After qualifying for the international World Karate Championships at the nationals in Ottawa last May, Mitchell’s own “Karate Kid,” Avery Anderson, brought a gold and two bronze medals home from the tournament in Orlando from Nov. 8-13.
Before the worlds, Anderson – a karate black belt – trained for six weeks straight, mostly focusing on cardio and stamina, while also going over what she already knew again and again. At her karate club, Bernardo’s Karate in London, Anderson spent a lot of time sparring and she even attended three striking seminars with world karate champion Leo Loucks, practicing footwork and punching combinations.
“My other coach / trainer Johan VanderEijk worked with me more on cardio, strategy, mental conditioning and punching me in the face for a month. That sounds bad, but it’s part of both the physical and mental conditioning. You are going get punched in the face hard at this level and if you’ve never been punched like that before it can throw you off. It hurts, your eyes water, but you have to stay focused and push through it. Plus, when someone keeps punching your face, it makes you keep your hands up,” Anderson said.
Anderson and her mom Barbie arrived in Orlando on Nov. 7 and weighed in on Nov. 8. As per tournament rules, each of the 14 countries that were competing were allowed three competitors for each weight division – light, middle and heavyweight.
On Nov. 10, Anderson competed in individual continuous sparring – fighting two minutes at a time – and team sparring, both of which she walked away from with a bronze medal.
“My toughest competition was from England. I’m a kicker, so I like to score with kicks. England was fast and moved in around my kicks, I just had to be faster, use my punches and strategy,” Anderson commented.
Finally, on Nov. 12, Anderson got a chance to strut her stuff in her favourite category of fighting, individual point sparring.
“I couldn’t wait until Thursday. The individual point fighting division is my favorite. The top two advanced to Friday to fight for the gold medal,” Anderson recounted. “In the past I’ve won silver and bronze but I wanted to bring home a gold medal more than anything. I won Thursday and so did another Canadian – we eliminated the other countries and then had to fight each other Friday for gold. We were both happy because it was a win for Canada either way.”
Although it was a close match, Anderson managed to pull ahead and secure the gold medal she had been dreaming of.
“The only thing that could have made my win better was if Johan had been there with me. He also made Team Canada but at the last minute he couldn’t go because of problems with his new dairy barn,” Anderson said. “Every morning on my way to the ring I called Johan. I was pretty nervous, but he helped calm me down. I missed him a lot and wish I could have shared my win with him.”
And even though Anderson has been training and competing for almost two months straight, she couldn’t rest for long when she returned to Mitchell, as she had another tournament in Toronto to compete in last weekend.
“After that, with my coaches’ permission, I’m going to take a month off and rest.”
Courtesy of: Mitchell Advocate