Instruction given and second placing earned

KARATE KID: Harrison Botting, 13, with the silver medal he earned in a karate kata competition in Wellington. Picture supplied

Gisborne karate student Harrison Botting has been given some top-level instruction and finished second in a national event.

Goju Ryu Karate Do New Zealand had its annual national camp in Wellington this month.

Botting, 13, had two days of training from instructors.

A brown belt, he also competed in the battle of the dojos kata competition junior division (under 18 years) and came second.

Goju ryu is Japanese for “hard-soft style” and is one of the main traditional Okinawan styles of karate.

Botting has been practising karate for six years under the leadership of senpai Cameron McKnight, who has been running the Gisborne Goju Ryu Karate Club for more than 15 years.

The club holds training sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays at the Ilminster Intermediate School hall.

Students are taught kata (choreographed patterns of movements), kumite (freestyle controlled fighting) and Japanese terminology.

Botting is preparing to go for his black belt in October.