DAVIDSON—Local kickboxer James Morrison has kicked and punched his way to another international gold medal.
The Davidson School Grade 11 student won gold at the TAFISA World Martial Arts Games in Richmond B.C. in early September.
The World Martial Arts Games were held Sept. 3 to 7 at the Richmond Olympic Oval. The event attracted over 300 athletes competing a range of martial arts disciplines.
James won gold in the kata event at the games.
Kata are a series of training forms, small, structured practice routines that include punches, kicks and jumps that martial artists practise over and over so they become an ingrained habit.
James says he knows about 25 different types of katas. The one he used in Richmond takes about five minutes and it’s his favourite.
For the World Games, he decided to change it.
“Probably the day before, he says, ‘I’d like to add a little bit of flare to the ending’,” his mom Michele said.
Michele questioned the wisdom of altering a tried-and-true kata so close to an international competition.
“A few days before, I decided I wanted to do it and I practised it a few times,” James said.
He decided to embellish the kata ending with a tornado kick, which is a jump and spin kick, then to add an extra note of finality to the routine, he punched the floor and yelled.
“I was nervous,” Michele said as she watched James compete. He ended up tied for third.
To break the tie, James and the other competitor had to perform their katas again.
“I ended up doing way better than I did before,” he said.
His score was even better than the first and second place scores, so judges bumped James up to gold.