Invercargill boys on brink of karate first
24 June 2003
By WILLIAM MORRIS
Two Invercargill boys completed the final tests at the weekend towards becoming the world’s first Karate Kidz black belts. Jamie Conroy, 12, and Sam Metcalfe, 11 were examined for more than 200 holds, kicks, punches and defences to reach the ranking. They expected to find out last night if they had achieved the highest ranking in the new system for young dojos, first initiated in 1997.
Instructor Owen Stade, New Zealand’s only Karate Kidz tutor, said kids had to be 15 previously before they could reach black-belt status. Karate Kidz shihan Brian Eade, who came from Melbourne to assess the students at the North School Hall, said the Karate Kidz style was watered down from the adult version to give particpants more confidence. “The adult style has pressure points. We don’t teach pressure points,” Eade said.
“We’re not here to teach them to fight, we’re here to teach them confidence.”
The most aggressive kids didn’t necessarily succeed on the karate mat, he said. “The aggressive kids tend to change their ways or go their own way. After all, they’re usually just bullies. They get hurt and don’t like it.” Sam and Jamie were tested for their endurance, composure and skill. “We’re trying to wear them out,” Stade said. “To see if they can still play fair when they’re under the worst conditions.” Stade refused to release the boys’ results until they had been told, saying only that Eade had been impressed with their performance.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/southlandtimes/0,2106,2548290a6439,00.html
Edited by - kungfoolss on June 25 2003 01:39:09