Acting Sports Director - The Nassau Guardian
With the karate fiscal year winding down, quite a few black belt hopefuls turned up Saturday, October 7th, 2006, to try end their season on a high note.
The Bahamas Karate Academy's Martial Arts Mania 2006 at the Kendal G.L. Isaacs National Gymnasium on Saturday served as the penultimate competition for the 2006 season. Freeport, the nations Second City, will officially close out the season with the Bahamas Karate Federations (BKF) tournament there this Saturday.
Chief Instructor of the academy, and Vice President of the federation, Elrick McKinney, said that they were satisfied with the student turnout Saturday past, and hopes they can get the same kind of response this Saturday in Freeport, Grand Bahama.
"We had a great competition on Saturday. There were about 80 competitors and they all performed well. It was considered to be a small amount because we usually have somewhere around 200 competitors taking part, but the event still came off very well. The most important thing is that the kids look forward to competing against each other. We're looking to end
the year strong and start again in January."
McKinney, who has been involved in karate for over 30 years and teaching it for the past 21, said that they normally stage about eight competitions each year.
He said that the kids and the adults are all excited about the last show of he year and starting strong in 2007.
"I have students who were with me in primary school and who are now in college. Some of them have
great potential, and by sharpening their skills, they
can go a long way. Our goal is for our students to be
a force on the international level. Some of them are showing a lot of improvement from last year to this
year, but there is still a lot of improvement to be made," he added.
About 12 schools from New Providence, Grand Bahama and Abaco took part in the competition on Saturday.
2nd - Judah Riedel
Boys: 7-8 1st - Devon Brown
2nd - Chris Godet
3rd - Ricardo McPhee
Boys: 9-10 Novice 1st - Omar Bethel
2nd - Brenden Johnson
3rd - D'Allen Brice
4th - Delano Dean
Boys: 9-10 Intermediate 1st - Alexis Damianos
2nd - William Godet
3rd - Dillion Vaval
Boys: 11-12 1st - Matthew Walker
2nd - Thmark Minnis
3rd - Jasen Basden
Boys: 13-14 1st - Tameko Price
2nd - Larenthio Knowles
Boys: 15-17 Novice 1st - Carlos Brown
2nd - Alrae Ramsay
Boys: 15-17 Intermediate 1st - Michael Foulkes
2nd - Basil Damianos
Male: 18 & Over Novice 1st - Jermaine Williams
2nd - Juergen Riedel
7-8 Mixed 1st - Dwight Stubbs
2nd - Morshanna Johnson
3rd - Paige Edgecombe
4th - Sydnie Edgecombe
Girls: 9-10 1st - Mikala Allen
Girls: 11-12 Novice 1st - Annastacia Stubbs
Girls: 11-12 Intermediate 1st - Michelle Foulkes
Female: 18 & Over Novice 1st - Deshinka Bostwick
2nd - Labreesha Baker
Female: 18 & Over
Intermediate 1st - Lapreeda Damianos
2nd - Tracy Stubbs
