By Eliana Veloz
“Announcing the final matches in the Ladies Team category: Ecuador vs Brazil, shiai-jo (court) C.” The noise at the sports center reduced to a whisper at the moment of that announcement, and the eyes of all attendees at the Latin American Kendo Championships held in Lima, Peru, turned to the Ecuadorian Ladies’ Team. I was part of the team, and it was surreal to be there. We made it to the finals!
Kendo has been part of my life for ten years already. I started at age 22, maybe a bit older compared to some of my teammates, but convinced that martial arts has much to contribute to my personal development. I was encouraged to join the practices of the National Team after around 5 years of practicing Kendo, but I was not convinced to join at all. When I started practicing Kendo in my dojo in Quito, Ecuador, competing matches (shiai) did not catch my attention. Even though I participated in a few local tournaments, in my mind, I was not ready.
In 2017, I moved to Finland to study a Master’s program, and when I returned to Ecuador, the offer to join the National Team was made to me again. It was January 2020, and the Ladies’ Team coach was Patricia García sensei. I know her very well, both as a person and as a teacher, since she is one of the instructors at my dojo. Therefore, I felt confident enough to accept the challenge and gave shiai a try.
And then the pandemic hit
The year 2020 was not easy for anybody. The coronavirus expanded worldwide and changed our lifestyles drastically. Kendo practices were affected as well. We could not practice in person for a long time, and when we met again, we did it with the uncomfortable face masks covering our noses and mouths, which made the practice harder to handle.
Most of the dojos in Ecuador, including mine, opted to practice online. Of course, it was not possible to perform all the techniques and exercises we usually do in Kendo because they require a partner (motodachi), but we did our best to keep practicing, focusing on suburi (basic exercises with the sword without a motodachi) and exercises to gain physical strength. In 2021, the coronavirus situation in Ecuador was more or less under control, and we were back to practicing in open spaces, and later, in our dojos. This included National Team practices once a month in Quito.
What I liked the most about those practices was that my teammates were all nice and friendly. It was easy for us to consolidate our team, because we were like sisters. We all had a clear goal we wanted to reach: a good performance at the Latin American Kendo Championships. The competition was supposed to be held in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2022, but due to coronavirus restrictions and other issues, it was rescheduled to 2023 in Lima, Peru. It was close to being postponed again, but luckily it was successfully held from the 6th to the 10th of December 2023.
And the winners were…
But let’s go back to that final in Lima, where those last matches against the Brazilians were full of emotions. Our team lined up with Gabriela Villa, Diana García-Herreros, Camila Rodríguez, Natalia Escandón, and me. Patricia sensei, our coach, was close to the shiai-jo, watching everything and cheering up for us. On the opposite corner was Masahiro Tomonaga sensei, a volunteer of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) designated to Ecuador, who was also attending and participating as a competitor and referee. During the final, Tomonaga sensei was close to us, silently supporting the team.
After five intense and exciting matches, Brazil won. But we were not sad at all! Competitors from other countries were cheering up for us and were impressed by our excellent performance. Our coach and our senseis received tons of good comments about the team, and we were so happy that we won a medal for Ecuador.
As some of our senseis told us, that was not the first time the Ecuadorian Ladies’ Team won silver in a Latin American Kendo Championships edition. Back in 2010, the Ladies Team reached second place in the tournament that took place in Quito. In 2018, the competition was held in Cali, Colombia, and the team made it to the third place. And 2023 was the year to be back in second place, plus a Fighting Spirit (kantosho) medal awarded to our friend Camila Rodríguez, the youngest competitor in our team, who won the prize in the Ladies’ Team category after an amazing performance.
There are no words to describe how incredible this experience was, not only for the medals and fighting spirit prize, but also for the energy we shared as a team. Throughout the time of the preparation practices held months before the competition and during it, we were one heart, one brain, one entity that fought together to reach our ultimate goal: to show Latin America the strong spirit of the Ecuadorian female Kendo.
Leave a Comment