2009
29th November
Irish Championships
(Report from the Trafford Metro News)
A Hale karate champion
is on cloud nine after a record-breaking win.Vincent
O’Hora has been crowned Irish champion for the ninth
year in a row after a hard-fought victory in
Dublin.With seconds remaining on the clock the
25-year-old beat Ronan Flynn 3-2 to retain his
remarkable run of titles at Aer lingus Club in
Dublin.Vincent, a third dan black belt who has
competed since he was six, was 2-0 down in the bout
before a title-winning comeback in the final
minute."This is the hardest I have been pushed for
the title over the years, " said Vincent who
competes in the male senior 84kg weight
category."Going into the final round I began to
think that maybe my run was over, but I dug deep and
managed to pull it back to win." I’m delighted with
the victory and the record, as it’s never been done
before and it capped off a tough year of training
and competing."The national coach was very pleased
with me and it is great to be able to keep up the
same consistency for the best part of a decade."
Vincent
(pictured), who attended St Bede’s College in
Manchester and was captain of the Manchester
University team, also achieved a blue during his
time at Oxford University, Vincent now works as a
chemical engineer in Manchester for recycling firm,
Axion.He represents Ireland as his family hail from
Leixlip, near Dublin.
Despite the win,
Vincent now has his sights set on a tough year of
competing in 2010 with the Europeans and World
Championships, in Greece and Serbia respectively.
The Sale Dojo star added: "The victory bodes well
for the upcoming year, I will have to train right
through Christmas as I also have a major tournament
in France straight after Christmas."
29th November
Another very successful kyu grade at
the club and by far the coldest of the year, didn't take to long
though to warm everybody up. The standard of the grade was as
high as ever, especially the pad work section.
The first class passes were as
follows,
Aimee Staunton and Mike Duckworth
22nd November
Karate Competitions Cadet Open
This is the first time this
competition has taken place, the event was held at Oldham Sports
Centre.
An excellent venue, all the top
referees were in attendance and the organisation was second to none
from the mats and scoreboards to the stalls and even bespoke medals,
I couldn't fault a thing. Unfortunately there was only one
problem, not enough competitors, such a shame considering the time
and effort that had been put into this event.
I think the amount of competitions
this year has finally taken it toll, a little too near to Christmas
and a England Squad on the same day did not help matters.
Selfishly, the most disappointing thing was the profits were going
to be donated to the youngsters from the Ken Yu Kai Squad, I know
the event made a loss.
Please Carl, don't give up, the format
was perfect, just put it down to bad timing.
Due to the lack of numbers it was very
difficult to judge how well our squad did, it seemed as if we were
competing between ourselves in most of the finals but then again, as
our squad gets stronger this is becoming more common.
I think it was well worth the
experience for our younger members, Mia Swain, Lucy Whitworth and
Caitlyn King in particular who all performed well both in kata and
kumite events, but I am not too sure about our older members.
The competitor of the day was shared
between Lauren Tutty and Natalie Payne both taking five gold medals
each. Five golds medals in any level of tournament is an
outstanding achievement, the club of the day went to Sale Dojo once
again beating the AMA into second place - Lovely!
Well Done all.
12th - 15th November
Junior World Championships - Rabat,
Morocco
I know I have got one of the best jobs
in the world, what a privilege it is to be able to experience
different places and cultures and a great excuse to get away from
the missus, because it's my work!!
I was very excited about the prospect
of witnessing some of the best young competitors in the world
especially the contrasting styles from the Asian athletes to the
Europeans and in the back of my mind maybe a medal.
This is the first time I've been to a
Junior World Championships and with seventy seven countries you can
only be impressed by the popularity of our sport - Why did we not
get in the Olympics ????
The tournament was held in Rabat,
Morocco, the venue was superb and as usual the four day event ran
like clockwork.
Our small party consisted of the
Claire and Steve Crawford, Anthony Kiernan and myself leaving a very
wet Sale on Thursday 12th November. We flew out from
Manchester to Paris the connected from Paris to Casablanca finally
taking two trains to Rabat. Our journey started at 4am,
however we finally arrived at our hotel at 7.30pm, bit of a
nightmare trek. Travelling this way gave us a chance to see a
little more of Morocco than most tourists, it gives you a huge sense
of how privileged we all are in this country.
We were very fortunate that three of
our squad members were selected to represent their country, Lauren
Crawford, Jake Kiernan were the rookies being selected for their
first time and was very difficult for me to predict how they would
perform under this intense pressure. Saule Del Rio on the
other hand has had a little more experience competing in the
last two European Championships and I was expecting a little more
from him this time.
They were all due to fight on the
Saturday and I just couldn't wait for the tournament to begin.
Lauren Crawford, Sensei Swain, Jake
Kiernan & Saule Del Rio
Fight report below (Extracts from the
English Karate Federation Website)
Jacob Kiernan - Cadet U52kg
Jacob showed no signs of international nerves as he
faced USA in his opening fight scoring within the first few seconds.
A penalty for contact saw him double his lead before extending it
further scoring with another Gyakusuki punch. Jacob was soon 4-0 up
before another 2 points for contact came his way and with another
Gyakusuki punch scoring Jacob comfortably 7-0 up before a final
contact warning for his opponent saw him disqualified hand the fight
to Jacob.
The 2nd round saw Jacob versus Holland. Jacob quickly
stormed into a 4-0 lead with a series of Gyakusuki punches but then
got caught by a Ura-Mawashigeri kick from his opponent closing the
gap to 1 point. However, his opponent gave away a penalty point for
contact before receiving two more contact warning which also saw him
disqualified.
The 3rd round saw Jacob against an Iranian opponent
and Jacob took an early lead only to lose a point to his opponent
soon after. Jacob scored another Gyakusuki punch to take the lead
once more and a final penalty for contact awarded against his
opponent gave Jacob a 3-1 win.
A gallant effort from Jacob but he just couldn't get
passed his Russian opponent in the 4th round quarter-final. Jacob
looked sharp but was caught by the Russian’s Ura-Mawashigeri to go
3-0 down. Jacob tried to score taking the fight to his opponent and
received a couple of face blows resulting in a penalty point going
his way but it wasn’t enough as he bowed out losing 3-1. The Russian
then lost in the semi-final on the buzzer in extra-time to his
Japanese opponent leaving Jacob just out of repechage.
Lauren Crawford – Cadet U47kg
Lauren came out sharp and scored an early point with
a Gyakusuki punch but gave away a penalty point following a contact
warning levelling the scores at 1-1. A similar penalty point from
her opponent gave Lauren the lead back but her opponent scored a few
more Gyakusuki punches to take a 4-2 lead.
Lauren did manage to reply scoring her own Gyakusuki
but she gave away another 2 points for a contact warning before her
opponent took another scoring point to end the fight with a 7-2 win
leaving Lauren an early casualty.
Saule Del-Rio – Junior +76kg
After receiving a 1st round bye Saule faced a Korean
opponent in the 2nd round. Saule quickly counter-punched his
opponent and took an early lead. Saule’s very presence kept his
opponent at bay for most of the match with Saule just missing out on
a few Mawashigeri kicks. A Gyakusuki punch late on doubled his lead
which he followed up with a devastating blow to finish the fight 3-0
up.
The 3rd round saw Saule have a close match and he
went 1 point ahead after his opponent received a contact warning.
Mid way through the fight Saule’s opponent equalised with a
Gyakusuki punch and unfortunately with just 4 seconds left on the
clock a 50/50 Gyakusuki punch decision went to his opponent leaving
Saule to bow out mid way through the competition.
There was to be no medal for Saule as Saule’s 1st
repechage round saw him up against a quick Gyaking Egyptian and that
was the telling difference between the two fighters in this match. A
series of quick Gyakusuki punches saw Saule go 4-0 down before
gaining a penalty point.
Saule pulled another point back with his own
Gyakusuki punch before being caught at the end with a Jodan
Mawashigeri kick to finish the wrong side of a 7-2 score line.
I can't hide my disappointment that we
never managed to bring home any silverware but I am extremely proud
of the way our young competitors performed especially Jake Kiernan
getting to the last eight in the World in your first major
competition, this is no mean feat. I feel looking at the
rest of the countries performances that weekend, we are not too far
off the top and I believe that the difference is a small slice of
luck needs to go your way, which is frustrating. We now have
to look forward to the European Championships in Turkey at the
beginning of next year and this experience can only be beneficial.
This is another working business trip for me!!
One tip from my Morocco experience, do
NOT use the taxis service without a clean pair of underwear or use
the public toilets/hole in the floor without packing your
Imodium!!!! What do you think Anthony?????
