LAND O’LAKES, Fla. — Competing at a high level takes dedication, practice and a little noise.
What You Need To Know
- AAU Karate Nationals started on July 2 and runs through July 6
- 36 students from the Mark Pinner Karate Club are competing
- The AAU Karate Program offers opportunities for boys, girls, men and women, ages five to senior adults, in all skill levels to participate
- Events are held throughout the country
“Actions speak louder than words. You can say you are the best, you gotta show us you are the best,” Mark Pinner shouted to a group of eager kids.
They are all preparing for AAU Karate Nationals in Fort Lauderdale.
Joined by many adults also, the group is training both body and mind inside the Mark Pinner Karate Club.
“It’s a really big deal,” said Pinner. “It really is. They’ve actually held it here several times because Florida is one of the biggest regions in the AAU.”
The biggest, baddest and fiercest fighters in the country will compete.
Fighters like 6-year-old Madison Gozalez.
“When I do my Kata, I do like mean looks,” she said with a glare on her face.
Her competitors learn quick to not let her small stature fool them — she is fierce.
“She just turned six. But she is so talented. She uses her body dynamically that most of the time teenagers and adults have a hard time to do,” said Pinner.
Madison is so good, in part from a training technique older than the art of karate itself. She learned from sibling rivalry.
“We want to be a black belt,” said her brother Danick.
“I want to be a brown belt,” chimes Madison.
“That is our goal. We want to be a black belts,” said the oldest, Scarlett.
The Gonzalez kids are the youngest siblings in the dojo and all three are competing at Nationals this week.
“To them, it’s like just another day in the office. For me, my blood pressure spike through the roof, especially in tournaments,” said Ramiro Gonzalez, their father.
Scarlett is 10, Danick is eight, and Madison is six.
“They’re so talented,” said Pinner. “Especially little Maddy. She started by sitting here watching when she was three years old and she kept saying, ‘I want to get in karate and I want to get in karate.’ And I thought she was too young. And then one day she got up and said, can I do my Kata for you?”
They are competing in a series of events including Kata, Kumite, Kubota and even family Kata.
“Cause you work as a team. It’s like, it’s like one person going at the same time,” said Danick.
A team that must be siblings and be in unison as they show their skill at the art of karate.
“When you first learn new things, it’s kind of hard to get it down. But then when you start practicing, it kind of gets easy,” said Scarlett.
The AAU Karate Nationals started July 2 and run through July 6 in Fort Lauderdale. Thirty-six students from Pinner’s dojo are attending.
