Father & son from G.S. representing USA in South Africa
Langstons use Beach Bash as prep for World Martial Arts Games
Gulf Shores resident Tim Langston and his 11 year old son, Alex, each won multiple first place medals at the Oct. 8 Beach Brawl Karate Tourney at the Orange Beach Event Center, their final competition before they left the following Monday for the Oct 10-18 World Martial Arts Games in Johannesburg, South Africa as representative of the U.S. team.
Alex, a 6th grader at Gulf Shores Elementary, will compete in five divisions and his dad, who also finished second overall in the U.S. Championships in Atlanta earlier this year, will compete in as many as eight divisions.
“This is a good competition and a good test to see if we are ready. It’s always strong. You have Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and Georgia all represented,’’ said Tim Langston said during a break from the Beach Brawl, coordinated by Chris Wheeles at Wheeles Yoshukai Karate Academy in Gulf Shores.
“There is more competition every month, and at that’s what you want – To test your skills against better competition’’ Langston added.
The Langstons will drive to Birmingham and then fly to Charlotte, Washington D.C, Paris and finally Johannesburg during a 22 hour, 9,000 mile trip to South Africa.
They will spend two days with bonding activities with other team members (including a safari) before weighing in on Oct. 15. Tim Langston said he was planning to drop 10 lbs. before the weigh-in and compete at 165 lbs, which will give the USA team more strength and depth in that division.
USA coach Linn Wright from Utah, a veteran of four World Games, was in Orange Beach for the Beach Brawl. He said he expects as many as 30 different countries to be represented in South Africa. “I expect that we will have the largest group there,’’ he said.
In addition to Wheeles, the Langstons train locally with Mark Barlow at the Gulf Coast Martial Arts Academy, Sensei Ricky Curruth and Sean Applegate of 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu. The Langstons qualified for the World Championships through high national rankings earned in fighting competitions.
“I’m starting to get a little nervous, but mostly we’re both just excited to get there,’’ Tim Langston said