There’s a bright new star on the rise at Gerry Blanck’s Martial Arts Center. Her name is Lily Kinnear.
Competing in her first karate tournament last weekend, the 12-year-old Kinnear showed she has nerves of steel by winning three first-place trophies, two second-place trophies and one fourth-place trophy at the Compete World Martial Arts Championships at the Ontario Convention Center.
The daughter of movie actor Greg Kinnear, Lily seems destined for fame in her own discipline. She took first in creative forms, two firsts in weapons, seconds in forms and musical forms and fourth in sparring.
A 6th-grader at St. Matthew’s, Kinnear has been training at Blanck’s dojo for a year and a half and is already a green-black belt.
“I’ve always really liked fighting and stuff,” Kinnear said. “It’s fun and I was a little nervous at first, but I just try to focus on what I have to do.”
Kinnear trained for the tournament under Blanck and Yoshukai second-degree black belt Tamar Springer, who herself has trained at Blanck’s dojo for seven years and was impressed with her new pupil’s attention to detail.
“You couldn’t ask for a better student,” Springer said of Kinnear. “She’s gifted with flexibility, she works hard and she takes initiative.”
Having just conquered the biggest martial arts tournament on the west coast, Kinnear should clear some space in her room for more hardware.
“To do what she did in her first tournament is amazing,” Blanck said. “The poise she showed was incredible. She really impressed the judges.”
— Steve Galluzzo
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