"They walk through the door thinking they can become 'The Karate Kid' and in six months become the champion," said Feriba Madani, an instructor at IMA Karate in Louisville. "But that's not really the truth."
Turns out, the Karate Kid is her kid.
Madani's 15-year-old son, Kamran, won a bronze medal at the World Junior Karate Championships from Oct. 13-16 in Melaka, Malaysia. In other words, for his age range, he's one of the best on the planet.
"I was in tears when he won his bronze-medal match," said Ferbia, who runs IMA with Cyrus Madani, her husband and Kamran's father. "Nothing could make me prouder of him and his performance than placing for the U.S. team."
Kamran's dedication to his sport -- and success in that same sport -- earned the Broomfield High School sophomore The Denver Post Youth Excellence in Sports award for October.
"I'm not really any different than any other kid -- I go to school, play video games, have fun with friends," he said. "But it's moderated, because I really have to work hard and train five to seven days a week. In the summer, I was putting in three, 3½ hours a day. Now it's about two hours."
With a karate hanshi for a father and a sensei for a mother, the kid was likely sweeping the leg in the womb. His mom has home videos of her 2-year-old son "punching and kicking," but Kamran didn't officially start training until age 6.
Pedigree, though, can only go so far in karate, especially because the sport is more brains than brawn.
"If the mental part doesn't come along with the physical part, they're never going to meet in a way than can produce quality," Ferbia said. "Control of the mind means control of the body."
The 5-foot-10, 165-pound Kamran showcased both in October, when he represented his country in the ring. He won his first match and lost the second -- but after winning his third, he was thus competing for third place.
He landed two punches to the opponent's body, but the clock moved like Todd Helton rounding second.
"For my age group, it's a two-minute match and it was probably the longest two minutes I've ever experienced in my life," Kamran said. "I took the match (by the score of) 2-0 and after the ref said 'Time!' this feeling of joy came into me. I stepped out of the ring and one of my coaches picked me up.
"Last week it started to really sink in. Wow -- I just got third in the world."
