A strong performance by local karate instructor, David Rush, in round two of the NSW National All Styles martial arts tournament in Sydney on the weekend, has him on track for his fourth consecutive world shotokan karate championships in Europe this year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
David put in a solid performance in the Male Black Belt Open forms division, winning gold. He then won silver in the Male Black Belt Open points sparring division that went into extra time after a draw in the final.
Although David is usually a strong competitor in the Veterans' division in these tournaments, this feat was more impressive considering that he is in his mid-fifties, was competing with a leg injury, and all of his opponents were half his age and much taller.
In the Male Veterans (over 40 years) points sparring division, the result was similar to the Open with the final ending in another draw.
The match went into extra time and again, the result was silver for David in a close match that could have gone either way.
In the Male Black Belt Veterans' forms division, David performed what he felt was a really good kata, and the scores reflected that with his second gold medal for the day.
"I was a late entry to this tournament because of my injury," David said.
"I wasn't sure if I was up to competing although I need the match time to practice sparring drills and kata techniques with the world championships only a few months away."
While sport karate has helped improve David's karate technique and brought him relative success in the last 18 years, he says that it is only a part of his overall focus on karate training.
Karate will be a demonstration sport at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and while it takes a lot of hard work, both physically and mentally to compete at the world level in any sport, David says that his approach to sport karate has never been for the medals.
"Karate is not about winning or losing competitions, it is about dedication to training to improve technique and about what karate can teach us about ourselves."
"Karate training is one of the best forms of exercise so it is excellent for our health, our wellbeing and it is also social in that you can enjoy training and spending time with other like-minded people which makes karate great for bringing community together in a positive supportive environment", added David.
South Coast Shotokan Karate offer classes for children, teens and adults at all levels in Berry, Nowra and North Nowra. New members always welcome. Go to: www.southcoastkarate.com.au for details.
