| OCR Text |
Show Local karate expert competes successfully in martial arts expo l I I ! -iniwMMuMMiiirinh detfitt Local Karate instructor, Lori DeGroot, recently competed in a Martial Arts Expo in Watertown, South Dakota, and brought home the second place honors in the breaking competition. Lori teaches karate for Pleasant Grove Parks and Recreation, and is a black belt Karate expert. She said that there were 18 competitors in the expo. It was held to raise m oney for the American Cancer Society, and drew black belts from five local schools. The competition was won by a third-degree third-degree black belt from Sioux City, named Chris Blades. Lori tied for second with Dave Fischer from that area. Dave and Lori then had to make a different break from what they had previously done in order to break the tie. He attempted a concrete break, but didn't make a complete break. Lori then punched through four and a half inch pieces of ice and won. She explained that the judges judge the competition on the difficulty of techniques times the object that they break. The j udges for the competition were Bob Barrow and Steven Ellis from the Las Vegas Chuck Norris School. She said that they also put on seminars for area enthusiasts. She said that there were also seminars in women's self defense and sparring techniques. She said that they also had a large banquet Lori DeGroot where Barrow and Ellis spoke to those in attendance. Lori commented that it would be a lot of fun to have such a competition com-petition in this area, she said that there is a lot of interest in the Watertown area, and the entire competition and seminars were quite well attended. There were only two women that competed in the expo, and the women compete in th exact same division and competition com-petition with the men. |
