Section B · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, October 7, 1999
Kansas' karate kid wins grand championship
Matt Bowles, Naperville, Ill., freshman, stretches before practicing martial arts. Bowles has practiced karate since the age of 6 and will compete at the World Games in December in Niagara Falls, Canada. Photo by Nick Kruza/KANSAN
Freshman focuses on World Games as next challenge
By Jason Walker
sports@kanson.com
kanson sportswriter
Most people in this area probably don't know it, but the University of Kansas has a world-champion athlete in its midst.
Matthew Bowles, Naperville, Ill., freshman, is that champion. Bowles competes in karate meets across the country, and last year he qualified for the world championships in Savannah, Ga., where he won three medals: a gold, a silver and a bronze.
In fact, Bowles is headed to the World Games in Niagara Falls, Canada, this December. He qualified for the games when he won grand champion at a tournament last weekend in Detroit.
But not many people know about Bowles' karate ability.
"I don't really talk about it that much," he said. "I barely told anyone in high school except for my close friends. Then the Chicago Tribune did an article my senior year, and everyone found out about me."
Bowles said he tried not to publicize his success because he didn't want people to think he was conceited. He wants to be known as being modest.
"A lot of people that are good at karate act like they are all bad," he
said. "I hate that. People with attitudes like that give karate a bad name."
Bowles studies two main styles that form the basics of his techniques — a Korean style called Tang-So-Do and a Japanese style called Shorei-Ryu. He said that while actual fighting matches stereotypical of karate were part of his competitions, he also performed programs by himself. Those are performed in front of judges who rate him on different qualities such as speed, power and basic technique.
"It's kind of like a gymnastics routine but with karate moves," he said. "You take the traditional aspects and add your own style with kicks and flips and stuff like
Bowles said he had been practicing karate since he was 6 years old. He said that he didn't really know what sparked his interest in karate but that he doesn't plan on quitting anytime soon.
that."
"It probably was from when I saw the Karate Kid," he said. "That's when I really got psyched. It's something no one else in my family had ever done, but for some reason I just had a burning desire to be a karate guy."
Bowles even wanted to start studying karate when he was 5 years old, but the classes in the area wouldn't admit anyone under the age of 6. So his parents sent him to take gymnastics classes to improve his flexibility until he
When Bowles was 12, he earned his first black belt while studying in Michigan. Then, after moving to Chicago in the eighth grade, Bowles said he found a place to study that he really liked.
turned 6.
"It got me more into it," he said. "I've been going full throttle ever since."
Bowles said that since he came to Kansas he had been to four tournaments, in Chicago; Galveston, Texas; Columbia, S.C.; and Detroit.
"I entered five events and took four first places and one second place," Bowles said about his success in Detroit. "And I won grand champion."
Bowles's Chicago-based sensel, or instructor, John Sharkey, said that the first time he saw Bowles he knew he possessed a lot of talent.
"He had a lot of potential," Sharkey said. "We just had to bring it out. We basically gave him the stuff he needed, and he took it and ran with it."
While Bowles competes in the lightweight division, he said that to win grand champion he had to compete against all other weight classes on up to heavyweight in each event. He also said that while he competed in each event at every tournament, that not all athletes were able to do so.
"You'll find people who can consistently win one or two events," he said. "But few people can compete in all divisions and have a chance to sweep."
Sharkey said that in his circuit, Bowles definitely had made it big.
"He has pretty much dominated our circuit all year," he said.
This year when Bowles goes to the world tournament he already will have experience competing against and beating some of the best in the world. However, he said that this year he would be competing in the 18-year-old division, and that the rules were a little different than the 15-17 year old class he was in a year ago.
"I was in the fight to go to the finals," he said. "And I made a guy bleed so I got disqualified. That was the rule in that age group. I had fought 12 matches and only lost one and was winning that match until I got disqualified. If I would have won, I would have fought for first."
Bowles said that he wanted people to know that karate wasn't all about violence seen in Jackie Chau movies.
"You won't see me flipping down the sidewalk or sneaking around in the bushes," he said. "It's not like that."
Sharkey said that while Bowles was off attending college, he had to train by himself, but that he still could improve because of his work ethic and self-motivation.
"For somebody like him with his kind of discipline," Sharkey said. "He'll pull it off."
Edited by Matt Gardner
Matt Bowles,
Naperville, Ill., fresh-
man and martial arts
champion, practices
his kicks. Bowles
competes in about
two martial arts tour-
naments a month and
in his last tournament
in Detroit, he won
four first place titles.
Photo by Nick
Krug/KANSAN
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