WATCH: Jersey's karate kids claim European victories

Thursday 12 November 2020

A group of local karate kids, who trained in bubbles and competed virtually, have swept the international stage, winning 17 medals at a European championship.

9 children from Roy MacDonald’s Jersey Kenpo Karate Association competed in the European Kenpo Karate Championships, which saw the group take home eight golds, four silvers and five bronzes.

Roy, who has been practicing the martial art for 50 years and through his teaching has seen between 30 to 40 tournaments, said that he was “chuffed” with the “breath-taking” and “extremely high standard” of performance from the students.

He explained that this year’s tournament had been an unusual one for himself, his fellow teachers - Ray Molloy and Dawn Venton - and their students, as it was done entirely online, with students recording footage of their moves to compete with nine other countries.

Video: Kenpo student, Lexi Farrell (11), won a silver with this form.

Though initially training was having to be done virtually due to lockdown restrictions, thanks to St. Martin’s Parish, the children were able to practice on the village green in bubbles, until six weeks before the competition, they were able to move back inside the Fort where they are usually based.

One student, 16-year-old cadet black belt Axel Nixon, spoke of the intensity of the training, saying that after a long period of not being able to properly practice, a sudden burst of concentration was needed to get to European standard: “when it came through we were going to do it virtually, it was game on; five weeks of really intense training.”

However, the results showed that the effort was clearly worth it, with Axel and his sister coming third in their division for their joint effort. Axel added that it was the bond with his sister who is a year younger than him, and the personal aspect that was part of the reason the martial art meant so much to him.

“We’ve been training for over 10 years now – Karate and Kenpo have shaped our entire personalities… You’re learning from people younger and older to have mutual respect for everyone.”

He continued: “We weren’t the most confident five-year-olds. It’s brought out the confidence in us to go around the place and not to be fearful, and know you can look after yourself."

Video: Student Sophia Townsend (13) was placed third with this weapons form.

It’s these more broad life skills and relationships that Roy said were at the heart of the martial art, allowing young people to “overcome things that could happen in their lives like lockdown and teaching them how to persevere", as well as core values such as discipline, respect, self-confidence and self-awareness.

He added that the group’s principle concern was “the youth of the island, and to teach them many things."

"The championship is wonderful, but it’s more about training and teaching them self-defence, self-awareness, taking care of themselves against bullies, and having a good attitude generally.”

Considering his student Axel stated his ambition to one day set up a dojo of his own to pass on the knowledge, it seems that Roy’s lessons have already begun making their way down through the generations.