Up-close with karate star Marius Madgwick

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Madgwick (32) was selected by the country’s Olympic body to be part of Team South Africa, who will be heading to Congo-Brazzaville for the 50th edition of the All-Africa Games, scheduled for September 4 to 19.

His selection also represents the first time in the Sunward Park Goju Karate Academy’s history that one of its athletes is selected for the All-Africa Games.

Madgwick and his kata team will be competing in the team kata event.

The Advertiser asked:

Congratulations on your selection for the All-Africa Games, how did the selection come about?

My other two team members and I have been working together now for the past three years and competing in the Senior Male Team Kata Division, in both local and international tournaments. We had to work our way up through the regional and provincial championships before heading for the National Karate South Africa Championships, which we won in 2013, 2014 and again this year, 2015.

Because of our success in South Africa we have been part of the national karate team since 2013 and have won medals at various international tournaments, including the African Zone 6 Championships (gold medal), the Commonwealth Karate Championships (gold medal), and the African Continental Karate Championships, where we lost to Egypt in the finals. (Egypt came second in the last World Championships).

Because of our track record, Karate South Africa nominated us for the 2015 African Games and we were fortunate enough to be approved and selected by Sascoc to be part of Team South Africa for the upcoming games in the Congo.

What does the selection mean to you and your career?

It’s an extreme honour to be selected as part of Team South Africa and this is by far the highlight of my competitive career.

How did Sascoc’s announcement make you feel?

I was very excited about the news and it definitely motivated me to up my game.

Take us through your goals for the games?

As mentioned, we came second at last year’s African Karate Championships, which makes us optimistic that we can bring home a medal. However, we are expecting this tournament to be much tougher than the African Championships and, therefore, we have also increased the intensity of our training and have been preparing accordingly.

You’ve achieved many accolades as a karate athlete in different countries, would you say that this selection for Congo is your biggest achievement to date? If so, why?

Yes, it definitely is the biggest achievement to date. Karate is not an Olympic sport at the moment and, therefore, a continental games tournament is one of the biggest competitions in which a karate athlete can participate.

As mentioned, you have more than often than not done well than in tournaments, how do you maintain your consistency?

It has taken a lot of discipline and sacrifice to maintain my physical condition. We train six days a week and very seldom have an off period between tournaments. Whether we have upcoming tournaments or not, the intensity of our training stays the same.

Being a committed athlete takes a lot of sacrifice and time, how do you stay motivated?

Karate has been a lifelong passion of mine and, therefore, it’s not an effort to work hard and keep up the training. Part of my motivation is also being a coach and staying a top South African athlete in order to help my students achieve the same level of success.

What are your long term goals for your career?

I would really like to be selected as part of the national karate team for the next World Karate Federation (WKF) World Championships. We competed in the World Championships last year, in Germany, and it really was a fantastic experience. In terms of my coaching career, I have a lot of up-and-coming students who are starting to enter the national team and competing in international tournaments and I would love to help them to achieve even bigger things than what I have.

Who’s/what’s your biggest inspiration in the sport of karate, and why?

I have been very fortunate to have started training karate under a sensei (Alan Robertson) who was a fantastic sportsman and athlete himself. He always encouraged us to train hard and compete and do our best, but was also always there to motivate us to work hard when we lost.

Most recently I have also been lucky enough to have met and trained with one of my heroes, two-time world champion Antonio Diaz. He is one of the biggest names in the karate world, but still a humble karateka who is down to earth and always happy to share his knowledge.

For how long have you been doing the sport?

I started doing karate at the age of seven and have been doing it for 25 years now.

How did your career take-off?

It took me over 20 years to really start achieving big things and I think in the last five years all the effort and hard work from over the years have come together.

Lastly, what would you like to say to your fans and your club (who said they’re very proud to have you as their chief instructor)?

I see too many people nowadays who give up too easily. If they don’t immediately get what they want, they quit. I am sure any athlete will tell you that you fail a lot more times than you win. It’s how you deal with the failure that will set you aside from your competitors. Sensei Alan Robertson always told us: “You never fail until you stop trying”.

That is something that I will always live by and that I try and teach all my students. I love being a karate instructor and passing my passion for the sport on to the next generation. – @SabeloBoksburg

Sensei Madgwick wins gold in Zambia