The Devonport Flagstaff Page 3
November 13, 2015
Karate dad wins double silver at world champs Wearing a helmet and body armour, Devonport black-belt dad and karate teacher Marc Sofinowski pulls no punches in Koshiki karate competitions. Last month, Sofinowski won two medals at the 2015 World Koshiki Karatedo Federation (WKKF) Oceania Worlds, held on the Gold Coast. He came second in the Black Belt Middleweight sparring division (63 – 72.5 kg) and the Black Belt Cruiser Weight division (73 – 82.5 kg). Sofinowski has competed in many national Australian tournaments in the past and was inducted into the Australasian Martial Arts Hall of Fame in 2008. This was his fourth world title event and his first placing. With the use of safety and protective gear, Koshiki Karate is called a safe-contact sport and lies somewhere between non-contact and full-contact karate. “The idea behind it is to protect the target,” says Sofinowski, who is a senior consultant for a Takapuna IT firm. “So we’re able to do contact karate safely and without getting all the bruising in the face, which is great if you have a work meeting with a customer the next day,” he says. The style of karate Sofinowski practices and teaches is called Kenkokan. “It’s a unique mix of Japanese and Chinese influences and includes punching with a vertical fist,” he says. Growing up on the Gold Coast, Sofinowski
(33) got into Karate at the age of six, after he was bullied at school. “I knew off Bruce Lee (movies), my parents took me to a Shotokan Karate school and I haven’t stopped doing karate since,” he says. Sofinowski’s training began with Budokan, then Renbukan and, since the age of 12, Kenkokan. His current black-belt rank is fifth dan. Sofinowski also has a first dan in Iaido, a Japanese sword martial art. Sofinowski and his Kiwi wife Katherine moved to Devonport a year ago and started holding kids karate classes at Stanley Bay School, where the couple’s oldest daughter Zipporah (6) is in Year 1. “She is also taking the Karate lessons there, as is our second daughter Jemimah (4),” says the proud father. Twenty-one-month-old Alexander is still warming to the sport, but Katherine caught the bug two months ago and is now taking Marc’s weekly adult classes at Devonport Primary School. “It’s great for fitness and a nice husband/ wife thing to do,” she says. “Between the baby, working and trying to grow my karate school, I’m pretty busy,” says Marc. He was training one to two hours daily for six months leading up to the world champs. When not doing training or competing, Sofinowski enjoys running around Devonport. Last year, he completed the Coastal Challenge and placed seventh overall in the Men’s open division.
Silver medalist at world champs… Marc Sofinowski at Devonport Primary School Hall (above), and in action at the World champs (left)
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