Karate kid’s mum brings home gold
Daughter’s lead takes Livi mum to World title
A Livingston woman followed her daughter into karate and ended up with a gold medal at the World Championships.
Lesley Carmody (48) won the female Masters over-45 kumite in Poland, where she also took bronze in kata, in the shotokan discipline.
Ms Carmody says she went into the championships with no high hopes, and doesn’t expect ever to eclipse her achievements.
However, she’s doubly determined to pass her black belt 2nd Dan next year and see how far she can go in the sport.
She said: “I won the Scottish Championships and was runnerup at the British Championships, so that qualified me. I went into it with no expectations. It was my first World Championships and I had only been awarded my black belt in November 2015.
“I was absolutely delighted. I went in with no expectations at all, because I know how competitive it can be to get a medal.
“I just wanted to see a World Championships and didn’t expect anything – but if you go into it with that attitude you can do good things, and I certainly exceeded my own expectations.
“That’s the pinnacle – without being negative, I don’t expect to achieve anything like that again.”
Driving her daughter Kiera to classes and seeing other adults getting involved prompted Lesley to give shotokan a try, and she quickly became hooked.
Fo l l owing her Wo r l d Championship success, Lesley took silver at the Scottish International Championships at Meadowbank, Edinburgh and will take part in the Scottish Grand Prix in August.
She said: “I’m absolutely delighted that I kept it up. I enjoy it as a sport and a discipline, and it’s a great sport for fitness.
“My daughter Kiera had been doing it since she was seven and got her black belt at 13, went on the competition circuit and did extremely well, so it was just a case of supporting her, really.
“I was running her back and forth and saw that there were some adults doing their gradings at the same time as Kiera, so I got interested and joined a local class.
“Kiera wasn’t as involved when she went to university, but I got my black belt grading and was going to five or six classes a week.
“I’m desperate to get my black belt 2nd Dan and I’m eligible for that next December.
“I would recommend shotokan to others. It’s a contact sport, so you need to be prepared for that, but it’s a great way of keeping fit and learning new skills.”