Six members of the Moose Mountain Wado Kai Karate Club-Senseis Quinn Brown and Savanna Bryce-and Ethan Anderson, Marlee Cormier, Payton Humphries and Nathen Schmidt are representing Saskatchewan at the Karate Canada Nationals in Vancouver, January 29-31.
Along with the honour of being selected for the Saskatchewan Provincial Karate Team, the group are part of the first-ever team from the province to compete at the championship.
“We're all super-excited, and so are our Senseis (Kevin Dyck, Jayson Humphries, Cara McNair and visiting Sensei Darren Humphries of Calgary),” says Schmidt, 15, who has earned his blue belt. “They've worked 110 percent to get us prepared.”
“But as the first team going to nationals from this province, there's kind of pressure, too,” continues Schmidt. “You want to make Saskatchewan look good.”
Part of the Moose Mountain squad's preparation includes intense training sessions-including during Christmas holidays-in a gym set up in Sensei Jayson Humphries' garage.
“They're a great group of kids,” says Jayson. “They're well-deserving and they've never had an opportunity to compete before in an open-style martial arts competition, and it can open up the opportunity to be seen by scouts for the Olympic team.”
“In our garage, we've set up mats, some kicking dummies and different things. They can come in at their leisure and train.”
“In Vancouver, they're competing under WKA (World Karate Association) rules, which are totally different. For example, our kids are used to cement floors and in Vancouver, they'll be competing on mats, so that's what they're practicing on.”
“There's also a pretty big rule book they have to study during a pretty short period of time,” adds Jayson.
The door to Nationals first opened in November 2015, at the Moose Mountain Wado Kai Karate club's 30th anniversary tournament in Carlyle.
“Sensei Heather Fidyk was there from Calgary,” says Sensei and black belt, Quinn Brown, 19. “She put a few of us in a group and started naming the people she would like to see at the tryouts for the provincial team. The tryouts in Yorkton were on December 5- only a couple of weeks away-and we really had a short time to prepare ourselves both mentally and physically.”
“But there really wasn't much time to get nervous,” adds Brown. “And although the competition is tough, karate is a friendly art and if you make it that far, they want you to succeed and qualify for nationals.”
“But there still is that mental shift you have to make. I felt like I had a really strong tryout in Yorkton, but at the same time, it's tough and you have to be very diligent and committed to practicing.”
Everyone competing in Yorkton for a spot on the provincial squad was judged on two elements of karate: kata and kumite.
Kata is a sequence of choreographed movements performed individually and kumite is the part of the sport in which an individual trains against an adversary.
Fifteen-year-old blue belt Ethan Anderson says, “I'm a little more confident in kumite, so I usually practice my katas as a warm-up. It keeps my mind off everything else.”
“That's what I did in Yorkton,” says Anderson. “Both Nathen (Schmidt) and I have done karate for two years. We also do ju-jitsu. It takes some discipline to adjust to a different sport and different rules.”
Brown belt Marlee Cormier, 16, says “I just went in there and tried to do my best. I've been in karate since I was 10-years-old and I never really wanted to stop. I liked it all along.”
“I never thought of being on a provincial team, but now that I have the opportunity, I'm going to try my hardest and go to Nationals and do the best I can.”
“When Mr. D. (Kevin Dyck) texted us and told us we all made the provincial team, I felt really good about it.”
Payton Humphries, 15-who currently holds a blue belt- agrees. “I went into it confident, but I got nervous amd messed up my kata. We were still in Yorkton when my dad (Jayson Humphries) came outside and said, 'Hey, everybody from Carlyle made it.' That was great.”
“I hope to go to Vancouver to compete and give my best,” adds Payton. “And I hope to learn a lot, work on myself, improve my skill set and make some new friends.”
“I was swamped with schoolwork during the tryouts in Yorkton,” says University of Regina student-and black belt-Sensei Savanna Bryce, 20. “But I can thank my family for encouraging me to try out.”
“We'll all be training as much as we can before nationals, but you get what you put in,” adds Bryce. “And I'm privileged to have my family and my karate family behind me-we all are.”
Although the six competitors' schedules mean they train individually for the most part, they are unanimous in their praise of and gratitude for their senseis-Kevin Dyck, Jayson Humphries, Cara McNair and visiting Sensei Darren Humphries of Calgary.
“Honestly, none of us would have this opportunity if it weren't for our senseis,” says Payton, and her teammates agree.
Sensei Darren Humphries says: “Six kids from rural Saskatchewan-and from this club-are heading to Nationals, which is a real indication of what's happening here.”
“I couldn't be prouder of this club and everyone in it.”
