot. I’ll do, like, 10 to 13 miles on a long run day. When there’s a fight that I know has a little bit of elevation where we’re fighting, I’ll wear an altitude mask. It restricts some of the breathing to make it harder.
Q: What’s been the toughest part of the sport for you to learn so far?
A: Probably how to calm myself before the fight. Like, I’m always super nervous before fights start. My coach has said that I’m nervous because I care about what I’m doing and it matters to me, but it’s always hard before a fight because you’re about to show what you just worked for, for the past three or four months.
Q: What led to you joining the U.S. team?
A: There’s this big tournament called IFMA (International Federation of Muaythai Association). It’s basically the Olympics for muaythai because we’re not in the Olympics. It’s, like, every country gives their best people that they have. There was a qualifier to see if you could be on the team for IFMA, and I was at the one in Delaware a few weeks ago, but in my bracket there were no girls because nobody signed up. So, I didn’t have a fight, but in the bracket in the weight class above me, there were two girls. And, in Delaware, because there’s no rules against it, they invited me to fight in that bracket. (Her mom adds that the other fighters were the same age, but a higher weight class. Four days before the qualifier, the association called and gave options to either have a committee watch recordings of Kaufman’s fights to make a decision, or she was welcome to fight girls in the heavier weight class because Delaware doesn’t have rules against doing so. Kaufman, who weighs 95 pounds, chose to fight the girls who weighed 105 to 115 pounds.)
I won the whole tournament. I was just telling myself the only way to get better is to challenge yourself. You could only achieve so much if you’re fighting people who are as good as you, so if you take a big risk, you get a big reward, which is what I did.
Q: Are you nervous at all about Greece? What helps your nervousness?
A: I am, but I think I’ll be ready for it. I tell myself that I know that the people I’m fighting don’t run as fast as me or as much as me, and even if they do, then they probably don’t lift as much weight as me. Then, I tell myself that if they do both of those, then they probably don’t train as hard as me. So yeah, I just keep telling myself that.
Q: Have you noticed any changes in yourself as a result of doing this sport?
A: It’s definitely helped in school because I have all above 98 (out of 100) in my classes. I’m in all the advanced classes, I get all of my work done super fast, and I just am able to focus on it. I think it gave me a work a work ethic, to do everything to the best of your ability.
Q: What goals do you have in Muaythai going forward?
A: I want to try to get gold at IFMA. That was my main goal since I was little. It would also be to go pro one day, hopefully. Beyond that, it would be to go to One Championship. It’s kind of like UFC, but for muaythai. Like, professional fighting.
Q: What do you do when you aren’t training, competing, or in school?
A: I like to snowboard a lot. I like to draw. I like to hang out with my friends and we walk to Carlsbad Village and we get poke and ice cream. I snowboard in Big Bear. Sometimes we go there on vacation. I’m able to do double black diamond.
Q: What’s been challenging about this sport?
A: Just the training, pushing past times when it’d be a lot easier not to run right now, or not to do this. Pushing past the mental barrier.
Q: What’s been rewarding about it?
A: Probably the people I’ve met along the way. A lot of the people who I fought, we’re friends now. It’s a really good community and everyone shares a love for the sport.
Q: What has it taught you about yourself?
A: It’s taught me that when I have a goal, I can set my mind to something, focus on it, and I really work toward it and don’t let anything get in the way.
Q: What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
A: My coach told me that practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. Like, he told me that if you kick a bag 1,000 times, but not as good as you possibly can, but then if you kick a bag 20 times and every time you’re trying to hit it a lot harder and kick perfectly with great technique, you’re going to get better from those 20 kicks instead of the 1,000 kicks.
Q: What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?
A: It sounds weird, but I’m sweet before my fights. A lot of people at weigh-ins will look at you mean, try to get in your head and try to scare you and be all super cool. I don’t do any of that. I just kind of want to be their friend because I know that they love the sport that I love.
Q: Please describe your ideal San Diego weekend.
A: Probably in the morning, I go to my gym and I train, then I come home, get ready, and then me and my friends go to Carlsbad Village and get poke and ice cream. Then, we walk to the beach and sit on the sea wall and watch the waves for a little bit. Later, at night, I would want to go out to dinner with my family because during the week I’m training a lot and I don’t get to have dinner with them a lot because everyone is busy and I’m gone.