Kicking Around Sara Schmedding Always Liked To Fight; Now She Will Compete For Kickboxing Title

A cross country runner and basketball player in high school, Sarah Schmedding has found a new way to get her kicks.

Schmedding, 19, will fight Canadian Jackie Alexander Sept. 28 for the Pacific Northwest super lightweight women’s kickboxing amateur championship.

The Schmedding-Alexander championship fight will be one of five among the bouts during the “Rumble in the Park” at Franklin Park on Spokane’s North Side.

Schmedding’s bout includes punching with 10-ounce boxing gloves, and kicking to the upper body. There will be no kicking to the legs, which is normally allowed and an effective strategy.

The Greenacres resident is undefeated in three fights and three exhibitions both as a kickboxer and conventional pugilist.

“I always liked to fight, you know, as little kids joking around with dad,” she said. “And I was really aggressive in basketball.”

Looking for a way to keep in shape after graduation from Ferris, Schmedding channeled that aggression in Marc Costello’s kickboxing class at the Spokane Karate Center, 1818-1/2 E. Sprague.

Costello, a professional for 10 years and ranked as high as No. 1 in his weight, liked what he saw.

“When she gets in there she really wants to nail somebody,” he said. “Early on I had her spar with girls and she hurt them. I had to have her spar with guys.”

That hardly seems to be the image of a 5-foot-7, 140-pounder who attended YMCA’s Camp Reed for 11 years and just completed two months as a counselor.

In the 1-1/2 years since beginning kickboxing, Schmedding has also worked at Tidyman’s, spent three months in Australia and attended Spokane Falls Community College.

She met two Australian exchange counselors at Camp Reed and spent last November, December and January visiting them.

“I went from Sydney to Brisbane and had a great time,” Schmedding said. “They admire American culture too much. They treated me really well.”

Since returning from Camp Reed she’s gone back into the gym to prepare for her title bout.

Nervousness has been her biggest obstacle and ally.

“She’s a ball of nerves before a fight, I’ve got to tell you,” said Costello. “But once the bell rings, she goes.”

Schmedding admitted she gets so wound up she just keeps flailing away with arms and legs and hopes to be the one standing at the end. “You get so exhausted you hope the other one falls,” she said.

Only recently, said Schmedding, has she started to calm down in the ring, although the thought of fighting a more experienced Alexander concerns her.

“When you hop into the ring anything can happen,” she says.

Costello is convinced Schmedding will win the PNW championship.

“She always worries,” he said. “The biggest thing with Sarah is her unstoppable desire to win. Her never-give-up attitude will win it.”

The idea of women combatants is gaining acceptance and the more successful Schmedding becomes, the more chance there is she can turn professional and earn a payday.

“I went into it strictly for exercise and to meet people,” Schmedding said. “As long as I’m having fun, I will see how far I can take it.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo