Her persistence pays off

Amanda Chambers, of Coeur d’Alene, gets a kick out of hand-to-hand combat.

Amanda, 14, has been involved in karate for three years at Northwest Kenpo Karate in Coeur d’Alene.

She was born with clubbed radial hands and no thumbs. She had six surgeries before she turned eight years old, but her hands have returned to a clubbed, radial shape. Her arms are half as long as her peers’.

But she knows what it takes to move ahead: patience, dedication, memory and desire. Her parents, Kelly and Scott, were surprised at her choice to join karate. But her persistence showed she could still get a few punches in.

“She doesn’t let it stop her whatsoever,” Kelly said. “The things you see her do on a daily basis are amazing.”

When Amanda first started karate, her mother wouldn’t watch. Amanda’s classmates didn’t let up on her because of her disability. But now she uses her legs more often and some kids are more leery of facing her, Kelly said.

Amanda said the hardest skills she’s had to learn have been staff fighting skills, where she had to twist and turn a staff with her hands. Other skills were hard at first, like learning to fall backward and land on her hands.

“It was just kind of scary at first when we were learning how,” she said. “It’s not human nature to fall backward on purpose.”

She’s a freshman at the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy and joined the sport to fill in her school schedule.

She said the sport helps take her mind off of school work, and is a big part of her busy schedule. Some take karate to the professional level, but she hopes to keep her skills closer to home by teaching the junior classes and helping out.

“I like the little kids because they’re cute to watch, doing their little forms and stuff,” she said.

In addition to karate, she’s involved in an inline speed-skating club and rushes from one practice to another during winter months.

Karate is her way of expressing her independence, she said.

“When you’re working by yourself, when something goes wrong, you can’t blame it on somebody else,” she said.

She’s now a junior brown belt and plans to stick with the sport until she can get her black belt, which could take a couple more years of training.

Amanda said she’s learned patience and dedication to the sport while improving her memory. Students must have skills and technique down to gain rank. Each move takes plenty of practice, and without the desire to do well few will be good at it, she said.

She attends lessons twice a week and practices every other day at home. She also competes with her classmates against other karate schools in the region.

Competitions aren’t easy and there’s often a crowd, she said. Schools from Spokane cross the border to spar fight and show forms.

“I am somewhat competitive, but it’s really fun just to go and be there,” she said.

She hasn’t taken first place yet, but she admits she’s come close.

Trophies are given out to first, second and third place, but all who compete get medals.

“They think that it takes a lot of courage for us to go to tournaments, and that we’re all winners even if we don’t get first, second or third,” she said.