LAKE STEVENS — At a time of year when many friends are playing football, soccer, volleyball and other team sports, a group of Snohomish County young people — teen-agers mostly, but some are younger — is enjoying a less visible but certainly no less challenging sport.
Karate, a martial art that originated on the Japanese island of Okinawa, has become not only a popular form of self-defense, but also a highly competitive sport. In late August two athletes from Karate Northwest, a club that trains in Lake Stevens, were part of the United States team that traveled to the 2014 Junior Pan American Championships in Lima, Peru.
Seventeen-year-old Kiel Hicks of Federal Way, the son of Everett assistant fire marshall Eric Hicks, won a gold medal in junior male kata, which is a competition involving forms and movements. Marina Hrycenko of Everett, 13, won a silver medal in U14 female (45 kg) kumite, which is sparring.
Vienna Krumwiede of Everett, who trains at a club in Bellevue, also won a silver medal in U21 female (61kg) kumite.
The three were part of the 74-member U.S. team to the championships, and they won three of 24 medals (seven gold, five silver, 12 bronze) for the Americans.
Hrycenko, an eighth grader at North Middle School, said she was “a little surprised at how well I did.” When she stepped onto the podium to receive her silver medal, “everybody on the team was cheering. It just felt good. Everybody was excited and happy for me, as I was excited for myself.”
Hicks, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School, has been doing karate for nine years and has made several international trips for tournaments, including visits to El Salvador, Malaysia, Mexico, Spain and Canada along with the recent competition in Peru.
“This was definitely one of my favorite trips,” he said. “Usually when you go to an international tournament you don’t get to see the city that much, but this time we did. Peru is really an amazing place.
“And the team-bonding experience you get when go on these trips is amazing.”
Karate appeals to individuals of all ages who are self-motivated and disciplined, and have a strong determination to excel. According to Casey Mills, head coach at Karate Northwest, athletes generally train from two to five days a week. In preparation for their trip to Peru, Hicks and Hrycenko worked out five days a week, six hours a day, through most of the summer.
“With martial arts, the personal gains manifest themselves in many different ways,” Hicks said. “Bare bones minimum, they’re always going to walk out with better physical conditioning. And they’re always going to walk out with a sense of discipline and a sense of doing what needs to be done, when it needs to be done.”
For someone who embraces karate, it can be “a life-changing experience,” he said.
His own daughter Aleen, who is 18, started karate when she was 4. At the time “she was so introverted. People would look at her and she would (shy away). And then at the other end (of the spectrum), you have some people who are more aggressive. (Karate) brings them to center. And for me, seeing that personal growth is huge.”
For Aleen Mills, who lives on Camano Island and is a 2014 graduate of Stanwood High School, karate is a way “of letting off steam. When I get stressed out — and I know this sounds really bad — I like hitting something. Just whaling on something and letting everything out.”
Aleen Mills is a past competitor at the Junior Pan American Championships, as is Theo Pardike of Mukilteo, a 16-year-old junior at Kamiak High School. For Pardike, the appeal of karate “is that it’s a disciplined sport. You have to come with the attitude, ‘This is what needs to be done.’ There’s not much time for fooling around.
“I can be in not such a good mood,” he added, “and then I come here and it all goes away and I feel better.”
Hrycenko said she appreciates knowing “that I’m progressing from where I started. At the beginning I was just a little thing and not really understanding what karate was. But now that I’ve gotten this far, I want to keep going, to get farther and farther, and to be able to do more things.”
Hicks, meanwhile, is hoping that he can someday compete in karate at the Olympics. The sport has not been added for either the 2016 or 2020 Games, but there is a chance it could be included in 2024.
“My ultimate goal is winning a senior world championship,” he said. “But if karate ever makes it to the Olympics, I definitely want to have the Olympic experience.”
Seeing his students excel is even more gratifying than what he achieved in his own competitive career, Casey Mills said.
“I was on the U.S. (national) team for several years and was a two-time world champion, and I’m very proud of those accomplishments,” he said. “But being able to pass along the lessons that I’ve learned and then seeing what these guys are accomplishing, that’s the most rewarding thing for me.”
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