What a fantastic day at our Club Kumite Championships held in the impressive Darwen Vale High School on Sunday 25th September.
The day ran very smoothly (at least until the adults and teenagers categories) and I think it is fair to say that overall, it was a hugely enjoyable and successful day.
Everyone left a winner because they were all rewarded with certificates and have learned how to improve and progress next time. Competitive karate is an excellent learning experience so that you can measure where you are up to, when compared with others.
You should be very proud of yourself for being brave enough to have a go. You should now look back on your performance and find ways to improve. Did you get hit with the same technique more than once? Do you need to be a bit sharper or more dynamic? Could you improve your movement? Have a think about how you did and find ways to get better.
Huge thank you to all of our dedicated team of Instructors who gave up their valuable free time to arrive early, set up the venue, officiate all day and help us clear everything away at the end of the day. They all worked so hard. Nowhere, will you find a team as committed as ours who will work together and make sure that the students have a great day. We are so lucky and very grateful for each and everyone of you.
This was our first time running the flag system which enabled our students to experience what it will be like should they wish to start competing outside of the Club. We were far from perfect and still have a lot to learn, but you all did your best and hopefully enjoyed the experience.
We witnessed some outstanding performances on the day and the standard just keeps getting better and better. However, we are more proud of the fact that win, lose or draw, our students showed excellent sportsmanship and utmost respect for one another and that is what karate is all about. Your lessons/ kumite rounds begin and end with ‘rei’ – a bow and a show of respect for each other.
We all started the day as friends and classmates and hopefully ended the day with even more friends from other dojos.
May we congratulate all of the students who took part and the parents who gave up their day to come and support their loved ones. Without you, we couldn’t put on these great events. We’d also like to thank Jessica, Ben and Scott who provided food and drinks all day and Helen who was really helpful selling the stock.
There were 2 professional photographers capturing the action and winning moments on the day – Laura and Robert Graham from RG Event Photography. Their photos look awesome and you will be able to view and purchase these online over the next few days. Thank you both for doing a fab job at such short notice.
Below are the results and medals winners from the day. Congratulations to the students below who on this day, fought hard and earned medals. Remember, you are only champion for the day – tomorrow the hard work continues back in the dojo.
Karate is like hot water – you must keep it on the boil. You lose what you don’t use. There will be students who didn’t medal coming back next time motivated and more determined than ever to grab one of the top spots. It is up to you whether you stay on top, or you don’t.
Tatami 1 Results
Event 1:
Age: 6-7 years, Girls. Grades: Orange, Yellow and Purple and White Belts
1st Place: Scarlett Norman
2nd Place: Megan Dale
3rd Place: Katy Lees
Event 2:
Age: 8-9 Years, Girls. Grades: Orange, Red and Green Belts
1st Place: Demi McDonagh
2nd Place: Nicole South
3rd Place: Grace Prince
Event 3:
Age: 8-10 Years, Boys. Grades: Orange, Red, Yellow, Green and Purple Belts
1st Place: Max Colville
2nd Place: Aaron Jefferson
3rd Place: Harrison Smith/ Sam Lees
Event 4:
Age: 11-12 years + 13 year old Red Belt, Males. Grades: All Grades up to 4th Kyu Purple and White Belt
1st Place: Lucas Goodier
2nd Place: Matthew Tyrell
3rd Place: Thomas Collin
Event 5:
Age: 13-17 year old, Girls. Grades: All Grades up to 1st Kyu
1st Place: Nicole Chadwick
2nd Place: Isabelle Wilkie
3rd Place: Lucy Davies
Event 6:
Age: Adults 18 years +, Males. Grades: Up to 4th Kyu Purple and White Belts
1st Place: Andy Matanle
2nd Place: Darren Moss
3rd Place: Paul Evans
Event 7:
Junior Team Kumite 5- 8 Years all grades
1st Place: Izzy Baron, Sonny Millington, Benjamin Finney
2nd Place: Lukas Riewald-Pilling, Bradley Oliver, Max Colville
Joint 3rd Place: Jessica Higgs, Jacob Waters, Kaiden Hindley & Freyja Lundin, Giuseppe Pezzino, Noah Vernon
Event 8:
Adult Team Kumite 17 and over
1st Place: Connor Cherry, Dave Thomas & ???
2nd Place: Lee Rylance, Simon Mattinson, John O Donovan
3rd Place: Brendan Conyard, Bradley Kancho, Su Matthews
Tatami 2 Results
Event 1:
Age: 6-7 Years, Boys. Grades: Orange, Red,Yellow and Green Belts
1st Place: Lucas South
2nd Place: Edward Norman
3rd Place: Kaiden Hindley
Event 2:
Age: 7 Years, Boys. Grades: Green, Purple and Brown Belts
1st Place: Ethan Kirk
2nd Place: Zak Gould
3rd Place: Ben Finney
Event 3:
Age: 10 Years. Boys. Grades: Purple and White Belts, Brown Belts, 2nd Kyu’s and 1st Kyu’s.
