For Logan Goodman, karate is more than a sport or a discipline.
“It’s like a performance, where I capture people with my eyes,” the Staples High School junior says.
“I look past the judges. I’m fully in the zone. My eyes tell a story.”
AT the US Open ISKA World Martial Arts Championship in Orlando last July, Logan Goodman placed 2nd in Traditional Kata performance. (Photo/Lindsey Little Photography)
Logan has quite a story to tell.
A lifelong Westporter (Long Lots Elementary Bedford Middle Schools) with varied interests (Staples math team; Student Assembly executive board; Sikorsky STEM Challenge; Top Hat tutor in math, science, and US history and government), she was introduced to karate 10 years ago.
A master visited Camp Playland. Intrigued, she soon started lessons at Kempo Westport.
Logan quickly learned to appreciate the martial art’s discipline. She learned respect, life lessons, even history.
“Karate is not a sport,” she explains. “It’s a mindset.”
Several years ago, Logan began training in East Haven. Now she’s at Stratford Shotokan with Samuel Diaz III. A multi-world champion, he’s helped make her personality part of everything she does.
Logan Goodman with sensei Samuel Diaz III. (Photo/Lindsey Little Phtography)
Logan specializes in kata. That’s a form of karate in which detailed patterns of movements are practiced solo or in pairs. Kata is executed as a variety of moves with stepping and turning, while attempting to maintain perfect form.
But moves are not all, Logan notes. Kata is also about spirit.
Including the spirit of discipline.
Success at karate demands understanding moves, strength, balance, stances and technique.
“It’s not just showing up twice a week for an hour,” Logan explains.
“You have to be able to take feedback on tiny details — moving your feet an inch, or stringing your fingers.
“You have to practice deliberately, as a lifestyle. It’s not checking off a box.”
In August, Logan Goodman medaled at the AmeriKick Internationals in Atlantic City.
There is always more to do, something else to learn. And karate is a daily discipline — “24/7,” says Logan.
That discipline has helped in many areas of her life, far beyond the dojo — school, for example, and talking to adults.
Logan — who is ranked 5th nationally by Black Belt magazine — began competing last November. Scores are based on technique, application, overall performance, strength and balance.
Last week — the night of the Homecoming Dance (which she missed) and PSATs (which she rose early to take) — Logan returned from the 14-nation World Karate & Kickboxing Commission tournament in Killarney, Ireland.
Earning 2 bronze medals, out of 4 categories, she was the only American on the podium.
Logan Goodman (far left) at last week’s international tournament in Ireland.
She had qualified as one of 4 Team USA members at the national tournament in Detroit.
This week Logan leaves for a big national tournament on another circuit, in Minneapolis.
Logan says she is grateful for the opportunities she’s had — the places to go, and people she’s met. She is “always hungry to hear feedback, get better, and score higher.”
She also appreciates her teachers’ flexibility and support. She took finals early last June before the nationals. “I love school,” she says.
Those teachers no doubt appreciate Logan’s dedication to their classes. While her teammates were out celebrating in Ireland, she studied for hours, to keep up with classes.
That takes great focus and discipline. Then again, those are traits Logan Goodman learned — thanks to karate — long ago.
