BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — A 19-year-old Bakersfield native will soon represent Team USA on one of the sport's biggest stages.
Dean Simos will compete in the 14th Karate World Championship in Poland this fall, a milestone he says is the result of years of perseverance and sacrifice.
"It's an honor. Getting to represent Team USA, but not just Team USA alone, but also Kern County, my, you know, my county, my city of Bakersfield, being able to represent us, it just feels so good and I feel so honored and blessed to be able to have this chance to do it. So, yeah, it feels great," Simos said.
Simos fell in love with karate at age 13. The road to Team USA was not without setbacks.
"There's been the countless times where I've gone to nationals. I've lost first round, and at the end of the day, I kept pushing. I kept telling myself, you can't give up because you want to be the best person that you can be, and you got to prove it to yourself," Simos said.
In July, his dedication paid off when he earned the No. 1 seed at the USA Karate National Championships in Spokane, Washington.
"Very emotional moment for me, especially knowing how hard I had to work to get there. So it was like, it felt very good. It felt very good," Simos said.
Simos trains 2 hours every day, sometimes twice a day, and runs in the morning.
"You know, it's all worth it. At the end of the day, like, the training is hard, two hours every day, sometimes twice a day, and then also running in the morning. It hurts in the moment, and the pain sucks, but then all you have to do is remember that, the pain is always going to be temporary, but the outcome is always going to feel better than the pain in the moment," Simos said.
Simos says the Karate World Championship is one of the toughest tournaments, and he is already studying his potential opponents.
"I just check it, see like what their favorite moves to throw are, if it's a jab, a reverse punch, a body kick, whatever it is, and then I'll like, no, okay, he likes to throw a jab a lot. I know what I can work against that jab. Or I just watch his movement, see if he has any stutter steps in between his movements to where I can catch him off guard and stuff like," Simos said.
As the son of immigrants, Simos says competing on the world stage carries a deeper meaning.
"It mean, it's the place I was born and the place my parents moved to, and then made their life. And so not only am I representing myself and to say, but I'm most of representing my parents, and then their legacy that they built here for us as well. So it's an honor," Simos said.
His mom Jocelyn Dimaya-Simos says they are proud to watch him pursue his dreams.
"This is one of the dream that he have and this is his first world and we're very thankful to the Almighty Father that he's been blessed to reach his one of his dreams," Dimaya-Simos said.
Simos departs for Poland on Oct. 11.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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