By Jorden Curran
IMMAF World gold medallist and European Open champion, Anastasiya Svetkivska has caught the eye of IMMAF by introducing the sport of MMA to new people and coaching the youth of Ukraine.
The world’s no.1 ranked strawweight athlete under IMMAF enjoyed a dominant 2019 while representing the Ukraine national team. The 23-year-old standout remained undefeated throughout the year as a national champion who would to win gold medals for her country at the 2019 IMMAF World Championships and European Open Championships, besting international standouts including multiple time international medallist Nina Back, Asia Open champion and world bronze medallist Colleen Augustin, and top Australian standout Olivia Ukmar. Svetkivska was subsequently among the esteemed nominations for “Best Female Athlete” at the 2020 IMMAF Awards.
Parallel to her work in the ring, Svetkivska has a clear talent and passion for coaching as we follow her daily social media posts where the top international competitor can be seen introducing MMA to fellow women, as well as the youth of Ukraine, she provides women and girls only classes for boxing, MMA and grappling, while also coaching and mentoring young students with classes for young boys and girls entering the sport.
View this post on Instagram
Athletes such as Svetkivska are the full embodiment of IMMAF values coming full circle, herself as an elite level competitor who is also nurturing MMA at a deeper grass roots level, not only as a coach, but as mentor and ambassador. Svetkivska’s example highlights the value of MMA and its people in proving more opportunity for women and girls to discover the sport, be it for fitness, recreation or competition, as well as engaging young children to take part in enjoyable physical activity of which can play a significant part in positive mental and physical development.
