NEWPORT NEWS, VA (WTKR)- Axsom Martial Arts has many students, all of whom picked up karate for different reasons.
"I took a break from martial arts," recalled 12-year old Cristiano Perez. "Then I found Cobra Kai, which was one of my favorite shows back then, so I was like 'hey, I want to get back into martial arts.'"
"My brother started when he was four (years old)," smiled Chris Gordon, who is 11 years old. "I was doing stuff when I would like to come here and watch him."
"I saw it on a show," 11-year old Shianne Medlin noted. "It was about dinosaurs and they were doing karate. I was like 'that's cool. I want to do that.'"
Now these three standouts are kicking their way onto the world stage. Cristiano, Chris and Shianne were three of 25 karate athletes to represent the United States in the 15U ISF Gymnasiade Games, which took place in Serbia earlier this month.
"It was one of my dreams to be able to say I could compete around the world," said Cristiano.
"I've never gotten the opportunity before that, so it was pretty fun," Shianne added.
"First I went to South Africa, but I didn't get to [be] on the team because I was too young," recalled Chris. "This tournament, it was U15, so I was actually on the team."
The ISF Games are sponsored by the International Olympic Committee and include many sports. Think of it as an Olympics for kids, meaning the young up-and-coming stars from the Peninsula got a taste of many different countries and cultures. One special part of the games is Nations Night, when all the athletes gather to share things from their respective homelands.
"At Nations Night, we got to trade with the different countries," Shianne recalled. "I got bracelets and flags from different countries and I gave them some bracelets and different flags."
Though the young competitors came from far and wide, they all spoke the same language of karate. The three athletes representing Axsom Martial Arts were treated to a tournament like they had never experienced before.
"I was nervous, very nervous," said Chris. "When I got on the mat and started competing, I kind of just had to let it go."
"After a couple rounds of Kobudo and Kata, I started to kind of get the hang of it and then I was just locked in," Cristiano recalled.
You might say all three of them found the ability to lock in. Both Cristiano and Shianne won a gold and silver medal each in weapons events, while Chris earned a silver medal in Kumite, a karate fighting technique.
"It was pretty shocking," said Shianne. "I didn't know that I was going to do that good."
"I never thought that I was going to get a medal, much less a gold medal," Cristiano added. "I'm competing against all the kids in the world and I'm the number one."
"To know that these kids have gone and done better that me, and I will say that, they have far surpassed me in competition, that's the big victory," said Moose Axsom, the owner of Axsom Martial Arts, who is also a sensei.
The group brought home hardware for Team USA and its dojo, while making plenty of memories along the way. All three hope this is just the start of long and successful karate careers.
"I want to be able to go to worlds with my brother and compete with him," Chris noted. "I want to be able to beat him one day."
"I want to travel the world, compete in all different types of tournaments and hopefully, like some of these Olympians, they get paid to do the seminars, I hope to be like them some day," said Cristiano.
"The life lessons that they're learning from karate are going to carry them through the rest of their lives," Axsom said.
Some of the competitors are not done traveling worldwide to compete. Shianne and Cristiano will head to Sweden in July for another world tournament.
