After racking up nearly 40 years of combat sports experience in the Verde Valley, and even though they are now raising four grandsons, Richard and Sandee Williams of Camp Verde still have Olympic goals for Los Angeles in 2028 and continue to remain involved in the expansion of the United States division of the World Association of Kickboxing.
“Sandee is the Arizona representative for WAKO,” Richard Williams explained. “I am the first promoter for WAKO for Arizona. We both got certified under their Class B certification back in May so we can go judge, officiate and timekeep. But we can go all over the world, too, because WAKO is international and I want to get into the administrative side of kickboxing.”
Richard Williams has been a kickboxing trainer throughout his life and wants to take it to the international stage as an Olympic coach. He also plans to start taking coursework for the USA kickboxing K1 national team.
Kickboxing administration appears to offer greater opportunities than boxing at the moment. While boxing is scheduled to be part of the Paris 2024 Olympics, its status in Los Angeles in 2028 is uncertain after the executive board of the International Olympic Committee recommended withdrawing recognition of the International Boxing Association.
WAKO USA President and CEO Rob Zbilski said that a final decision on boxing’s 2028 status will be made in the next few months, as well as the potential selection of a replacement sport.
“There were 41 sports that applied to the 2028 Olympics,” Zbilski said. “We’re down to the final nine sports and we are one of the finalists. We feel like we got a pretty good shot to get in there. A final decision is anticipated in September.”
WAKO’s international federation received IOC provisional recognition in 2018 and full recognition in 2021, making it able to apply to be a recognized sport organization by the Olympic Committee. WAKO USA has a five-year plan to develop athletes if kickboxing is included in the 2028 Olympic program in Los Angeles, including a national championship in which American kickboxers would have to compete against one another for a spot on that Olympic team.
“There’s a lot of great kickboxers in Arizona and now we [potentially] have an opportunity to put those athletes into our Olympic program,” Zbilski said. “We would decide who the most experienced [coaches] are and probably go with those. The other way we work it is if you have a coach that has been with a fighter throughout their career and knows him the best. There’s a possibility we would take that coach too because we want to make sure the fighter is comfortable.”
WAKO USA Expansion
Regardless of kickboxing’s Olympic fate, WAKO is expanding in the western United States, and the Williams have played an integral role in that process.
“We’re very excited to be working with Richard and Sandee Williams,” Zbilski said. “If it wasn’t for them, we probably wouldn’t be sanctioning fights in Arizona. We appreciate their help and their dedication to the sport and we look forward to growing kickboxing in Arizona and New Mexico with them.”
California recently awarded WAKO USA a provisional fighting license. Zbilski is optimistic California will vote to make WAKO USA a sanctioning body by the end of the year so they can develop athletes and their program in the state. Williams added that WAKO USA is working to expand into Washington, Oregon and possibly Alaska. He mentioned he would also like to see Arizona host an East Coast versus West Coast tournament once more states have organizing bodies in place.
“I do the compliance. You’ve got to make sure the fighters are registered and that they have everything they need to fight,” Sandee Williams said of her role. “They have to do everything online first. When they come to us, they have to show me the receipt that they’re registered. I do the weigh-ins, then I present everything and then I do scorekeeping. I’m pretty much overseeing everything at the event.”
“Me and Sandee are going to be going to Hawaii soon. They want WAKO in their state,” Richard said. “We’re going to start getting the paperwork and getting WAKO to Hawaii while we’re there. Even though it’s going be a vacation, we’re still going to do a little bit of business.”
In addition to their WAKO USA duties, the Williams are both have full-time jobs and are raising a family.
“We took on four grandkids a year ago, and the youngest was 2 weeks old,” Sandee said. “We had our one grandson for going on three years now. Now we got his three brothers. We’re just getting guardianship of them. I wasn’t going to have them separated, absolutely not.”
Sport connects the members of the Williams family, as Sandee explained while watching one of their grandsons’ football practice.
“It’s not just the fight part, it’s just a way of life,” Richard said. “It’s just peaceful. It brings me life. I just like the joy [of] being around martial arts. I was a dreamer and I got to fight in front of almost 10,000 people in Hawaii. I got to do a lot by following my heart, my dreams and desires.”
