Since 2016 our students have been involved with WKF events, such as Karate Ontario tournaments, to test their skills as competitive karate athletes. Sensei James, head instructor and owner of Kazoku Martial Arts, believes this training will enhance their abilities and be applied towards their black belt journey.
KMA’s athletes have always enjoyed the sport and despite the two year hiccup of online competition, they have truly begun to take their training to a whole new level. Their training continues under the watchful eye of Sensei Hamoon, competitor in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and his wife Sensei Samira, Canada’s only certified Olympic Coach.
Junior Nationals 2022, Newfoundland, Canada
In only just a few months both coaches upped their athlete’s game and helped them climb the ranks in Karate Ontario to be eligible for the Junior Nationals, which happened during the Canada Day long weekend in 2022. These six athletes supported one another and pushed each other, along with their supportive parents, to improve every day and were able to help two of their team members bring home a bronze and gold medal.
Fast forward to August 25, 2022 in Mexico City where our gold medalist from Nationals, Mariana, is now set to compete in the Junior PanAm Championships. Every athlete from Chile, Mexico, Costa Rica, USA, and more enter to bring home the hold for their country in one of the highest level competitions in the Americas.
Mariana entered each round and showcased the hard work she put in and every skill she learned from her coaches. Each time she managed to win with ease and entered the finals without a single loss. Now with the weight of the final match, she utilized every skill she had been taught to take the final match and win a gold medal for her team, Karate Canada.
Mariana is the only athlete on Team Canada to win a gold in kumite (sparring) in this year’s competition.
Her dojo, family and friends all watched live and cheered her on knowing she would take it home.
We are all SO proud of her accomplishments as well as the other five athletes who stepped up and competed as hard as they did in this Summer’s competition. We believe if they continue as hard as they are now, we’ll manage to send many more athletes to the PanAm Championships.
