Ella Crowle, a karate athlete of 10 years, competed on the world stage recently, bringing home a bronze medal. The Pan American Championships took place over three days in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Crowle competed in the U21 Female -68kg division. Crowle, 20, is a student in the economics department at the University of Victoria. She started her karate journey at 10 years old and trained at Varsity Performance Karate in Saanich. Her visit to Brazil was her fourth time at the Pan American
Championships, and during all three previous occasions, she was not able to win a medal. However, this year, she was able to win her first bronze. Crowle told Saanich News that she trained hard and steadily, knowing the competition was tough. “I’m honestly very proud of my performance. I feel like I’ve made a lot of progress as compared to the competitor I was last year versus this year, where I’m both mentally competitive and have the physical ability to perform,” she said. Training for
an international competition, working towards a degree, doing a summer job and managing a social life was not a bed of roses for Crowle. “You definitely have to give and take in some areas…it can be kind of discouraging, attending competitions and not getting the results you’re looking for. Sometimes you perform, and sometimes you don’t.” She revealed that after attending the national championships in Halifax in February, she was training for the championship in Brazil every single day. She believes consistency was the key
to her success this year. “I was making sure I was fueling myself properly. I was still in school at the time of the national championships. So I was bouncing between school and my job, and now I’m doing a summer work internship.” Kraig Devlin, her coach, was the biggest inspiration and encouragement, Crowle said. Devlin joined her in Brazil and was able to witness her bronze medal win. Going forward, Crowle is aiming to participate in the senior championships, since she is aging out
of the youth 21 category this year.
Ella Crowle, Saanich, karate, Pan American Championships, Rio de Janeiro, bronze medal, University of Victoria economics, U21 Female -68kg, Varsity Performance Karate, Kraig Devlin
Pan Am in Rio? So she just… did karate and got lucky? Either way congrats I guess.
Wait it says she’s 20 but competed in U21 like that makes sense right? I’m glad she finally got a medal though, I know tournaments are brutal. Also economics degree?? karate people are built different.
I don’t really get the Pan Am thing, isn’t that mostly like track and stuff? Like karate doesn’t seem “Pan Am” to me but maybe I’m thinking of something else. Either way her coach being there for it is sweet.
So she was training every single day after Halifax and still didn’t win before… sounds like the medal was basically just persistence? But also “sometimes you perform and sometimes you don’t” like yeah welcome to sports lol. Kinda wild she’s managing a degree, job, and life on top of it. I hope she doesn’t get injured going for senior because I’ve heard karate can be rough.