RIDING the crest of the Jamaica combined martial arts team's second-title defence at last month's Busta United States Open World Team Fighting Championship in Orlando, Florida, team captain and manager Jason McKay on Saturday announced the formation of the first female combined team.

Drawn from fighters representing karate and tae kwon do, the team will be coached by McKay and will have its first international outing at the Caribbean Martial Arts Open on August 15 in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

The team comprises tae kwon do's 16-year-old Tashauna Grannum, one of the more exciting juniors over the last five years, Future Leaders' Daniel Chang and national champion Sheckema Cunningham, who will captain the outfit.

Very young team

"It's a very young team and intentionally selected, as we want to be able to have enough years to develop the athletes," said McKay.

"Grannum being 16 and Chang 18 will give us longevity, a good six to seven years, as female athletes, locally, don't last as long as their male counterparts," he pointed out.

Cunningham, he said, being the national champion, was the obvious choice as captain.

"The disadvantage is that they are very small fighters, none over 130lb, with one as light as 112, but they will be faster than the competition plus they're responding well to training and I think they will do very well," said McKay, who guided the male combined team to triple success at the Busta US Open World Continental team-fighting championship early last month.

McKay also serves as coach to Grannum and his daughter, Maya, at various tournaments around the world in addition to being physical coach of the male combined team.