By David Nagel
The medals are just a bonus for a family of Kooweerup karate kids that took home gold medals and some valuable experience from the 2021 Australian Open Karate Championships held in Sydney recently.
Brothers Nikola and Luka Tomic won gold medals in individual kumite events, while older sister Emilija was hot on their heels with a fourth place finish in the Individual Female Kata.
Kumite is a form of sparring against an opponent, where competitors score points for particular kicks and punches, while Kata is a detailed choreographed pattern of martial arts movements. Kata is practised in Japanese martial arts as a way to memorize and perfect the movements being executed.
Snezana Tomic, the children’s proud mother, says the pride she feels for her children came way before the gold medals were draped around their necks.
“We are very proud of them all, but it’s not about the medals, they are a bonus,” she said.
“It’s about the discipline and respect, and you see that from the youngest to the oldest people in the sport. It’s not about fighting, but more about learning self-defence and being confident that they can defend themselves.”
Emilija, 15, Nikola, 14 and Luka, 10, were introduced to the sport in 2017 by their uncle Golub Tomic, the brother of their father Dusan, with Golub, a sensei instructor, having more than 35-years-experience in karate.
Snez and Dusan share the driving duties each week, with Emilija, Nikola and Luka required at the Rowville headquarters of Golub’s Yoseikan-Ryu Karate, six days a week – four for training and two as part of the Victorian Karate team, with all three athletes set to represent Victoria at the national championships in October.
Emilija and Nikola were also selected in the Australian Karate team that was supposed to go to New Caledonia in 2020, and this year’s competition has also been cancelled due to Covid-19.
Nikola, who won gold in the Kumite Individual Male Cadets 70kg-plus category, said the years of hard work gave him a sense of confidence and calmness both in and outside of competition.
He also disagrees slightly with his mother’s take on the importance of winning medals.
“I love feeling confident and fit and the best part is winning medals, it makes you feel on top of the world” Nikola said about his karate.
“And I don’t feel nervous before competitions because I’ve been training all year and know what I am capable of, but you do have mixed emotions before you start.”
Nikola has high ambitions, with a trip to Las Vegas next year for the US Open just the start.
“My aim is to turn professional when I turn 18 and fight all around the world,” he said, before showing his cheeky side.
“And I am proud of my brother and sister…but they’re not as good as me.”
It was a poke at his sister that didn’t go unnoticed.
“Fourth was a good result but not as good as my brothers,” Emilija said, with her brothers having fun and giggling in the background.
“I’m just doing as much as I can and being inspired by the professionals that I like to watch.
“I need to keep working on my technique, my punches and my stance, it’s a mix of everything that makes you better and helps you keep improving. You have to be fast and strong sometimes, and other times you need to be soft and have feel, there’s so much to learn.”
Emilija is dedicated to her craft and does a work out on her days off, memorising at least 12 of the more than 100 Kata’s that exist in the sport.
Luka, who won gold in the Kumite Individual Male Under-12 45kg-plus category, turned around his fortunes after winning silver medals at his first two attempts at the championships.
He has simpler aspirations than his big brother, but they are pretty impressive at the same time.
“At the moment I am just concentrating on doing everything I can to get to black belt and then we will see what happens after that,” Luka said.
“I love going to training because that’s where I can get better and keep working through the belts. I am blue-green right now but will be going for blue-white next.”
You get the feeling that nothing will get in the way of the Tomic’s from achieving their aims…which includes winning those medals that mum thinks are just a bonus!
