Demonstration and Mini Competition

Informal Club photo

Due to the rather wet weather we had on Saturday we had to cancel the demonstration and mini competition that we had planned for the Haxby Carnival. However, as everyone had worked so hard to put it together we felt that we needed to give the club members the chance to perform and compete as soon as possible.

 

Brenda leading the Kihon part of the demonstration

There was the added complication that we had to change the venue for training at the last minute, but we managed to get everyone together on Monday night. After some last minute practice, Brenda led the Karate Kids through their Kihon. Everyone performed brilliantly, and I was particularly impressed with their performance to the new Karate Kids Motto “Karate Kids punch – HARDER, Kick – HIGHER, Shout – LOUDER!”

 

Eive and Aiwin, and Edwin and William perform Gohon Kumite

Evie, William (V), Aiwin, and Edwin then stepped out to the front to perform Gohon (five step) Kumite with good technique and spirit. Olivia was up next, but as William (M) had not arrived yet she had to partner me (Jim) which she did with her usual spirit, not minding when I proceeded to sweep her with most of my counters!

 

Olivia seems to enjoy being swept far too much!

Evie, William (V), Aiwin, and Edwin stepped up again and put in a very strong performance of Heian Shodan. Olivia followed them, this time accompanied by William (M) who had literally just walked through the door. Despite this they did a very good team performance of Heian Sandan.

William and Evie at the end of Heian Shodan

After one final round of applause the Demonstration was over. Everyone who took part performed brilliantly and should be very proud of themselves. I would like to thank Brenda and Dael for all the hard work they put in getting everyone ready for the demonstration. They did an excellent job.

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With a short break to brief the judges (Ian (T), Jim, Brenda and Helen) we were ready for the Mini Competition. We had never done one of these before so it was the first time for everyone. We had decided to focus on Kihon as the vast majority of the competitors were Orange Belts. There was a round of punching and kicking to check for targeting and correct technique, followed by punching and kicking to focus mitts to check targeting (again) and effectiveness. The final element of Kihon was moving in Zenkutsu Dachi – punching Oi Tzuki going forwards and blocking Gedan Bari going backwards, again checking for correct technique.

 

Helen and Ian put Stanish and Nixon through their paces!

We finished off (for almost everyone) with a kumite exercise – ‘grab the tags’ which is a favourite game of the Karate Kids. Each tag was worth one point, and you had to sit down if you lost your tag. To make it more interesting the higher grades (Evie, William (V), Aiwin, Edwin, Olivia and William (M)) were given a different coloured tag worth 2 points. I recruited some extra help to ensure that there were no injuries during the game and we were off! In a very short period of time there were very few Karate-ka left with a tag on their belt. The points for the tags were quickly added to the running totals.

 

Targeting was one of the key things that the judges were looking for

For the higher grades there was one final event – Kata. They all performed Heian Shodan together and then the judges convened for a brief conference to ensure that we had winners.

 

It was this level of focus that helped Aiwn secure a Silver Medal

Medals were going to be awarded in two categories – up to 8^th Kyu and above 8^th Kyu to make it a fairer competition for all. Luckily (for the judges!) the total scores provided us with a first, second and third in each category with no ties.

The results were as follows:

Up to 9^th Kyu.

8^th Kyu and above.

I would like to congratulate not only the winners, but everyone who took part, you all performed extremely well, were very well behaved and seemed to enjoy the competition. I would also like to thank my fellow judges – Ian, Brenda and Helen, who did an excellent job. Finally thank you to Lara for providing the photographs for this report – there are lots more on the group facebook page.

I hope everyone enjoyed the demonstration and Mini Competition, if we receive positive feedback we will aim to repeat this next year – who knows, weather permitting, we might even be able to do them at the Haxby Carnival!

 
visit www.haxbykarate.co.uk to find out more about our Club. For more information email info@haxbykarate.co.uk