When Tarryn Demas watched her son step onto the mat at the Glasgow International Arena on Thursday, November 5, she knew the moment would stay with their family long after the medals were handed out. Noah Demas, her 12-year-old boy from Paarl, had just claimed bronze in the Kata division at the 2026 Commonwealth Karate Championships, delivering Team South Africa’s first medal of the tournament.
The road to that podium was anything but smooth. In his first round, Noah won. In the second, he lost. But the Grade 5 pupil at William Lloyd Primary School pulled himself back into contention and fought through to the bronze medal match, which he took 4-1.
“First round, he won. In the second round, he lost, but he pulled it through to the Bronze medal. He was very excited,” Tarryn told IOL Media. She had travelled with him to Scotland for the championships.
When she asked him afterward how it felt, his answer reached back to an earlier milestone. “He was like, ‘I had the same feeling as when the team was announced on the 3rd of October.’”
Noah, who turned 12 in July, faced a field of 14 athletes drawn from countries including England, Canada, Cyprus, India, Australia and Scotland. He was the only South African to win a medal in Kata at this year’s championships.
His coach, Patrick Ross, founder of the Patrick Ross Karate Academy, described the technical detail behind the win. Noah performed the Papuren kata in his opening match and edged it 3 flags to 2. His second-round defeat came against the eventual winner of the division, before he regrouped for the bronze medal bout.
For Ross, the achievement carries weight even measured against the academy’s history. “Although the Academy has produced numerous Commonwealth Karate medal winners, this medal was special given Noah’s age and that he is only a brown belt competing in an elite category,” he said.
Noah’s journey in the sport began at the end of October 2021, when the academy’s classes were reopening after Covid-19. His mother says the interest started much earlier. He had wanted to take up karate since he was about five years old, and the passion shows in small, everyday ways. “He is one of the people who, as he walks, would randomly do a Kata,” she said.
Getting him to Glasgow, however, tested the family’s finances. “We basically had to put ourselves in debt just to get this child and us here, but it was all worth it,” Tarryn said. Sponsorships proved difficult to secure, a struggle she ties directly to the nature of the sport itself. “It was just a struggle getting sponsorships because it is karate, and not a lot of people really give much attention to an individual sport. So it has been so draining, but in the end, so rewarding as well.”
Meanwhile, Ross said the wider circle around Noah stepped up too. Family, karatekas, friends and acquaintances all chipped in to help make his dream a reality.
The bronze in Glasgow sits alongside a strong run of results over the past two years. Earlier this year, Noah received his full Protea colours and won silver in kata and gold in kumite at the Region South tournament in Angola. In 2025, he took bronze in kata and silver in kumite at the Region South Karate Championships.
For his mother, watching him medal in Scotland brought tears to her eyes. And her son’s ambitions stretch far beyond this podium. “Noah says that he wants to be a World Champion. He says he just wants me to stay by his side and motivate him.”
There is little time to rest on the achievement. Noah will compete at the Cape Winelands Karate trials on 21 November, where selection for the 2027 team will be decided. His stated goals for the years ahead are to qualify for the World Championships and to earn his black belt.