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caption:
Champion
Mykayla DeCosta and her Sensei Frederick A. DeCubellis. Courtesy photo.
PUTNAM — Mykayla DeCosta, 15, won several championship awards recently in sport karate.
She attends ninth grade in Putnam
She won the 2010 Krane Ratings International Sport karate Championship in the 14-15 year old division.
She won: 2010 Overall Grand Champion Weapons (all states); 2010 Connecticut State Champion Forms;2010 Connecticut State Champion Weapons; and 2010 Connecticut State 2nd place fighting.
Mykayla received these prestigious awards at the annual Krane Rating International banquet held in Warwick, R.I., Feb. 26.
Her Sensei, Frederick A. DeCubellis, said, “Mykayla has been studying the Martial Arts for about 5 1/2 years. Her training curriculum is built upon a twin foundation of Traditional Uechi-Ryu Karate Do, and Amateur/Olympic Style Boxing and she’s been competing on the open circuit for about two years. Last season 2010 she really focused and did fantastic.”
Asked why DeCosta has done so well, DeCubellis said, “Mykayla has the ability to truly express herself in the practice of Kata. Imagine you show up at a martial arts competition and maybe you see 20 individual competitors, how many will you remember? For most people there is 2 or 3 performances or competitions that stand out and Mykayla would probably one of them.”
He added, “This last 2010 competition season Mykayla competed in Tradition Forms, Weapons, and sparring. Her competition weapon of choice was the Okinawan tonfa.”
The sport karate organization Krane Ratings International is the governing body that oversees the competition circuit. Martial artisst compete throughout the year at various tournaments earning points in whatever division they are competing in, such as forms, weapons, fighting, etc.