IJF World Kata Championship Las Vegas, NV November 9-10, 2024

This weekend two of our Shipyard members competed in the world kata (forms) championships in Las Vegas, Nevada. Brynn and Haley have been working hard for several years on Ju no Kata (Forms of Gentleness) and at Nationals this year they scored high enough to not only win the U23 division, but to also qualify for the world competition. Coach Rob went with them to assist and support them.

To prepare for competition Haley and Brynn worked with a plethora of top kata judges and competitors from across the U.S. and from around the world. In San Diego they met the current Open Champions, Wolfgang Dax-Romswinkle and Ulla Loosen, from Germany who took them under their wing and helped train them.

Over the two day event, all five competition kata were performed in the U23, Intermediate, and Open divisions. On Saturday the 9th, our Shipyard members watched some of the other teams compete but were nervous about getting out to compete the next day. When that day came, they stepped up and performed to the best of their abilities and we are all proud of them for it. They ended up in 8th place out of 12 teams, beating one Japanese team, Spain, Slovenia, and Poland. The winners were Japan, Italy, and Vietnam.

Brynn and Haley are already excited about competing next year and hope to compete in the Worlds in Sarajevo, and the Pan Ams here in the United States as well.