Bowling Bonanza

And it began

Our first family fun night work out as a success after the grading in October, with nearly 40 members and family showing up we had a great night bowling together. Gathering just inside the bar at ten pin we had all arrived at around 19.00 for our games to begin.

Upon checking in we found we had taken up not 1 or even 2 lanes but 6 lanes, yes that’s right 6 lanes. Separating across the lanes was no easy task with people of all ages running around but eventually we had managed it with the lanes consisting of Poppy M, Izzie, Tilly, Olivia and Bethany on one supervised by Rachel and Alex,  Paul B, Mary, Nixon, Matt and Robert together, Will M, Edwin, Aiwin, Joshua and Dan T together.

Annie and Poppy twinning 

Annie, Will V, Alfie, Poppy P, Ella, Julia and Herjan the next held Elizabeth, Romie, Lucy and Ellie and finally at the very end we had Jim, Catherine, James, Helen, Mark, Stuart and Me.

Herjan And I having a good time

Jim and David laughing along with Romie

While we bowled we got ourselves some food ordered 10 large platters came out and it looked like there was far too much for the group even with all of us eating but no all the plates seemed to get easily polished off.  After a good few hours bowling parents began arriving to collect their children and those of use who had already arrived began to move towards the exit, however not before we moved through the arcade and had a blast on a few of the games.

All in all, from the feedback that we have had and from what I saw on the night I think that this has been a real success and a n absolute pleasure to spend some time outside the dojo with you all, I feel it will be something that we try to maintain each year going forward.

                                                                                       OSS

                                                                                       Ben 

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

Outstanding October grading

Another grading came and went last weekend, and along with it lots of new successes. There grading panel armed with Sensei Mike (6^th Dan) and Sensei Keith (7^th Dan) as well as Sensei Alan Campbell (7^th Dan) for the senior grades.

Some Happy Faces After Their Grading

Training started promptly at 9.30 for the peewee grades and red belts, led by sensei Alan and Sensei Matt price (6^th Dan) they ran through basics and some fun kumite drills along with some last-minute kata prep. First up grading we’re the peewee grades with success from James, Vismaya and Jack  to 10^th Kyu next up after a short break we’re the red belts with more success from Ella, Angel, Liya, Kevin, Alfie and Evan to 9^th Kyu as well as Harley, Jason and Mary all taking very strong gradings to 8^th Kyu.

Lunch fell after these gradings and it was time for a quick bite to eat, and a much-welcomed surprise came in the shape of Brenda Sensei popping in to say hello and see how the gradings were going. 1.40 came and it was the yellow- purple belts up for their gradings and strong gradings they were, showing off their skills in front of the full panel of Sensei Mike, Kieth and Alan, first up was Joshua with a confident grade up to 6^th Kyu Following Joshua, Paul and Irena steamed there way to getting their 4^th Kyu                                                                                                grading in the bag.

         

Following these gradings it was on to the last set gradings for the day from 4^th kyu- 1^st kyu and it was success across the board with some very strong gradings and for some the best karate they have displayed to date, first up Poppy (M), Edwin and I (Ben)  then alone from HSKC taking his 2^nd Kyu Aiwin came up and took charge of his grading and made sure he deserved it finally we had the 1^st Kyu grades coming up Lucy, Will (M) and Joe stepped to the mark and all three put in maximum effort, determination and

held their heads high absolutely amazing.

The senior kyu grades and black belts that weren’t grading were being put through their paces by Matt price Sensei who started them on with some kumite drills followed with detailed kata taking a deep look at enpi.

After a great day of successes we departed the grading with some very big smile on our faces, I’d like to say a big well done to everyone who graded and thank you to Sensei Alan and Sensei Matt for their instruction and to Sensei Mike, Sensei Keith and Sensei Becs for their time on the grading panel, and as always a massive thank you to Sensei Paul for all his work arranging the course

OSS

Ben 

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

Autumn Course With Kanayama Sensei

Kanayama Sensei 7th Dan
AKA "The Machine"

It was an unseasonable warm morning as we struggled out of bed for the very early start for our trip to Nottingham for the second day of the annual JKS England Autumn Seminar. The warmth, combined with the rain did not bode well as we had already seen on Facebook how gruelling the first day had been. Despite this there were eight intrepid Karateka (Mike Sensei, Jim, Ian, Helen, Paul (B), Lucy, Romie, Olivia – Paul (D), and Ben had to drop out due to illness and injuries) all looking forward to training under Kosho Kanayama Sensei, 7th Dan JKS Hombu Dojo Instructor.

