Chilliwack’s Valley Shidokan Karate sent several students to the Karate B.C. Provincial Championships, held Nov 26-27 at BCIT in Burnaby.
Mike Gemelas was awarded bronze medals in each of his divisions, competing in men’s black belt kata, kumite, and open kumite.
These rankings give Gemelas a chance at qualifying to represent B.C. in both kata and kumite at the Canadian Nationals, taking place Mar. 16-18 at the Richmond Oval.
Sandy Turner earned bronze in women’s advanced kata while John Hartman returned with double golds in men’s intermediate kumite and kata.
Competing in one of the largest divisions in the tournament, Zach Charlton took bronze in boy’s 12-13 advanced black kata, and fought several rounds to get gold in advanced black kumite.
Two junior teams from Valley Shidokan qualified to represent Zone 3 in team kata. In the 10-and-under competition, Eli Schultz, Jack Robertson and David Garbet gave a silver medal performance. In the older junior division, Nik Charlton, Zach Charlton and Jacob Maud were judged against 11 other teams and were awarded silver.
A particularly prestigious award went to Tammy Millar, who was named Official of the Tournament.
This was quite an honour as the tournament was actually part of her final exam to qualify as a provincial level judge.
Valley Shidokan sensei Don Sharp was thrilled to learn of the award.
He was most impressed, however, by the fact that Miller went on to win silver as a competitor, taking second in women’s black belt kumite.
“Getting into competitor mode after shedding the judge persona is tough,” said Sharp.
Valley Shidokan Karate offers training in traditional Shotokan Karate to children and adults.
Family classes are also available.