Ronin Martial Arts – Italy
Ronin Club – Karate and Sports Chanbara School – Naples (Spanish Quarters) – Italy. Beneficiaries: 90 students of the school, trained in a totally voluntary manner by Karen Torre, with the help (today) of her first students, today very young champions.
Objective: the Ronin do not enjoy any public contribution, except for small amounts of CONI in view of international competitions, and the school is based on volunteering and on an enrollment fee of 200 € / year of students, which serves to pay everything: training mats, expensive Japanese swords that are built by yourself in an artisanal way, travel, insurance, etc.
We thought of a contribution of € 4,000 / year for: sports & study grants, intended for students in financial difficulties, tied to academic performance; compensation for the young champions who help Karen train the little ones; equipment (including the indispensable defibrillator); travel exprences.
The project. In 2012 Karen Torre, former European karate champion, decided to teach martial arts (karate and chanbara – Japanese sword) to the boys of the Spanish quarters of Naples. The path, between the skepticism of the first students and the lack of collaboration between the institutions and the local community, has been arduous. But Karen is a strong young woman, a mix of Neapolitan heart (dad) and English pragmatism (mom). Every day, as a volunteer, after work in Pozzuoli she goes to train the boys in the parish of San Matteo. In a few years here are the results: 90 young students who learn the discipline of martial arts and that are thus far from the temptations of the street. Athletes who today have achieved incredible results: many Italian and European champions, one of them, just 15 years old, has even become absolute World Champion, at the 2016 Tokyo World Championships, confirming himself in 2017. The students are both Neapolitans and of other nationalities and in this Karen has achieved another great result: starting a process of multicultural integration.
