Karate Shows Influence of Sport on Young Ages in Record-Breaking Event

Written by World Karate Federation

Over 2,000 young karatekas from 64 countries gathered this past week in Umag (Croatia) for a record-breaking celebration of the impact of Karate on young ages. The 2017 WKF Youth Camp & Youth Cup demonstrated the strength of the sport among youngsters as children from all over the world displayed their passion for the discipline in a memorable event.

Never before in Karate’s recent history has an underage event attracted such a massive participation. Over 2,100 hopeful athletes from five continents travelled to Umag (Croatia) and wore their karate-gis and their belts to showcase the influence that Karate has on their lives.

"Our intention with this event was to show the magnitude of Karate; we had 64 countries represented and everybody trained together, mixing culture, blending experiences and making new friends," said WKF Athletes Commission Chairman and instructor at the 2017 WKF Youth Camp Davide Benetello.

"Events like this Youth Camp are very important for the improvement of the new generations, and for the development of the future stars of the sport. For me, it was a great honor to be there. I hope I could give back something of what Karate has given me in life and transmit that to the kids that participated in the camp," said two-time World champion and instructor Antonio Diaz.

YOUNG KARATEKAS MEET LEGENDS

Thousands of children with karate-gis of all sizes filled the area where the event was taking place. Young karatekas put the months and years of training into action with their katas and kumite techniques, while learning from world champions and Karate legends.

The hopeful youngsters were thrilled with the opportunity of knowing the secrets of some of Karate’s biggest heroes. The 2017 edition of the event had the participation as instructors of former world champions Luca Valdesi, Predrag Stojadinov, and Junior Lefevre; two-time world champions Antonio Diaz and Douglas Brose; European Championship silver medallist Stanislav Horuna and former world champion and WKF Athletes Commission Chairman Davide Benetello

"It is a great honor to be here because this is the biggest Karate camp in the world. These kids love the same thing that I love, which is karate and I am very glad to be here and to share my experiences with them," said Brazil’s Douglas Brose at the event.

After two memorable days, the WKF Youth Camp ended with a massive celebration of Karate. In the closing day, the two thousand young participants gathered together for a final multitudinous session. Under the direction of the first-class instructors, Karate’s future stars performed katas, executed series of "tsuki" in unison and did games to learn different techniques in a dazzling moment for the sport.

"AWESOME EXPERIENCE FOR THE KIDS"

Not only young athletes enjoyed an event to remember. The 2017 WKF Youth Camp & Cup was special for the hundreds of coaches and family members who also attended the camp thus supporting the children in their dream to succeed in the discipline.

"It was an awesome experience for the kids. I have learned a lot by watching the instructors and it was fantastic that kids had the opportunity to train with other athletes from all over the world," said Head Coach of US National Karate Team, Tommy Hood.

"This is a great exchange of countries and of culture, and it was very important for us to be in this platform where we could learn so much," declared coach Kondru Keerthan of India.

"It has been a really fantastic experience. The camp was amazing and we love seeing how the kids are improving here," added coach and New Zealand Karate Federation Secretary General Christopher Bennett.

The tenth edition of the event that celebrates Youth Karate broke all participation records. The number of participants has almost triplicated in the last three years since 1140 competitors from 53 countries were registered in 2016 and 505 young karatekas from 30 countries were part of the event in 2015.

"We have further demonstrated in this highly successful event that Karate is first and foremost a youth sport. It was a glorious and proud moment for all the Karate family to see so many young karatekas training together and showing their passion for the discipline. It is also remarkable that so many countries from all five continents were represented, thus stating Karate’s universality. The bright future of the sport was certainly confirmed this week. We will continue working hard to take Karate in the right direction, so that all young karatekas such as the ones participating in Umag this week will be able to make their dreams in the sport come true," said WKF President Antonio Espinós.

Written by World Karate Federation

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