8th November
Ken Yu Kai Nationals
I've been attending the Ken Yu Kai
Nationals for as long as I can remember. When I think back
about how successful the competition use to be and the amount of
champions that we have produced it use to be the tournament of the
year, sadly no more. In recent years there has been
numerous open competitions that has pushed the Ken Yu Kai Nationals
down the pecking order, this shouldn't be so! We as a club
have supported other association events, so we should support this
one more so than any other, especially our junior grades and up and
coming competitors. To be honest I don't think Ken Yu Kai have
helped themselves, tournament karate for ninety percent of the clubs
doesn't seem to be important, we as a club have tried to improve
this but found it very difficult.
Our smaller inter-club tournaments
have also been poorly attended this year and this is the breeding
ground for the bigger events. I would also like to say it's
about time Ken Yu Kai got its own set of mats. I can't believe
that a so called professional organisation do not own the
inter-locking mats and score boards. It is now the norm at all
tournaments not a novelty. The reason why I am so negative
about the Nationals is because I care and when we stop caring it
will die. You know I judge competitions from the feedback of
parents a
nd competitors and this year I had a lot of disgruntled
people.
Despite my negativity our competitors
performed as well as usual winning most of the events that we
entered. Probably the only downside was our individual kata
performances but once again I felt we did not get the rub of the
green, poor draws and some surprising decisions, maybe another
reason why it is difficult for me to motivate my competitors.
Maybe I am being paranoid and I know I am a poor
loser. . . . . . . .
It can't be my coaching methods!
Team Champions: Brian Kanyanga,
Vincent O'Hora, Ahmed Elgohary
It has not been confirmed who achieved
"Club of the Day" but I believe it maybe us.
Results are as follows:
Kata
Cadet team Gold (Alex Rigg, Charlene
Oakes, Lauren Tutty). Cadet pair Silver (Alex Rigg, Charlene Oakes).
Cadet pair Bronze (Caitlyn King,
Jasmine Mulai). Individual Silver Mark Spencer, Individual Bronze
Jasmine Mulai, Sarah Whitworth.
Kumite
Cadet team Gold (Cameron Bryan Smith,
Thomas Tutty, Aaron Kiernan). Cadet team Gold (Alex Rigg, Raymond
Kanyanga, Steven McColgan). Senior team Gold (Brian Kanyanga,
Vincent O'Hora, Ahmed Elgohary). Cadet team Silver (Shaun Mulai,
Rico Kurzweil). Individual Gold Kai Willis, Cameron Bryan Smith,
Aaron Kiernan, Lauren Tutty, Charlene Oakes, Josh Gagon, Brian
Kanyanga. Individual Silver Mia Swain, Thomas Tutty, Alex Rigg,
Steve McColgan, Ahmed Elgohary. Individual Bronze Lucy Whitworth,
Caitlyn King, Shaun Mulai.
On a personal note, I would like to
thank all the instructors and members of Sale Dojo for putting me
forward to apply for my sixth Dan, it is a great honour to be
awarded this grade from Sensei Terry Pottage and I hope I can
continue my work promoting Karate-do. I would also like to say
a huge congratulation to Sensei Peter Bibby on the award of this
fifth Dan and Sensei Ricky Birchall on the award of his seventh Dan.
25th October
Dan Grade & Kyu Grade
Congratulations to all those who
passed their grading at the weekend. The students who achieved the
highest grade of first class are as follows, Jeremy Koshy, Edward
Kaufman, Lewis Jacklin, and Dayton Lees.
The day wasn't over for myself, off to Failsworth Sports Centre to sit on the panel to witness Emma
Cummings
verifying
her Shodan and Christopher Williamson progressing to the grade of
Nidan. I'm sure a very special day for them and their parents. I
know that I'm very proud of them both. I would also like to thank
Sensei Angela Tomlin and Sensei
Haley Williamson for all the hard work they have been doing with
them for the last few months, you
may as well just move your beds in the
amount of time you are both at the dojo. I suppose
you can have a couple of weeks off before you have to start
again with the next batch.
29th September
Kyu Grade
Well done to all who
participated in
the Kyu grading especially to Charlotte Pearce, Alex Craig and Jayne
Craig who all gained 1st class passes.
20th September
Sale Dojo Kata Competition
I am not going to hide my
disappointment with the lack of support for our competition. There
isn't a club out there that supports as much as we do so one week to
go before the tournament we had about twelve entries and panic
started to set in. I think one of the problems maybe the timing of
the event, we usually do the competition in July and we probably
need to go back to that date next year. Also the moving of the Ken
Yu Kai Open a week later didn't help our cause either.
One of the reasons why our club is so
successful is the participation in competitions. It gives our
students more than one goal to achieve throughout the year, so this
means they will train harder and more regular. So it baffles me that
when there is the perfect opportunity to introduce youngsters to
competition, that chance is not taken. We are currently the most
successful club in the UK and going all the way back to the
seventies we have always ran small competitions which is the
breeding ground for our success in the future, this philosophy was
introduced by Sensei Dave Wraxall and it still runs true
today. I think one or two instructors have to take a long hard
look at themselves as we are all supposed to be singing from the
same hymn sheet.
Slowly but surely our draw sheets
started to fill up, we ended up with around seventy competitors,
about thirty percent down on the previous year, still disappointed!
In this type of event I judge how successful it has been from the
kids faces with the medals round their necks when they leave and
feedback from their parents on the first lesson back. All I can say
is undoubtedly it was a huge triumph for Sale Dojo and
everyone who attended.
The actual competition went extremely
well, once again the
medals were distributed throughout all the
clubs pretty evenly. Sale Dojo just managed to top the table,
closely followed by Prestwich Ken Yu Kai once again. We got off to a flying start winning all places in the team kata
Sale Dojo "B" Alex Rigg, Robin & Linden Hamer took the gold
beating Sale Dojo "A" Charlene Oaks, Ami Garrod Rogers, Lauren
Tutty in the final. The bronze placed teams were made up of Lucy
Whitworth, Jasmine Mulai, Mia Swain and Rachel Dytor, Alana & Dayton
Lees.
In the under sevens we managed to
repeat the feat again, all four places again, gold went to Autumn
Holmes, silver Joseph Deighan, bronze Kai Willis and Lucy Smith, I
don't think Autumn put her trophy down all day.
Last year we had a problem in the
junior grade sections and I thought we had solved that problem, but
once again we didn't manage to win any medals at all. I think
we were a little unlucky in the brown belt section as there were one
or two older cadets and most of our brown belts are quite young, so
I was delighted with James Whitworth's performance taking the bronze
position.
Probably the most competitive section
each year is our junior black belts with so many British and English
Champions from all age groups and genders I feel this is probably
the toughest competition that our students will have to face each
year. Robin Hamer my favourite to win the tournament reached the
final showing the best form throughout the day but
uncharacteristically forgot his kata in the final and therefore had
to settle for silver.
We also took the two bronze places, Jake Kiernan and Charlene Oakes.
Well done to Kelly Horsfall for achieving gold.
In the senior pairs our final gold
went to Linden and Robin Hamer who managed to beat Prestwich 'A' in
the final. I think this is the first time that Prestwich
hasn't held this title so it was about time that we got one over
their pairs. Jake and Alex took the silver position,
Jasmine and Caitlyn took bronze. We also took a silver in the
junior pairs with Emily and Danielle Robins and with Jack Thornhill
and Joseph Deighan taking the bronze. A fantastic day for Joseph, two
podiums in his first ever kata competition.
Our final section, a second for Mark
Spencer (yes who also did a Robin Hamer and forgot his kata) and a
bronze for Jayne Craig. Well done guys!
I would like to congratulate the team
from Heys Karate, I was very impressed with the standard of karateka
displayed on the day especially when you consider it is their first
ever competition and I would like to welcome them to the Ken Yu Kai
family.
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Sale Dojo
3
6
10
Prestwich
2
0
3
Heys
2
0
1
Red Sun
1
2
3
Failsworth
1
1
0
Eccles
0
0
1
As usual I would like to say a massive
thank you to all the officials and instructors who attended on
the day and everyone involved in the setting up of the competition
the night before, and everybody involved throughout the day. We managed to raise a grand total of
£1098.00, some of this money will be contributed to the
students who were selected to compete in the World Championships in
November and the remainder will be put into club funds.
I would also like to take this
opportunity to thank our sponsors who help raised this fantastic
figure.
Bowden Investments, Utility
Warehouse, Sensei Peter Bibby, Sensei Angela Tomlin, Sensei
Haley Williamson, Hamer Family.
5th-6th September
British Karate Championships
What more can I say, WOW!!!
