THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 18, 1994 TAG: 9408170097
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SHIRLEY BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINDSOR LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
IF ALL GOES according to plan, Dyan R. Wood will ``go for the gold'' at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
After eight years of involvement with karate, Wood is committed to fine-tuning her skills in order to compete in the Virginia State competition in the spring of 1995.
If she advances to national competition and is one of four winners, Wood will be asked to try out for the Olympic team.
``Being 29, this is my last shot for it,'' Wood said. ``Everyone competing will be a lot younger, and I'll have to work harder to keep up. I work out hard every day, six days a week.''
The karate instructor at the Iron Butterfly karate club in Windsor, Wood and several of her students competed recently at the state-sponsored Commonwealth Games in Roanoke. Wood competed against four other women and placed second in kata and second in kumite.
``In kata, you fight an imaginary opponent and are judged on form, stances and the power that you put into it,'' Wood said. ``Kumite is fighting an opponent.''
Wood was also one of eight athletes nominated for the Commonwealth Games Athlete of the Year. Finalists were chosen based on community service and accomplishments in sports.
A resident of Zuni, Wood grew up in Chesapeake. At 15, she moved with her family to a farm in Windsor and entered horseback-riding competition.
``We moved to Windsor in order to ride horses,'' Wood said. ``I had a dream of going to the Olympics as an equestrian, but I couldn't take my own horse with me. My horse was my best friend when I was growing up.''
Wood, who is from a family of athletes, including her mother and father, was the first seed on the Windsor High School tennis team and won the district championship in 1982. Today, she teaches private tennis lessons in Windsor and at the YMCA in Franklin.
Wood attended Piedmont Bible College in Winston-Salem, N.C., for one year and then enrolled at the Grand Rapids School of Bible and Music in Grand Rapids, Mich. Due to an illness, however, she left school and worked as a private investigator in Portsmouth.
``Nine years ago, I took a self-defense course at Paul D. Camp and fell in love with karate,'' Wood said, ``but the day after I began, I woke up and couldn't move. I was so sore. I lost 40 pounds in the first two months.''
After five years of training, however, Wood received her black belt and became an assistant teacher of karate.
Last October, Rhonda Demsko, owner of the Windsor School of Dance, asked Wood to teach a karate class at her studio. Wood accepted the offer and now has 25 karate students, ranging in age from 4 to 40.
``I have some students that really like it and some that really live it,'' Wood said. ``Some have the `eye of the tiger,' or `fighting spirit.' ''
Wood's students who received awards at the Commonwealth Games were Laura Askew, Robby Tew, David Wood and Paul Rodderick, all of Windsor.
Askew, 9, was awarded a gold medal in kumite for her age group and took fourth place in kata. Tew, 15, was awarded second place in kumite and third place in kata. David Wood, who is Wood's five-year-old son, was awarded first-place in kumite and second in kata. Rodderick, 12, took fourth-place in both kata and kumite.
Wood said that her students may attend the national level Amateur Athletic Union competitions. Any student under 17 who wins on the national level will advance to the Junior Olympics.
A member of the Antioch Christian Church, Wood plays softball on the church league, teaches the youth group and participates in 4-H. She is also a full-time student and is scheduled to graduate from from Paul D. Camp Community College in December 1995. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Dyan Wood, karate instructor at the Iron Butterfly karate club in
Windsor, works with student Laura Askew, 9.
by CNB