Jonathan Ferreira trains at Douvris Martial Arts and Fitness Centre on Bank Street.
Jonathan Ferreira is a real life karate kid.
The Grade 10 Immaculata High School student is competing at the World Karate and Kickboxing Championships this November 8 –15 in Orlando, Florida.
He earned a spot on Team Canada last spring, placing first in the minus 60–kilogram division for sparring at the Canadian Nationals.
This is the fourth consecutive year Ferreira, 15, has gone to the world championships. After placing third in the minus 55–kilogram category last year, Ferreira says he is hoping he will bring home a gold medal.
“I am confident . . . lately, I’ve been getting first a lot, because I’ve been training a lot,” says Ferreira.
Ferreira’s coach, John Douvris, agrees.
“If he doesn’t finish in the top three, I’ll be pretty disappointed,” he says. “He’s been winning first place in most tournaments he enters here in Canada this year.”
This includes wins in the 2008 Canadian nationals, Ontario provincials, and other regional competitions in Ontario and Quebec.
Jonathan’s mother, Miriam Ferreira, who holds a black belt herself, is also hopeful.
“I think he has a good chance of getting gold,” she says. “This weekend we went to Montreal; it was a stiff competition, but we walked away with first place. He’s going in very strong and very optimistic this year.”
Ferreira says he’s excited and anxious about the upcoming WKA championships. He has maintained his usual schedule, training five days a week in sparring, kata, and weapons – the three main disciplines in karate.
“I’ve trained a lot, and watched my weight. Closer to worlds, I try not to train more, just in case I get injured,” he says.
Ferreira’s mother also expresses concern over injuries.
“I worry about him [competing], especially so close to worlds,” she says. “They have three warnings, and they will try and do the nastiest things to you in those three warnings, especially if they are losing.”
But not everything about the championships is serious. While in Florida, Ferreira plans to visit Universal Studios with teammates.
In past years, he has also traveled to Spain and Germany with Team Canada. “It’s fun, you get a little vacation too,” he says.
Ferreira started karate at the Douvris Martial Arts and Fitness Centre after his seventh birthday in 2000.
His mother says she was surprised when he asked to try it out, because he had played other sports like soccer, but never continued with them.
“When I put him in karate, I thought it was something to keep him out of trouble. I never thought he would be that interested,” says Ferreira’s mother. “So when he said he wanted to try karate, I thought ‘okay, here we go again."
But just over three years later, Ferreira earned his junior black belt and started volunteering at Douvris, instructing children as young as four years old.
“I decided that since all my teachers taught me, I would give something back,” Ferreira says.
“I was kind of nervous at first, but then I thought, alright, just to help them out.”
Today, Ferreira continues to teach sparring and kata classes three times a week to students ranging from age four, to adults in their mid-20s. Sparring, or fighting, is faster and “looser,” Ferreira explains.
It’s about punching and kicking, whereas kata is more traditional, with slow movements and specific stances, he says.
Douvris, who owns the centre, says he is a good, patient teacher. “He knows the curriculum and his techniques really well, and he’s able to explain that to the kids. He’s a role model to the kids as well.”
Ferreira says he hopes to take the test for his second-degree black belt when he is eligible at age 16. He is also interested in full-contact fighting. He’s been taking private lessons from fellow Canadian teammate, Robbie Lavoie, who has over a dozen titles at the World Championships. Kickboxing, or full contact fighting, is similar to karate, Ferreira explains, but is rougher, and more like boxing.
At the end of the day, Ferreira says Karate is “all just fun and games.”
He says his larger goal is to maintain his grades to go to university. “There is not really much you can do with [karate] as a career, it’s more just a hobby,” he says. “So I’m planning on going to university to become a sports medicine doctor . . . anything involving sports, I’m there.”