First of all I would just like to say
a huge thanks to everybody involved in producing the best ever
results for a Ken Yu Kai Squad at a
British Championships. Ultimately, it's myself that always seems to
get the praise but there is a hell of a lot of hard work from
everybody else, from coaches down to parents in the background. Twelve new British titles, six runner
ups and ten bronze positions and unbelievable performance from only
twenty five squad members. I don't
think I've ever had so much positive feedback and praise from
opposition coaches than I had that weekend. I think it is very hard
to take on board what has been achieved, we will look back in years
to come and talk about the golden era. I have been involved
with numerous squads and believe me it doesn't get much better than
this. I have been extremely happy with the build up to the
competition and I knew we were on the cusp of something special, but
we still had to perform, and perform we did. Before the
weekend, I was looking for around five golds, but even that was
going to be a tough ask with ninety two associations involved and
over one thousand four hundred competitors present.
The day started extremely well with
the senior ladies kata, Ashleigh Kenny once again showing her class
and retaining her British title. She has been on top of the
event for the past few years and I don't think there is anyone out
there at present who can touch her. Unfortunately this was our only
kata medal on the first day, even though Charlene Oakes got very
close being beaten for the bronze but I feel she is coming back to
her best and the future is very positive. The kumite was a
little more fruitful, Harley Del Rio won gold, competing against Tom
Hickman five - one in the final. This was extremely satisfying
because Tom has taken Harley's slot on the English team for the
World Championships. Certainly on this performance Wayne has got it
wrong, don't get me wrong, Tom deserves his place and hope I hope he
comes back with a medal but I would always have my money on Harley
every time.
Probably the biggest surprise of the
weekend was Adam McColgan's performance, he managed to win the boys
14-15 heavyweight section. If you would have asked me before
the tournament of my predication of where he would finish, I would
of said he had an outside chance of a medal, but after the former
champion our very own Josh Gagon went out in the early round, the
draw opened up for Adam and he never put a foot wrong.
Jake Kiernan in the boys lightweight
section took silver place, this left me with a dilemma for the team
event on whether I should change my original format round to slot in
Adam the man in form, but I opted for experience and once again the
boys made me look good because we took both gold and silver.
The A team consisted of Josh Gagon, Harley Del Rio and Jake Kiernan.
The B team consisted of Robin Hamer, Alex Rigg and Adam McColgan.
Our success continued in girls 14-15
lightweight section with Lauren Crawford proving she is the best in
her weight once again. She also took the silver in the open
weight not bad for somebody who is three stone wringing wet.
Adam McColgan
Ashleigh Kenny took silver in her
least favorite event, kumite and there was also noticeable
performances from Charlene Oakes and Alex Rigg who took bronze
positions in their categories, what a first day beating my medal
prediction by half way.
Just as a side issue I would like to
put on record my worries about the new face masks which the WKF
insist must be worn in the 14-15 year section. Josh Gagon took
a blow to the face which didn't seem to be that hard
(the referees words, not mine)
and the mask split across the nose piece. This is the second
time in so many tournaments this has happened, my worry is that
somebody is going to cut their face or god forbid lose and eye and
there seems nothing I can do about it. It was pointed out to
the members of the BKF board who were in attendance and I also asked
the chief referee on the day to put it in his report. I
approached the national squad coach Wayne Otto and the supplier of
the mask, Adidas, and all they all seemed to pass the buck,
who is going to take responsibility?
On day two after the success of the
previous day my expectations had been raised and our younger members
didn't disappoint. For everybody that spoke to me over the
past month or so, my banker for the weekend was our girls kata team,
Kelly Horsfall, Natalie Payne and Lauren Tutty, they didn't
put a foot wrong, in fact they didn't even drop a flag. I know
I shouldn't get ahead of myself but one day we will have the England
kata team in our midst if the girls continue the high standard they
have set for themselves. Not only should the girls be proud of
themselves but so should Sensei Tony Tutty for all his hard work,
time and dedication he has put in to produce this polished
performance.
Natalie Payne took another gold in the
individual kata, Lauren and Kelly both took the bronze position.
Natasha Holmes also won the gold in
the under nine section and Linden Hamer was extremely unlucky with a
silver placing. I believe if Linden had been drawn blue instead of
red which would have meant he would have done his kata second not
first we would have had another British kata champion. More golds
followed in the kumite, Linden didn't make any mistakes this time in
the kumite final and Lauren Tutty helped herself to her second gold
of the day and later on the girls won the team kumite.
Natalie and Lauren both won three British
titles in one day.... Not bad!
There always comes a part of the
tournament where things don't seem to go your way. I have been
very happy with the officials through the weekend for my worries at
the outset that we wouldn't get a fair rub of the green from the
Scottish referees. One and a half days on and all was good but this
changed in the final of the nine and under when Natasha Holmes
reached the final. She blocked a head kick in front of her head and
nobody saw the point apart form one person in the stadium, one of
the Scottish referees. Everybody apart from myself makes the
odd mistake, Natasha went on to dominate the fight with two seconds
to go, yes you guessed it, the same thing happened again and she
lost the fight. What a joke! I don't want it to sound
like sour grapes but it my opinion she was cheated and there is no
more words I can say. When the girls coach apologies and the other
referees apologise what can you do. Maybe it was a good thing
that I didn't see Rico Kurzweil in his final having similar
treatment on the opposite mat, as he opponent faked an injury and
the referee fell for it. I would just like
to add another Scottish
referee and Scottish competitor. (I am sure it's the same for
them when
they come South)
Still a great achievement for Rico
silver in your first major championships.
We still had a few more excellent
performances, bronze from Thomas Tutty, Christopher Williamson and
Raymond Kanyanga, and just to top off a great day the boys won the
team event, British Champions Rico Kurzweil, Christopher
Williamson
and Linden Hamer. (pictured right)
Let me just reiterate one thousand four
hundred competitors, I am so proud of everybody.
There was one other thing that put a
shadow over the day is when I looked over to the top table, our
chief instructor Sensei Terry Pottage wasn't sat in his rightful
place to witness our success. Sensei Terry Pottage has been at
the forefront of Sport Karate for over thirty years, both as a
top class competitor and international referee. The most qualified and
experience official in the country. Terry was told after twenty
years of being chief referee that his contract would not be renewed
and apparently for no reason, what's going on? I haven't got
a clue and nobody else seems to know either so what are the board
doing? The next thing is a vote of no confidence and we are
all back to the bad old days again, will we ever learn? The
English Karate Federation has a motto "Work on behalf for it's
members" are you sure? because it looks to
me it's all about power, egos and money. It's karate and
everybody in the sport who suffer again. I've always tried to be non
political but when people make decisions like this it becomes more
difficult.
29th August
Kyu Grade
Well done to all involve in the Kyu
grading, special mention to all our first class passes, Autumn
Holmes and Andy Healey.
16th August
AMA Northwest Open Championships
The AMA Northwest Open Championships
situated perfectly in the calendar only three weeks away from the
British Championships and more importantly only 30 minutes from my
house.
This tournament is the perfect
opportunity to sharpen our top athletes as well as being a great
opportunity to blood one or two of our younger competitors. At the
weekend the squad performed to an extremely high level and I don't
think we are too far away from where I would like them to be. Only a
few of our competitors slightly below their par, but I can assure
you they everybody will be at their peak of their condition by the
start of September.
We took around over thirty competitors
over the weekend, at last our squad is back to full strength, how
dare you all go on holiday. Holidays are for wimps!
It has been a long time since I've had
to work so hard at a competition with most of the squad reaching at
least the semi final stage but I am not complaining. I would like to
thank the rest of the coaches for their support on the day because I
know they did not stop either. I don't want to go through all
the performances individually, there are just too many to mention
and I only got to see about half of them anyway.
Competitor of the day with a double
gold had to go to Barry Bethall a.k.a. Joshua Gagon (how slim is he
looking?) winning both open and heavy weight sections, it's
looking like the hard work is paying off. Keep it up mate.
One other person I would like to
mention is Alana Lees, third place in the under 9's girls section.
Her first medal in the kumite. Well done, hopefully the first of
many. (pictured on the right)
The total medal count is as follows:
1st Place Kata
Linden Hamer, Lauren Tutty, Natalie
Payne
2nd Place Kata
Kelly Horsfall,
Team Kata (Charlene
Oakes, Lauren Tutty, Ami Garrod Rogers)
3rd Place Kata
Lauren Crawford, Lucy Whitworth, Ami
Garrod Rogers
Pair Kata (Natalie Payne, Kelly Horsfall)
Team Kata (Alex Rigg, Linden Hamer,
Robin Hamer)
1st Place Kumite
Saule Del Rio, Lauren Crawford,
Christopher Williamson, Joshua Gagon x 2, Kelly Horsfall
Boys Team ( Jake Kiernan, Christopher
Williamson, Robin Hamer)
2nd Place Kumite
Saule Del Rio, Robin Hamer, Shaun
Mulai, Cameron Bryan-Smith, Charlene Oakes
Boys Team (Aaron
Kiernan, Shaun Mulai, Linden Hamer)
Girls Team (Charlene
Oakes, Ami Garrod Rogers, Lauren Crawford)
3rd Place Kumite
Harley Del Rio, Alana Lees, Aaron
Kiernan, Jake Kiernan, Lauren Tutty, Ami Garrod Rogers,
Charlene
Oakes, Mia Swain
2nd August
South Yorkshire Karate Open
Sensei has got the smile back on his
face. You all know how bitterly disappointed I was at the last
tournament,
even though the squad is not back to
full strength, our team performed superbly. The competition
was the Second Yorkshire Open and was held at the Concord Sports
Centre in Sheffield. A really good venue and a very well run
tournament and it even started on time which blows that myth that
referees don't like been at home with the Missus.
