Prize-winning Muay Thai and kickboxing fighter Kelly Broerse is one of three fighters in the VICE New Zealand documentary Lethal Ladies. She's also a forensic scientist at ESR.
A still from 'Lethal Ladies' featuring Kelly Broerse. Photo: Supplied
There’s nothing quite like standing in a ring opposite someone you know just really wants to beat the crap out of you, Broerse tells Afternoons' Jesse Mulligan.
"It’s a really scaring feeling but then at the other end of the fight, there’s that huge sense of accomplishment and achievement.
"Obviously when you win it’s a lot better."
Broerse, who was previously a competitive ballroom dancer and horserider, started training as a fighter in 2012.
She currently holds the WKBF New Zealand featherweight championship title.
"I’ve got two titles, I’m fighting for another title in New Zealand’s biggest show - King in the Ring - in September."
With 12 wins and only one loss so far, Broerse is going for every title she can get.
"Basically, I want to get every belt that’s available so the next one I think is WKBF South Pacific.
"Australia’s already been on the cards, America’s the ultimate goal."
Kelly Broerse Photo: Supplied
Kickboxing and Muay Thai have great mental benefits, Broerse says.
"The things that it’s done for me mentally, I like to stay fit, and I bore really easily, I like to keep busy, I like to challenge myself.
"It’s been a really good outlet. I work all day in quite a serious job, it can be quite stressful and then I go to the gym and it can be this huge release, it’s great you get to literally beat someone up and take your stress out on them.
"I like knowing that I can look after myself, I could walk down the street and think - not that I can take anyone but to know that I could protect myself if I need to."
Kelly Broerse in the 'Youngblood' fight meet. Photo: Supplied
The need for physical release is understandable when you work in a high-stress role like Broerse.
"Forensic science. I’m a technician in the lab, we do DNA analysis of crime scene samples all over New Zealand."
She says she got "a few weird looks" from co-workers when she started turning up with black eyes in the beginning, but now they - as well as friends and family - are fully supportive.
"My parents were so devastated when I started. They really loved the ballroom dancing, so when I started fighting they were like ‘what are you doing?’.
"When I was young I did horse-riding competitively for a few years and then I moved on to ballroom dancing and Latin American dancing - I loved that, my parents loved that - and then yeah, [I got] bored of that.
"Basically [I] was watching television and that [Mixed Martial Arts movie] Never Back Down came on. I just thought ‘I can do that’. So I went along and tried it out ... I didn’t actually end up liking MMA, I like the stand up of Muay Thai and kickboxing so I’ve been hooked on it ever since."
Muay Thai a full-contact sport with a certain amount of strategy, Broerse says.
"Anywhere on your opponent is a target, right? Apart from the back of your head."
Watch Vice's Zealandia documentary 'Lethal Ladies':
"It’s the art of eight limbs, so we punch, kick, knee and elbow. My favourite is the elbow. My next fight is actually K1 [kickboxing], so there’s no elbows or clinching when you’re in the grapple.
"Basically the more you score, the more you win - so you have to land more clean punches on your opponent but you’re actually trying to unbalance them or move them.
"They could block your punch, but if you move them you’re still scoring."
The fights are quick but intense, she says.
"So the next one’s a title, five rounds - two-minute rounds - but generally they’re three two-minute rounds for amateur.
"There’s nothing quite like it, you gas pretty much before you get in the ring. There’s so much nerves and anticipation and what we call 'adrenaline dump' that when you actually get in there you feel really tired and you’ve warmed up out the back and everything."
Training and fitness are what win a fight on the day, she says.
"In fight camp, [we train] six days a week, twice a day. We run hills - the most horrible thing I’ve ever done in my life is the hill sprints in Devon Street, Blockhouse Bay. Everyone at [the martial arts gym] Strikeforce knows them.
"It’s stamina-building, fitness-building. There’s nothing like it.
"We’ve got this really good thing where I listen for 30 seconds left in the round and that’s when you give it everything and go as hard as you can."
"100 percent, those hill sprints are what wins fights and I stand by that."
The Lethal Ladies documentary was very well done, Broerse says, and she's proud to be a part of it - "but I couldn't stop cringing at myself".
She plans to put even more into her fighting this year.
"I don’t think I’ve peaked yet. That might sound bad but I think I’ve got so much more to give.
"This year I really wanted to dedicate it a bit more to fighting, and next year might be the year, but I dunno - I think I’ve got a good few years in me."
Lethal Ladies is part of the VICE New Zealand series 'Zealandia' produced to mark 125 years of women’s suffrage.
