Written by World Karate Federation
The World Karate Federation hosts once a year the event that commemorates Karate’s impressive influence in younger generations. Over a thousand happy young faces in tiny Karategis will congregate for a week in Umag (Croatia) in the ninth edition of the WKF Youth Training Camp & Karate 1 Youth Cup.
The coastal city in Istria is the idyllic stage where young Karate enthusiast from all over the world will showcase their passion for the sport. The 2016 edition of the event will gather no less than 1,249 participants from 56 countries and five continents. This tally represents once again an increase over the previous years thus confirming the importance of youngsters in Karate worldwide.
One innovation this year is the opening of the event to younger categories. The age range of competitions have being extended so to give children aged ten to thirteen the opportunity to be part of this memorable event. Therefore, nearly 400 Karatekas under 14 years old will be attending the anticipated Youth Camp and Cup in the Istrian city. The future Karate stars will enjoy practice of the sport, competition, sessions with Karate legends and many other cultural and recreational activities, as well as sharing their fascination for the sport with many other young athletes from five continents.
For the young and hopeful attendees, it is the event of a (short) lifetime and a week to remember for many years to come. Not only children traveling to Umag will put into action the abilities that they have been working hard to develop, while having the unique opportunity to do so in front of some of the biggest stars of the sport such as world champions Rafael Aghayev, Douglas Brose, Rika Usami, Luca Valdesi, Davide Benetello and Predrag Stojadinov; but youngsters participating in the event will also live firsthand and at a global scale what most of them have already experienced in dojos around the world: the many benefits of Karate at early ages.
"The camp has become extremely important for Karate as hundreds of young Karatekas from all over the world have the possibility to know one another, interact, make friends and practice the sport in sessions being taught by the best athletes and trainers of the last generations," said Karate legend, Chairman of the WKF Athletes Commission and one of the instructors in Umag Davide Benetello.
Karate and youth have gone hand in hand together ever since this ancient discipline was born centuries ago, and many of its fundamentals have been tailored to increase its efficiency among youngsters. Events as the WKF Youth Training Camp & Karate 1 Youth Cup assess the magnitude of youth Karate as well as WKF’s mission to make the development of the sport in younger generations its main purpose.
"The increasing number of participants in the Youth Camp & Youth Cup represents the evidence of the importance of youth for WKF. Our intention has always been to work hard to further expand our sport among youngsters, as two-thirds of our practitioners are children," declared WKF President Antonio Espinós.
"Not only Karate is a well established discipline, with great and ancient tradition, but also our sport has an impressive youth component. In almost any country in the world Karate has a strong reputation as one of the most praised, beneficial and demanded sports for children. It is a point of pride for all of us who love Karate to see how popular it is in younger ages as well as the enthusiasm and fascination for the sport that thousands of young karatekas show when they wear their karategis in dojos, schools or recreational centers around the world ," added Mr. Espinós.
As over thousand young Karatekas are getting their karategis ready for a memorable week, the world of Karate sets its eyes in an event to manifest once more WKF’s and Karate’s bright future.
For more information, contact:
Phone: +34 91 535 96 32, Fax: +34 91 535 96 33, e-mail: wkf@wkf.net, http://www.wkf.net
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