The kata started very promisingly with
our newest crop of youngsters. In the under nines section we
had four competitors in the last eight.
Mia Swain, Caitlyn King, Lucy Whitworth and Natasha Holmes.
Unfortunately all but Natasha were beaten in the semi and Natasha
went on to win the gold, very promising for the future girls.
A very bad draw in the 10-12 section
putting our two best competitors, Lauren Tutty and Linden Hamer
together in the semi, by far the most outstanding karateka in that
section. Linden eventually won the encounter and went on to
take the gold. The 13-15 section could not have gone any
sweeter, Lauren Crawford took bronze, Kelly Horsfall took silver and
a change of fortune for Natalie Payne winning the gold.
The pair kata again went to Kelly and
Natalie, you can tell that the girls have worked together since they
started their karate, as you could not tell them apart, with every
little movement mimicked by the other and then I witnessed something
very special in the cadet team kata. After winning their
section by a country mile, they put our girls against the adult team
champions, not only did they beat them, but they blew them clean out
of the water, three flags to nil, one of the best performances I
have ever seen, it was one of those moments when the hair stands up
on the back of your neck, well done and thank you to Lauren Tutty,
Kelly Horsfall and Natalie Payne for the pleasure. I would
also like to say well done so Sensei Tony Tutty for all the hard
work and dedication he has been applying into the girls, the only
thing is now, I expect gold at the British as my expectations have
risen. It probably doesn't do it justice because I feel
sometimes you have to be there to witness the emotion but you can
see their final kata on youtube under sale dojo/kenyukai south
yorkshire open kata final
I believe all cadet kata titles are
now held by Sale Dojo..... Lovely
The kumite continued in a similar
pattern in both boys and girls sections, we took all the medal
placings in boys
10-12, Linden Hamer gold, Thomas Tutty
silver, and Raymond Kanyanga bronze. Girls 13-15, Lauren
Crawford gold, Natalie Payne silver and Kelly Horsfall bronze.
They continued with the same dominance in the team kumite, the three
boys and three girls all won their event. The only negative point on
the day was that the boys 13-15 didn't take any placings and to rub
salt into the wound, only took silver in the team when I felt we had
a far superior set of fighters but I suppose that is what is called
a learning curve, well done anyway guys. Silver to Robin Hamer, Adam McColghan and Rico Kurzweil.
If it happens at the British I may not
be so understanding, great job cadets, where have all the adults
gone????
Lauren Crawford, Natasha
Holmes, Lauren Tutty, Kelly Horsfall, Natalie Payne
I would just like to say what a joy
and delight it is that Lauren Crawford and Rico Kurzweil have
decided to join our team and looking at them this weekend I hope it
is the right move for them, as I fell they have a lo
t to offer our
squad.
2nd August
Sensei Anders Is A Daddy
Congratulations to Anders and Gill on
the birth of their baby Son
Mats-Erik Sebastian Heptinstall
3.875kg 53cm
Sunday 2nd August 2009 1.15 am
19th July
England Call Up For Jake
It's with great pleasure that I would
like to announce and congratulate Jacob Kiernan for his first call
up to the England Squad for the forthcoming World Championships
which is to be held in Rabat, Morocco on 12th-15th November 2009.
It only seems like yesterday when Jake
fought in his first ever competition in Weaverham, Cheshire, even
then you could see the potential in this boy.
The one thing that sticks in my mind
more than anything on that day was how animated and passionate his
mum Julie was at that competition, probably quite embarrassing to
Jake but I bet she didn't think the sport was going to take over
their family life as it has and I am confident both parents are as
proud today as they were on that first competition, in fact we are
all very proud of Jake. I am sure there is no doubt in his
brother, Aaron's mind that he is going to follow his brothers
footsteps, we all know how reserved Aaron is.
After speaking to Jake's dad, he told
me that Jake had previously mentioned to a teacher that he had made
the selections for the England team, however this teacher insinuated
that he didn't have a cat in hells chance and I believe this started
the fire in Jake's belly, I hope this teacher feels embarrassed and
is eating their words as I believe that if you put your mind to
anything you will succeed and obviously so does Jake. Well
done mate!!
Hopefully this is the first of a
potential of four people who may be selected for these championships
we wish them all well.
19th July
Kyk Grade
A big grading this time round, very happy
with the standard set by our
students. Congratulations to all those who passed their grade, I feel I should mention the students who achieved first class
passes, Aimee Staunton, Peter Staunton, Laura Ahern, Emma Ahern, Ron
Lees and John Dytor.
12th July
Central England Karate Open
This is the first time I've been to this particular
competition and was really looking forward to it. The club competed
last year for the very first time, where we managed to take the honor
of club of the day, so it was always going to difficult to repeat
that success. I don't know why but the whole day seemed to be a
little flat, a superb venue and a high level of competition. Maybe
it was because of
the lack of support from our squad members, only taking half of our
usual allocation and this disappointed me greatly as it was so close to the
final selection for the World Championships and especially with our
national coach Wayne Otto in attendance "A big Chance to Impress".
Maybe it was my sixth sense because
later that afternoon I saw three horrendous injuries, a snapped
cartilage, broken jaw and most worrying for us Brian Kanyanga
dislocated his shoulder. I've been involved
in tournament karate for
thirty years and I've never seen as much carnage in one day. In fact
it's extremely rare to
see any serious injuries, considering the
nature of our sport, the safety record is pretty good.
I'm sure Brian would like to thank the
ambulance and hospital staff for putting his shoulder back into
place. Hope you can get yourself fit soon, I think it is probably going to be months rather
than weeks before he's back training.
"I
tell you the lengths some people go to get out of Sensei Amir's
Saturday morning session".
I don't want to sound too down in the
dumps but I can't help it, it's in my nature. On the day, those
who did compete were as brilliant as usual. Lauren Tutty took
double gold in the kata and kumite, Linden Hamer won gold in the
boys kumite section, only three individual category winners "now you know why
I'm in a bit of a mood"
I
suppose this shows how far the club has come, not use to such a
small medal count. I know most clubs would be over the moon with
three golds but this is Sale Dojo I'm talking about.
Josh Gagon, Adam McCloulgan and Robin
Hamer won the boys 12-15 team kumite event, Kelly Horsfall and
Natalie Payne repeated the the result in the pair kata. Mia Swain
was part of the Ken Yu Kai team along side with
Jessica Hill and Natasha Holmes who
took gold in the under 9 girls team. " Ok I have no right to
moan"
Thomas Tutty, Mia Swain, and Josh
Gagon all took second spot in the individual kumite, Very good
result for Josh considering he fought in the older age category.
Last but not least Robin Hamer took bronze in kata and kumite, three
medals in one day, got to be happy with that.
The club came third over all at the
end of the day.
Let me leave you with this question.
"Who came third in the men's100 meters at last years Olympic Games?"
I rest my case!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
14th June
Cumbrian Open
Probably one of the most unique
tournaments on the circuit because of its demographical position
being so close to the Scottish boarder. There is always a huge
influx of young Scottish fighters raring to pit their wits against
the English, certainly in the older sections there is always a bit
of an edge. It seems what ever sport we compete in against the old
enemy we have to win at all costs.
A very well ran competition with very
little down time on any of the mats and it seemed to run to the
timetable, then again Sensei Doug James has been running this
particular tournament since 1976 so plenty of time to get it right.
Last year we set a very high standard
winning all three places in the cadet senior kata event, so you can
imagine my delight w
hen we repeated the feat once again, but not
only that, we had seven of our squad in the last eight places.
Alex Rigg took the title, three two on flags, closely followed by
the most improved kata competitor of last year, Kelly Horsfall. Charlene Oakes and Natalie Payne took third position. The highlight
for me in the kata was one of our younger competitors and least
experienced Caitlyn King who took the silver medal in the under
eight section, this is her first medal at a open competition, Well
Done!!!
