Sensei Fariba Madani

Fariba Madani was born and raised in northern Iran, the second to youngest of five sisters. An athletic youth, Ms. Madani had her first bike at the age of 7, and was the only girl in her neighborhood who rode a bike! While the other girls were playing dolls, she was playing soccer with the boys until her parents finally convinced her to stop. She then began playing volleyball and then competitive handball in high school, until Iran’s Islamic revolution put an end to competitive athletics for her.

After graduating from high school, Ms. Madani left Iran to continue her education in architecture in Paris, France.  The combination of full-time studies and full-time work left little free time for serious involvement in sports for several years. Because she only knew a few words of French when she moved to Paris, the first two years of Ms. Madani’s studies were French language. She then started her architectural studies, and in seven years completed her master’s degree.

Two days after her graduation, Ms. Madani fulfilled a childhood dream of visiting the United States when she flew to visit her uncle in California.  There she met Shihan Madani. In February 1994, the two were married, and she moved to Colorado, where she began her karate training and used her considerable energies to help her husband open his first independent dojo in Louisville, Colorado.

After four years of training, Ms. Madani achieved her first degree black belt in 1998.  Her commitment to karate is unsurpassed, as evidenced by the fact that she trained the night before the birth of each of her children, and returned to classes two weeks after each birth! Ms. Madani competed from 1995 through 2000, when she ended her career as a competitor to focus on coaching and officiating.

An extraordinary, goal-oriented woman, Ms. Madani recently has accomplished many of her ambitious goals.  She was the first national referee from Colorado, and then the first U.S. female referee at the Pan American level, for both kata and kumite. She decided then to be the first female referee from the United States at the World level, and achieved this distinction in November 2004 at the world championships in Mexico. In July 2005, during the USA-National Karate-Do Federation meeting, she was nominated to be a member of the referee council, the first woman ever to be named to the council.

As a U.S. representative to the referee committee, Ms. Madani needs to be present at all national championships, which entails a great deal of travel and patience.  Currently a forth degree black belt, Ms. Madani practices every day, and sometimes twice a day, on her way to fifth degree. She feels a great deal of pride in the accomplishments of her students and the joy of their parents.

 Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Female Participation & New WKF Referee

Sensei Fariba Madani is the first female to achieve the World level kata and kumite license from United States.

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