{"id":38932,"date":"2026-09-18T10:40:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T14:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=38932"},"modified":"2026-09-18T10:40:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T14:40:35","slug":"pan-am-games-bronze-medalist-and-karate-canada-national-champion-toupin-sets-her-sights-on-world-championships-in-poland-in-october","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/pan-am-games-bronze-medalist-and-karate-canada-national-champion-toupin-sets-her-sights-on-world-championships-in-poland-in-october\/","title":{"rendered":"Pan-Am Games Bronze Medalist and Karate Canada National Champion Toupin sets her sights on World Championships in Poland in October"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aurora resident Charisma Toupin earned a bronze medal in Karate at the Pan-Am Games in Costa Rica in July\u2014the latest in a sequence of impressive athletic achievements in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I caught up with Toupin at Northern Karate School in Aurora after her school day at Ecole Secondaire Catholique Renaissance.&nbsp; The Grade 10 student described her first week back to class: \u201cI like all my teachers. I\u2019m taking a construction class again this year. It\u2019s exciting to work with all the machines and tools, especially the table saws.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Toupin, who buzzed through the competition at the Karate Canada National Championships in Alberta in May to earn gold, described her feelings on the podium in Costa Rica and explained the complexities of her Karate event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI felt very proud. I was the only person from the Canadian team to win at Kata. It\u2019s a choreographed sequence of kicks, punches, and blocks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The reigning National Karate champion reflected on her performance highlight in Costa Rica: \u201cI had a peak moment when I was on the mat. I beat a girl from Brazil who had defeated last year\u2019s gold medalist from the USA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After capturing her first Pan-Am Games medal, Toupin has set her sights on medaling again at the Karate Canada National Championships in Spring 2027 in Quebec.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s a more difficult division\u2014I\u2019ll be competing against a four-time Canadian gold medalist who\u2019s older than me.&nbsp; I\u2019m definitely hoping to medal and I\u2019m aiming for gold.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The articulate 15-year-old delineated the methods she\u2019ll be using to attain her performance goals in Quebec: \u201cI\u2019m going to keep training as I am now and keep pushing myself. I\u2019m starting new drills for strengthening and to increase explosiveness and speed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sitting alongside her mom, Charity dela Cruz-Toupin who is running for Town Council, Charisma Toupin gave us a glimpse of what\u2019s next regarding upcoming competitions, her immediate training focus, and school goals: \u201cIn October, I\u2019m going to Poland to compete in the World Karate Championships.&nbsp; To prepare for next month, I want to continue my running for endurance and leg strength. A bit more weight training will be included in my program. At school this year, I\u2019d like to be part of clubs and committees, but most days, I come here directly from school to continue my training.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Jim Stewart<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-facebook nolightbox\" data-provider=\"facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F38932&amp;t=Pan-Am%20Games%20Bronze%20Medalist%20and%20Karate%20Canada%20National%20Champion%20Toupin%20sets%20her%20sights%20on%20World%20Championships%20in%20Poland%20in%20October&amp;s=100&amp;p[url]=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F38932&amp;p[images][0]=&amp;p[title]=Pan-Am%20Games%20Bronze%20Medalist%20and%20Karate%20Canada%20National%20Champion%20Toupin%20sets%20her%20sights%20on%20World%20Championships%20in%20Poland%20in%20October\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Facebook\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/facebook.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-twitter nolightbox\" data-provider=\"twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F38932&amp;text=Like%3F\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"twitter\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/twitter.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-mail nolightbox\" data-provider=\"mail\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share by email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Pan-Am%20Games%20Bronze%20Medalist%20and%20Karate%20Canada%20National%20Champion%20Toupin%20sets%20her%20sights%20on%20World%20Championships%20in%20Poland%20in%20October&amp;body=Like%3F:%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F38932\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"mail\" title=\"Share by email\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/mail.png\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aurora resident Charisma Toupin earned a bronze medal in Karate at the Pan-Am Games in Costa Rica in July\u2014the latest in a sequence of impressive athletic achievements in 2026. I caught up with Toupin at Northern Karate School in Aurora after her school day at Ecole Secondaire Catholique Renaissance.&nbsp; The Grade 10 student described her [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-a7W","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-27 00:42:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38932"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38933,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38932\/revisions\/38933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}