Belizean black belts to take on regional competitors

In clubs across the country, boys and girls, men and women are lining up to learn martial arts. There are three styles of karate being practiced in Belize: Shotokan, Red Dragon and Khukokai. And next month, these highly trained athletes will get the chance to strut their stuff on an international stage. News Five’s Alyssa Noble reports.

Alyssa Noble, Reporting
This week, the Belize National Karate Team is preparing for the annual Central American and Caribbean games to be held in Cartejena Colombia, from the fifteenth to the thirtieth of July. According to team official Herman Pastor, the Belizeans are expecting stiff opposition.

Herman Pastor Jr., Team Official
?Well the karate competition is very tight because most of it is individual effort. Many of the countries that we are participating against have been participating in these big tournaments for many years. They have very good instructors, they have Japanese instructors. They have a lot of competition so the athletes there some of them compete almost monthly, so it?s generally tight. We have big countries like Brazil, Venezuela, Jamaica; they are very good in karate.?

With that in mind, Pastor says team Belize has been undergoing intensive training in an effort to be par with its Central and South American counterparts.

Herman Pastor Jr.
?The team has been training for the past year. Members from throughout the country, from the different districts travel to Belize City on Fridays. Almost every Friday we drive from San Ignacio and come here for training. The person from Dangriga, he catches the bus and he comes here for training and I must say that the efforts the athletes are putting in are very much applaud-able, noh??

?The level of karate in Belize is pretty much international. We have had international medals before; we?ve won a silver medal in a Pan American Championship. We won bronze in Guatemala, in the Central American Games some years ago. So, we pretty much think we have a good chance because we are training real hard.?

And while these trained athletes are confident of their skills, they admit they need every ounce of support they can get.

Herman Pastor Jr.
?We just ask the Belizean public to keep in tune and to try and follow the games because whenever athletes travel they really need to hear that we are supported out there. We are usually the smallest teams, but nonetheless we try to support each other.?

Alyssa Noble reporting for News Five.