A surprise winter storm didn’t keep Owensboro karate students from kicking up some medals at the 27th Annual Windy City Karate Tournament. Twenty-two youth and adult students made the annual trek to Chicago for what turned out to be an especially lively tournament Saturday.
The one-day event was held in a packed gymnasium at Christian Liberty Academy with competitors from across the mid-west in attendance. Sensei Allen Renfrow of Traditional Karate on Veach Road said he keeps returning to the event with his students because it always represents the type of traditional Shotokan Karate that he appreciates.
“We want to do the traditional style in a professional way, and this is a good opportunity to compete with people who understand what that means,” Renfrow said. Most of the year his students spend training and preparing for a chance to show off their skill in a setting like this.
“We were able to take several newer students this year, children and adults, competing for the first time in this type setting,” Renfrow said.
The trip was worthwhile, even if it saw the group fighting a freak winter storm to and from the event. Renfrow’s group was able to snag gold medals in most of the divisions, and silver and bronze in several others. Sparring and forms competitions were held for several age groups with the youngest competitors being around age five, and the oldest in their seventies.
Jamie Fulkerson, Renfrow’s assistant instructor, nabbed gold in the individual kata (forms) advanced division, and many of his other students were gold medalists as well. Owen Moore, 12, was a gold medalist in kata and kumite (sparring). Standouts Natalie Mills and Harrison Howard claimed gold medals in the teen divisions along with Aiden Edge who returned to the event this year as a dominant force after a disappointing outing last year.
Fulkerson said she enjoys competing, but that one of the biggest rewards is seeing the people you help train compete and win.
“They all worked really hard to get ready for this, so to finally get here and see them perform — it’s pretty special,” Fulkerson said.
The group brought home an impressive 55 medals total from the event.
Budo Traditional Karate Dojo on Veach Rd. has produced regional, national and international karate champions since opening in 1990. More information on Traditional Karate can be found at owensborokarate.com, or on Facebook.
