Gold Rush Tournament

This past weekend, I attended the Gold Rush Tournament hosted in Auburn by Bennati’s Martial Arts. I competed in open-hand kata and weapons kata. I placed second in weapons, however it was a very small division in the first place. What I am most proud of though, is the fact that I placed second in open-hand kata! What made it even more rewarding, though is that it was a division with entirely guys, and I was the only girl competing with them. Doing karate as a girl has always been a little bit challenging since I am often paired up with guys who are a lot bigger than me, and physically much stronger. It’s just another obstacle that I have to face when competing in a male-dominated sport. So being able to do so well in a division of entirely males, it felt really good to place. I’m also really proud though, because I did Chinto kata (my 1,000 kata) and I thought that it was truly my best Chinto that I have done yet! I thought that I had really strong blocks, and my moves were very sharp. Getting to perform it in front of people also felt good because I typically don’t have a large audience when I am doing my katas, so it felt nice to get to do it in front of some people. I don’t go to these large tournaments very often, but I hope that I get to go to more!

My current Challenge progress as of March 10, 2026.