JKS Nationals 2012

Alex doing Heian Nidan

A dozen or so club members travelled down to Nottingham very early one very wet and windy morning to represent their club at the JKS National Championships. For some of us this was their first test of competition, others have been competing for several years now, but there is always something about the JKS Nationals that make it special, maybe it is because it was our first taste of competition, maybe it is because it is our associations flagship event, or maybe because both the competition and the standard of the competitors has been getting better year on year.

Elizabeth doing Heian Nidan

Jemimah, Bethany, Elizabeth, Thomas (F), Oli, Kian, Holly, Tom (S), Alex and Jim were all stepping onto the mat on behalf of the club. We put in some very strong performances, several team members getting through the first round of kata, and some blistering bouts of kumite but unfortunately missed out on the medals. Our Kata team (Holly, Oli, and Thomas (F)) did themselves proud by getting through to the quarter finals in a very tough field, especially as they only had about a month’s practice!

Look at the focus on Jemimahs' face!

Although we didn’t bring any medals home the squad did themselves, their families and the club proud. The technical standard of our kata was excellent, there was spirit and attack to spare in the kumite, and as always I was very proud of the sportsmanship of the team.



Thomas getting stuck in!

I was particularly impressed this year by our small, but very vocal cheering section. Several sets of parents took the time and effort to bring their children (and others) to the event, and made sure that when Haxby was on the mat, everyone knew about it! Thank you also for making sure that everyone got lifts etc… Without families that are willing to support their karateka it would be impossible to get everyone to the courses, competitions and gradings that they need to go to in order to keep progressing.

A final thank you must, as usual, go to Sensei Mike and Sensei Ian. They always put themselves forward to help with the judging at these events, and if you thought it was tiring sitting on the side lines watching one of these events, imagine how exhausting it must be to have to concentrate on judging competitors all day!

The Kata Team (Holly, Oli & Thomas) perform Tekki Shodan

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