Five karate athletes from Varsity Performance Karate in Saanich earned eight medals at the 2nd annual Vancouver Island Karate Championships held on February 10th in Nanaimo, BC.
“This was a real family affair for our team as there was one brother/sister duo, one brother/brother pair and one mother/daughter combination,” says Varsity Performance Karate’s Head Coach Kraig Devlin.
Nine-year-old Faith Patterson Patterson from Frank Hobbs School took silver in the 8/9-year-old girls kumite (sparring) division in her first karate competition while brother Troy (13) earned double silver in the kata (forms) and kumite in the 13/14 boy’s division.
Claremont secondary student Irvin Goraya, (16) won a silver medal in the 16/17 kumite division supported by his brother Robin (14) who took bronze in the 14/15-year-old kumite division.
Thirteen-year-old Ella Crowle earned three medals at the event taking gold in both the 12/13-year division and the 14/15-year-old kumite divisions. Crowle also earned a silver in the 12/13-year-old kata girls division.
The team was coached by Dr.Tanya Crowle (mother of Ella) who helped support the athletes in their preparations and competition