Cape Town - A twelve-year-old karateka from Mitchells Plain has appealed for help from the public to get her to Johannesburg, where she will be representing Western Province at the South African Japan Karate Association (JKA) championships in May.
Alaine Fielies fell in love with karate when her grandfather took her to a dojo while she was in Grade R at West End Primary School in Mitchells Plain.
The South African JKA championships will be hosted at the Ellis Park Indoor Arena from May 17 to May 18.
For the black and brown belts, a team will be selected there to represent SA JKA at the World Champs in Japan in October.
She needs R6 000 to compete in Joburg.
The selection of the WP JKA team took place at the provincial championships held on March 9 at the Maties Tygerberg Campus sports hall.
She came first and second respectively in the Kata (form) and kumite (fighting) divisions for 12-year-old girls’ brown and black belts and was then selected for the Western Province JKA team.
Fielies is currently a brown belt who competed in the Western Province trials and won a Silver and Gold medal in the trials. Winners are selected automatically to compete at the SA championships.
Her mother, Noelle Fielies, says: “Alaine has always been someone who shows up to anything she has to do. She faces a challenge head-on and puts her body, mind and soul into everything that she does.”
She said her daughter’s coach, Sensei Jon Williams, has played a big role in her sporting career, always motivating her to do her best, encouraging her to never give up and just keep on practising.
“Alaine is disciplined and dedicated she never misses training and her oupa brings her to training, and gives support and encouraged her from the very beginning,” said Williams.
Banking details: Capitec Bank, Acc: 2198421182, Ms AJ Fielies.