{"id":65321,"date":"2026-08-03T18:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T18:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/65321\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T18:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T18:49:08","slug":"carthage-karate-students-to-represent-team-usa-in-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/65321\/","title":{"rendered":"Carthage karate students to represent Team USA in Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

CINCINNATI \u2014 This fall, students from a small karate school in Carthage will be representing Team USA on the world’s biggest stage.<\/p>\n

In October, five students with Overcomers Martial Arts will travel to C\u00e1diz, Spain, to compete in the World Karate Commission World Championships.<\/p>\n

The studio is located inside one of the buildings at Fellowship Tabernacle Church. <\/p>\n

For founder Justin Powell, it’s a moment he never expected would come.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge privilege to be able to represent the country,” Powell said. <\/p>\n

Powell started the school in 2018.<\/p>\n

He said martial arts taught him a lot growing up, and he wanted to pass those lessons down to the next generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn life and especially, just even here in Cincinnati, there\u2019s so many things that kids have to go through and we have to overcome,” Powell said. <\/p>\n

Getting to Spain wasn’t easy. First, students had to finish in the top eight of their weight class for their age at regionals.<\/p>\n

Then, they had to place in the top four at nationals. <\/p>\n

“It takes discipline and dedication,” Powell said. <\/p>\n

Powell said in addition to teaching martial arts, he incorporates the Bible into his lessons. <\/p>\n

“Our kids have to learn, not only just the self-discipline and respect and kicking and punching, but they also have to learn books of the Bible, they have to learn scripture,” Powell said. <\/p>\n

For 13-year-old Carson, he said he’s proud of earning his black belt and his spot in Spain.<\/p>\n

But he said he’s also proud of his teammates who are also making the trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was glad when I found out teammates were coming, because you have your country to support you, but when you have teammates, it\u2019s a lot cooler as well,” Carson said.<\/p>\n

It’s not his first time on the world stage, but Carson said he knows how special the opportunity is for his teammates. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun to do it myself and watch myself grow, but also when I get older to watch the younger kids grow too,” Carson said. <\/p>\n

Powell said he’s not just proud of the students making the trip to Spain but of all of the students who he teaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is always to try to help somebody and I think in our karate school, that’s something we can continue to do is take kids that maybe they don\u2019t have the best home life and give them a positive thing through karate,” Powell said.<\/p>\n

The World Championships take place Oct. 24-30.<\/p>\n

The church is also raising money to fund their trip<\/a>, including a 5k\/10k run in Fairfield at the end of August<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Powell said as they prepare to represent Team USA, their main goal will remain the same even after all the medals are handed out. <\/p>\n

“The discipline, the respect, courtesy, integrity: all of those things apply to life in general, and we teach that here at Overcomers Martial Arts,” Powell said. <\/p>\n

\"BANNER-ALEX\"<\/p>\n

WCPO<\/p>\n

Get in touch with WCPO 9 News Hamilton County east side reporter Alex Null<\/p>\n

WCPO 9’s Alex Null covers Hamilton County’s east side. Have a story idea or tip for Alex? Fill out the form below to send him an email!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI \u2014 This fall, students from a small karate school in Carthage will be representing Team USA on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[26231,11962,26232,17,26233],"class_list":["post-65321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-9-on-your-side","tag-cincinnati","tag-cincinnati-news","tag-spain","tag-wcpo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}