It wasn't only in the individual sections where we dominated, our golden touch continued
into the pair and team kata, Kelly Horsefall and Natalie Payne beat
Charlene Oakes and Ami Garrod Rogers in the final for a one two.
Ami, Charlene and Lauren Tutty won gold to complete the clean sweep
in the team.
(Very happy Caitlyn King)
The Kata was always going to be a
tough act to follow, but our fighters didn't disappoint a 1st and 2nd
in the boys team event. Winning team Josh Gagon, Jake Kiernan, Alex
Rigg silver placed team Robin Hamer, Linden Hamer, Raymond Kanyanga.
We also took a silver placing in the girls team with Charlene Oakes,
Ami Garrod Rogers and Kelly Horsfall. The competitor of the day
had to go to Alex Rigg after winning the boys kumite for his third
gold of the day, in the same section we also took the other two
places 2nd Raymond Kanyanga 3rd Robin Hamer.
Great semi final between Alex and
Robin, four a piece, then two two, Alex getting the referee's
decision, quality fight. Vincent O'Hora my most frustrating fighter
won the gold in the male senior heavy weight section, Vincent
showed how good he can be with the old flashes of genius, but still
not firing on all cylinders.
(Alex Rigg & proud dad Dave)
(Thomas Tutty & dad Sensei Tony)
The only negative was
quite a bad foot injury, hopefully won't keep you out too long.
Ami Garrod Rogers took third in her section, she seems to be
coming into some form, the best I've seen her fight. Talking of the
best I've see somebody fight, where did that come from Thomas Tutty? The
most thrilling fighter of the weekend by far, the diversity of
combinations thrown was unbelievable for such a young competitor and
the sweep in the final was poetry in motion. About time you
came out of your sisters shadow, the boy has become a man!
7th June
Kyu Grade
Well done to all who participated in
the Kyu grading on Sunday, especially Charlotte Pearce who achieved
a first class pass.
17th May
Dan Grading
Achieving
your black belt for most students is why we started karate in the
first place, but seems so far away at the time. Once you catch the
bug it's surprising how quickly this comes around and for seven of
our students, Sunday was that day. So I would like to say a huge
congratulations to Helen Dalton, Sophie Dalton, Matthew Lang, Sahira
Husain, Emma Cummings, Connor Brazendale and Morgan Jones. I know
how hard all you guys have been training and all deserve the
accolade. We also had Lauren Tutty, Angela Tomlin and Haley
Williamson who passed the grade of Nidan (second dan) to round off our
most successful grading ever, well done to all.
(Sensei Terry Pottage, Sensei Ian Swain with new Black Belts)
I know I'm speaking on behalf of all
the people who passed their first dans, a huge thanks of gratitude
to Sensei Angela Tomlin and Sensei Haley Williamson for all their
hard work with the extra lessons they provided to get them to the
ultimate goal.
10th May
Kyu Grade Competition
What a fantastic Day!!!
I felt the day couldn't have gone any
better for our club and is a huge testament to all involved in the
running and setting up of the tournament. When we put fundraising
events
on like this it just clarifies how strong our club is, with
everybody pulling together in the same direction. There's just too
many people to thank individually so as a group I would like to say
a huge thanks to everyone involved, you only had to look at the
children's faces with their medals around their necks to know that
it is all worth it.
This was the first time all the local
Ken Yu Kai clubs have supported our event, with around seventy
children taking part, thanks to all the competitors and their
coaches for their support. I think one of the most satisfying things
was that there was not one club dominated, the medals were shared
fairly evenly throughout the clubs, with everyone achieving honors.
Hopefully they will go back to their clubs and inspire a few more to
take part next time.
Medal Table
Sale Dojo
3 gold 5 silver 10
bronze
Prestwich 3 gold 1 silver
1 bronze
Langworthy, 3 gold 1 silver
1 bronze
Eccles 2 gold 3 silver
4 bronze
Failsworth/Droylsden 2 gold
2 bronze
Simister 2 gold
1 bronze
Red Sun 1 silver 2 bronze
Broughton 1 silver 1 bronze
Mossley, 1 silver
Theo Robinson attempting a kick
The competition is all about enjoying
yourself and gaining vital experience, this isn't only the
competitors but the referees as well. I would
like to congratulate
Sensei Tony Tutty, Sensei Anders Heptinstall and Sensei Cath Perry
for their performances. This was their first time in the spot light,
I can assure you it's a lot more intimidating in the thick of the action than on the
side line. The pressure is such, I still go on with myself
about bad decisions twenty years previous, so maybe it's not about
enjoying yourself. All I know is we can't do without the
referees and I do appreciate you guys giving up your Sunday for
nothing. " It's just like working for the English Karate Federation,
it's the same rates anyway" only joking, I know it's a touchy
subject.
I was so happy with all the
performances and more importantly everybodies attitude. I think i
should give a special mention to Adassa Sproul, Alex Craig, Lewis
Jacklin and Bailey Healey who all took honours in their first ever
first kumite competition. For all the others who may have
fallen short, you certainly did not let anybody down and I'm sure
your parents are as proud of you as I am, you are all a credit to
Sale Dojo.
Sensei Tony Tutty
1st Owen Shemeld-Failsworth/Droylsden 1st Niamh Horsfall- Failsworth/Droylsden
2nd Reese Delaney-Mossley 2nd Aradia Seldon- Broughton
3rd Lewis Jacklin-Sale Dojo 3rd Jessica Ward-Eccles
3rd Eleanor Scholes-Failsworth/Droylsden
1st Callum Bradley-Eccles 1st Demi Pope-Langworthy
2nd Joshua Mason-Sale Dojo 2nd Mia Swain-Sale Dojo
3rd Samual Seldon-Broughton 3rd Lucy Whitworth-Sale Dojo
3rd David Flitcroft-Langworthy 3rd Caitlyn King-Sale Dojo
1st Stan Simmons-Prestwich 1st Bethany Hulton-Simister
2nd Kemi Clarke-Prestwich 2nd Adasa Spoul-Sale Dojo
3rd George Brophy-Failsworth/Droylsden 3rd Jessica Richardson- Sale Dojo
3rd Nathan Thomson- Sale Dojo
1st Spencer Cooper-Prestwich 1st Brooke Arnold-Simister
2nd Peter Booth-Eccles 2nd Jessica Hill-Red Sun
3rd Thomas Tutty-Sale Dojo 3rd Toni Leon-Eccles
3rd James Whitworth-Sale Dojo
1st Adam Frank-Langworthy 1st Becky Darvin-Langworthy
2nd James Holt-Sale Dojo 2nd Alana Lees-Sale Dojo
3rd Bailey Healey-Sale Dojo 3rd Toni Stapleton-Eccles
3rd Robert Mullane-Prestwich 3rd Chantelle Leon-Eccles
1st Nathan Dytor-Sale Dojo 1st Alex Craig-Sale Dojo
2nd Karl Boyd-Eccles 1st Elizabeth Mulane-Prestwich
3rd Daniel Smitham-Sale Dojo
3rd Dayton Lees-Sale Dojo
1st Jack Dagnall-Eccles
1st Shaun Mulai-Sale Dojo
2nd Paul Malloy-Eccles
2nd Adam McColgan-langworthy
3rd James Edgerley-Red Sun
3rd Jordan Portman-Simister
3rd Sam Donley-Red Sun
26th April
Kyu Grading
Congratulations to all those who
passed their grading at the weekend, the standard was one of the
highest we've had for quite a while. A special mention to Jasmine
Mulai who passed her brown belt, the newest member of our senior
grades. The students who achieved the highest grade of first
class are as follows, Andy Healey, Alex Craig, Charlotte Birtles.
20th April
New Appointment of Coach
I would like to take the opportunity
to introduce you to sensei Amir Arvandi to our coaching staff.
I know some of the squad have already been working with him for the
past few months and have been very impressed with his ability. I can't tell you how excited I am with
the prospect of working with someone with such a high international
pedigree. I can't believe I have finally met
somebody who has the same passion for Karate as much as I do.
Sensei Amir was born in Iran in 1966,
he began karate at the age of 12 and achieved his Shodan (Black
Belt) in 1989 in the style of Shito-Ryu and currently holds a rank
of Godan (5thDan) He was a team member of the Iranian national
karate squad in 1991. This is from a country where there are about
one and a half million participants . Amir as a fighter was a
formidable competitor winning the Iranian championships four times
and the military championships twice. He became head coach in all
North of Iran and head of technical kumite department.
He moved to Europe in 1994 and joined
the club team Shuko Game in Holland and was part of the team which
won first place in the Netherlands championships. Once
establishing himself in Holland, Amir became the head of coaching in
the South of Holland for cadets. Amir holds national
qualifications for referring in Iran, Holland and England. We
hope Amir will be involved in our elite competitors as we try to
chase that elusive international medal but the first job will be
trying to get them selected to the England squad and then hopefully
onto the podium at the World Championships in Morocco.
