The Rodney Hobson Karate Academy (RHKA) showed the province who’s best at the 2020 B.C. Winter Games in Fort St. John over the weekend.
Members of the Kelowna-based dojo returned home this week from the province-wide competition with eight medal performances and a pair of individual awards.
“Our Kelowna athletes competed against the best in B.C. and came home champions,” said RHKA chief instructor Rodney Hobson. “Literally hundreds of hours of training brought them to this moment.”
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Leading the way for the six-member RHKA squad with individual gold medal efforts were Davis Spencer, Jade Wynne and Storm Wynne. All three competitors won their respective Kumite divisions: Davis in the Intermediate 155 cm category, Jade in the Open Advanced class, and Storm in the Advanced 155 cm division.
RHKA also won the Team Kumite competition, as Davis Spencer, Jade Wynne, Storm Wynne and Indigo Berry combined their skills to capture gold.
Davis added a silver medal in Open Kumite and a bronze in team kata, Jade won silver in Advanced Kumite 155 cm, while Indigo earned silver medal in the advanced Kumite (boys) 155 cm class.
Following the competition, two RHKA members were presented with BC Winter Games individual awards. Lauren Reid won the Junior Coach Award, while Indigo Berry was selected winner of the Male Sportsmanship Award.
Carson Penner was unable to finish the event after suffering a broken arm in Individual Kumite.
Next up for several RHKA members is qualifying for spots on the B.C. Provincial Karate team. The final selection tournament will be held in two weeks’ time at the Olympic Oval in Richmond.
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