07/08/2022
With the long tournament season finally over, I want to congratulate everyone who helped make this season the success that it was. This season was a total team effort, from the athletes, coaches, training partners, and most especially the parents.
I want to single out a couple of the unsung heroes of the season, whose contributions tend to fly under the radar, but whose involvement with the team is invaluable. First off, I want to thank Shihan William Seyler for his help and support. He has been in my corner since the first day I opened the dojo, providing guidance and support on so many levels to keep things going. Lizz Seyler, who offered unwavering support, cheering on our athletes from the stands, and spending her anniversary watching a karate tournament because she felt the need to be there for our team. Sensei Crystal Weber, who took off from work, burning nine days of personal time as well as her days off traveling with the team to document the team’s success throughout the season. Last but not least, the parents that travel with the team, making sure their children are where they need to be and providing them with the resources needed to see the results their hard work has produced. I am going to single out one parent in particular. Yucely Rueda, who rolled with and adjusted to every change that came up, missed an extended amount of time from work and was at every event supporting not only her child, but every competitor on the team.
This season was a tremendous success. We started with a team of five, but never had more than four members compete at any one event, even dropping down to three at the biggest events of the year. This great group of athletes really outdid themselves. During the AAU Florida season, we won 20 Gold Medals, 10 Silver Medals and 8 Bronze Medals. Our streak of producing a State Champion is still intact this year. Tabitha Martinez won the state title in Kumite and was Overall Points Champion for her division. We also had Cassandra Gonzalez sweep the field in her first year of competition, taking the win as Kumite, Kata, Kobudo, and Overall Points Champion. At Nationals, we brought home 4 National Championships, a Grand Championship, 2 Silver Medals, and 2 Bronze Medals. If that wasn’t enough, in our first time sending representatives to represent the U.S. on the world stage, we took a Silver and 2 Bronze Medals home to end on a high note. Not bad for a small dojo that trains out of the multipurpose room in a church. There are a lot of teams that showed up to competitions with 50+ members. I believe we have proven that it’s not necessarily the largest team or dojo that is the most successful. A smaller team whose members work hard and take pride in their training and performance can show up and dominate. I could not be more proud of our students.