Simple!!!
19th April
EKF Midlands Regional Championships
I can't believe the hassle we had with
this competition, I think there was three different entry forms
floating around at one time. I spoke to the competition
organiser, Paul Campbell a couple of times and he was ripping his
hair out with the English Karate Federation. Only ten days
before the competition was due to commence, they decided to run the
full World Karate Federation rules, this meant all categories had to
be changed to match the world sections. "Why didn't they sort
this out in January when the calendar was first compiled"?
More importantly for us the new face masks and body armour were
mandatory, at £60 for the face mask and another £60 for the body
armour, if you can source them from anywhere, the only place I could
find them was a website in Canada. £50 was for the entry
fee and about £40 in fuel to get there and obviously whatever you
spend on food and drink whilst there. This would mean you
would probably go through the best part of a £180 for one
competition, "ridiculous"!!!
I would like to apologise to Charlene
Oakes, Ami Garrod-Rogers, Alex Rigg, Jake Kiernan and Adam McColgan
who I asked not to take part on principle. I am a great
believer, that if you are not happy with anything you should vote
with your feet. I just wish a few more coaches would have took the
same stance.
I am very worried at this present time
with the running of our sport, I feel we are running down a
dangerous path and if we don't watch out the whole thing will
implode, again! There were a lot of disgruntled coaches out
there who are not happy with the criteria our athletes are expected
to meet. This financial burden they are putting everybody
under is ridiculous, especially with the financial climate.
"Get out of your bubble".
This has prompted me to send a letter
of complaint to our governing body as I feel so strongly about the
way we are going, the main point which I am trying to get across is
that Karate has always been inclusive, a white suit, a pair of mitts
and off you go. It seems more and more that our sport is starting to
become elitist, Karate for those who can afford it and the rest can
only dream. Please don't go down the road of a lot of other sports,
it's just not right, it's our sport not yours. Can you tell I have
been up in the night doing the night feeds again!!
Despite my major worries before the
competition, the event ran superbly, big credit to the organisers
and referees. All six squares ran all day even in the kata sections,
this is very rare. Around five hundred competitors and the
event only went over by around an hour, well done guys. Also
it was nice to see our national squad coach, Wayne Otto, in
attendance, as well as one of his assistants Ian Cole. This
certainly did not happen enough under the old regime. Hopefully they
were impressed by our three inte
rnational
competitors, Josh Gagon, Harley Del-Rio and Saule Del Rio who all
achieved gold in their retrospective categories. We all know
how greedy Saule can be, he stepped up to the adults sections and
took two more first places in the senior heavy weight and open
weight. Yes I did make sure Wayne Otto knew of his triple gold
success.
Further gold in the kumite from
Natalie Payne, Kelly Horsfall, Linden and Robin Hamer which took us
to nine individual golds to round off a perfect day. We also
took gold and silver in the boys team event that would be number
ten. The boys 'A' team consisted of Harley Del Rio,
Shaun Mulai and Linden Hamer. The boys 'B' team, Josh
Gagon, Christopher Williamson and Spencer Cooper. Spencer
Cooper certainly was the most improved competitor of this
competition
"A great scalp in the final mate!"
As well as the team silver we took
four other second places. Linden Hamer and Kelly Horsfall in the
kata, Shaun Mulai and Samantha Boyle in the kumite. Brian
Kanyanga achieved two bronze places in his own weight as well as the
open weight. One of my main criticisms in the past few
tournaments is that we find it difficult in converting the gold but
not on this day. Well done to all, you got it right this time.
Saule D
el
Rio
18th April
Congratulations and Good Luck
Just wanted to wish Ashleigh Kenny all
the luck in the world for her forthcoming trip to Croatia, she has
been selected for the ladies senior kata. I am sure she will
do us proud.
15th April
Free Five Week Beginners Course
Just like to say a huge thanks to
sensei Tony Tutty, sensei Haley Williamson, sensei Anders Heptinstall and Guy Barker for the successful running of our free
five week beginners course. I would like to thank all for supporting
Sale Dojo in such a successful course. I hope everyone as enjoyed
themselves as much as we have teaching you. Hopefully this may
inspire one or two to take up our sport. Anybody wishing to book
themselves on the next course please contact Karen, it will be
running from 16th September 2009.
4th-5th April
Scottish Open
Championships, Edinburgh
I think I must be
psychic because on the Thursday night session before the tournament
I predicted that we would have to out score our Scottish opponents
at least two to one. As all fifty fifty points would go
against us, that's just how it is when you are fighting Scotland.
This would be a massive education for our young fighters as they
will have to learn to keep their composure and discipline when they
come under this kind of pressure and more so when they are competing
in different countries. I can't remember how many times I have
been to Scotland, fought extremely well and still came back with my
tail between my legs scratching my head. The competition
was a story of two days. The first day
felt
like a true international and ran very smoothly and more or less ran
to the timetable, finishing around the six o'clock mark. The
competition standard was quite high, gold in the kata for Ashleigh
Kenny and a silver from Samantha Boyle and Saule Del Rio. I
thought Saule let himself down a little in the final, looking for
the big technique and got picked off, all part of the learning
curve. Sunday by all accounts was a little different,
organised chaos and I know why they have to cram in so many
competitors due to the high rent of these venues, but I think it is
a little bit out of order when you think that our minibus did not
arrive back home until 3am. I think maybe they should of
swapped the days around so that the c
hildren
could of fought on the Saturday, to prevent missing school on the
Monday. The results weren't too bad, the only criticism would
be we got beat in too many finals, We only manage one
individual Gold medal that was Kelly Horsfall in the girls kumite, the silver
placing on the Sunday were as follows:
Lauren Tutty, kata,
Natalie Payne, kumite, Raymond Kanyanga, kumite, Linden Hamer, kata
& kumite, Robin Hamer, kumite. Potentially six
golds which would have turned a good performance to a great one.
I think the saving grace was the children's team event, three golds,
girls kata team, Charlene Oakes, Lauren Tutty and Ami Garrod-Rogers. Boys team, Alex
Rigg, Harley Del Rio and Josh Gagon and an unbelievable performance
our girls team, Natalie Payne,
Lauren Tutty and Kelly Horsfall beating Scotland both A & B on their way
to the title.
You really can't appreciate how hard that is unless you have been
there yourself. The total medal count, five gold, eight silver
and five bronze.
Natalie, Lauren, Kelly
29th March
Kyu Grading
Quite a big grading this time
round, very happy
with the standard set by our
students. Nice to see one or two of our people coming through from
the beginners course, this certainly makes my job easier.
Congratulations to all those who passed their grade
but I feel I should mention the students who achieved first class
passes,
Maaz Rafiq, Alana Lees and Ron Lees.
21st -22nd March
English Championships
Well this English Championships will
stick in my mind for a long time. Not because of the huge
success of the
Ken Yu Kai Squad, but once again they
produced a fantastic medal haul, seven individual gold, two team
gold, two individual silver, eight individual bronze and two team
bronze, but because my worse nightmare came true, returning home
from Sheffield over the Pennines we broke down on the Woodhead Pass
in the Max and Paddy Fun bus. You cannot imagine how cold and
bleak it was on the grass verge in the middle of the night in the
middle of nowhere. How stupid did I look after taking the mickey out
of sensei Haley all day for wearing her long johns and bringing a
granny blanket with her, but not as half as stupid as sensei Amir
looked with his tracksuit pants wrapped around his head to keep him
warm. We were stuck there for around four hours, and would like to
say a big thanks to the boys in blue and all four of the vans from
the AA for getting us back to the dojo safe and sound.
Ken Yu Kai Squad
Back row -
Raymond Kanyanga, Brian Kanyanga,
Shaun Mulai, Jake Kiernan, Robin Hamer, Joshua Gagon, Alex Rigg,
Christopher Williamson, Ami Garrod-Rodgers.
Front Row - Linden Hamer, Cameron
Bryan Smith, Natasha Holmes, Natalie Payne Lauren Tutty.
Back to the competition, it always
seems a while for the results to come through at the bigger events
because of the size of the categories and this was no exception. To
make things worse we had our most successful championships last year
and I try to judge our success by comparing it to the previous year.
Ashleigh Kenny ever consistent took
her predicted first place and hopefully this will put one foot into
the England squad for the forthcoming European Championships in
Zegreb, Croatia.
She was told at the last England selections "win the English and the
Scottish Open championships and you're in" ..... Half way
there kid!
I would also like to congratulate her
Failsworth team mate Blake Marley for winning his first kata English
title and very unlucky for Natalie Payne who was beaten 2-1 in the
final of her section. I don't think we achieved as many medals in
the Kata section as last year but I also think we were a little bit
unlucky with one or two of the draws.
