Board ’20-’21

Sjouke de Vries

Chairman

First and foremost, Sjouke de Vries, our new Chairman!

Those who have been with us for a while might remember seeing his awesome high-kick knockout at the first ever Dutch Combat Events. For the others: if you ever see a tall, lumbering Friesian walking around, it’s probably Sjouke. He is one of the youngest and best MMA fighters in Deltaserat, carrying the ‘undefeated’ title to date.

Alongside his training, Sjouke works as an IT Freelancer and is a first year in MSc Computing Science – Software Engineering and Distributed Systems. He has been part of the Deltaserat community since 2017 and has joined the board for the academic year 2020-21. During his (very limited) free time, Sjouke can be found on the back of his trusty iron steed, speeding down motorways (no worries, not higher than the 100kmph limit).

Deltaserat trainings can get pretty intense. Especially if you’re coming back from Christmas holidays, not everyone is prepared for Nabil’s workouts. But have no fear! Our chairman has a great training hack: pretend you’re tired, and make sure to slow down when Nabil looks over! If you’re lucky our trainer will have some pity. Sjouke’s least favorite part of training: “when a certain someone yells ‘1 more minute!’ and 2 minutes later you spot him across the dojo, fully immersed in a conversation with a passerby”. I think all members can relate to that one.

Kit Yi Feng

Internal Affairs

Meet Kityi Feng, our passionate Internal Affairs Manager!

Kityi is a natural enthusiast when it comes to her passions, and in this case it’s Deltaserat. She came to the Netherlands at the age of 12, and is ethnically Chinese. She is majoring in Electrical Engineering and has been a part of the club for over 2 years now. As one of the most excitable, eager members of our club, you are sure to spot Kityi at every kickboxing training possible.

Deltaserat was Kityi’s first introduction to martial arts. The club has supported her through thick and thin, teaching her how to persevere from Day 1. The thing that Kityi loves most about Deltaserat is the ability to form deep connections with the members, to the point where she calls us ‘family’. Next to martial arts Kityi loves to swim and dabbles in landscape photography in her free time.

Want to feel like you’re flying in sparring? Then Kityi has a life hack for you! In order to find the exercises easier, she suggests adding weights to your arms and legs in the beginning of a workout. “Once you take them off, you’re basically a feather.” As with many kick boxers, Kityi’s go-to move is the hook, especially when used as a counter. Some of her favourite Deltaserat memories are of the fighting events. The feeling you get when you’re cheering our fighters on is indescribable, and is definitely worth the time and money. So if you’re a new member to our club, make sure to free up all your weekends in case there’s a fighter you need to support (after the pandemic, of course)

Vlad Malai

Secretary

Please welcome Vlad Malai as our new Secretary!

Vlad is from Moldova and has been in the martial arts world for 8 years. His experience and friendly attitude makes Vlad a very approachable board member: if you need any help regarding administration or just have a question on a certain technique, go ask Vlad! He has previously been a board member, and a core part of Deltaserat for 5 years.

Vlad is a C-class fighter with 4 wins behind him. From his first fight at the Frisian Warriors, everyone could see the potential in him. Don’t be fooled by his humbleness: Vlad is a machine in the kickboxing ring! His bread and butter in sparring is a jab followed by a right hook: it always manages to surprise his opponents. Apart from martial arts Vlad stays a well-rounded student; during his down time you can easily find him with a good book (probably something to do with physics/mathematics) and a cup of tea.

Vlad’s favourite quote from Nabil: “this is a knock-out combo guys!”. Some take-away training advice from our kickboxing secretary: always try harder when the trainer is watching you! And make sure to train with 80% of your capacity, that way you’re always pushing yourself to be better without hurting your partners.