LUMA Academy at the Japan Championships.
First row left to right: Lucian Grooms, Alex O’Daire, Evan Grooms and AJ Taylor. Back row left to right: Sensei GM Adams Snipes, Sensei Amber Snipes, Sensei Josh Malott and Sensei Preston Moore.
Submitted by Adams Snipes
LUMA Academy during its trip to Japan for the Japan Championships.
Practice is held at the Japan Championships where LUMA Academy competed.
Life’s Ultimate Martial Arts Academy returned to Maysville after visiting the home of karate and placing in the Japanese Championships.
General Manager and Chief Instructor Adam Snipes said their highest placement was seventh and the lowest was 14th out of roughly 400 that competed.
Five LUMA Academy team members competed, Preston Moore placed seventh, Evan Grooms placed eighth and 14th, AJ Taylor placed ninth, Lucian Grooms placed 14th and Alex O’Daire placed 14th.
Snipes noted people from other countries were competing, but it was mainly Japan World Championships.
Practices were held before the tournament for Team LUMA with a couple of higher-ups, Snipes noted. He was also asked to teach a seminar in which he said it was a great honor to do that.
“I taught the very basic beginner Korea version of what we do here,” Snipes said.
The building that housed the tournament (a Dojo) had multiple stories where buttons could be pushed to indicate which floor you wanted.
Snipes recalled, “You would push whether you wanted to rent it for karate, judo, jujitsu and then that floor is yours.”
Team LUMA made friends at the tournament including the head director, who Snipes noted is probably one of the most known Karatekas in Japan.
“To hear their feedback and hear, “Wow you’re good, where’d you learn this from?” and just hearing that..just made our coaches feel phenomenal. That’s what we’re here for and every day it’s a blessing to be able to pass on this knowledge to others,” Snipes said.
Before the competition, Team LUMA traveled around seeing monuments and the history of karate.
“We got to see some monuments of what the kids are training in, some of their forms, who founded it hundreds of years ago and everything. So we experienced that culture as well as some of the temples and different sites from Okinawa and Japan both,” Snipes explained.
He noted it would be hard to pick a favorite place they saw due to it being rich in culture and being surrounded by what students learn at the birthplace of karate.
Recalling a festival the group encountered, Snipes said there were drums, a dance and a dragon. “They started chanting U.S.A. so they love America over there and so I thought that was really neat,” Snipes said.
He explained the students got to see what they were taught when they visited, reinforcing and putting it in a new light.
“It was a great experience and everybody did phenomenal. Even the nervousness, I mean they pushed through their boundaries and their confidence and persevered,” Snipes stated.
He invited everyone to visit the LUMA Academy Facebook page to see all of the pictures of what the group visited and experienced for greater details of their trip.
“I’d also like to re-thank everyone, all our sponsors, community supports and all our coaches, family to help make this a competition and historical event for our students to remember,” Snipes said.
