Henley Middle School seventh-grader Alexander Lee (Xander Lee) Bickford enjoys school, learning — and martial arts. In fact, he has been placed in the top 10 of the world rankings from the North American Sport Karate Association — one of the largest sport karate sanctioning and ratings organizations in the world.

Xander Lee has been training in martial arts since he was 5 years old and “he lives and breathes the arts,” said his mother Sonja Bickford. He started training in Taekwondo, followed by American Freestyle Karate.

He has also trained in Philippine Combatives, Olympic Style Taekwondo, and Tang Soo Do. Since moving to Southern Oregon in the summer of 2022, Xander Lee has been training daily at the Klamath Falls YMCA.

He also travels a few days a week to Medford where he receives instruction and support from American Karate Academies National Association martial arts instructors, and the coaches at the Southern Oregon Gymnastics Academy.

“He knows he has to stay committed and practice — and continue to keep up his grades,” says his father, Nate Bickford.

Xander Lee’s goal in martial arts is to keep learning and competing at new levels. “I just hope the other kids love martial arts as much as I do,” he said.

He competes at the Kaizen League tournaments on the West Coast, as well as a few NASKA world level tournaments. To date he has competed in Nebraska, Colorado, Oregon, California, Washington, and in Canada.

In May 2023, Xander Lee traveled and competed at his first world level tournament in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. He placed first in creative weapon forms with his nunchuck form and in boys’ 10-11 black belt division in point sparring.

He also competed in musical forms, traditional forms, both open hand and with weapons, as well as in open weight sparring. At this level being in the top 8 is the goal of most competitors.

At his first world tour tournament in Quebec, Xander Lee made the finals round for weapons and was honored to compete against such talented boys from all over North America. He said that one of his new goals is to one day be on the big stage in the grands division.

Xander Lee’s newest accomplishment came in December 2023, when he found out he placed in the world top 10 competitors for black belts in his age group for 2023, and attended an awards banquet in Chicago recently to receive his award.

In 2024, Xander Lee will continue to train and compete at the regional, national and perhaps the world level. “Martial arts is a journey and lifestyle. We all have our own path to the next goal we set for ourselves,” he said.

The American Karate Association is a nonprofit educational organization for youth and adults that advances martial arts in the United States and around the world.

More information on the American Karate Association can be found on its website at: https://akakarate.com/.