Fresh from her recent passing her exam for an orange belt, RP participated in her first karate tournament. The Association for the Advancement of Karatedo (AAK) held the Milo Super Karate Kids at the SM Mall Tournament at the Entertainment Center of SM City North EDSA on September 20, 2009. Young karatekas from various karate clubs coming from as far as Baguio City competed in two events: individual kata and individual kumite.
It’s an age group competition of 6-7 year old, 8-9 year old and 10-11 year old. These kids could be the future Philippine national team who will bring honor by winning medals in international athletic meets such as the Southeast Asian Games.
RP competed in both events, in the 10-11 year old individual kata and individual kumite. Expectedly, having only started last summer, RP faced stiff competition from more senior karatekas. By luck of the draw, RP won a bronze medal in individual kumite, her first medal in martial arts.
Lars Petersen, already a world champion at 10 years old
The kid in blue belt is the son of Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, a Filipino I consider to be an epitome of moral courage for bravely standing up and expose the corruptions of the current administration despite the pressure and the threat brought upon him. Mr. Lozada is also watching this tournament, he’s in the far left side of the photo wearing a pink shirt. His son competed against a much bigger opponent in this match.
Here’s a close up of Mr. Francisco “Jun” Lozada watching his son in action.
Here’s RP going against a purple belter in the individual kumite. The more senior karate kid won this match.
RP with her karate buddies. I had a very funny anecdote with the cute girl at the rightmost of the picture. Her name is Hannah and she’s one of RP’s seniors in karate. One Saturday afternoon when we are about to pick up RP after her karate class, Hannah approached me and Beck to tell us that she saw RP sucking her thumb. She said, “Tita I saw Rebecca sucking her thumb. That’s a sign of mental retardation.”. I want to die laughing after hearing this. When that anecdote happened, we were with my best bud Richelle who’s also a Psychology graduate like me. It took us 4 years in college to be able to tell the symptoms of psychological disorders and then we met a young school girl of 11 who could tell us a sign of mental retardation. Kids really learn fast nowadays.
Winners all!
RP displaying her bronze medal in individual kumite, with her favorite sensei, Rex Resureccion.
September 28, 2009 at 1:17 pm |
Congrats!
So is the tournament according to age group and not weight?
October 3, 2009 at 2:42 pm |
Yup. In the junior level, its on age group and not weight. RP found her niche in karate.
October 17, 2009 at 9:48 am
Great for her! The art is a very good foundation for other martial arts to build upon. Her punches, kicks, and form will be beautiful and if she plans to learn Muay in the future, there will be adjustments of course but her form will be already established.
October 20, 2009 at 5:24 pm |
Thanks, Ray.
As of the moment, I think she wants to stick with karate because she found her place and friends as well.