TOP STORY for January 2006

Gold - No Problem
By Sean Wong

"Opportunity is never lost. It is just passed on to those who are ready!" Christopher de Souza Costa credits Sensei Monzon, the NKA coach, for this quote. Throughout the years, de Souza Costa has been training with many top coaches in Canada and the world. The pressure of being a champion is part of this athlete's everyday life. Every match for this accomplished athlete is a new challenge and accordingly a new lesson. He applies the lessons learned from competing in Karate to succeed in life. He is particular about a positive attitude towards challenges. Overcoming these challenges, through his eyes, is a matter of seizing an opportunity, instead of worrying about a problem.

Christopher de Sousa Costa is one of several athletes considered to be a rising superstar within Karate Ontario. He has been an avid karate-ka for twelve years, competing in Karate Ontario for the past eleven. This University of Toronto student is currently on the Karate Ontario team and trains, through Karate, his mind, body, and spirit.

De Sousa Costa's mentor, Karl Sutton, is also no stranger to winning. Sutton is considered by many to be one of the best fighters in Canada. Sutton and de Sousa Costa have been a team since the very beginning. Their approach to winning goes beyond dojo practice. In addition to his university commitments, de Sousa Cost dedicates between 6 to 15 hours per week training on the tatami. Many more hours are spent studying video tapes of his performances and those of his opponents'. "I believe that strategy, but also the opportunity is the key to winning fights, instead of practicing 100 combinations in a training session", says de Souza Costa. An attitude passed down or, at least influenced by his coach, Sutton.

De Sousa Costa's most memorable win was last year at the Junior Pan-American Games when he faced the tournament's dominant fighter Rafael Martins of Brazil. In their match de Sousa Costa won in a 5-0 upset. It was a surprise to him and to the entire audience. That day, he fulfilled one of his goals, to become a Pan-American champion. Winning, though, is not everything to an athlete. De Sousa Costa remembers losing in the Kata quarter-finals against the national title holder Jean-Philippe Paquin of Team Quebec at the 2003 National Black Belt Championships in Quebec. A true sportsman loses as gracefully as he/she wins with poise. With a score of 2 flags against Philippe Paquin's 3, he lost realising his opportunity for gold will present itself next time.

Although Karate's birthplace is in Japan, it has become truly the ownership of the world, as de Souza Costa has demonstrated. Meeting people from dozens of distant lands through the sport of Karate has helped him appreciate the common humanity that exists in all of us. The universal language is not in the spoken word but is discovered in the art of "Empty Hand". These bonds have affected de Sousa Costa deeply. Of all the things that he has learned about competition and Karate he feels that his friendships are his most beneficial personal gains. At the end of the day, win or lose, the opportunity to form bonds with new people is, in itself, worth its weight in gold.

Christopher de Souza Costa
List of Achievements

6 time Provincial kumite champion (overall points).
2 time Provincial kata champion (overall points).
3 time National kumite silver medalist.
National kata bronze medalist.
Kubota World-Cup Champion
Iwata Cup Champion
Jr. Pan-American Silver medalist
Jr. Pan-American Gold medalist
2 time Ontario junior team captain
National junior team captain.
5 th place at the Jr. World Championships
USA-NKF Junior Olympics, North American Title Belt Champion.

Important Documents

TOP STORY for January 2006