300 Give Their Kicks at Karate Tournament

Call it “Rumble in Camarillo.”

In perfect synchronization, Johnny, Jessica and Jennifer Sapinoso throw punches in the air against invisible attackers. High kicks, low kicks, left and right punch. Chop. Chop. Chop. They turn to the left to face the next attackers. They retreat briefly and attack again, throw more kicks, punches and a loud yell. They stop. Respectfully, they bow.

The three siblings from Canoga Park--ages 6, 9 and 11--were among more than 300 karate contestants who packed Adolfo Camarillo High School gym Sunday for the 9th Annual Camarillo Invitational Karate Tournament, one of the largest of its kind in Southern California. It attracted participants from as far north as Lompoc, as far south as Orange County and as far east as Ridgecrest.

The tournament was organized by Victor Young, a 6th-degree black belt who is director of the Camarillo ShotoKan Karate Do Assn. Divided into 70 categories by age and level of expertise, the tournament featured a range of competitors, from children younger than 7 to masters older than 50, and from white belts to black belts, all judged for both form and sparring skill.

But the Sapinosos were not your average contestants. Although they began practicing karate only in May, at one point Sunday together they held in their hands seven trophies they had just won.

“They train very, very hard,” said Vern Vaden, their sensei, or teacher, himself a 5th-degree black belt. Vaden brought 20 kids from his school to the competition. Midway through the day, his students had racked up 22 trophies.

Vaden said karate is not about the kinds of stunts often pictured on the big screen, in movies such as the recent Jackie Chan hit, “Rumble in the Bronx.”

“But those movies turn a lot of kids towards the martial arts,” he said. “They are great for karate.”

Vaden stressed the value of karate as an educational tool.

“What you learn in karate carries over to what you do in school,” said Vaden, who also uses karate to teach discipline to at-risk youth in a joint program with the Los Angeles Police Department. “In order to do well in karate, you have to be very focused. Though you learn to fight, that is not the focus.”