CHICAGO IS CULTIVATING FUTURE OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS: Young Karatekas promise to bring gold to Serbia one day! (VIDEO)

A large karate tournament for younger age groups, “Chicago Karate Tournament,” was held today in the sports hall of the St. Nikola Church in the Chicago suburb of Lyons, with over 120 children aged 4 to 15 participating.

The tournament was organized by two karate clubs operating within local church parishes, the Serbian “Ipon” and the Macedonian “Miloševski Martial Art,” and was also attended by children from other communities living in the region.

The general impression is that the tournament was successfully organized, as evidenced by the large number of competitors, and the best in their categories, in addition to gold medals, deserved to be invited to larger and higher-quality tournaments in the future. The event was attended by the Deputy Consul and Assistant Consul of the Republic of Serbia in Chicago, Aleksandar Đorđević and Aleksandar Milić, and the young competitors were blessed at the beginning by the parish priest of the Church of St. Nicholas, Nemanja Tešić, as well as by the priest of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, Andrew.

It was a pleasure to watch the little ones who were just taking their first steps in this traditional knightly sport, but also the older ones, who perform demanding karate elements (kata), but also fight in the manner of great masters of martial arts.

– The children are great, and some of them, you can already see at this early age, if they continue to work and do not give up, will become great champions in the future. These are tournaments where they are tempered and gain their first experiences. Whether they win or lose is not so important, it is more important that they are mentally prepared for everything that awaits them in life. There will be medals, victories and defeats, joys and tears, but the essence is to learn to accept both good and bad things in a sporting manner, says Dr. Ljiljana Svjetlica, who has been involved in this sport for many years, first in the Republic of Srpska, then in Serbia, and upon arriving in America she was one of the founders of the “Ipon” Karate Club.

She adds that they deliberately gave each participant a medal, so that the children would get satisfaction for their efforts…

– On the other hand, we emphasize the quality of the best, to motivate them to work even harder, but also to let others know how much effort they need to put in to reach the level of these best.

When asked what it is in the principles of karate as a sport that best prepares children for future life, Svjetlica answers:

– In the first place, perseverance, will, hard work, and perhaps most importantly – never give up. In every sport, and here too, children come to a point where they want to give up, when they are no longer interested or don’t have friends, so only the most persistent ones survive and manage to fight for their place in the sun in this sport. Uroš Kaličanin, the coach of the “Ipon” karatekas, was happy that they were able to organize a tournament with so many children.

– In America, there is a lack of such tournaments, where children can try themselves out, gain their first experiences, their first victories and defeats, before going to some higher-level competitions, so this is a great investment for the future. Here we also teach them how to endure defeat and how to learn from their own mistakes. Karate is a wonderful sport that prepares us for life. That’s how it was in my case, it helped me a lot in my education, later in life, says Kaličanin.

He points out that it is difficult to organize such a tournament because there is a lack of quality judges and people with experience in organization.

– Luckily, we found great partners in the “MMA” karate school of my friend and colleague Dejan Miloševski, who work with the local Macedonian church and with whose help everything was easier. We hope that this tournament will become a tradition and that in a few years we will acquire the status of an international tournament.

When asked if you can recognize future champions at this age, Kaličanin points out:

– You have seen for yourselves the children who stand out, who have that special desire in their eyes and you can see it at first glance. I won’t name those three or four children now, so as not to discourage the others, but I believe that they have a great future ahead of them if they continue to work like this, of course.

– On the wall of our hall is a large poster of Jovana Preković, our Olympic champion, who also stood out at a young age. I deeply believe that among these children are those who will become national, world, and Olympic champions tomorrow, our interlocutor concludes optimistically.

And all we can do is wish the little champions to be diligent and persistent and one day bring medals from major world competitions to themselves and Serbia.