NEWPORT NEWS, VA (WTKR)- Last month was a monumental one for Axsom Martial Arts. The Newport News-based dojo had seven karate students perform very well at the national and world championships, a great experience for those who got to compete.
"Growing up, I'd watch all my heroes go up on stage and see them wearing their American flag, get their medals, across all sports," said Kiana Lawson, who earned a silver medal in kata at the world championships in Scotland. "To be able to have that opportunity myself, it really was that little girl living her dream."
"I tried to just block everything out," added Brett Fallen, a team kumite gold medalist at worlds. "I really just try to hone in on competing and my competition and then I just do my best."
The national championships took place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, while the world competition hit Dundee, Scotland. The athletes were able to shine under the bright lights, but there's a deeper meaning to karate for these individuals.
"When they think karate, they just think karate chops," said Miranda Martinez, who claimed two gold medals at the world championships. "It's so much more than that."
Step inside Axsom Martial Arts and that's where this goldmine of karate talent shapes its craft. Every student in the dojo got their start in the sport at different ages and for different reasons.
"I started at four years old," recalled Amiyr Gordon, who competed at nationals, but was unable to take part in the world championships due to injury. "My parents just wanted me to have something to do. I started with two different other sports, soccer and tennis, and we came across karate."
"I was an eighth grader and I was just and out of shape kid," Fallen remembered. "I was just looking at alternatives to start working out and bettering myself."
"Sensei Moose, my instructor, he came to my elementary school, first grade when I was five years old," said Ryan Sigsbee, who's been training at Axsom since he was about five years old and won two golds at the world competition last month. "He did a seminar and I ended up coming through that."
Sensei Moose is John "Moose" Axsom, the owner and lead coach at Axsom Martial Arts. His love of karate began with martial arts movies when he was a kid and he started in the sport at nine years old. Decades later, he's guiding the future of karate and teaching valuable lessons.
"One of my favorite sayings is 'to teach is to learn again,'" he said. "When you're teaching, you're also training, you're also learning, you're also growing."
Coach Moose is helping his students grow as well. This group trains hard and competes on the biggest stages. Many of his athletes are hooked on karate for what it teaches them and how it makes them stronger, both physically and mentally.
"It was the values it instilled in me, especially at a young age," Lawson said of why she fell in love with the martial art. "Building up values of self-respect, discipline, respecting others, defending others and yourself."
"After my first tournament, when I won a gold medal, it hooked me," recalled Fallen. "Right off the bat it hooked me."
"Really winning," Martinez added. "You want to get up there, you want to be one of the big names and just beat the people that have beaten you before and that you see other people."
Members of the dojo are more than just teammates, rather like a family. They train, work and travel together and are pushing the person next to them just as hard as they push themselves.
"A win for you is a win for the dojo and a loss for you is a loss for the dojo," said Nick Henderlite, another world championships gold medal winner. "We share our victories and our losses and it's great."
"These kids are going off to college," added 13-year old Conner Strickland, who took part in the national competition. "I learned a lot of stuff from them. They give me pointers, tips and tricks."
"Being in here everyday with all those guys back there that I went to worlds with is awesome," said Sigbee. "They're all brothers and sisters to me."
Karate is a sport that has already given them so much and continues to be a source of growth, offering lessons in not only the competition area, but in life.
"When I started, I was a shy, out-of-shape 13-year old," Fallen recalled. "It took me about two years, I'd say, to build up that confidence to be able to get out there and compete at my best."
"Karate is a lifestyle," Lawson added. "It's something that you carry with you on the mat and also outside the mat. The values that we hold and stay true to our hearts, we really embody that as the people that we are and through that character."
"Karate is about what you can take, it's not about what you can deliver," Axsom pointed out. "If they can go out there and stand their ground and resist any kind of thing that life throws at them, whether it's in college or in their relationships, I want them to know that they're prepared with the indomitable black-belt spirit."
Axsom is not only a lifelong karate athlete and coach, he's also a great historian of martial arts. He takes some of his students to Okinawa, Japan, to train and learn more about karate.
