Northmead resident Kayla de Jager (25) is a qualified timekeeper in mixed martial arts (MMA) after completing her MMA judges course with Marc Goddard in 2016.
“From there I was a shadow judge and timekeeper for amateur events, such as Fightstar, and International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) events in South Africa,” she said.
“Once I had enough experience I was able to judge fights myself.”
In 2018, this former Benoni High School learner applied to be a timekeeper for an IMMAF competition that was being held in Bahrain, Asia, for a week and she was accepted.
Then in December 2018, she was a timekeeper for an international professional competition called Brave that came to South Africa.
“Since 2017 I have been working as a timekeeper for EFC,” she explained.
“It just kind of happened. I started doing kickboxing with my twin brother at XKT in Benoni. Through them, I did the judges course.
“My brother then moved to an MMA gym, where his coach worked at EFC and they needed a timekeeper last minute for an event. The coach knew I was involved with the officiating so he asked me to help out.”
De Jager has a three-year hospitality management diploma from The Swiss Hotel School, which she completed in 2017 in Switzerland, and in 2018 she also completed her certificate in sports events management from the 9th EASM Summer School, Universidad Europea in Spain, Madrid.
“Covid turned my world upside down, so I do not know where I see myself in five years,” she said.
“I am taking life day by day and trying to get as much experience from the job I am working at now.”
De Jager is a legal receptionist and executive assistant while doing the timekeeping for EFC as a sideline job.
“Timekeeping is a high-pressure job,” she said.
“I get to be up close in person with all of the fights and sit right in front of the cage, which is so exhilarating.
“As an official, we have to stay neutral and cannot have any biases towards any fighters, otherwise we cannot officiate a competition.”
What does a timekeeper actually do?
According to de Jager, this:
• Check the equipment. Do we have two clappers to indicate 10 seconds left in a round?
• Do we have two horns to indicate the start and end of a fight?
• Do we have a whistle to indicate when there are 10 seconds left in the one-minute break between rounds?
“Timekeepers must watch the stopwatch and what is happening in the ring simultaneously to be able to act immediately upon interruptions, i.e. the ref stops the fight due to a foul,” she said.
“There are two timekeepers that work at a competition and we constantly check each other. So the one timekeeper will start the stopwatch as soon as the fight starts, and the other timekeeper would blow the horn to indicate that the fight has started.
“Throughout the fight, we will both watch the stopwatch and the fight. When there are 10 seconds left in a fight, I will clap the clappers three times and then blow the horn once the time is up.
“When there are 10 seconds left in the one-minute break I will blow a whistle for the corners to get out of the cage.”
De Jager enjoys every minute of being a timekeeper, but two occasions stick out to her above all else.
“One of the most memorable moments as a timekeeper for me was when I had the opportunity to travel to Bahrain to be a timekeeper at the 2018 IMMAF World Championship and Junior World Championship for a week,” she said.
“The second moment was the first time working as a timekeeper for EFC. The atmosphere in the crowd was incredible, being surrounded by so many people and in front of that huge cage for the first time was so intimidating.”
This local hopes to show all the women out there that women can do as the men do, enjoy as the men do and hopefully empower women everywhere to see that if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.
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