Three New Paltz High School student/athletes set sail across the Pond to test their martial arts mettle against some of the best fighters in the world. Mason Salvestrini, Caitlyn Anderson and Lyric Schenker – all juniors and lifelong karate students of Sean Schenker at Fighting Spirit Karate (FSK) in Gardiner – were selected to compete for Team USA at the British Kyokushin Karate Championships this October.
Most of these athletes have been training upwards of two to three hours a day for more than ten years as students of the Fighting Spirit dojo. Their selection as part of the USA National Team is something that Schenker is immensely proud of and humbled by. “They were chosen by a strategy team from the USA IFK [International Federation of Karate, the larger governing Kyokushin Karate organization] that follows these athletes’ progress to determine who they’ll invite,” Shihan Schenker explained. “These three FSK fighters have done really well at regional tournaments, participating in summer camps and putting up winning records all year long.” FSK has also helped put many of its athletes on the map in terms of having them qualify and compete in regional, national, British, European and even world Kyokushin Karate Championships throughout the past decade.
This was the 45th annual British Kyokushin Championships, with competitors going toe-to-toe in knockdown fights in age-group categories, as well as amateur and elite adult fighters. Held in the K2 arena in Crawley, England, this event also incorporated the 13th annual Cup of Europe, which broadened the competition to include the best of Kyokushin fighters from 45 countries, totaling more than 500 athletes.
“Our fighters were all in the U18 [under age 18] Division, as they’re all 16 or 17 years old,” explained Shihan Schenker. While they are under 18 years of age, that does not mean that these young martial artists wore protective gear. “This was full-contact fighting,” Schenker said. There are no shoes, no shin guards, chest guards or gloves. It is bare-knuckle and barefoot fighting, with linear and circular kicks to the face and body allowed, as well as punches and body blows, “but no face punching,” clarified Schenker. “It’s aggressive, no doubt, but these kids are elite athletes that have been training and honing their fighting skills, flexibility, endurance, speed, six days a week for years. They work on running, lifting, agility, strength, visualization, meditation on top of their fight-specific training.”
The arena is set up with four competition mats or “rings” on the floor in the center. These are 20-by-20-foot mats, with judges positioned on all sides, and the ring divided between the “red” and “white” competitor, with their sensei (teacher) in the corner to coach them. Behind the mats, according to Schenker, are the organization heavyweights and dignitaries, the press and then the mass of spectators.
According to Schenker, Salvestrini and Anderson both had great fights that went into extra rounds, “but were lost on decision. They both fought wonderfully and went into overtime. The decision could have gone either way. That’s how close these matches were.” Both FSK students had to dig deep to go not only one round, but two and then three, before the judges were forced to choose a winner. “They both fought hard, implemented their fighting strategies and did a phenomenal job representing Team USA. It was Mason’s first time overseas, and it’s a monumental experience for them, for me, for all of us.”
Schenker’s daughter Lyric went on to compete in the finals for her division, coming in second place overall – the first American fighter to come in second place in this tournament. “Yes, she was the first female American, but the first American to finish second,” said Schenker.
Lyric had a buy in the first round because her opponent did not make weight. In the second round, she held off a tough competitor from Belgium and went on to represent FSK and USA IFK in the finals against a fighter from the Netherlands. “It was a close round. The girl from the Netherlands was a phenomenal fighter, a wonderful athlete, very humble.” The pairing of these two young female fighters made for a dramatic and close round, with the judges going to decision and awarding the win to the Netherland fighter.
“Lyric traveled all the way over here and ended up on the podium in second place for USA,” said Schenker. “I’m so proud of her and our entire team. These kids have to sacrifice so much to fight at the level that they do. They have school and homework and training hours a day, and then Caitlyn and Lyric teach classes at the dojo. I can have 45 kids come off the bus at the studio from Duzine and Lenape after school, and I know that those two can be right there to run an incredible class. They both want to be teachers.”
Schenker said that, in terms of their fighting styles, he channels the spirit of the landscape they train and live in. “I call it ‘mountain hands.’ There are times when they’re struggling for breath and they think they have nothing left in the tank and have another round to fight, and I’ll just say, ‘Connect to your breath, get rooted in your stance and let those mountain hands fly.’”
For Schenker, there’s a large spiritual component, not only to this particular form of full-contact, stand-up martial arts fighting, but also a hyperlocal one where “We are all rooted here in these mountains and lakes and trails. It’s a feeling, and there are moments when you call on it.”
What’s next for the FSK students? There will be more regional championships in Rochester and Atlantic City, and then an inaugural tournament in Ohio, and then onto the BKK in the fall of 2024, with eyes looking all the way forward to Kyokushin Karate World Championships in Germany in 2025. “That’s like the Olympics of our sport,” said Schenker.
In the meantime, this teacher told his students that “They already won before they even stepped out on that mat” at the BKK Championships. “The work they put in day in and day out, and the fact that they were chosen to compete for their country? That’s a win.”
To learn more about Fighting Spirit Karate, go to www.fskmartialartsandfitness.com.
Join the family! 
