June 2026 Referee Update

Six weeks left before the National Championships and Team Trials kick off in July! We can’t wait to see all the great competition in Spokane. Reminder to complete the requirements and register as officials for the event. All officials are required to attend the two mandatory sessions at 4:30 and 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, July 15. Those attending the course and exams to test for a kata and/or kumite license or upgrade need to register for the course to be conducted on Wednesday, July 15. All USA Karate Referee A and Referee B licensed officials must also attend the referee course on Wednesday to maintain/renew their license if they did not attend the referee course at the 2026 US Open. Successful sanctioned regional referee courses were conducted recently in New York, Texas, and Virginia. Great job to our regional instructors for continuing to educate our referee corps, and thank you to participants.

USA Karate

Our USA Karate WKF officials represented us well in Manila in May: Fariba Madani, Cedric Barksdale, Jay Farrell, Chris Hodgin, and Senthil Thiyagarajan. Cedric Barksdale and Kathy Bailey also participated as officials at the Senior Karate Championship of the Dominican Republic Military Games. Several of our USA Karate international officials, athletes, and coaches will be participating in the WKF Premier League in Rabat and the NA Cup in Montreal in June.

USA Karate

Thank you to our USA Karate officials that participated in the PKF Senior & U21 Championships in Brazil. Congratulations to the following officials on receiving PKF licenses: Raj Baral (PKF Kumite JC), Henry Barnabei (PKF Kumite RB), Tula Dhakal (PKF Kata JC), Jordan Fox (PKF Kumite JA), Hemant Ghising (PKF Kumite JA, PKF Kata JB), Tomasz Kalkowski (PKF Kumite RA), Yadu Kuikel (PKF Kata JC), Jony Martinez (PKF Kumite RB), Jim Prihoda (PKF Kumite JA), Brandie Robinson (PKF Kumite JA), and Anand Thegim (PKF Kumite JC, PKF Kata JC). Great job to our entire USA Karate delegation and athletes that were in Brazil!

The next Referee Training Camp is being held July 31 to August 2, 2026, with the Q3 National Training Camp/PKF Jr. Training Camp in Denver, Colorado. This will be a fantastic opportunity for all officials and coaches, including those planning to attend the PKF Jr. Championships in Costa Rica. Save the date - the Referee Training Camp flyer will be posted soon with additional details. Thank you to our officials for all you do for USA Karate! We look forward to seeing everyone next month at the National Championships and Team Trials.