Kickboxing mum KELLY'S A REAL KNOCKOUT!

After years in the ball room, she’s getting her kicks in new ways

- Fleur Guthrie

When ballroom dancer Kelly Broerse decided to swap her sequinned dresses and fake tan for a pair of shiny shorts – and yes, facial bruising – to become a champion Muay Thai kickboxer, her mother was initially “devastated”. 

But after her parents saw her win her first fights, the 33-year-old laughs her mum has evolved from being heartbroken to passionately shouting, “Kill her, Kelly!” during her bouts.

“She just needed to know I’d be okay because it’s quite an intimidating thing to watch your daughter do,” says Kelly, a forensic scientist, who is mum to 10-month-old son Noah. 

“She used to do my make-up for ballroom dancing and Dad used to come to the shows and fuss with the music. They were really involved. Now they come to all my fights and love it.”

Christchurch-born Kelly discovered combat sports after watching mixed martial arts (MMA) movie Never Back Down when she was 21.

“I was bored with Latin American dance, but when I saw that movie, I thought, ‘I can do that!’ and joined the Academy of Combat. I was hooked from day one on Muay Thai and kickboxing.

"It might have surprised my parents, but it didn't surprise my three older brothers as I was a bit of a tomboy, always play-fighting with them.”