BROWNSVILLE (KVEO) – Cobra Kai fans in the Valley channeled their favorite characters this weekend on the competitive stage.
“I wanted to be Cobra Kai, and Eli, the spikey hair guy he’s Cobra Kai from the Cobra Kai movie,” Said four-year-old Mael.
Eva’s Sports Karate, or E.S.K., held a virtual tournament for athletes on Saturday. If an athlete placed 1st or 2nd in the tournament, they were awarded with their own ring.
“Virtual tournaments is basically almost exactly the same as in person just the camera is our judge,” Said Alex Mancillas, a Coach at the gym and lifelong karate athlete. “As you’ve seen on the footage or we come out we perform we have to look straight into the camera you’d be my judge, I perform on the screen, I come back and just get my scores.”
Mancilla took up the sport when he was 2 years old, by age 10 he was a certified blackbelt. Although the pandemic has challenged the sports world, he knew they had to find a way for athletes to continue competing.
“Of course it’s a little tough on us,” Said Mancillas. “But the virtual tournaments gives us something that I can look forward to as well as my students. I want my students to look up to me, so I want myself to have something to look forward to do. If I have something to look forward to, my students are gonna look up to me to work towards that as well.”
