NYC's junior dodgeball team headed to World Cup to defend their title
NEW YORK - From the outside, Champions Sports Center looks like your typical martial arts school, but inside this dojo, a fierce battle is dominating the court.
CBS2's Hannah Kliger caught up with the most competitive junior dodgeball team in the world, based in Brighton Beach, for one of their last training sessions before they leave to Cairo to defend their title.
Sixteen-year-old Emre Sengul is the captain of Team USA.
"It's easy to get good at it, but it's not easy to become a world champion," he explains. In 2018, he and his teammates scored the gold at the World Dodgeball Association's World Cup in New York City.
"I almost cried tears of joy when I was holding that trophy because I was the world's best at something. It was incredible. And I was just 12," he recalls.
This week, he and his teammates, all middle and high school students, are leaving overseas to bring it home again.
"I feel like it's a big opportunity for me, for my future and for this team," says 14-year-old Lizi Tialadze.
"You see a ball coming at you, you duck. At the same time, you need to have agility, so you need to be able to run around, duck, dive, dodge," explains 13-year-old Nickolas Filshtinsky.
Under the watchful eye of their sensei, karate master Meral Olmez, these disciplined players wage war in the arena.
"It's a very famous sport in Europe, but in United States, somehow it's just taken as dodgeball in recess time," Olmez, owner of Champion Sports Center, says. "But it is very much growing and they're considering to take dodgeball into the Olympics very soon."
She founded the team in 2016, after playing for Team USA herself. That's when the dream of starting her own team was born. Two years later, in 2018, the junior team was recognized as the best in the world. Most of the members were in elementary school at the time.
"I was only 10, and I really didn't understand the magnitude of the experience," recalls Daniel Bobul, now 14.
After a decorated career in martial arts, Olmez, herself a two-time world champion and four-time European champion in karate, runs the center and trains her top players. She says her secret to success is the team member's karate training. Nearly all the players are karate champions themselves. Olmez explains that despite their differences, the two sports have a lot in common.
"Karate has a lot of trunk rotation, hip rotation skills and, of course, there's supposed to be speed, power, throw. You know, as you throw your punch, you throw the ball," she says.
The team recently met with the mayor before their journey, promising to make the city proud.
The World Cup happens every two years, but was cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic. The junior team is expected to play in the final on Dec. 17.
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