2018 World Karate Champion Oscar Henriquez

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Hard work pays off! Two years ago Oscar Henriquez, a black belt in karate, qualified for the AAU-USA National Karate Team by earning a gold, silver or a bronze medal at the 2017 AAU Karate Nationals in Raleigh, North Carolina. He spent nearly a year of hard training at the dojo (karate school) and the gym, averaging about 7 hours of training per week to prepare for other international championship competitions last year, where he competed and won against competitors from all over the world! Oscar hopes to qualify in Chicago so he can make the Junior Team USA for karate and be able to compete at the Panamerican Karate Championships in Ecuador this August. We are pulling for you, Oscar!! #PiratePride
(Click the headline to see additional photos and read the compelete story in Oscar's words.)


"Well I guess it'd be right to start off that two years ago I qualified for the AAU-USA National Karate Team by earning a gold, silver or a bronze medal at the 2017 AAU Karate Nationals in Raleigh, North Carolina, which was the minimum requirement, earning a gold, a silver, and two bronzes in the 15 year old and the 15-17 year old black belt division. Since then I had to go through 10 months of hard training at the dojo (karate school) and the gym, averaging about 7 hours of training per week. Last year in June I competed at the 2018 World Union of Karate-Do Federations (WUKF) World Karate Championships in Dundee, Scotland as a member of the AAU-USA Karate team, which fielded 101 athletes representing the United States against other countries such as England, Romania, Argentina, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Ireland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Brazil, Germany and many other countries, equaling about more than 150 federations. I won a gold medal in kata (also known as forms) in a specific karate style division called shorin ryu in the 15-17 year old male division. I beat out fellow athletes from the USA, Wales, Romania, Argentina and Hungary. In sparring I got 5th, winning two rounds against Argentina and England 6-2, and losing to the eventual bronze medalist from Romania 5-3. I also participated in two team sparring divisions with two other US athletes, falling to Ireland and Portugal first round, two teams that went on to medal. And the Irish kid that beat me in team sparring went on to beat the Romanian who beat me in individual sparring to win gold. So after that, I had to qualify again at the 2018 AAU Karate Nationals in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, which I got 2 golds and a bronze medal, despite having been injured the entire tournament. I once again qualified for the 2019 WUKF World Karate Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia, from June 20-23, as a member of the AAU-USA karate team once again. In that time I've gone down most Fridays to train sparring in West Palm Beach for 3 hours and the rest of my training, including kata and weapons kata, I practice at home, averaging around 6-7 hours of karate training a week, and 3-4 hours at the gym per week, while balancing a job at Chelsea's Gourmet on Cardinal Dr. and school. My hope this year is to come back a world champion in more than one division this year, which I'll be participating in between 5-7 divisions this year at the world championships, including long and short weapons kata (weapons forms), kata (forms), and 2-4 sparring divisions, and hopefully have my hard work pay off there. I'm also competing at the 2019 AAU Karate Nationals in Ft. Lauderdale and the 2019 USA Karate Nationals in Chicago, both in July. If I qualify in Chicago I would make the Junior Team USA for karate and be able to compete at the Panamerican Karate Championships in Ecuador this August, so let's keep our fingers crossed and hope everything plays out well!" -  - Oscar Henriquez
 
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