Lots of our competitors went out
around the quarter final stage so not too disgruntled. Oh
nearly forgot, our girls kata team took the bronze, Charlene Oakes,
Ami Garrod Rogers and Lauren Tutty, again been done by the winners
Ishinryu. Come on girls we need to put a little bit more effort in..
"joking"
The fighters on the first day were
more successful than the kata team, Linden Hamer, Natasha Holmes and
the massive surprise of the weekend, Raymond Kanyanga all took
English titles, and we probably should of had another one but with
seven seconds to go and three points up, Cameron Bryan Smith managed
to get beat in the final - gutted! Apart from that he
didn't put a foot wrong all day and I had loads of positive comments
from other coaches. On top of all this, he hadn't trained all
week due to an illness, so a great effort and I am sure he will not
make that mistake again.
Sometimes things happen for a reason,
and because of the congestion of the individuals section, I decided
to change around our boys 12 -13 teams and I will admit that I
probably would not of picked the team who eventually took the gold
and I must say I am still scratching my head, how the guys pulled
this off because you were rubbish. Well done to Jake
Kiernan, Christopher Williamson and Shaun Mulai and I don't care how
you fight at the major championships as long as you win.
Boys Team 12-13 English Champions 2009
It's always very difficult for me to
comment on a two day competition as I can't always attend both days
of the event. So I can only comment by paraphrasing the other
coaches and parents who attended.
"Josh Gagon is a god". Two gold
and a silver, yes Josh, I would like to put this down on record,
this is the first time I have ever written anything positive about
you on our website. By all accounts and the feedback from everybody
there, you were the best competitor of the weekend. "Just keep doing
your thing mate"
Saule Del Rio retained his title once
again and Harley Del Rio, Josh Gagon and Alex Rigg retained their
team title. So nice to hear Alex Rigg taking silver in his
individual section, he seems to have turned a corner this year.
I would also like to mention, our
girls team who managed to take the bronze team with only two
competitors, Charlene Oakes and Ami Garrod Rogers. The other bronze
medals positions were as follows, Charlene Oakes, Lauren Tutty,
Harley Del Rio and Brian Kanyanga, all in individual events.
Great weekend everybody.
14th March
Presentation Evening
I don't know what it was this year,
but the presentation evening seemed to be a little more low key than
usual. I think we are a little down on numbers from the previous
year, never mind though I had a great time and I know the rest of my
family did too. It was so nice to catch up with everybody and
a great opportunity to speak to the parents as I don't really have
time to speak to everybody down at the dojo. I don't know whether it
is time now to change the venue, but I do think it is important that
we have this annual event. The whole event is my way of saying
thank you to everybody who helps run our club. I seem to get a lot
of the accolade but there is no way I could do this without the
coaches and parents involvement. So I would like to take the
opportunity to thank you all.
As
you can imagine, it is very difficult for me to single out
individuals for the main awards of the evening and with more and
more success it gets harder year on year. This year winner consisted
of Lucy Whitworth who is my most improved student of the year. She
achieved her brown belt in the last 12 months and took 3 gold medals
at the
Ken Yu Kai Nationals and is still only
8. Your nomination for student of the year where the votes
were taken throughout the evening was Lauren Tutty and a very
popular student she is within our club.
The adult student of the year is Debi
Piper and this decision was made because of her sheer hard work and
dedication she has put in the past year towards achieving her Shodan
Grade.
The cadet student of the year went to
Jake Kiernan, this is probably the hardest section to call, he also
won the ultimate competitor of the year. Jake's dedication has been
fantastic and he has a superb attitude which ever lesson he attends,
whether it is just a basic lesson or a more advanced session, Jake
will always give me 100% and this is a great attribute to have.
11th March
Free Five Week Beginners Course
Just like to say a huge thanks to
Sensei Tony Tutty, sensei Haley Williamson, sensei Anders
Heptinstall and Guy Barker for running our free five week beginners
course. I would like to thank all for supporting Sale Dojo in such a
successful course. I hope everyone as enjoyed themselves as much as
we have teaching you. Hopefully this may inspire one or two to take
up our sport.
8th March
Chojinkai Competition
( report by Sensei Haley Williams)
A great day for the Ken Yu Kai squad despite a few
dubious judges decisions!
All our entries in the 6-12years kata placed. Great
performances from Natalie Payne 1st, Natasha Holmes 2nd
and Cameron Bryan Smith & Aaron Kiernan joint 3rd.
The older members of the squad kept the good results coming in with
Alex Rigg 1st, Charlene Oakes 2nd and Ami
Garrod Rogers 3rd in the 13-17years kata. This was
a fantastic result given the number of competitors in these
sections. The pairs and team also did well with a 1st
for Natalie and Kelly, 2nd for Charlene and Ami and a 2nd
for the team Alex, Charlene and Ami.
Well done to Niamh Horsfall who took part and put up
a good fight to win 3rd in the kumite 6-7years. There
were other good results for Natasha and Charlene 1st,
Aaron and Kelly 2nd and Raymond and Alex 3rd.
Our boys team Jake, Alex and Chris won 2nd. Whilst
the girls Charlene, Ami and Kelly fought some tough opponents to win
1st
place.
I usually look forward to the Chojinkai Competition
and Cumbrian Open. I was a little disappointed with the way it
was organised this year with competitors having to change gi’s
several times during the day to swap between kata and kumite.
Hopefully the Cumbrian Open wont be as complicated. Also a little
disappointing that they ran out of medals but in fairness they were
posted out within a couple of days with an apology.
Well done all those who took part.
28th February - 1st March
AMA International Karate Open
I must admit I was looking forward to
the AMA International. They changed the venue from previous years to
the Ponds Forge in Sheffield, one of the best sports centre's in the
uk, well the best food anyway, that's how I grade them!
There were 22 countries in attendance
with over 600 competitors, so the scene was set for a very
successful competition, so why am I feeling so deflated? It's
certainly not the results or performances of our competitors as we
competed as solidly as ever, the overwhelming concern of all the
coaches that I spoke to was the inexperience and standard of
officials over the weekend. I am not one for making
excuses if we lose a fight or round in kata, but some of the
decisions were a little strange to say the least and this was not me
wearing my rose tinted spectacles either because we were gaining as
many points as were losing, they just did not have the concept of
the basic rules.
Too many inexperienced referees and
not enough national or international qualified officials.
Because of the lack of referees in
attendance one of the areas had to be closed down most of the day so
consequently the tournament ran a lot longer than anticipated and
the open weight category was moved to the Sunday, which is not ideal
for the competitors who were there just for the one day. It
has been a long time since I have been stuck at a competition
after 10 o'clock at night, I hope this is not a return to the bad
old days.
In the defense of the officials they
were bound to be mistakes if you work from 9 in the morning til 10
at night with no breaks and they were probably working for the price
of a bag of chips!
"Would you do it"? ..........
Because I know I wouldn't.
When are we going to get this right in
En gland, we have to pay the best officials and this will produce
the best tournaments, particularly if you want to call your
competition an International.
Anyway, back to our performances,
I said previously not a bad weekend. It started with the
girls kata, a superb one two three, Kelly Horsfall, 1st place,
Lauren Tutty, 2nd place, and Natalie Payne, 3rd place. They seem to
swap around every competition depending on which way the wind is
blowing. Natasha Holmes and Cameron Bryan-Smith both took
silver in their sections. The team kata took third place with
Ami Garrod-Rogers, Lauren Tutty and Charlene Oakes, Charlene also
achieved a bronze as well as Blake Marlow in the individual, a
very well done to our Ken Yu Kai Kata Squad. A little more
success with our fighters, 1st place for Josh Gagon and Lauren
Tutty, incidentally Lauren was by far our best competitor of
the weekend, she topped this off with a gold in the team events with
her compatriots, Natalie Payne and Kelly Horsfall, what a semi final
against the Danish team, a team of giants, but with true
British Bulldog spirit, we kicked their butts. Jake
Kiernan took the silver and
Spencer Cooper (not mentioned you
before, but I am sure it won't be the last time) Natasha Holmes,
Raymond Kanyanga, Lauren Tutty all with third positions and finally
a double bronze, not quite got the same ring as a double gold but
still very pleasing for Alex Rigg.
Total Medals
4 Gold, 5 Silver, 14 Bronze
14th February
Money Raising
What a lovely surprise I had for Karen
on valentines day....
A day supporting our squad members in
Marks & Spencers, Hanforth Dean, bag packing. I do let her out
from time to time!
What a tremendous job guys and girls,
raising just short of £1609.00, this is one of the first
events this year to raise money for our squad members.
Hopefully monies raised in these events will take the burden off our
parents in this tough financial climate.
