CINDY - QUEEN OF
KARATE IN T&T
By Gregory Trujillo
Newsday
Midweek Sports
April 19, 2000
Page 5
Twenty-eight-year-old Cindy Guevara never dreamt that one day she
would become the 'Karate Queen' of Trinidad and Tobago.
In
fact, it took her one and a half years of looking at the sport before she
finally decided to get involved in the Japanese system of unarmed combat, using
the hands and feet as weapons.
Now
Cindy can reflect on 1999 as the year in which her decision bore fruit. The crowning moment came when the governing
Trinidad and Tobago Karate Union nominated her for the Witco Sportswoman of the
Year title.
Now
the 128-pound fighter is set to conquer the world. The next three weeks will be crucial. Cindy, now a Nidan second degree black belt, left here on
Saturday on a three-member SKIFTT team to the seventh SKIF World Championships
in Bali, Indonesia. She was accompanied
by Kim Ngui Senpai, a third degree black belt, and Sensei Neville Mason, coach
and head instructor of SKIFTT.
A
day after returning home from the Indonesia trip, she will be winging out to
Chile to represent Trinidad and Tobago at the seventh pan American Karate
Championships.
Although
it took her a long time to make up her mind that she wanted to become a
karateka, success was instant.
In
her first tournament in February 1993, she placed first in kata at SKIFTT's
second classified series. A month later
she was graded to a yellow belt by Sensei Mason.
In
May the same year, she was tops in both kata (free fighting) and kumite (sparring)
at the first Caribbean Classic Championships.
The
next six months saw Cindy receiving two skips of ranks. She was graded to green belt in July and
purple belt six months later.
Her
first taste of international competition was in March 1994 when she was third
(kata and kumite) in the Women's Intermediate Division at the 12th Anniversary
of Dojo San Luis and second Kanazawa Cup Championship International Tournament
in Caracas.
On
her return from Venezuela Cindy grew from strength to strength and was graded
to third Kyu Brown Belt (April), second Kyu Brown Belt (July) and first Kyu
Brown Belt (December).
Her
biggest achievement in 1995 was in November when she was graded to Shodan (1st
degree black belt) by Sensei Kenzo Dozano (5th Dan) of SKIF Canada.
From
March to August 1996, Cindy campaigned overseas, placing third in women team
kata at the 14th Anniversary of Dojo San Luis and fifth Kanazawa Cup
Championship International Tournament in Caracas, third at the Pan American
championships in Caracas and second in kata (black belt mixed genders division)
at the Barbados World Federation summer International Championships (she also
got a special award for kumite black belt mixed genders).
Cindy
continued her rise to the top the following year by competing at the sixth SKI
World Championships in Milan, Italy and assisted in conducting seminars at a
SKI Dojo in London.
She
was also graded to Nidan second degree black belt by Shihan Hirokazu Kanazawa
(9th Dan), who presented her with an award for the best karateka for
1997.
But
it may never have happened had Cindy not been encouraged by her fiancé Ian
Sammy to try the sport.
Eight
years ago, Cindy was invited by Sammy to workout with him and other members of
the Shotokan Karate-Do International Federation of Trinidad and Tobago (SKIFTT)
at the Tranquillity Methodist Church Hall on Victoria Avenue.
Having
little or no desire to get involved in the sport, Cindy, then a shy and quiet
person, attended the training sessions as an observer - something she did for
nearly two straight years.
"Because
of encouraging words from Ian, I would go and watch," she said. "I did that for more than a year before
I decided to join the classes."
"Back
then, it was mainly for physical fitness and to protect myself in case of
unwanted attacks. Now it's much more
than that."
Cindy
revealed that physically and psychologically, her life changed. "I used to be a very quiet person but
karate has allowed me to build on my self-confidence and low self-esteem."
"For
example, in my line of work I deal with customers everyday, some irate, some
not so irate, and I am able to deal with them effectively."
Cindy
grew up in Trincity, Tacarigua. She
obtained her primary education at Tunapuna Girls' RC School and her secondary
education at Tunapuna Government Secondary and Arima Comprehensive.
The
youngest daughter of Cynthia and Cecil Guevara is now employed with the
National Insurance Property Development Company Limited (NIPDEC). She handles property sales at flag Staff
Hill, which overlooks St James on the outskirts of Port of Spain.
She
said she enjoys her job. "I get to
meet a lot of people of integrity, develop a rapport with them. They basically trust your decisions in
certain things and they look forward for assistance, queries and things they
want to find out with respect to properties."
"It
is not easy juggling work with training and my other day to day
responsibilities," explained Cindy, who trains three times a week. "It's difficult at times to keep on top
of everything and still give my best at karate. I will like to devote more time to training."
She
attributes her success to hard work and the astute training from her instructor
and other black belts.
Cindy
noted that she increased her training over the pat six months in order to be
fully fit for her upcoming international assignment.
It
will be her second appearance at the Pan Am Championships. "The first was a learning
experience." When questioned as to
why her club had more women than men, she said: "I think women are
becoming more aware of the current domestic violence situation in Trinidad and
Tobago and, in fact, they have to protect themselves if ever they are faced
with such a situation."
Cindy
said she never had to use her skills outside of competition. 'I am not looking forward to that. But if the situation arises I will defend
myself the way I have been taught.'
"I
enjoy what I am doing and I don't see myself doing anything different in the
future. I believe if you have something
working for you in your life you should stick with it."