Welcome To KARATE MANITOBA –

Your Official Governing Body for Karate in Manitoba  

Karate Manitoba has seen explosive growth and forward momentum in recent years. We are entering a new era from being an emerging PSO (Provincial Sport Organization) to an established PSO known for progressive High Performance Training programs under one of Canada’s top coaching experts, Karate Manitoba’s High Performance Director, Coach Angelo Mendoza. This was a ground breaking year as Manitoba’s High Performance Director was accepted into the University of British Columbia’s High Performance Coaching & Technical Leadership Masters program, placing him among the top 17 coaches across multi sports selected for this prestigious Masters program.

Karate Manitoba has implemented comprehensive content programming that is inclusive, representing the expansive growth of Karate in  Manitoba.   Karate Manitoba will endeavour to establish two-way communication with clubs and their members with a dominant social media presence to keep our members up-to-date on local, provincial and national events. With the expected announcement of Karate into the Olympics for Tokyo 2020, we have already seen a high demand for tournaments and competitions under the IOC/COC recognized WKF Sport Karate umbrella.

With rapid expansion and tournaments comes a need to centralize our communications for member clubs. Our centralized calendar continues to be the hub of event sharing and planning of member events. Communications highlight how our members are excelling in their karate training at their clubs, share inspirational stories, and continue to build upon Manitoba’s growing karate presence on the national karate scene. I am honoured be elected to the Karate Canada National Board of Directors as a Director-at-Large to serve the interests of Manitoba at the National level and continue to work on behalf of our members and athletes to perch Manitoba on the forefront of Karate growth and development as Karate prepares for an Olympic debut in the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.  Recently, I have been named as Chair of the Karate Canada Marketing & Communications Committee and look forward to this opportunity to continue to share in the explosive growth of Sport Karate in Canada and across the world.

Once again, Karate Manitoba was recognized as being a leading province with the unveiling of our new High Performance Development and Training Programs. The best karate-ka in the province ages 10+ will have access to a comprehensive sport karate program aimed at identifying future sport karate athletes from member clubs. Our high performance development program (HPd) and our gold star High Performance Elite Training (HPeT) program for our competitive athletes provide the latest in WKF High Performance tactical kumite and kata training for the competitive level. Info sessions and ITC (Intake Tryout Camps) will allow prospective athletes an opportunity to learn about the latest WKF sport karate training at the national and international levels of WKF karate.  Karate Manitoba has become a leader in comprehensive sport karate training with an integrated program of sport science applications, metrics testing and measurement of athlete performance and progress and supplemental elements of nutritional and fitness training.

This year, our High Performance program produced 3 international podium finishes and a Silver medal for Karate Manitoba’s Roene Nasr in female Youth Kumite at the 2016 Canadian National Karate Championships in at the Richmond Olympic Oval, Manitoba’s best ever finish at the National Championships! What a thrill for our thriving high performance team. Congratulations!

We are excited to continue offering top quality WKF seminars for our members, such as this year’s upcoming ‘Tactics and Competition’ seminar conducted by world renowned internationally certified WKF coach Sensei Antonio Oliva Seba ,who coaches the best kumite athletes in the world. Seba Sensei is responsible for 50% of the World Champions in WKF and is the international coach of choice of the Canadian National Team, regularly conducting training seminars for Canada’s top athletes every year at the Karate Canada summit. We are fortunate enough to once again be able to bring Seba Sensei to Manitoba for a 3 day Kumite Seminar on Tactics.

Karate Manitoba continues to offer top quality programs with the continuation of the NCCP certification program, (National Coaching Certification Program through Coaching Canada) supported by training opportunities offered throughout the year by Karate Canada. We are pleased to announce our Provincial Officials Program has grown to include Manitoba officials being certified at the national levels, and providing the opportunity to certify internationally for events like the PKF (Pan American Karate Championships and the WKF (World Karate Federation) Championships. We have certified several new Provincial level officials in the past year and continue to expand this thriving officiating program for our Black belt members. New for 2016, the Junior Officiating program, where Junior officials (ages 14+) can start their officiating training, with clinics being offered at the Manitoba Provincial Open, the Western Canadian Championships and the National Championships! Our highlight member event of the season is the annual Spring tournament, the Provincial Open, this year in Winnipeg. With membership reaching an all time high, this prestigious tournament has proudly garnered national attention. We hope to introduce the unveiling of the Winnipeg Open, an exciting new competition event sanctioned by Karate Canada drawing competitors from across Canada and the northern United States. With the implementation of Bill S-209, all Karate Manitoba has been appointed the legal sanctioning body for all Karate Tournaments in the province.  We are so pleased to be able to provide minimum safety standards and provide top quality officiating at the only recognized competitions in the province.  Karate Manitoba continues to work with pride as the legal community organization for all Karate Competitions in Manitoba!

Karate Manitoba believes the base of karate is at the individual dojo. Our organization is there for any club, small or large, any style. Our goal is to support, share knowledge and help the clubs develop and connect with karate-ka across the province to build a vibrant karate community. From this base, we can build a triangular model of traditional karate as the base, developing officials, coaches and athletes for sport karate on one side and traditional events on the other. As a provincial organization, I believe we can offer something for everyone, with the common goal being pure love of karate. Thank you to all the coaches, athletes, volunteers, instructors, board members and supporters that have worked tirelessly to make this organization what it has become today. To that end, I wish each member a happy and healthy year in training!

Debra Kofsky
President