I would just like to thank everybody
who attended over the weekend and special thanks to Susan Craig who
arranged this event.
Just one more thing... Happy
Birthday to Sale Dojo 6
today
7th February 2009
Kata Competition
Thank God for that, the karate
competition circuit is finally open for this year, it was nice to go
to a tournament and just concentrate on our kata squad and it is so
pleasing to see some new faces within our group but even though the
competition wasn't that well attended, the standard was very high
with most of the kata squad attending the event.
The levels of kata within our country
seems to be on a high, and is improving year on year. Looking at the
senior sections we'll have to put the hours back in at the Dojo to
keep our students ahead of the game.
The junior sections were the least
well attended, I think the weather must have put off a lot of people
and despite this, our girls performed magnificently. Alana Lees was
our surprise package of the weekend, winning her first ever gold at
an open tournament, Lucy Whitworth, Caitlyn King and Mia Swain took
a one, two, three in their section. Then a second and third in the
pair kata, with help from Jasmine Mulai. They finished off with a s
ilver
in the team, not a bad days work girls!
Not to be out done by, Lauren Tutty
won the senior girls, pipping Natalie Payne two flags to one in the
final. Lauren has got to be one of the favourites this year to knock
Jake Kiernan off the top competitor. We also trialed a new
look girls kata team this weekend, Lauren, Natalie and Kelly,
producing a faultless performance but still only managing to win the
silver but can't be too disappointed with their first time out.
We're thinking maybe this will be the best combination for the Ken
Yu Kai team when our current A Team break up at the end of year.
Our boys didn't quite reach the levels
of our female competitors but still put some great performances
together,
Cameron Bryan-Smith can second to
Natasha Holmes, Linden and Robin Hamer both picked up bronze in
their group in one of the toughest sections of the day.
Total Medal Tally... 4 Gold, 6
Silver and 6 Bronze
2nd February 2009
Paris 09
Sorry it’s taken so long to write this report but
I’ve been sat at home for the past week in a major sulk. I’m not
going to lie; this has got to be one of the lowest points in my
karate career either as a coach or competitor. I was so sure one of
the boys would come back with a medal. After the euphoria of our
three young fighters being selected to represent their
country, they gave such a disappointing performance on the day.
I know the preparation couldn’t have gone any better
or so I thought, looking at them on the last session of the week,
very impressive and extremely sharp, but something went wrong from
leaving the dojo and meeting up for their pre train with the England
Squad and then onto the tournament.
This is where I’m left scratching my head, we’ve
always competed both at home and in Europe at the highest level
possible to get use to the pressures of top competition and worked
on numerous scenarios in the club, which we know will crop up during
the bout. I have to take full responsibility for their lacklustre
performance and vow to put it right!!
Harley Del Rio was our first opportunity for a medal
even with a below par performance he found himself in the semi
final. Two nil up with a minute to go and still got beat “nightmare”
and then to rub salt into the wound got beat for the bronze
“Gutted”. And this the highlight of the weekend because both Saule
Del Rio and Josh Gagon both went out first round “well disappointed”
or words of that effect.
You only get a few opportunities to put your name in
the record book and the guys will know this is one wasted. I know it
will be extremely difficult for all of them to make the squad for
the World Championships at the end of the year, as they will have to
start the whole process again from the bottom, but I have faith in
them.
On a more positive note I’ve not been to the European
Championships for about ten years and even though the standard was
high, it’s not beyond our top fighters and I feel we’re not to far
off the pace.
Kumite report extracts taken from English Karate
Federation web site.
Harley Del-Rio
fought in the U63kg category and was unlucky not to walk away with
a m
edal
finishing joint 5th overall. Harley’s 1st round fight finished in a
2-2 after he initially lost the first two opening scores. The
extra-time round saw both competitors failing to score and so it
went to the judge’s decision. All voted for Harley. The 2nd round
saw Harley against in another close match against a lad from
Scotland. Once again the scores remained tied at full time, 0-0 this
time round. Extra-time once again but Harley scored a point with a
Gyakuzuki punch. Shortly before the end his opponent was penalised
for excessive contact giving Harley that all important extra point
to see out the match with a 2-0 win. The
3rd round and yet another tied score. Harley initially dropped the
first point in this hard and
fast fight with his Serbian opponent but levelled the score with 37
seconds left on the clock. Midway through extra-time, Harley scored
a lovely Gyakuzuki punch and held the point advantage till the end
scoring as the buzzer went to settle the match. Harley’s next fight
was the semi-final against a Turkish opponent. The initial point
went Harley’s way as did the second point but the Turkish opponent
found his way ‘over-the-top’ scoring on three continuous occasions
to take a 3-2 lead. As the buzzer sounded Harley landed a Gyakuzuki
punch but the referee would not award the point after some
consultation. Harley was in the repechage final though facing an
Azerbaijani opponent. Harley fought the repe
chage
final cagey but got caught twice with a Gyakuzuki punch to trail
2-0. The last 15 seconds saw Harley really go for it but just didn’t
have enough time to find a way past his opponents defence. Harley
just missed out on Bronze settling for joint 5th overall.
Joshua Gagon
had a thumping encounter with his Slovakian opponent in the +70kgs
category. Joshua looked like he was on his way with a 3 point lead
only to let it slip at the end making the scores level at 3 all and
taking the match into extra time. Once again Joshua opened the
scoring but then gave away too many penalties and had to bow out in
his opening round match losing 7-3.
Saule Del-Rio
made en early exit in the over 76kg event after facing a Serbian
opponent. Both fighters scored a point quickly two more points were
divided levelling the scores at 2-2. The Serbian than managed to
score two Gyakuzuki punches against Saule leaving him missing out on
further progression as he couldn’t reply to the 2 point deficit.
26th January
Au revoir
Well the boys are off to Paris in the
European Championships, hopefully on a successful trip. I know
they've all been working exceptionally hard over the past few months
and I'm sure all that blood, sweat and tears will be worth it in the
end. They're all more than capable of returning with a medal, all we
can hope for it that they don't freeze on the big stage and that
they have a little lady luck on their side.
A massive thanks to Vince O'Hora and
Brian Kanyanga for helping out with their
pre-training,
but if they think that was tough they are going to get a huge shock
when they hook up with the rest
of the England squad.
Away with the England Squad on a
pre-train was one of the most physical and mental situations I have
ever had to endure , and was the only time I ever got home sick. I
think I may have forgot to mention that to the lads!
I would also like to say thank you to
Mark Redman of
MEP Finance Ltd
and Saul Loggenborg of Cheshire
Print Finishing and Cheshire Print Packaging for their generous
contribution
towards the Trip.
Saule Del Rio, Saul Loggenborg,
Josh Gagon & Haley Del Rio
25th January
Kyu Grading
First grading of the year down at the
dojo, probably the toughest time to grade not long after the
Christmas break, but as usual a very high standard of students with
one or two excellent performances, especially our new senior grades
Mia Swain, Sarah and Lucy Whitworth,
who all achieved first class passes.
15thJanuary
Recognition at last
Great News for Sale Dojo and their
coaching staff. We all know we
have been one of the most successful martial arts centres in the
country, over the last decade producing champion after champion. As
from the beginning of this year we have been bestowed a great honor
from the head coach of the English Karate Federation, Wayne Otto OBE.
A title of Elite Performance Centre in England, one of only a
few in the country, this will mean that perspective international
fighters in the north region will come through our club, this can
only mean a positive effect on our young athletes and hopefully our
coaching staff can give something back to the sport of karate.
3rd January
Happy New Year To All
Another year and as usual optimism is
high for the new year. We always strive to improve on the
previous year and I think last year we successfully achieved our
goal, so obviously the pressure will be on to maintain the high
standard we currently hold.
We all know at the moment that we are
in the middle of a credit crunch and money will be tight for most of
us, this obviously may affect the amount of events that we are able
to participate in this year but we will endeavor to raise some
money through sponsored events, hopefully cushioning the financial
outlay to you individually.
In December we raised £617 by bag
packing at Marks & Spencer in the Trafford Centre so thank you to
all those who helped. We also have another one which has been
arranged on 14/15 February at Marks & Spencer in Hanforth Dean, we
feel with a little effort (and a lot more tills) we could raise into
the thousands. Anybody who has any other suggestions in raising
money for the club or wish to donate a contribution, this would be
greatly appreciated.
On a final note, I would like to wish
Joshua Gagon, Saule and Harley Del Rio all the very best on their
forthcoming European Karate Championships which is to be held in
Paris at the end of January, unfortunately
I will have to attend this one, you
know it's all work Karen!!
I hope you guys have been training
hard through Christmas, as a club we are still waiting for
that elusive International medal, maybe 2009 is the year.