We all arrived in good time, and took the opportunity to warm up (and catch up with some of our karate friends) before training started. Kanayama Sensei soon showed the quality of his karate and instruction with the first series of exercises (squat then drive into front stance in four directions (forward, each side, and backwards – firstly without any other technique, then punching, then kicking (a different kick for each direction!), then punching and kicking!) which were used to make some excellent technical points about driving forward into stance.

All eyes on Sensei during his
demonstration

Following that we did some work on Tobe Konde (stepping and sliding forward) with the emphasis on landing in Shomen (hips square), and being under control at all times. This was then done with a partner to ensure correct hips position, and then with Oi Tzuki and Mae Geri with the opponent as target, then with the opponent blocking.

Kata came next and Kanayama Sensei took the class through Junro Shodan, Nidan and Sandan. Selecting a karateka to demonstrate each kata to reinforce the key teaching points.

Mike Sensei and Mehrdad Sensei with
"The Machine"

Finally Sensei led the class through a series of exercises and cool downs to finish off what was a truly excellent three hours of karate. It was one of those courses where the time seemed to fly by, but when you reflected on the amount of karate we did (and how much we had sweated!) you realised that it was time well spent.

Once the course was completed, Mike Sensei was once again asked to join the examination panel for the Shodan and Nidan examinations. Once the grading were complete it was time to brave the rain once again for the journey home.

Despite our aching legs I am sure that everyone who attended the course will agree that it was definitely worth the trip to train with an instructor of Kanayama Sensei’s pedigree. We will all retain some of what we have learnt of this course, and our karate will be much the better for it.

The whole gang with Kanayama Sensei

Oss
Ben

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

Hot, Heavy and Humble Hans Rana Course

A course with a lie in, unheard of, but well worth it. August 11^th by invitation from Mike Sensei we hosted one of the most phenomenal instructors we could, Hans Rana Sensei.  Starting at 13.00 with greetings with karate ka attending the course from Haxby, Selby Shotokan Karate Club, JKS Bradford and a few members from Hans Sensei’s club JKS Loughborough.

All who Attended 

Promptly at 13.30 we began training with Hans taking us through some warm ups focused on stretching us out but also some strength conditioning. From stretches, to squats, to everyone’s favourite push ups we did it all, continuing the warm up theme we then moved on to some hip rotation exercises with a combination making up a forward’s arm swing followed by a nagashi uke, countered with Empi-uchi, repeated on both sides.  

After our intense warm ups, it was straight in to it, starting with basics changing stance, we started with front Stace partner work mirroring each other, then after 10 or so attempts we added on a gyaku tsuki finishing the combination with change stance mai geri gyaku tsuki.  The next combination we look at back stance with a similar feel changing stance to get a feel of the correct stance, then we added Nukite in Zenkutsu-dachi. Our final combination put our kicks in to practise all on one leg we demonstrated mai geri, yoko geri keage and mawashi geri.

After a brief water break it was back to training, we started with some kata to change up the feel, we began with Jono-kata (beginners kata) which looks at basic stances attacks and blocks, then we practised gyaku tsuki no kata (all attacks in gyaku (reverse)) running though each several times to get a good practise at them finally Hans sensei allowed all the dan grades to show us what they had and they ran through each kata to their own timing. The next part of the class took us through some short but intense kumite sections of 15 seconds where we just had to push against our partner with several combinations without stopping, along with some speed building exercises in the essence of preforming 10 star jumps as fast as possible before your partner and punching the gyaku tsuki.

