NextGen: The junior kickboxing world champion St Helens have high hopes for

From being a double world kicking boxing champion at eight years of age as well as being a lifelong St Helens rugby league fan, it’s probably fair to say Jonny Vaughan was destined for a career in sport.

Vaughan grew up as a kickboxer and rugby league player from an early age, having been crowned a double world champion at The International Sport Kickboxing Association’s World Championships in North Cyprus in 2013.

Sports-mad Vaughan even played cricket at district level and represented Merseyside in athletics.

But his true love has always been rugby league. He played his junior rugby at Thatto Heath and Blackbrook before joining the scholarship system at Saints at the age of 14: and that was when things became a little more serious and he had to give up all the other sports so he could pursue his professional rugby league dream.

After progressing through the academy ranks at his hometown club St Helens, Vaughan was rewarded with his first-team debut last month and has since made four appearances for Paul Wellens’ side.

And it must be a surreal feeling for the 19-year-old, whose dad started taking him to Knowsley Road when he was a young kid, having walked out as a mascot with his new head coach Wellens during the Saints coach’s playing days in the Red V.

Love Rugby League spoke to Wellens about Vaughan’s development: and his impressive hunger and drive to thrive in the St Helens first-team.

“I’ve known Jonny a long time because he actually played at Thatto Heath with my son in the junior teams,” Wellens recalled with a smile. “He was at Thatto Heath originally and then he moved to Blackbrook for a good few years.

“Believe it or not, he was actually a junior world kickboxing champion so he’s very athletic in that sense and very competitive and doesn’t mind a one-on-one combat so to speak.

“We’ve known about Jonny for a while, obviously it got to the point in his scholarship that he had to make a choice between the rugby and the kickboxing and thankfully he chose rugby and developed really well throughout our junior system.

“He is one of the most competitive people that I’ve ever come across – he trains really hard, he prides himself on his fitness and is very often at the front of most of the training drills we do in terms of his fitness.

“We have high hopes for Jonny but one thing you’ll never question with him is his appetite to work hard and want to improve.”

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Jonny Vaughan combining St Helens duties with studying for law degree

The former Rainford High and Carmel College student now combines his full-time playing duties with St Helens alongside studying a law degree at Edge Hill University.

Vaughan has impressed in the handful of appearances he has made for his boyhood club so far, whilst also featuring for Swinton Lions in the Championship via dual-registration.

He is comfortable playing in the back-row and at centre: and that versatility could come in handy for Wellens and his side during an injury-hit period to the senior members of his squad.

“He played in a couple of different positions as a junior,” Wellens added.

“He played a bit at nine and a bit at 13, but the older he got he started to move into the outside-backs.

“He is a centre/back-rower by trade and that’s where his best positions are but he is one of those players that if you asked him to do a job on the wing for you, then he’d quite happily go and do it.

“I’m a firm believer that – as a young player – if you want opportunities, then being prepared to be versatile is crucial and it is crucial in getting you those opportunities in the first-team.”

Player profile

Name: Jonny Vaughan
Age: 19
Position: Back-row/centre
Senior debut: Castleford Tigers (H), 05/07/2024
Honours: England Academy, Lancashire Academy

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