For more than a decade, Guy Didier Rurangayire has been in the sport of karate and from his experience, he says locally, there is a need to ensure this particular game gets equal opportunity to compete at an international level. For this reason, in 2015, he started his own Karate academy known as Japan Karate Association Rwanda at Centre Sportif de Kigali, where he focuses on SHOTOKAN. This is a karate style which is a catalyst for karatekas’ fitness and also gives the trainees the ability to defend themselves. It is also an activity philosophically rooted in core values such as patience, compassion, and respect. A young girl trains at the Japan Karate Association Rwanda at Centre Sportif de Kigali. In the club, the 41-year-old trains both adults and children between the ages of 4 to 15. “I strive at teaching Rwandans and the young generation to have space to compete globally as well as instill them with basic karate skills so that they can have the required standards to compete with others,” he says. Rurangayire says the skills enable the players not to be frustrated by their level whenever they have a chance to compete on the international scene. “This means that if you are a black belt JKR, you have the same standard, level with people across the world,” he says. They also do this by inviting senior karate experts from different countries, to help instill required skills to the beneficiaries. Children doing press ups at Rurangayire’s karate Academy. “When we teach them, we also include the philosophy of becoming complete sportsmanship and the values of sports. We train them physically, mentally so that they can grow up with such values in consideration that karate will give them an opportunity to be involved in other sports they are passionate about.” His career path From the age of 13, Rurangayire started developing an interest in karate, thanks to his neighbor by then who used to teach him and other kids some basics in karate within his neighborhood. When he joined high school, (Lycee De Kigali), he got involved in other sports like handball, football, and athletics; however, his major passion was karate. After playing for different clubs, in 1999, he joined the national Karate team, and for the first time, they participated in the African championship that was held in South Africa. After five years in the national team, he retired and became a member of executive committee and technical director of the Rwanda Karate federation until 2014. He also got opportunities to train with different Karate masters abroad. At the continental level, he attended several training camps, where he focused on basics and traditional karate. Meanwhile, the father of two narrates that back then, karate as a game was not well known and for them, it was all about building their careers. There were also no funds, and players were only supported by their masters and other senior karate experts, something that hindered them from exploring their talent to the maximum. Comparing karate back then and now, he cites that there has been enormous progress as the game is getting more popular. For instance, he mentions that the national karate team now is more structured with permanent coaches supported by the government through the ministry of sports. In 2011, Rwanda started sending youth to participate in continental and world competitions. The country has also won different medals in youth and senior categories at the continental level, which he says is a big milestone as far as the game of karate is concerned. “At the moment, karate has become more popular and in every district, there is at least one karate club managed by a karate instructor with a black belt. In general, karate now is the most popular martial arts sport thanks to efforts put in by different bodies,” he says. Challenges When something is at its development stage, Rurangayire says keeping the standard is abit challenging to the federation, pointing out that to keep monitoring the level of black belts, teaching, management system, and ranks is still a problem. To rectify this, he says there is a need for the federation to monitor and evaluate thoroughly, especially when it comes to those heading karate clubs to have some minimum requirements to be allowed to start a karate club. At the moment, he says this is not well regulated but he is optimistic that in the future, this won’t be a big issue. Rurangayire holds a fourth degree (4th Dan) black belt of the International Traditional Karate Federation and Rwanda Karate Federation as well as a third degree (3rd Dan) of the Japan Karate Association, an internationally recognized certificate.
