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Brandon DeLuca
Calling Brandon DeLuca the Karate Kid would be inaccurate. Although he has won the North Texas Karate Association’s Grand Championship the past two years, and although he attended this summer’s Junior Olympic Games in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he earned medals in each of the twelve events he entered—including six gold—the eight-year-old resident of Flower Mound actually practices Shaolin Kung Fu, thought to be one of the oldest of the ancient Chinese martial arts. “I really like learning the different routines, especially the ones with weapons,” he says. (Playground bullies take note: This kid is keeping his milk money.) Though Brandon likes winning medals and titles, his real goal is to be a black belt by the time he’s ten—not unreasonable, since he is already a red belt, the level just below black. His mother, Lori DeLuca, says he has been interested in the martial arts ever since he began watching Bruce Lee movies. “We never thought he’d go this far,” she says. “Kids usually get into something for a few months, and then forget about it. Brandon is just a real intense little boy.”
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