1st Place: Kyle Girault
2nd Place: Kevin Longthorne
3rd Place: James Sherlock
Event 4:
Age: 11-12 Years. Boys. Grades: Brown Belts, 2nd Kyu’s, 1st Kyu’s and Black Belts
1st Place: Matthew Affleck
2nd Place: Adam Karabedian
3rd Place: Jake Gould
Event 5:
Age: 11-12 Years, Girls, Grades: Brown Belts, 2nd Kyu’s, 1st Kyu’s and Black Belts
1st Place: Molly Austin-Hogsden
2nd Place: Millie Davies
3rd Place: Abby Fielding
Event 6:
Age: 13-14 Years, Girls. Grades: Black Belts
1st Place: Lori-Ann Moran
2nd Place: Grace Baron
Joint 3rd Place: Amelia Karabedian & Leah Clare
Event 7:
Age: 13-14 Years, Males. Grades: 4th Kyu – Black Belts
1st Place: Sam Jackson
2nd Place: Louis Johnson
3rd Place: Ben Duckworth
Event 8:
Age: 15 – 17 Years, Males. Grades: Black Belts
1st Place: Bradley Kancho-Bowker
2nd Place: Chris Dempsey
3rd Place: Louis Standring
Event 9:
Junior Team Kumite 13-16 Years all grades
1st Place: Sam Jackson, Grace Baron. Lori-Ann Moran
2nd Place: Louis Standring, Matthew Lowe, Christopher Dempsey
3rd Place: Jo Woodman, Leah Clare, Lewis Thomas
Event 10:
Under 16 Females Kickmaster Kumite
1st Place: Amelia Karabedian
2nd Place: Izzy Baron
3rd Place: Isabelle Wilkie and Molly Austin-Hogsden
Event 11:
Kickmaster Kumite Under 16 Boys
1st Place: Louis Johnson
2nd Place: Matthew Affleck
3rd Place: Ellis Pindoria-Stott and Sam Jackson
Event 12:
Adult Kickmaster Males and Adult Kickmaster Females
Males:
1st Place: Connor Cherry
2nd Place: Daryl Brady
Joint 3rd Place: Lee Rylance, Anthony Greenough
Female Kickmaster Champion
1st Place: Bernadette Burton
Tatami 3
Event 1:
Age: 4 to 9 years, Girls. Grades: White Belts Tag Sparring
1st Place: Lexi Collier-Baker
2nd Place: Meghan Rigby
Joint 3rd Place: Ruby Grace Healey and Alysha Megan Gerrard
Event 2:
Age: 8-9 years, Boys. Grades: Purple and White Belts, Brown Belts and 2nd Kyu’s
1st Place: Zak Thomas-Hursthurst
2nd Place: Corey Stevens
3rd Place: Jacob Kirk
Event 3:
Age: 8-9 years, Girls. Grades: Purple Belts, Purple and White Belts, Brown Belts and 2nd Kyu’s
1st Place: Izzy Baron
2nd Place: Ella Rylance
3rd Place: Betty Eccles
Event 4:
Age: 10-12 Years (plus 10 Year old 3rd and 2nd Kyu’s), Girls. Grades: Up to 4th Kyu plus 2 x 10 year old brown belts
1st Place: Holly Dale
2nd Place: Gina Farrance
3rd Place: Ellie Laytham
Event 5:
Age: Adult 18 +, Females. Grades: Up to 2nd Kyu
1st Place: Jo Sysum
2nd Place: Su Matthews
3rd Place: Jade Rigby
Event 6:
Age: Adult 18 +, Males.Grades: Brown to Black Belts
1st Place: Ron Matthews
2nd Place: John O’ Donavan
3rd Place: Lee Rylance
Event 7:
Junior Team Kumite 9-12 Years
1st Place: Jasmine Johnston, Keeley Barton, Ellie Laytham
2nd Place: Ava Nicholson, Jaime Pratley, Adam Bennett
3rd Place: Jack Goman, Finley McLennan, James Sherlock
Event 10:
Family Kumite
1st Place: Bernadette, Phillip and Greg Burton
2nd Place: Dave Thomas and Lewis Thomas
3rd Place: John O’ Donovan, Lilly O’ Donovan and Amy O’ Donovan
Your next opportunity to compete externally is at the JKS Scotland Nationals in Grangemouth on Sunday 23rd October or the JKS England Nationals on Sunday 20th November. Our Club Competition will be early next year so look out for it on our 2017 calendar. JKS England will be looking for volunteers to help referee, officiate with flags, scorekeep and timekeep at their Nationals in Nottingham. If you are an Instructor interested in doing this and completing Officials Qualifications in your license book please speak to Paul Wolstencroft Sensei.
Weekly Kata and Kumite Squad training takes place with Paul Wolstencroft Sensei every Monday evening at Thornleigh Salesian High School from 7pm-8pm. The cost of this class is £6 per person. Please do not attend this lesson if you are LAZY! The highest level of commitment is expected at this class, you will only see results and improvement if you attend every single week.
We take pride in all of our events so if you have any comments or feedback which would help us further improve the running of our Championships in the future please speak to your Instructor or send an email to info@redtigerkarateclub.co.uk.
Would you like to see us run both kata and kumite events on the same day? Would you like to attend an after tournament party? All suggestions and ideas will be welcomed.