MANILA, Philippines – A bunch of kids from San Jose del Monte, Bulacan could be the future of Philippine karate.
The country’s karate grassroots have discovered a new breed of potential talents in Steven Jhudiel Morales, Solara Uriel Morales and Zemira Zaigen Gawad Daz, who could excel from local to international arenas someday.
They are members of the prestigious International Shotokan Karate Federation-Philippine Shotokan Karate Federation-San Jose Del Monte Bulacan (ISKF-PSKI SJDM Bulacan) — one of the active clubs affiliated with the Karate Pilipinas.
“They really wanted to follow the footsteps of our Sensei Adora Aquino, a former national team karate member,” coach Mary Anne Guillermo, a Karate Pilipinas licensed coach, said.
Steven Jhudiel Morales, 12, one of the most accomplished young fighters of the ISKF-PSKI SJDM Bulacan, was a recent kata and kumite gold medalist in the Karate Pilipinas National Championships held recently at the Mall of Asia Arena.
He also dominated the kumite and kata division of the ISKF-PSKI Olongapo Karatedo Championships last June and the 3rd ABR Cup Karate Championships Intermediate Kata, where he struck gold in the 12-13-year-old and 14-15-year-old boys divisions.
For her part, the eight-year-old Solara won the recent kata girls’ division gold medal in the 3rd ABR Cup Karate Championships while bagging also the silver in the team kata, silver in the kumite and bronze in the team kumite.
Promising Zemira Zaigen Gawad Daz, also an eight-year-old, likewise captured the silver medal in the kata 6-7-year-old division of ISKF-PSKI Olongapo Invitational Karatedo Championships also last June.
She also took home the team and individual kata silver medals and individual kumite silver during the 3rd ABR Cup Karate Championships recently.
“These kids will grow with a lot of potential to become the next Junna Tsukii and possibly become world champions someday so who knows? At young age, they really showed great improvements from time to time,” Guillermo added.
“With proper trainings and mindset, their dream to become national team members and bring pride to our country will soon come to realization soon. They just have to be supported by their respective parents too.”
Other members of the club are 13-year-old Nicel Ezra Villegas and 14-year-old Julia Claret Bintulan, who also brought home kata and kumite medals from the Batang Pinoy national competitions in 2018 and 2019.
The campaign of the ISKF-PSKI SJD is supported by the local government unit (LGU) headed by City Mayor Arthur Robes, Dr. Dennis Booth and Luis Gutierrez.
“They are really supportive to the campaign and karate journey of our athletes. They are providing us with vehicles so we can go to the venue,” said Guillermo, adding that they need WKF-approved protective gears for their athletes.
“We are hoping to get a set of protective gear for our athletes which they will be used in the competition. It’s very expensive and some parents can’t afford to buy,” she said.
Guillermo also lauded the efforts of their ISKF-PSKI SJDM Bulacan instructor PSMS Adora Aquino for encouraging their athletes to believe in themselves and teaching the way of karate to achieve success.
Aquino was a former member of the Philippine National Team, a kumite bronze medalist in the 2003 Vietnam Southeast Asian Games and 2019 World Police and Fire Games double gold medalist in Chengdu, China.
She is an active member of Karate Pilipinas technical official.
“We would like to thank all the parents, ISKF Chairman Bong Mojica and PSKI Head Shihan Rommel Raymundo for supporting us.”