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Show m ,-w-v; in. I i - j Centerville 8th grader Caleb Gibson, 13, earned his black belt Saturday in testing at the Utah Indoor Soccer arena in Woods Cross. CJH 8th grader earns black belt By G.BRETT HART Sports Editor CENTERVILLE You may ! not notice anything unusual about ; Centerville junior high s Caleb Gibson at least not at first glance i anyway. But there is definitely something different about this 13-year-old ; Charger; maybe it's his unusually ' mature sense of direction and i dedication; maybe it's his quiet de- I meanor or maybe it's the full 1 fledged black belt in karate he eam- i ed last Saturday in testing held at ! the Utah Indoor Soccer Arena in J Woods Cross. j Gibson has been studying the martial arts for six years now with ! the Utah Karate Institute in Boun- tiful, ever since he saw the film ; "The Karate Kid," he admits, i "Once I saw that movie, I told my ! parents that Karate was what I J wanted to do." i According to school directors, I being awarded a black belt at such a young age is unique, usually younger students of the martial arts receive junior black belt honors at fust. But Gibson was awarded a full-fledged black belt for his "integrity and conditioning." Gibson spends five hours each week in training at the school itself and an hour each night teaching younger students and working out at home. The young black belt attributes his talent to dedication. "I dedicate myself to it (karate)," Gibson said modestly. "Karate has helped me with my school work, too. It gives me concentration con-centration to learn." Gibson says he also enjoys basketball, baseball and dancing. "The flexibility I've gained from karate also helps in those sports." To earn the black belt, the Centerville eighth grader was required re-quired to run five miles, do 100 pushups and sirups, demonstrate a series of hand strikes and blocks, self defense, forms, board breaking and fighting. Needless to say, after all that excitement, ex-citement, he was "real tired" Saturday Sat-urday night. "I couldn't sleep for a whole week before the test," Gibson recalled. re-called. "I just kept focusing on what I had to do. I knew that I knew everything every-thing I needed to know and could do everything I needed to do. I just had to do my best. ' ' Gibson returns to competition in a forms, or Kata, contest May 4 at Woods Cross High School. Gibson studies under Bryan Grimes, the director of the Karate Institute which teaches Shintoshi, a combination of Kenpo and Toe Kwon Do. Grimes also received his second degree black belt along with Miko Tuitupou, who received his third degree black belt. Also advancing advan-cing in Saturday's test were Tom Morrison, who received his first degree black belt and Tooele police officer Mike Stidham, who received his second degree black belt |