Posing in our favourite kata stances

The final part of the session saw Hans Sensei for the benefit of the dan grades running through joko issei the first kata of Asai Sensei’s joko katas to help them with progression in their grades and to teach them an unfamiliar and unusual kata. After running though joko issei several times and almost everyone (even Hans Sensei) getting a little confused with some of the finer points of the kata we moved in to the cool downs which after such an intense training session were a god send.

After thanks to Hans Sensei and thanks to all who attended the course we departed in traditional Haxby karate fashion after a very hot heavy session we retired to the local hostelry for a few cold refreshing (slightly alcoholic) beverages with friends to show karate in its other light as a social hobby rather than just all training all the time.

Leading into the evening it was time for the club to show our thanks to Hans sensei for his one of a kind instruction and we headed in to your for a good night out, starting in the punch bowl Jim, Holly, Dave and myself (Ben) were the first to arrive quickly joined by Mike and Ian T and we sat outside waiting the eventual arrival of Paul Brant sensei with our guests Hans, Janak Rana and his son Deepak. Moving on from the punch bowl we stopped in the cross keys for another beverage and finally we ended in the Viceroy for a fantastic meal. 

Our spread

As the night drew to an end we dwindled in numbers till for a final drink back in the key there were only Jim, holly, Dave, Mike and myself before we then all retired home after a long and frankly amazing day from the start of Hans sensei’s training to the last sip of our last drinks.

Hans, Mike and Paul Senseis enjoying a G&T

All been said and done I would like to the everyone who attended the course and showed up for the training especially those who had to travel quite some distance to be there from Selby, Bradford and even a few who drove all the way from hull to attend but most of all I would like to thank Hans Rana for coming all the way from Loughborough to humble us with his instruction and to Janak and Deepak for joining him as well.

OSS

Ben 

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

Super Summer Seminar

Early morning this morning, leaving york for Nottingham we went, mike Sensei, Ian, jim and holly Sensei, Olivia, Paul (B), Joe, Helen, Paul (D) and myself. Other than a minor scare that the A1 was shut fortunately it was past our turning so we had a smooth journey through.

After the usual warm welcomes and greetings of friends from across the country, we lined up ready to begin training. The course opened with a welcome from Alan Campbell Sensei (7^th dan) where he introduced the course and Steve carless Sensei (6^th dan) who would be taking the lead in the first training session as well as introducing Mike Gude Sensei and Nick Heald Sensei (both 6^th dan) for assistance in the training sessions if needed.

Swiftly kicking off Steve Sensei led his warmups with the standard stuff with some interesting twists like rising your hips in the spits and the “flying saucer” while stretching out our hips. After what we thought was the end of an already intense warm up we moved on to some combination work, starting with double punch choku tsuki (straight punch) followed by turning in gyaku tsuki (reverse punch) 45 degree to the rear revere back to the front then spinning 360 degrees back to the front in Heiko dachi (neutral stance) punching. After several practises on both sides and running through with speed and power we moved on to 3 combinations derived from the Shodan grading syllabus.  After these had been practised Steve Sensei informed us that we had finally finished the warmup and aloud us to quickly grab some water, straight back to it we moved on from Kihon to kata starting with enpi (flying swallow),  after a detailed explanation of each move within the kata we went on to practise it then run through in our own time, starting with senior kyu grades and then on to dan grades finally for the junior kyu grade supported by a dan grade we ran through to count.  After a gruelling first we had a quick break then we came back on for the final part of Sensei Steve’s session he took us through kata kashu.

Lunch time arrived, and it was a swift escape for haxby outside for a breath of fresh air and a cool down, the 30 minutes flew by before we were back in the hall warming up for the next session with Alan Sensei, he started us off with some tai sabaki drills (moving out of the way) in practise of close quarters rather than full length blocking. The. We moved on to a blocking drill combining all aspects of the preparation and execution of Uchi Uke, Soto Uke and Age Uke, and some other drills combining preparation and execution of attacks.  Finally, Alan Sensei had all grade running through their grading level kata for kyu grades bassai dai, Shodan and Nidan kanku dai and Sandan up kata if their choice. Each group preformed their kata and we’re given some extremely helpful advice on ways to improve, then after everyone preformed the first time it was time to retry and improve and an over all result was an improvement through out.   This marked the end of our days training but not the end of the day completely, after a few brief words from Alan Sensei and thank you we had a group photo and then it was on to gradings.

