By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
After years of training that continued online during the pandemic, one Sitka karate student has earned her black belt.
Bella Laybourn, 19, has trained with Sitka’s Kenwa Karate since middle school, and finally completed her training this month before returning to college.
Karate has given Laybourn a new sense of self-confidence, she told the Sentinel by email.
“Earning my black belt in karate feels great. I’ve never been athletic or felt particularly strong physically and have been very much an introvert my whole life,” Laybourn wrote. “In some ways, earning my black belt and learning the different katas and fighting techniques has not only given me a sense of confidence, but also helped me to stay disciplined and focused on my goals, especially when I am stressed. I have learned a lot about myself and others through the consistency of practice.”
Bella Laybourn, right, earns her black belt in karate from Sensei Laurinda Marcello after years of training, August 18 at Kenwa Karate. (Photo provided)
She was awarded a black belt on August 18 following a series of exams that covered topics from blocking and fighting techniques to shoulder rolls and Japanese terminology, Kenwa Karate Sensei Laurinda Marcello said.
“The physical exam, we just did it over the whole summer, but she did three katas... We did a comprehensive review of all the blocking techniques and all the fighting techniques in the curriculum, and that’s just to look for problems. She didn’t have any... We did some fixtures, somersaults and shoulder rolls,” Marcello said. “The written exam is split up into two parts... it tests stuff like basic knowledge of plate sparing rules and Japanese terminology.”
Laybourn was one of Marcello’s first students in Sitka.
“Not everyone stands out on their first day, but she was one of these really rare kids,” Marcello recalled.
Despite this natural aptitude, karate didn’t come easy for Laybourn. Over the years, she struggled with some of the more advanced kata techniques and also found it hard to balance karate with school, she said.
“The most challenging aspect for me was juggling my academic schedule with karate practice and time commitments,” said Laybourn, now a student at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “Also, some of the later kata techniques were a bit more difficult to master. I do, however, find karate rewarding and it feels great to be able to persevere through the challenges I faced and achieve the goals I set for myself.”
The pandemic shut down in-person karate activities last year, and Zoom-based instruction added a new layer of challenge.
“It was definitely not the same as having someone physically present to make sure our forms were consistent,” she said. “It was also easy to lose focus practicing in our living rooms as opposed to the dojo, especially with two rambunctious puppies that were always curious about our movements.”
Marcello noted that local karate lessons are now returning after more than a year of instruction via Zoom.
“She did private lessons during the period we were closed, on Zoom and outdoors,” Marcello said. “It was really weird, last March we kind of had to shut down group classes completely for a while. Now we’re slowly ramping back up.”
She noted that it’s not unusual for students who earn black belts to later become karate instructors.
“I kind of view it as a choose your own adventure; some people who get black belts go into teaching,” Marcello said.
Laybourn returned to college last week, but she hopes to continue her involvement in karate.
“There’s a karate club at Carnegie Mellon that I joined pre-pandemic my freshman year,” she said. “They practice a couple times a week and I try to attend when my schedule permits. I’m hoping that my schedule this semester will allow me to attend practice at least once a week, but it might be hard to juggle that with my research and TA (teacher’s assistant) commitments.”
