Rebecca Bhola takes Thai kickboxing to new levels

She may be tough on the mat, but kickboxing professional Rebecca Bhola also has a soft heart, at least for animals.

At 35, Bhola is the founder and president of the Trinbago Muaythai Association (TMA), a senior instructor at Tazmanian Bulldogs School of Martial Arts and Kickboxing in Freeport, and founder of Dragongirl’s Animal Sanctuary in Waterloo, Central Trinidad.

She first got into martial arts at age 16 as a form of self-defence. Around that time there were a lot of kidnappings, and she wanted to feel she could keep herself safe.

“I wanted to be able to defend myself in any instance, because I was coming of age, and then with schooling and travelling and whatnot, I wanted to be at least confident enough to be out on the streets.”

Bhola began with kung fu, which she did for a year. But then she attended a kickboxing event in which the Tazmanian Bulldogs dominated the competition. She knew that was what she wanted to do and started classes at the school.

Although she started with kickboxing, she moved on to karate and jujitsu, and finally branched off into muaythai (or Muay Thai), which translates to Thai boxing. The fighting style is called the Art of Eight Limbs, as it uses fists, feet, elbows, and knees.

She said it was originally developed for the Thai army because, at that time, they could not fully equip themselves with weapons. With this style, their bodies became weapons and it was eventually developed into a sport with rules, regulations and safety procedures.

“I’ve stuck to muaythai because of the history behind it. The sport itself is deeply rooted in the Thai culture and the history of Thailand as well.

"To me, it's holistic, because we are using all limbs. And, even though I am coaching, you never stop learning. You always learn something new every single day.

“And even though it is a combat sport, all muaythai practitioners are extremely humble. They are extremely down to earth. They are always willing to contribute to your growth and development.”

Bhola explained that the TMA came about because, as the years passed, she would see international events, but there was no local representation. She realised the national kickboxing organisation at the time was not doing anything to advance the sport or develop the athletes, even though TT had many athletes and the potential to succeed.

So she sent numerous e-mails and messages to the International Federation of Muaythai Associations complaining about the lack of representation. She finally got a response and was invited to Thailand to meet with them. She told them she had a team willing to start working, and the TMA was accepted.

The international federation and the Ministry of Sport tried to get the old and new kickboxing organisations to work together, but it was not to be. The old organisation reluctantly stepped aside and TMA became an official organisation, as well as the national representative to the federation, in 2019.

By that time, because of the lack of competing opportunities and the potential she saw, Bhola had gravitated to coaching.

“Year after year at Tasmanian Bulldogs, I saw kids with potential and we knew they didn't have an avenue to develop themselves. Because of that, I wanted to start honing their skills. Also, being a female that actually walked every aspect of the martial arts – from practitioner to athlete, an official, certified referee and judge, even into event management – I know all the levels.

“Especially as a female, I understand how intimidated we may get, I understand the mental struggles that we go through into the sport itself. I will admit I have a bias towards females taking part. I tend to push them and encourage them even more than male athletes.”

Bhola told Sunday Newsday being her parents’ only daughter and with two older brothers, she grew up as a tomboy. When they were young, she and her brothers would roughhouse, which, she believed, played a part in giving her the confidence to step into martial arts.

She also enjoyed sports and, from a young age, would play football on the road with her cousins as well as trying her hand at other sports like tennis and basketball.

In addition, her father was heavily involved in cricket, so she got involved as well. Her mother got her into swimming and, in primary school, she once represented TT in a swimming competition.

With sport so ingrained in her life, Bhola went into the field. She got a bachelor’s degree in sports studies, specialising in sport management and sport for development from UTT in 2019.

She will also be starting a postgraduate programme in sport management in September at UWI and hopes to get her master’s one day at Seoul National University in South Korea. She complained TT was no longer on the list for a full scholarship at Seoul National University so she had to figure out a way to raise at least $200,000 to do it. But she said she will work towards it one step at a time.

She also hopes to make the TMA sustainable by developing it as a business so it would not be dependent on the Ministry of Sport or any other government agency. That, she said, was part of her motivation to study sport management.

In addition, she hopes one day to make TMA the first all-female executive in combat sports in TT and develop a Caribbean Muaythai League. She said it was not necessary to be a competitor, as there were other aspects to the sport such as judging, event management and fundraising.

“I think females in general, once they start sparring, especially with male partners out in the gym, they tend to get excited. You could see a whole mental change – that self-motivation and empowerment.

“And naturally they tend to gravitate to the sport and eventually ask how they could help. So little by little, that's how we get them involved in the sport.”

Before she developed a love for martial arts, Bhola had a love for animals. She recalled her grandfather had pitbulls and bull terriers that she used to play with at all hours of the day and night.

“I remember my mom told me, when I was younger she carried me to Tobago and they literally had to hold me back because I saw a stray dog and kept trying to run and hug it up. So yeah, definitely loved them from small.

“Also, I am an empath so it's difficult for me to see an injured animal and just turn a blind eye to it. It’s my way of giving back to the world, giving back to society, by using my own funds to help these animals, help rehabilitate them and give them a place to stay.”

Bhola registered Dragongirl’s Animal Sanctuary in October 2022, but started rescuing injured stray animals over ten years ago. She generally rescues stray injured animals, as well as mothers with puppies or kittens. At the moment, she has several injured, neglected, abused and even blind animals that she nursed back to health.

She registered the sanctuary because of the need to raise funds for the animals.

She explained that, during the pandemic, animal food prices kept increasing, while her salary from her day job at the Ministry of Sport and Community Development remained the same. With 30 dogs and 16 cats, it was already a financial strain to feed and provide medical care for all the animals. She also paid to get the animals spayed, neutered and vaccinated. But the price increases during and after the pandemic cleaned out her savings and exacerbated her financial situation.

She expressed her sincerest gratitude to one vet in Calcutta who offers her discounts and, most times, does not charge her his consultant fee.

She added that she was now building a network because of social media, which she hoped would allow more people to offer their services and make it easier to get her animals adopted.

She stressed that the difficulty in finding the animals forever homes was one reason she always encouraged people to get their pets spayed or neutered. She lamented how many baby animals were abandoned or killed when people did not want and could not find homes for their pets’ babies.

As a result, all the females at the sanctuary were spayed and most of the males neutered.

For those who have pets they could no longer care for, she suggests instead of abandoning them, they reach out to animal groups on social media, as they may be able to take the animal.

“In terms of making sure that they are happy, we don't encourage them being in kennels for long, and we don't really like to have them tied. But we do have a few kennels for some of the aggressive male dogs.

“I made sure the kennels are big and spacious, because I tend to put myself in their shoes and I wouldn’t like to be in a small kennel.

"We rotate them every so often, but other than that, the majority of dogs are loose at all times.”

She said it took a lot of time and good food to gain the animals’ trust and she has been bitten several times by both cats and dogs. She joked that martial arts had a part to play in her pain tolerance.