Braille Institute celebrates karate champions

It’s just like any other karate class, but the students, or samurai, are visually impaired or blind.

Sensei Tamara Canedo has taught her class at the Braille Institute since January. She said while it would normally take about a year to prepare for competition, this group took home top awards at the USA Open Tournament in Las Vegas after just four months.

USA Open Tournament

Rolly Macadangdang, First Place Isaac Pugh, Second Place Tony Delgado, Third Place

“Though they may not be able to see, they can feel. They can feel energies. They can be aware of their surrounding,” said Canedo.

Canedo is a third degree black bet. She’s been practicing karate since she was a young child, under the instruction of her father, who died exactly three years ago. She said this class is a way to give back in his memory.

“I’ve been able to see them grow, not only physically, but mentally,” said Canedo.

“I was losing my balance a lot. I used to fall a lot. Now I don’t fall,” said Tony Delgado, one of the student’s in Canedo’s class. Delgado took home the bronze medal at the USA Open. He started coming to the Braille Institute eight years ago, after he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmantosis.

“If I go outside, I lose like 90% of the colors. It’s all like driving in the fog,” said Delgado. “I never imagined I could get this far, and that encouraged me to go even further in life.”

Delgado looks forward to trials for nationals, as does classmate Rolly Macadangdang, who took home gold in April.

“Even though I lost my sight, I can be a sensei too,” said Macadangdang.

“If anybody has really learned anything it’s been me,” said Canedo. “I really walked in blind to it, and I say that because I never knew all the detail that would come into teaching them.”

If the class succeeds at qualifiers in June, the next stop is nationals. Sensei Canedo said the class has been fundraising with support from Women Working Wonders, Karate Can-Do, Rhea Hoffman, Maxwell Lifschutz, and Mary Pugh. For more information, contact Braille Institute .