17 Apr 2016

He might be small in stature but he is hard as nails and kicks like a mule. He does not get much trouble from bullies on the streets and it’s easy to see why.

Motheo doesn’t behave like old karate teachers from Kung Fu movie scripts who go into the village and kick everyone willy-nilly.

He has learnt that karate is all about discipline and self defence.

He is only 10 years old and has already been draped with a first dan black belt.

His father Lesley Moipolai says his son did not learn karate by the time he started walking and talking but he had a yearning to learn the discipline.

Moipolai senior practiced karate during his hey days in Selebi Phikwe but never really honed any ambitions of becoming an instructor or sensei in karate lingo one day.

But his son Motheo took up karate lessons when he was five years old after joining the Hayashi Ha stable and adapted very well.

“My cousin was doing karate and I watched her as a kid and I said to myself this was going to be interesting” he said speaking of Pearl Ranna.

The latter was a high performing athlete during her days at the dojo but nagging injuries forced her to hang her gloves.

At one point she was engaged with the national team and also attended international events such as the US Open.

Now the ambitious and outspoken young warrior is looking forward to being graded a second degree black belt in the near future and with a bit of hard work and perseverance reach the heights of Shihan Mpho Bakwadi who is the greatest inspiration to a lot of youngsters as he is 6th dan black belt.

There are ten levels of black belt in total. In just five years of training and competing at international meets Motheo has amassed a total of over 28 medals the latest being his recent exploits at the Junior International Cup in America where he was crowned with a bronze for his efforts in individual kumite.

Even though he has not made a break into the national junior team yet Motheo is optimistic he would take his talent as far as the World Championships.

He has already attended amongst others the Cape Town Open, Johannesburg Open, US Open and training hard for next year’s Barcelona Hayashi Ha International cup.

The well-built puncher is currently doing standard six at Rainbow Primary School and hopes to keep his good marks at school so that one day he becomes an accountant or lawyer. ENDS