Children's Open Competition

Early on Saturday morning the Massey family set off of one of their now regular trips to Hucknall in Nottingham. Elizabeth was the only member of the club to put themselves forward for the Seibukan Children’s competition and must have been nervous on the way down. Her dad, Ian kindly agreed to act as our roving reporter, here is his report from the competition:

Children’s Open Competition 

9th March 2013

We weren’t sure what to expect when attending this competition. The fact that it was being held at the John Godber Centre (home of the black and brown belt courses), that the flier said to bring as many supporters as possible and that, out of all HSKC members, only Elizabeth was interested in attending, seemed to imply that it would be a much smaller event than the JKS Nationals held back in November.

So it was with some relief that, when we arrived quite early (more by luck than judgement), we managed to secure one of the last spaces in the car park and we were surprised by the number of people waiting outside the main hall to be let in.

Overall, there must have been close to one hundred children competing and enough spectators that all available seating was soon taken up and people were left standing against the walls and sitting on the floor. It looked as though the full age (5 to 15 years) and grade (beginner to a sole Dan Grade) ranges were represented (including some grades that I didn’t recognise). Clubs were represented from as far apart as Grimsby and Bristol (who must have set off incredibly early ) and included York and a representation from Selby that was so large that I believe they came by coach.

The day started with Sensei Alan explaining the nature and the purpose of the event – to give the children a chance to compete in a safe environment and to give them an experience of what competition is like. He introduced two of the younger members of the JKS England squad and explained that today’s competition was to be non-contact and that points would be scored for nearly landing a punch or kick and warnings given for too much contact, although I think this rule was relaxed slightly for the higher grades. He then took all the competitors to one side to give them a pep-talk and, I assume, explain what was going to happen throughout the competition.

Even though this was a “proper” competition, everything seemed to be done to put the children at ease (including giving one young competitor who, having been called up first for Kumite but deciding he didn’t want to compete because he hadn’t seen anybody else do it, the chance to watch for a while before making his final decision – he eventually decided to fight and, if I remember rightly, made it through to the next round). Some of the normal formalities were, if not dropped completely, relaxed slightly although handshakes and bows were insisted on. It seemed to me that the various categories had been filled as fairly as possible to give everybody a good chance in their events. With such wide variances in age and standards, there were the inevitable inadvertent humorous moments, as well as a few “aawww’s from the crowd, and one or two “ooo’s” when the higher grades started their Kumite sections. Inevitably with such a range of competitors there were one or two who got a little overwhelmed by the experience and a few tears and disappointed faces were seen but, overall, there was an incredible sense of spirit and competitiveness and the impression we got was that everybody enjoyed taking part.

As to Elizabeth specifically, despite being the only one there from Haxby she wasted no time in hooking up with a friend she has made when attending the brown and black belt courses and was soon chatting to other competitors as well, proving that these events have a social aspect as well. She even got herself involved in impromptu training sessions that other competitors were putting together between their events. It has to be said, for anybody who knows Elizabeth, that she showed exemplary behaviour throughout the day.

Sadly her first round curse reared its head again during the Kata section. Competing against a blue belt and performing Heian Yondan, her mind went blank during the middle section. She recovered and completed the Kata but her competitor was always going to win.

There was to be a further slight disappointment after Sensei Rebecca tried to draft Elizabeth in to compete in the team Kata event, alongside two girls from Selby, only for Sensei to be told that she couldn’t enter an extra team. Given that the Kata they planned to perform was Heian Yondan and that Elizabeth has, to my knowledge, never even practised team Kata that might have been a let off for the other two.

In the Kumite section Elizabeth was paired against a second kyu and the pair fought an incredible bout. It looked to us as though Elizabeth had taken the first point with a jodan strike as Sensei Paul, who we were closest to, awarded it to her, but other judges had seen a strike from her competitor who got the point. Elizabeth rallied and scored a point back and at the end of the bout it was one point each. With none of the judges able to split the competitors it went to extra time sudden death which, unfortunately, Elizabeth lost. No shame there, though, despite being a similar result to when she competed in the Nationals, this was the best Kumite we have seen from her.

Elizabeth showing the same Kumite spirit she always shows in the Dojo!

We weren’t sure whether Elizabeth had been entered for the team Kumite event but, checking with Sensei Wendy, found that she had been. Teams were selected on the day from the sixty children competing in this event. The higher grades were made team captains, with four team members behind them and each team had to pick and register a name. Elizabeth found herself captain of Team Stealth and was probably the youngest captain there. She relished the role, and was one of the few captains who didn’t have to be told to organise her team during the competition. Other team names included Team Tigers, Team Wolves, Karate Kids, Team JKS, Team Ninja (“I still can’t see you,” quipped Sensei Alan) and Skyfall who, along with Team Stealth, got a by into the second round and were then paired against each other. In this round, the higher grades fought each other first and Elizabeth was up against another, older (and taller) first kyu who beat her two points to zero with one jodan strike seeming to lift Elizabeth off mat and she is now proudly sporting a bruised chin. For this competition, the first team to win three bouts was declared the winner but after five bouts Team Stealth and Skyfall were tied with two wins and a draw each. To split them the two captains fought again, in a sudden death bout which Elizabeth’s opponent won. Skyfall eventually went on to come fourth overall, just missing out on a medal.

It was a long day but a really enjoyable one with some great performances to be seen. Well done to the various judges for managing to put the children at ease and to their team of helpers who ensured that, for the most part, things went smoothly.

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I’m sure you’ll want to join me in thanking Ian for his excellent write up, and Elizabeth for doing such a good job of representing her club. She has done us all proud, who know, maybe next year Selby won’t be the only club to take a coach down to the competition!

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