Bushido Bulletin, August 2018

by USKA Headquarters · August 10, 2018

2018 World Championships – A Great Success

Thank you to everyone who competed and helped!

The 2018 United States Karate Alliance World Championships were held July 19-22, at the Arizona Grand Resort in Phoenix, Arizona. The competition was intense, the rings were full, and the awards were beautiful. In order to beat the heat, the competitors enjoyed the many pools and the water park after the competition. It was a full house for the National Awards Banquet, with all the tables filled and a few more even squeezed in at the last minute.

The Finals, as always, were exciting and featured great competition. Brody Carlton won the Kata Youth Beginning Grand Championship and Aruse Sanhueza won the Youth Kyu Weapons Grand Championship. Ethan Padilla won both the Youth Advanced Weapons Grand Championship and the Youth Intermediate/Advanced Kata Grand Championship. Matthew Bourque, won the 2018 World’s Adult Black Belt Grand Championship in Weapons, his third consecutive Adult Black Belt Weapons Grand Championship. Scott Shook and Gonzalo Farias competed against each other for the Black Belt Kata Grand Championships. The scores for their katas and bunkai were extremely close. Congratulations to Scott Shook on his Black Belt Kata Grand Championship win. Susan Watts won her fifth World Black Belt Women’s Kumite Grand Championship with sidekicks that were pretty impressive. After incredible fights from all the winners of the various weight and age divisions, the final fight for the Black Belt Men’s Kumite Grand Championship was between Josh Quayhagen and Gonzalo Farias. It was an incredible fight. Josh Quayhagen won his eight World Black Belt Men’s Kumite Grand Championship, which is a record.

The United States Karate Alliance would like to thank all of the competitors for great competition and great sportsmanship. We look forward to seeing you at the 2019 United State Karate Alliance Nationals in Houston, Texas, March 28-30, 2019.

2018/2019 National Adult Black Belt Team and National Youth Team selected:

The National Adult Black Belt Team is comprised of the Black Belt National Point Champions, or winners of two Black Belt Grand Champions at Nationals and/or Worlds, and the National and World Men’s Black Belt Kumite Grand Champions. The following are on the 2018/2019 National Adult Black Belt Team: 1) Josh Quayhagen; 2) Scott Shook; 3) Matthew Bourque; 4) Dr. Rebecca Effler; 5) Sandra Jovanovic and 6) Kirstin Dupaquier.

The National Youth Team consists of double or triple crown winners of National Point Divisions or double Grand Championship winners at Nationals and/or Worlds, who are 12 and over and a brown or black belt. The following are on the 2018/2019 National Youth Team: 1) Ethan Padilla; 2) Sebastian Witt; 3) Jacob Jones; 4) Jacob Boutwell; 5) Taylor Rudolph; and 6) Nicholas Waguespack.

Our National Teams will be attending the 2018 PKC Championships over Labor Day. Last year our team competed and did an amazing job. Good luck to you this year and thank you for representing the United States Karate Alliance.

What Kata should you do?

Kata and forms should be ones that are appropriate for your rank and that your sensei has approved. Judges are not always impressed by how high of a form you run, but more often impressed by the quality of your form.

As a judge, it is really fantastic to watch a student continually improve on a kata, rather than run a different one each time. It shows dedication and perseverance. It will also teach students to keep looking for more in their katas. If they continually change they never really make the kata a part of them and it never internalizes and gets that special personality that only they can give it.

When trying to decide which form is good for you, pick one that speaks to you. What moves in it do you like? Does it offer you opportunities to showcase your best moves? You are fighting invisible attackers, do you understand your movements to help you see the invisible fight? Does it offer a variety of types of movements such as kicks, punches, blocks, or other things?

Lower rank forms should have less variety to allow a beginner to really lock in basic movements. As they become a higher rank more complex movements will naturally be in their forms. Don’t rush this period of learning. Typically a student would run a tournament kata for a couple of years before moving onto the next one.

Bushido Bulletin, August 2018

2018 World Championships – A Great Success

What Kata should you do?

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