Algonquin karate phenom is also an honors student

Delaney Lebedun is a polite 15-year-old whose impish smile and understated confidence can't help but charm you. She's also a karate world champion who could side kick you so fast you wouldn't know what hit you.

Not that she would want to, unless she's facing you in a match.

“Karate is not like other sports. It teaches you discipline, and it can work in anything that you do,” said Delaney, of Algonquin, a sophomore at Jacobs High School who's been a karate black belt since age 10.

Delaney trains at Focus Martial Arts & Fitness in Lake in the Hills, where she learned the Shotokan style of karate.

When she reaches the adult division, she wants to become the first Shotokan female world champion in kata for the World Karate Federation, the most prestigious international karate body. Kata is the aspect of karate she enjoys the most, she said. “I want to be one of the girls who represent — really well — what we do,” she said.

Top figures in U.S. karate say that goal is fully within her grasp.

“This young lady is just absolutely short of amazing. Her work ethic is unbelievable,” said Jo Mirza, national chairman for AAU/USA Karate. “I have been doing karate for 45 years and I have never seen a person that young have that much potential and that much ability — male or female.”

Jim O'Hara, head coach for the junior and adult national karate teams for both the AAU and the World Karate Confederation, agrees.

“What she has accomplished already is phenomenal and off the charts. Anything going forth from here is what she decides she wants to do,” said O'Hara, who is also the owner of Focus Martial Arts.

Delaney has been crowned karate champion in the black belt division for her age and weight on the national and international stages since she was 12 years old. She competes in kata (form), kumite (fighting) and kobudo (weapons).

In the last two years she has consistently finished in the top three at the national karate championships of the Amateur Athletic Union, one of the two top karate federations in the country.

She was junior world champion in kata and kumite as a member of the AAU/USA national team in 2009, and junior world champion in kata in 2010. Both times she competed within the World Karate Confederation. At the 2010 Junior Pan American Championship, she placed third in kata and kumite. At this summer's Junior Pan American Championship, she placed third in kata.

Karate's philosophy pushes her academically, too, Delaney said.

Despite a heavy conditioning and training schedule — up to 20 hours per week during tournament season — Delaney is an honors student with a 3.75 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale. She is taking honors classes in American government, chemistry, English and algebra II.

Her mother, Kelly Lebedun, said that is typical of kids who practice karate. “Most of the other kids in the team are doing very well in school, and you never see them mouthing off to an adult,” she said. “I couldn't have picked a better sport for my kids.”

The sport has also taught Delaney to keep a poker face. “In competition, you're really not supposed to show emotion because you have to have sportsmanship,” Delaney said.

So much so that when Delaney won a crucial match in Brazil this year, her mother had no idea until she could get a clear view of the judges, so impassive were her daughter's and her competitor's expressions.

The Lebedun family has been bit by the karate bug, what with four karate black belts in the house — Delaney, her twin brother Jackson, younger brother Riley, 14, and their mother, who took up the sport after her children. Jackson has also competed on the international stage. The youngest, Spencer, 11, has a brown belt and is determined to get a black one, too. Dad Larry also frequents the dojo for fitness classes.

Kelly Lebedun said she first took the twins to the Focus Martial Arts when they were 5½ years old. Delaney was taking ballet, but it only took one try for her to fall in love with karate. “She came off the floor and she was like, ‘Ooh, I want to do this,' ” she said.

Delaney was 7 when she decided she wanted to tackle competitions. “It was surprising, (a little girl) coming to me and talking to me about wanting to compete,” Focus coach Ciprian Socaciu said of his star pupil.

Simply approaching him took a lot of gumption, Socaciu said. “Back then, not many people were talking to me. I did not speak English well. I think they were intimidated, both adults and kids,” said Socaciu, 33, a native of Romania who has won the Junior World Cup for kata and competed with the Romanian national karate team.

Delaney is really good at listening — truly listening — to direction, and works incredibly hard with laser-beam focus, Socaciu said.

“The sharpness, the power that she develops in her moves when she does it right, it's just impressive. I tell her sometimes I wish I could move like that,” he said. “I don't think there's anybody better than her anywhere else in the world (in her category).”

Socaciu admits he might be a little biased, but he is also quick to point out that he's never been soft on Delaney. “I'm Delaney's toughest critic, especially when everybody else around her tells her how great she does,” he said.

Not that Delany isn't hard on herself. In fact, the first thing she does after a match is try to figure out how she could have done better, whether she won or lost, she said.

As for her proudest moment, it was winning her first national title after trying for four years. “I kept getting second or third place, and finally in 2008 I just kind of pulled it out,” she said.

Socaciu said Delaney is, by far, his best student of all time.

“She could quit tomorrow, and I'm always going to say she's my best student ever.”

Ÿ Elena Ferrarin wrote today's column. She and Kimberly Pohl are always looking for Suburban Standouts to profile. If you know of someone whose story just wows you, please send a note including name, town, email and phone contacts for you and the nominee to standouts@dailyherald.com.

Delaney Lebedun

<B>Age: </B>15

<B>Hometown:</B> Algonquin

<B>Who inspires you?</B> Anyone who puts everything they have into achieving what they want

<B>What book are you reading?</B> “Unbroken” by Laura Hillenbrand

<B>What's on your iPod?</B> A lot of different types of music

<B>The three words that best describe you? </B>Motivated; Dedicated; Good sport.