Halloween will be here before you know it and kids everywhere are getting ready to scare, be scared, and get lots of sweet things.

Other kids, meanwhile, are preparing for something that can also be scary but possibly very sweet as well: the WKC World Championships taking place in Dublin, Ireland, between October 31 and November 4.

Team Douvris is sending two dozen competitors to Dublin as part of the 250-strong Team Canada. Our athletes will compete in forms, weapons, and fighting. We have a mixture of newbies and old hands. And that’s not all: Douvris Martial Arts prides itself on being a family-oriented school and we are pleased to have five competitive families among our Team Canada athletes: Sensei Martina and her son Sempai Niko, Anna and her son Sempai Sébastien, Jevon and his son Payton, Sensei Brigitte and her daughter Catherine, and Sempai Patrick and his brother Nathan.

Team Douvris competitors have been training extremely hard all summer under the direction of Master Sensei John Douvris and are ready to take on the world, do our country proud and bring home some medals.

Sensei Nico Campagna, 15, Sempai Malik Thomas, 12, and Sensei Megan Bowman, 17, are experienced competitors. “You could say I psyche myself up,” Sensei Nico explains. “I watch some of my old videos to see some mistakes I made, some good things I do to mix into my sparring.”

Sempai Malik, for his part, says that he reminds himself “that I’ve done this for a while and that I shouldn’t be scared.” A sentiment echoed by Sensei Megan, who adds that it’s important to calm yourself down because “there’s more of a chance to make a mistake if you’re not in your own zone.”

You can follow the championships online, including live streaming of events, here. Make sure you cheer us on. Go Team!