{"id":795006,"date":"2019-04-19T16:56:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T22:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/eagles-sebie-witt-will-travel-to-hungary-and-slovakia-to-represent-us-in-international-karate-tournaments\/"},"modified":"2019-04-19T16:56:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-19T22:56:00","slug":"eagles-sebie-witt-will-travel-to-hungary-and-slovakia-to-represent-us-in-international-karate-tournaments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/eagles-sebie-witt-will-travel-to-hungary-and-slovakia-to-represent-us-in-international-karate-tournaments\/","title":{"rendered":"Eagle\u2019s Sebie Witt will travel to Hungary and Slovakia to represent US in international karate tournaments"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery\" readability=\"6.5120643431635\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-364689-558\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/SebieWitt-VDN-041219-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/SebieWitt-VDN-041219.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Special to the Daily | Sebastion Witt competes in forms at a recent karate tournament. The Eagle teen was recently named to the Amateur Athletic Union National Team and he will compete in international events in Hungary and Slovakia this summer.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"7\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/SebieWitt-VDN-041219.jpg\" alt=\"Sebastion Witt competes in forms at a recent karate tournament. The Eagle teen was recently named to the Amateur Athletic Union National Team and he will compete in international events in Hungary and Slovakia this summer.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"9\">\n<p><strong>Sebastion Witt competes in forms at a recent karate tournament. The Eagle teen was recently named to the Amateur Athletic Union National Team and he will compete in international events in Hungary and Slovakia this summer.<\/strong><br \/>Special to the Daily<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/SebieWitt-VDN-041219-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/SebieWitt-VDN-041219-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Special to the Daily | Sebastian Witt, 16, studies karate at James Lee\u2019s School of Champions in Eagle.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"7.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/SebieWitt-VDN-041219-1.jpg\" alt=\"Sebastian Witt, 16, studies karate at James Lee\u2019s School of Champions in Eagle.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"10\">\n<p><strong>Sebastian Witt, 16, studies karate at James Lee\u2019s School of Champions in Eagle.<\/strong><br \/>Special to the Daily<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/sports\/eagles-sebie-witt-will-travel-to-hungary-and-slovakia-to-represent-us-in-international-karate-tournaments\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/sports\/eagles-sebie-witt-will-travel-to-hungary-and-slovakia-to-represent-us-in-international-karate-tournaments\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">EAGLE \u2014 The first time Sebastian Witt toddled into a karate studio, he was still wearing diapers. He took his first karate lesson before he attended kindergarten.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">To say that karate has been a big part of Sebastian\u2019s \u2014 Sebie, to his family and friends \u2014 life is an understatement. He has been involved in the sport for 12 of his 16 years, and karate has taken the Eagle Valley High School sophomore to tournaments all over the United States. He has earned scads of trophies and singular honors. Now he is preparing to take his fighting game international.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In March, Sebie and his parents, \u2014 Mary and Paul Witt, of Eagle \u2014 traveled to Fort Lauderdale, where he tried out for the Amateur Athletic Union National Team. During two days of tryouts, more than 70 athletes were evaluated on their karate skills as well as overall physical capabilities. Sebie was selected as one of about 20 athletes to compete in both kata (forms) and kumite (sparring) at the World Combat Games in Budapest, Hungary, and the World Union of Karate Federations World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI am really excited and really honored to get such a big opportunity,\u201d Sebie said. \u201cI have never competed internationally, so it\u2019s a really big deal. It\u2019s becoming more and more serious the closer it gets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">Early origins<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Karate is a family sport for the Witts. Fifteen years ago, Sebie\u2019s dad and his two older brothers began classes with James Lee\u2019s School of Champions in Eagle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI have been involved in karate since I was 2 years old, first just watching my brothers while sitting on my mom\u2019s lap,\u201d Sebie said. \u201cI started my actual karate training at 4 years old under James Lee.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWhen he started he already knew things because he had been watching his brothers and dad,\u201d Mary said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWhat we didn\u2019t know is 15 years later, we would still be involved in this,\u201d Paul said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">As Sebie tells it, he couldn\u2019t wait to start classes and join his brothers. Once he began training, he never wanted to stop. His skills got stronger and he started winning tournaments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Back in 2016, Sebie competed at the U.S. Karate Alliance World Championships in Phoenix. He was fighting in the 12- and 13-year-old advanced class and took the top prize in four of the five events he entered. He placed second in the one event he didn\u2019t win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">His success didn\u2019t stop there. As the winner of his age division, Sebie went on to compete against all the other division champions for the Grand Champion weapons crown. Sebie proceeded to beat out all other weapons class winners age 17 and younger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Sebie was subsequently named to the U.S. Karate Alliance Junior National Team. The team members set national point standings benchmarks for students from schools around the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But even with all his tournament experience and success, Sebie didn\u2019t know what to expect when he headed to Florida last month for the Amateur Athletic Union tryout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">Nerve racking<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThis was the first time we\u2019ve ever been involved with the Amateur Athletic Union, so it was nerve-racking,\u201d Mary said. \u201cParents weren\u2019t allowed in the arena for the entire two days of competition and evaluation, so we really had no idea how things were going. But we had confidence in Sebie and in his training.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI thought my forms were probably my stronger event,\u201d Sebie said. \u201cPlus, being from a higher elevation probably helped me do better on the physical assessment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">At the end of the evaluation, Sebie had earned one of only three spots available for forms competition and his weight class spot for sparring.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In addition to the European tournaments, Sebie will continue to train and compete in tournaments in the U.S. Among them are the US Open and Junior Nationals in Las Vegas; USA Karate\u2019s National Championships in Chicago; Amateur Athletic Union regionals in Chicago and nationals in Fort Lauderdale. At these events, the Amateur Athletic Union National Team coaches will evaluate and train their athletes. Sebie is excited to hear what they have to say.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cYou can only go so far without listening to other people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But there is one thing that Sebie refuses to change \u2014 his attitude.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI have been taught by my sensei to never ever give up and to always give 100 percent,\u201d said Sebie.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">Working his way<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Sebie\u2019s Amateur Athletic Union trip to Europe will no doubt be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it won\u2019t come cheap. The Witts estimate the journey will cost around $15,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI am doing any and all work I can do around town to earn money,\u201d Sebie said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That includes yard chores, pet-sitting and more. He is also selling his mom\u2019s famed crabapple jelly and teaching classes at James Lee\u2019s karate school.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Witts have established both a local account at 1st Bank (Sebastian Witt Karate Account) and a GoFundMe page for locals interested in helping with his expenses. The local dojo will host a bingo night fundraiser for Sebie on Saturday, May 18, from 4\u20137 p.m. at a location to be determined.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI\u2019m really excited and really honored to get such a big opportunity,\u201d Sebie said. \u201cI am excited for the opportunity to test myself and I am excited I get to represent the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/sports\/eagles-sebie-witt-will-travel-to-hungary-and-slovakia-to-represent-us-in-international-karate-tournaments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sebastion Witt competes in forms at a recent karate tournament. The Eagle teen was recently named to the Amateur Athletic Union National Team and he will compete in international events in Hungary and Slovakia this summer.Special to the Daily Sebastian Witt, 16, studies karate at James Lee\u2019s School of Champions in Eagle.Special to the Daily [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-795006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 18:35:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}