WCPO 9's Stephen Knobel covers Butler County. If you have a story that you'd like Stephen to look into or a news tip, email him at stephen@wcpo.com.
When you walk into the doors of Buckner Martial Arts in West Chester, the first thing you'll notice isn't the trophies.
It's the noise.
"Hiya!"
"Graah!"
The sounds of punches landing on pads echo through the dojo as feet shuffle across the mats and instructors bark out corrections.
At first glance, it looks like any other summer evening practice.
Then you realize the athletes making all that noise aren't just training for the next local tournament.
They're training for the world championships.
Five athletes from Buckner Martial Arts have earned spots on Team USA and will travel to Romania later this month for the World Karate Championships — one of the highest levels of competition in the sport.
WATCH: Meet the five athletes from West Chester heading to the World Karate Championships
What stands out most isn't just how talented they are.
It is how young they are.
While two of the athletes are adults, the other three haven't even graduated high school.
One of them is already a world champion.
Actually, make that a three-time world champion.
At just 13 years old, Ruby Culligan is heading back to the world championships after bringing home three gold medals and a bronze medal from last year's event in Sweden.
"It's basically my whole life because I come here like six days a week," Culligan said.
The teen says karate has shaped nearly every aspect of her life, from confidence to leadership. As a junior leader at the dojo, she now helps teach younger students the same lessons older athletes once taught her.
This year's goal is simple.
"I'm going to try to focus on having more fun on the mat and not focus on medals," she said. "But I definitely want to leave Romania with a medal."
For dojo owner Stephanie Buckner, the stage awaiting her athletes in Romania is difficult to overstate.
"I would compare it to the Super Bowl or the World Cup," Buckner said. "This is the highest level of competition."
Around Ruby, the rest of the team continues training.
Thirteen-year-old Caleb Gossard has spent eight years in karate and is preparing for his second appearance at worlds after finishing in the top half of the field last year.
Seventeen-year-old Ishan Reddy is preparing for his first trip after years of following in the footsteps of his older siblings.
"It felt a little unreal because I worked so hard for all of this," Reddy said of learning he had earned a spot on Team USA.
Then there's Abi Kasberg.
Unlike many athletes around her, she didn't grow up in martial arts.
She walked into Buckner Martial Arts less than a year ago after participating in the dojo's boxing and fitness programs.
Now she's headed to Romania.
"Because I had been practicing karate for less than a year, it wasn't something that I thought was a possibility for me," Kasberg said.
Across the dojo, Jamie Green works through her own routines alongside the rest of the team.
Green began karate after experiencing bullying and wanting to build confidence.
"I wanted to learn to stand up for myself and build the self-confidence," she said.
Green, who lives with Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome and autism, says karate helped show her what was possible.
"A lot of people think people with developmental disabilities need to set their sights lower," she said. "I'm proving everybody wrong."
The dojo itself feels deliberate and put together, with every corner seemingly placed with purpose.
But the atmosphere isn't quiet. The yells continue. The pads keep popping. The training doesn't stop.
Because in just a few weeks, the athletes inside this West Chester dojo will trade these mats for an international stage in Romania, and a chance to bring more medals back to Butler County.
Have a story idea or tip for WCPO 9 Butler County reporter Stephen Knobel? Email him at stephen@wcpo.com.
