Four athletes from the Northwest Shito-Kai Karate School have just returned home from Quebec City after competing at the 2017 National Karate Championships.
Jenna Scott 12, Alexander Movold 13, Daniel Wood 13 and Kyle Barnes 13 all took part in the event over the weekend of Feb. 25-26 and had great success.
This was Alexander’s second year on team B.C. Last year he was eliminated from the medal rounds and did not earn a spot on Team Canada. This year however, Alex made it all the way into the gold medal match of the Youth 12/13 Kata (Traditional Forms) division where he met teammate, Matthew Cheung from Richmond. Alex and Matthew both performed very strong Katas and in the end Alex wound up with a Silver Medal after a 3-2 judges decision. His 2nd place finish has earned him a spot on the Team Canada squad and he is looking forward to team training camps in the up coming months. Alex was also selected by his coaches to compete up in the Cadet Male 14/15 Kata division. Although he was eliminated by another 3-2 decision in the early rounds Alex defiantly proved that he belongs and will be someone to look out for come next years Nationals.
Kyle Barnes and Daniel Wood both competed in the Youth 12/13 -40Kg Kumite (point fighting) division. Daniel and Kyle both made it to a chance at bronze but both wound up loosing their final matches. They did both finish in the 5th place positions.
They each performed exceptionally well scoring very technical and difficult points on their opponents and wining 3 of 5 matches. Kyle was also selected by the coaching staff to compete up in the Cadet 14/15 -52kg Kumite division where he also made into the medal rounds but wound up losing his final match to Ontario. Kyle was 2016’s National Champion and has improved greatly over the last. Daniel had a personal best performance and left the event with his head held high.
This was Jenna Scott’s first showing at the National stage and she was in a very large division of talented young women. Competing in the Female Youth 12/13 Kata division Jenna drew an opponent from Quebec her first round. Although she had a stellar performance she was unfortunately eliminated in her first round.
Each of these athletes are fully dedicated to their attending weekly 7:30 a.m. private sessions before school as well as three nights a week in their classes. Scott, Movold and Barnes are also members of the North Island Ignite Program on Monday through Wednesday. The team is now focused on the US Open next April in Las Vegas as well as the 1st annual Canada Open this June at the Richmond Olympic Oval.