Five select members of the Northwest Shito-Kai Karate’s competition team have represented Campbell River proudly over the last few weeks with some benchmark and personal best performances.
Three young men aged 12 were in Burnaby last weekend for the final selection event of the Karate BC team. Alexander Movold, Kyle Barnes and Daniel Wood have all spent the last five months training hard in hopes of being selected for the national championships, January 2016.
After their final training session with world champion, Luis Plumacher of Venezuela the team BC coaching staff selected both Barnes and Movold to compete in the boys 12/13 Kata (Forms) and Kumite (combat) events. Daniel impressed the coaches with this athleticism and work ethic but was not a part of the final selection. Daniel and the club are patiently waiting to hear if he will be chosen for the team’s final wild card slot. The trio was also in attendance recently for the 2016 BC winter games qualifier where Barnes and Movold finished first and second overall and secured spots on the Vancouver Island team. Wood, despite a stellar performance did not acquire enough points to win a spot on the team. Daniel is a hopeful for another wildcard for the 2016 BC Winter Games in Penticton.
The team also recently had a chance to represent Campbell River and Canada at the 2015 Shito-Ryu Pan-American Championships in Miami, Florida. This event drew 700+ competitors from 17 countries and was NWSk’s third time attending this event. The team of four had a fantastic showing. Keeli Stewart, 8, Jenna Scott, 11 along with Kyle Barnes and Alex Movold were all in attendance for the international competition. Stewart was the first to compete that morning. She faced tough competition from Venezuela, Mexico and USA. After some tough rounds Keeli placed second in Kata and third in Kumite, which seemed to set the pace for the day. Jenna Scott gave her best performance to date in the girls 11/12 advanced divisions with a decisive win over Mexico in kata finals. This was Scott’s third Pan American Kata title. She also won a silver medal in her kumite division immediately following her kata event. Jenna finished off her day with a bronze medal in team Kata along side Movold and Barnes. She now has her sights set on the 2016 US Open in Las Vegas.
Kyle Barnes and Alex Movold were the last to compete. Their event had 30 other athletes in two separate pools. Barnes was able to finish 3rd in his Kata event winning his final match against an athlete from USA. Despite a valiant effort Movold was unable to secure a podium spot in his individual events. On top of some exceptional personal best performances team NWSK ended the day with a total of 1 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals.
NWSK Karate is heavily supported by our community and would like to thank the City of Campbell River for their generous donations to various fundraising events over the last 6 months. The athletes know that these opportunities would not have been feasible without the support of our fantastic community and their pride for their hometown showed in their training and performances.