Kickin’ it old school

Emily Roeske is planting a fresh kick into the family tradition of competing in martial arts.

In November, the 18-year-old Burbank resident won two black-belt grand championships during the Desert Storm Open Karate Championships in Tempe, Ariz.

That qualified the Verdugo Academy graduate for the Arizona State Championships on Jan. 30.

She started taking lessons at age 4 at Burbank Family Martial Arts, which is owned by her mother, Ellie Roeske.

The family is originally from Wisconsin, where her mother also owned a studio, Emily Roeske said.

“Mom is a fifth-degree black belt, and she used to compete in kickboxing,” she said.

Emily Roeske is a third-degree black belt, she said, adding one can achieve eight degrees.

“It’s unusual for someone my age to be that far along in the degree system,” Emily Roeske said. “It’s because I’ve been doing it so long and continue my training. It’s hard work. I’m determined to keep getting better.”

In 2007, she won in the junior division of the AZ Marrs Open Karate Tournament after facing as many as 10 competitors.

“Before that, I used to travel around the country competing in the North American Sport Karate Assn. competitions,” Emily Roeske said. “I was a three-time national champion in 1996, ’97 and ’98.”

Each tournament featured between 30 and 40 competitors from around the country, she added.

In the November competition in Arizona — the first time she competed as an adult — she won first place in three divisions.

“I competed in and I won two grand championships where they have all the first-place winners in the adult black-belt division compete for the top honor,” Emily Roeske said.

Because she placed so high in that contest, she has enough points to qualify for the January state competitions.

Competing as an adult for the first time, she will meet people she has never competed against.

Her daughter has been competing her whole life and was always rated in the top three in her division, Ellie Roeske said.

“We didn’t know when switching to adult if she would do so well,” she said. “It’s a step up to new competitors.”

The adults range from 18 to 29, and many divisions have men and women competing against each other.

As young adults, boys and girls compete separately.

Emily Roeske competed in three areas, Forms, which are similar to dance routines but with martial arts moves; Musical Forms, which are choreographed to music; and Weapons.

“Emily does Kama,” Ellie Roeske said. “It’s done with a bladed weapon in each hand. She shows the different strikes with the weapons in her hands.”

Emily Roeske teaches classes for ages 4 through adult and offers private classes at the martial arts studio.

She was also the inspiration for getting Stacy Cashman’s family into martial arts, Cashman said

Cashman is assistant principal at Luther Burbank Middle School, where she was Emily Roeske’s eighth-grade teacher.

“Emily had this amazing poise for a young teenager, so I got to know her, and she would share with me about karate,” Cashman said.

Emily Roeske encouraged Cashman to bring her children and take a lesson.

“So I went by and took a class, and my son started doing it,” she said.

She and her son are almost brown belts, and her daughter is a purple belt.

“We’ll be training for our black belt within a year, and it’s very fun because we do it all together,” she said.

Her husband joined a few months ago. Now the family sits down and plans their goals together.

“There’s nothing like working toward a common goal with your children,” she said. “It’s amazing time spent together.”