Going to the cinema, shopping in Penneys, winning a world championship. These are now the favourite pastimes of Leeanne Royle, 14-year-old karate champion from Blanchardstown, in Dublin. Last weekend she beat two US champions and a Spanish champion, among others, to win the junior female individual kata event at the World Shotokan Karate Championships, in Liverpool.
“I didn’t expect to do well,” Leeanne says. “It was my first time doing the world championships, so I wasn’t expecting much. But with all the training I’ve put in all throughout the year . . . I guess that’s how I managed to do it.”
Kata is a discipline of karate focused on detailed movements and patterns. It requires much training and dedication. Leeanne often trains six days a week. Like Katie Taylor, Leeanne is trained by her father. "She'd be an inspiration to me," Leeanne says of Taylor, "especially with the father-daughter thing. I definitely understand that bond."
Leeanne started karate aged five, at the club in Corduff where her father, David, also a karate champion, has worked for 23 years. “I got inspiration from him and other people winning trophies. Then I wanted to win gold, especially looking at people like Katie Taylor.”
Such achievements haven’t been without sacrifice. “You train solidly – that’s hard – then getting home and trying to do homework. It’s very challenging psychologically. But the support I get from [the United Shotokan Karate Federation of Ireland] and my friends and family really helps. Knowing that I want to be standing on that podium for first place, that’s definitely a motivation.”
Her father is extremely proud. “She brought the gold medal home. For us it’s huge.” The world championships have been running for 30 years; Leeanne is the first Irish winner of the junior female title. “She performs way above her years,” he says. “She has a great natural ability.”
Leeanne returned to Hartstown Community School, in Dublin 15, on Tuesday a world beater. Her schoolmates were very impressed. “They were giving me big hugs and all. It was said over the intercom, and now everybody knows my name in school. The principal came over to me as well, so it was a big deal.”
Father and daughter have now set their sights on the next world championships, in Poland in 2015, when Leeanne will defend her title. Before that are the British and European championships. (Though she is Irish, Leeanne is also the reigning British champion.)
Looking to future contests, Leanne is unfazed. “I think about it and try to visualise the competition itself. I try to visualise me winning. That’s how I prepare.”
