Four local kids’ love of karate earned them a chance to take on challengers from around the world.
“It was a nice experience to actually get out of the country and see different styles of karate,” said Roger Reppuhn of Holly, 12, who went to the World Championship with Lynne DeGroot of Clarkston, 14, AJ Basirico of Oxford, 13, and Chris Gorham of Waterford, 16.
All are students at Waterford Tae Kwon Do. They traveled to Dublin, Ireland, for the World Karate Commission’s champion- ships, Oct. 5-9.
“It was fun to see the sights and go downtown,” said DeGroot, who earned bronze medals in Continuous Sparring and Korean Forms.
“It was kind of cool to go ? how many kids do this,” said Basirico about his first trip overseas. “It’s kind of different ? Ireland was pretty interesting.”
“The accent was hard to understand sometimes ? the phrasing,” DeGroot said.
“The place was beautiful, with all the towers and all that,” said Reppuhn, who won gold in Korean Forms and silver in Point Fighting.
Gorham took gold in Point Fighting and silver in Korean Forms.
“We got to see different ways to look at life, the different cultures, and food,” said Gorham, who has also competed in Portugal, Spain, Canada, and Italy.
‘The food is really different ? rice with vegetables, squid,? DeGroot said.
“They put ranch and mayo on everything,” Gorham said. “And they had lots of sandwiches.”
To earn spots at the world competition, they had to place in the top four in their divisions at regional and national contests.
That accomplishment took a lot of training, they said.
“A lot of extra hours ? Friday was the only off day,” DeGroot said.
“I had to prove to my dad I wanted to go,” Reppuhn said.
That took extra nights of training at home, he said.
“Karate is the only thing I done for a long time,” said Basirico, who has studied karate for four years. “I thought it was time to take it to the next level.”
DeGroot, who has learned karate for 7 ? years, said her little brother started first.
“I watched for a couple months and it looked like so much fun so I joined,” she said. “I tried other sports but I didn’t like them.”
“My grandma signed me up at five. I thought it was really fun,” Reppuhn said.
Gorham has studied karate for 12 years.
“My parents own the karate school,” he said. “I’m a very competitive person. I’ve enjoy for so many years.”
“He’s a great kid. He puts in a lot of hard work and sacrificed a lot to compete at that level,” said Dawn Gorham, fifth degree black belt and owner of the studio with her husband Scott ? they’re Chris’ parents. “I’m proud of all of them.”
All their students learn self discipline, respect, and how to defend themselves, DeGroot said.
“Skills to use if you’re in danger,” Reppuhn said.
“Or in here,” Basirico pointed out.
The 2015 World Championship will be Orlando, Fla. Training has already begun, with a prequalification round in Ohio in March, the students said.
“Training never stops ? it’s year round,” said Michelle DeGroot, Lynne’s mother. “They take it extremely seriously.”