Barbara Chinen & John Fonseca
American karate competitors enjoyed a banner year capped off with their incredible performance at the Pan Am Games in Canada. Two athletes in particular stood out...the envelopes, please? Barbara Chinen Born in Yokohama, Japan, Barbara Chinen has been a consistent winner since her days as a junior competitor in Hawaii. Expanding her arsenal of techniques to include more and more difficult kicking combinations, she enjoyed an outstanding year. Among the highlights of Barbara's 1999 season were victories at the Ozawa Memorial tournament, the AAU Nationals, and the USANKF Nationals. Often times, Barbara turned in outstanding performances in both kata and kumite. Now training in Sacramento, California, this dynamic athlete needs only more experience against quality foreign competition to make the leap into the elite of international karate.

John Fonseca Beginning in January with his gold-medal performance at the Paris Open, John also enjoyed a banner year. What truly sets John apart from other athletes is his desire to improve. Not content with his perfomance in 1998, John added additional work outs in Tae Kwon Do to his training schedule. This has helped him not only with his kicking but also with his distance control and aerobic conditioning. Some of the highlights of John's 1999 season included victories at the Paris Open, the USANKF Nationals and, of course, his gold-medal winning performance at the Pan Am Games in Canada. Like Barbara Chinen, John needs only consistent exposure to other top quality opponents to bring home a medal from Munich. The future It has become evident to anyone fortunate enough to see the American athletes compete internationally that the gap is being closed...quickly.