KELLY Warren is well used to turning heads when she walks into a martial arts class.
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Weighing just 48kg, the diminutive mother of two is not what most people expect to encounter when they turn up to train in the traditional disciplines of muay thai or zen do kai karate - especially not as the lead instructor.
But 38-year-old Kelly packs plenty of kick and punch into her petite frame.
She holds a second-degree black ranking in muay thai, a black belt in karate, has spent time honing her skills in Thailand, and teaches dozens of local students who attend the Central Vic Martial Arts classes she operates at gyms across the region.
"I have two highly trained guys who stand out the front with me, both over six feet tall, and I think people come in and expect one of them to be taking the class," Kelly laughs.
"They are surprised when they realise it's me, but once they see how I train and teach, they're fine. I get in and spar with the guys and it's good fun and earns me a lot of respect from them.
"When I first started going to Melbourne for training days, a lot of men would look at me and think, you are a tiny lady, what are you doing here?
"They were all a bit sceptical, but as time has gone on, they all welcome me now and think that I am great."
Muay Thai is a combat style that involves kicking, punching, striking out with elbows and knees, as well as some close-in clinching and grappling.
Karate, on the other hand, includes form movements known as kata and more about defence than offence.
Kelly took up the former when she moved to Bendigo from Heathcote almost two decades ago, because she wanted to be able to protect herself and her young family if the need arose.
She trained under husband and wife Mark and Julie Connell, who remain her mentors today and who passed their martial arts school on to her when they shifted to Melbourne in 2012.
It was a serendipitous event for Kelly, who had studied accounting at TAFE but re-evaluated her life after the sudden death of her sister Jacinta from a brain aneurism and stroke at 38.
"I didn’t know Mark and Julie were planning to do that," she says of the school hand-over, "but I’d been doing a lot of extra training in the year before they left.
"When my sister passed away, it made me think that life was too short to do something I really didn't enjoy, and I decided I didn't want to sit around looking at a computer all day.
"I wanted to do something I loved, and that's when I really stepped up my training.
"It helped me through a rough time and built my self-confidence.
"Then for Mark and Julie to pick me to take over, of all the people they could have chosen, was amazing."
Kelly now instructs about 50 children and adults in muay thai or karate at venues including Punches in Bunches in East Bendigo, Maple Street Primary School in Golden Square and at the Old Castlemaine Gaol.
Classes in Heathcote are starting on April 16 at the Guide hall.
She also coaches competition fighter John Ewing, who has won all three of his muay thai bouts to date, including the most recent in Echuca on March 21.
I have two highly trained guys who stand out the front with me, both over six feet tall, and I think people come in and expect one of them to be taking the class.
- Kelly Warren
But she has not stepped into the competition ring herself.
"I didn’t have the confidence in myself until the last few years, but now I struggle to find anyone my size to fight," says the woman who has earned the nickname Ladyboy at the club because of her skill, strength and tenacity.
"I don’t make weight. I was matched up with a girl a few weeks ago, but she was 75kg and I am only 48kg and I’m not that silly!"
Kelly has, however, spent time sparring with Bendigo boxer Jocelyn Amiet to help her prepare for coming bouts, as she also has difficulty finding female opponents.
"I don't normally box, but I had a ball and it was nice for Jocelyn to have another female to work with her.
"We need to support each other and we need more women putting their hands up and having a go."
Kelly says martial arts like muay thai and zen do kai have much to offer participants of all ages, but especially females.
"They can get so much out of it – fitness, confidence, pride and a feeling of safety.
"Once they come, most people are hooked for life – it’s just taking that first step.
"And because women are smaller, they tend to work a lot harder on technique and many of them will perfect things better than the guys, who just think it’s all about punching on.
"It's good for women for self-defence, but it's actually really good fun, too."
Kelly passed her second-degree black muay thai grading while in Thailand with the Connells in January and says it makes her one of few female exponents ranked that highly in Australia.
She says the training regime was so intense "it nearly killed me", but rates the journey as one of the best things she has ever done.
"We trained every day, visited temples, rode elephants, and I got blessed by a Buddhist monk.. Grading took two hours to do – with five three-minute sparring rounds in the ring, a lot of pad work punching and kicking, then skipping and shadow sparring as well."
She will try to add her first-degree karate black belt to her qualifications in Melbourne in September, and will conduct gradings for local karate kids in the middle and end of the year.
Daughters Tayla, 21, and Coby, 15, have both trained in muay thai and karate and are proud of all their mum has achieved.
"They think it's pretty cool - no one else's mum does what I do," Kelly says with a grin.
"I have even done some classes in PE at Victory Christian College and Kalianna, and my kids have come along and helped with those.
"The Kalianna kids just loved it – they don’t often get a chance to do something like this.
"I also get such a kick out of watching the karate kids do their gradings, just to see the joy on their faces when they get their next level belt, having achieved something they didn’t think they could is just amazing.
"I do it more for that side of things than the money."
Kelly can't imagine her life now without martial arts front and centre.
"I do more muay thai at the moment, while I'm still fit and able, but as I get older the karate will probably become more important as other guys and ladies come up through the ranks and take over some of the other classes," she says.
"My daughter says she can see me when I am 75, getting out there every day in my singlet and shorts, still training..."