The 2014 BC Winter Games were a blast! It was truly a wonderful experience seeing the top 12/13 year old karate competitors in all of the province compete against one other.
From a competition viewpoint the standard was quite high, but our athletes did not disappoint. Each athlete representing our zone was able to earn a medal (can’t remember the last time this has happened), with several being crowned champion! The highlight of the tournament for sure was our zone winning gold in both the boys AND girls team kumite divisions.
As a coach, I was extremely satisfied and proud of both the results and mental attitude/maturity of all of our athletes. It was a pleasure seeing the young athletes take something so seriously and put in all of the time and sweat leading up to the competition. At the actual competition, it was an amazing feeling seeing all of that handwork and sacrifice pay off.
All athletes grew as people leading up to the competition, and grew even more after it had finished. Wins or losses never matter, the most important aspect is how we prepare and how we handle the results. I can honestly say that each athlete on the team trained and carried themselves like champions – in and ouside of the ring.
The final results for our zone are as follows:
Gold
Jacob Mand Heavyweight advanced
Julia Maclean Lightweight Intermediate
Mark Wong Lightweight Intermediate
Boys Team Kumite: Jacob Mand, Justin Ng, Gur Hothi
Girls Team Kumite: Natasha Lam, Stephi Zaborniak, Julia Maclean
Silver
Stephanie Zaborniak Lightweight Advanced
Jacob Mand Kata Advanced
Bronze
Justin Ng Middleweight
Gur Hothi Middleweight
Natasha Lam Middleweight
Adrianna Milkovic Heavyweight
Michael Plunkett Lightweight advanced
Thank you to Coach Kimberly Logan, Coach Izzy K Chan, and all of the parents for your support and hard work!
To see more pictures, check out the link below:
http://www.flickr.com/