Kyokushin brown belt Mackenzie Webster will be taking her karate to Poland in October. Photo: Andy Campbell
Mackenzie Webster’s road to Poland has come in 85km increments.
That’s the distance between her Māhoenui home and her karate club in Kihikihi where she trains every week.
Mackenzie is part of a four person Australasian team which will compete at a week-long Kyokushin Karate World Team Match Series at Katowice in southern Poland in October.
Teams will represent Japan, Asia/Middle East, North America, South America, Europe, Poland and South Pacific at the international event. Each will consist of men and women athletes at elite, and 16–17-year level.
Mackenzie is a brown belt in Kyokushin Karate in the colt girls 16-17years age group for Kumite/sparring.
The 16-year-old won her division in the Waikato Kyokushin tournament in April and won again at the New Zealand National Tournament in Napier, on June 29 – becoming the national champion for Colt girls.
It made her a contender for the World Team Matches in October in Poland representing the South Pacific – New Zealand, Australia and the Islands.
Her sensei advised the family near the end of July that Mackenzie had been selected.
She attributes her success at kumite to the support of Kihikihi sensei Kevin Maber.
“Our sensei is really encouraging.
“When you are getting good and beating other people it gives you a kind of a lift so that, ‘wow. I’m good at this’. It gives you more drive to do it, especially when you start winning tournaments.”
Women in the sport tended to favour kata, or forms practice, she said. Karate has been part of Mackenzie’s life since she was six. It’s something all her children do, said her mother, Carolyn Weinberg.
Mackenzie started karate in the South Island before they moved to Māhoenui.
“There’s no karate in Te Kūiti or Ōtorohanga,” Carolyn said.
“Kihikihi was the closest one and I wanted the kids to keep doing it. I’ve always wanted the kids to do karate up to age 16 then they could make up their own minds.”
The tournament is over an extended weekend, but Carolyn says they will make a two-week holiday of the trip.
“It’s pretty exciting, my partner Brent and myself will be going over with her,” Carolyn said. “It’s the trip of a lifetime, we couldn’t really say no.”
The tournament covers one week. Mackenzie has to be there for a four-to-five-day period to meet the other team members and coach from Australia for training sessions, followed by the tournament.
