Two schoolchildren execute their kata, in the competition of other seasons. /
Karate announces its first day of the Sports Games for next November 5
The 5th of next month is the date set by the karatekas of school age to start their competitive journey in the Sports Games of La Rioja.
This discipline is traditionally one of the first, of an individual nature, that raises the curtain on school competition, although most of the time it was judo that emerged as the earliest among the martial arts. On this occasion, the judokas will still have to wait (their regulations are not even approved yet) so karate will be in charge of signing the first appearance of the martial arts course on the billboard.
This season, in addition, karate will return to absolute normality because martial arts, being generally contact sports, had been especially affected by the restrictions imposed as a result of COVID. In the case of karate, the practice of kata was not affected, but the practice of kumite (combat) was.
The Rioja Federation has designed a calendar that consists of seven days between November and June, at the rate of a monthly appointment -except in the month of January, in which there is none- and touring the different localities in which the school karate finds ‘ settlements’. Thus, although Logroño is the scene of the first and last day, there will also be days in Calahorra, Villamediana and Autol.
The regulations of the competition define the weights and modalities of each one of the categories, always distinguishing between male and female classification, and establishing that the kumite is practiced from fry (the youngest will only practice the katas). In addition, there will be collective variants such as duo kata and team kata and team kumite.
The regulations also define the conditions to participate in the initiation kata.
