Kata Team Brings Home Medals at Pan American Championship in Ecuador

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Representing the U.S. at the 2026 Kata Pan American Championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador, were (l to r) Kristin El Idrissi, Christine Levine, Lori Latimer, Fiston Kabuya, Doug Newcomer, Eiko Shepherd, Carla Martin, Theo Schwalm and Barb Shimizu.

The 2026 Kata Pan American Championship took place on May 1 in Guayaquil, Ecuador, with five athletes representing the United States in the competition. Strong teams from both North and South America made for a challenging competition. Americans competed in four divisions (Katame no Kata, Kodokan Goshin Jutsu, Itsutsu no Kata, and Ju no Kata), winning medals in two of them. 

The Itsutsu no Kata team of Doug Newcomer (Denton, Texas / Denton Jr. Optimist Judo Club) and Fiston Kabuya (North Richland Hills, Texas / Fort Worth Judo Club) won silver in this newly created division. The Itsutsu no Kata was recently added to international competition in 2025 and requires an experienced tori with a minimum of a 6th-degree black belt. ​

In the Ju no Kata division, Lori Latimer (Upper Darby, Pa. / El Idrissi Judo Academy) and Christine Levine (Philadelphia, Pa. / El Idrissi Judo Academy) secured the bronze medal, just 1.5 points out of silver. This is the second year in a row that Latimer and Levine have medaled at the Pan American Championships in this division as they continue to gain experience for the upcoming Kata World Series events.​

In the Kodokan Goshin Jutsu category, the teams of Kristin El Idrissi (Melrose Park, Pa. / El Idrissi Judo Academy) and Levine, and Newcomer and Kabuya placed fourth and sixth, respectively, after the preliminary round, which qualified them for the final block, but they were unable to reach the medal stand. The Katame no Kata team of Latimer and El Idrissi improved in the preliminary round last year but finished just out of the final block.​

The U.S. was also represented by three judges at the competition -- Eiko Shepherd (Caseyville, Ill.), Carla Martin (Houston, Texas) and Theo Schwalm (Dallas, Texas) -- and two Pan American Committee members, Diane Jackson (Silver Spring, Md.) and Barb Shimizu (Des Moines, Wash.), who helped the tournament run smoothly.