From ballet shoes to karate for Fitzroy's Mary Kelly
TRADING in pirouettes for crescent kicks is paying off for Fitzroy's Mary Kelly.
TRADING in pirouettes for crescent kicks is paying off for Fitzroy's Mary Kelly.
Mary, 16, won gold medals in age group at two girls events at the GKR Karate Club's World Cup in Sydney on July 21.
The club, one of the biggest in the karate world, holds a biennial international championship featuring competitors from Australia, the UK, US and New Zealand.
Mary's success comes less than three years after she turned her back on ballet, tap, jazz and contemporary dancing to concentrate on karate.
"We had someone come knock on our door at the end of 2010, promoting the club," Mary says.
"I got a couple of friends and we started - they lasted a month but I enjoyed it.
"Every little girl's dream is to become a ballerina ... but I eventually had to make a choice.
"I gave up dance three months after I took up karate.
"When I won gold, I felt like bursting into tears because I felt so relieved and happy my hard work had paid off."
Mary, a red belt, took out gold medals in kumite, a sparring discipline, and kata, a discipline that involves performing a pattern of karate moves to a routine.
She says her dance background has been a key to her success.
"Because I'd done dance I found it easy to pick up the moves in the kata."
Mary, a Year 11 student at St Dominic's Priory College, hopes to gain her brown belt before the end of the year.