There were a lot of karate ka grading this course, a staggering 31, some grading for Nidan but the majority to Shodan, the atmosphere in the grading hall was tense as everyone lined up to begin and show off what they’ve got and showing off was what happened.  All different skill sets, and ages stepped out demonstrating their basics, kumite and kata, although not all of the karate ka graded the ones who did, graded with smiles on there faces and a fire for their next grading.    Finally, the drive home seemed to fly by, with the traditional stop off for ice cream on the way.   

The whole course was well worth the early morning and well worth the sweat thanks to the inescapable heat, as always, I would highly recommend trying to get down to these training courses especially the open course for all grades but the black and brown belt courses for those wanting to grade for Shodan and above soon.

OSS Ben 

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

Haxby Carnival 2018

What a scorcher it was at the carnival, not only was the weather hot clear and sunny but the attendance to the parade was staggering 21 karate-ka came along to support the club and the carnival as a whole.

 

Everyone supporting the club and the carnival

Our day started out at 11 am with a good group including Jim Sensei, Holly Sensei, Mary, Elizabeth, Will (M) and myself as well as some extra hands from Cathrine, John and Nixon we set the tent and stall up for our cake sale, headed up by Mary directing us to where she wanted us placed and where the tables set for maximum sales, Nixon also came along to help and made sure all the cakes were out and displayed efficiently for all to see.

the newest member to the club joining in for a picture
(Ft. Goose)

At  12 our troop was joined by Will (V), Annie, Alfie and Poppy  headed out to Grey Firs for the beginning of the carnival, upon arriving one by one the rest of the parade grew around us as well as our members arriving to join in in no particular order we had, Matthew and Robert, Jason, James and Jack as well as Jason’s daughter, Edwin and Aiwin, Olivia, Angle, Jeon and Austin. And last but most certainly not least Brenda Sensei made a guest appearance to join us in the parade through the village.  Right before the parade we were joined by a special member of our community Goose came for a picture with us to show of his skills and earned his black belt.

The march through the village was amazing, as was the level of support from the whole village. The streets were lined with supporting, family and friends, as we headed for our destination at Ethel ward playing field.  All of our members did a fantastic job in the parade keeping together and smiling to the crowd and waving all the way.  When we arrived at our stall the whole attendance lined up for a group photo, soon followed by the first wave of cake sales to our younger members.

 

Marching through the village

As the afternoon rolled on we became fewer as people set off home to spend the remainder of the day with there family’s and enjoy the sun, but for the few of us that stayed on through out it all it was fantastic spending some down time together and meeting members from around the community, the organisers and everyone else.  

This year we dedicated our stall for raising funds for the St. Leonard’s hospice and with all the help from all who visited us on the stall we raised a staggering £120.  So a big thank you to everyone who helped us get there.

 

Add caption

So on to next years carnival where we aim to join in the parade, hold our usual stall and also get up in the arena as give a strong demonstration for all to see what our karate family is all about. On behalf of myself, Jim and Mary thank you to all who attended we are very proud of you all.

Oss

Ben

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

Sun, Sand and Karate

The time had come around again for our annual summer trip to Cleethorpes for bears on the beach with kaizen no-michi and Selby Shotokan Karate Club.  For a change we had a nice lie in before a long drive over to the coast thanks to a later start we could happily leave York at 9.30 for the smooth drive through. We had a fantastic turn out of 10 karate-ka this year who all had a fantastic day on the beach with some quality training lead by Andre Sensei from KNM and Paul sensei from SSKC as well as some fun and games on the beach.

A quick Photo before we started the day.

Arriving at 11 o’clock promptly we set up base on the beach and awaited the arrival of all who would participate in the day, for a prompt start at around 11.30. To begin we went through so light stretches but nothing to heating as the weather was already pushing a lovely 24 degrees, followed by a hips exercise lead by a young member of KNM called “the Floss” which proved difficult for adult members to get the grips off the all the youngsters seemed to excel at it.

Running through JONO kata

The first session lead by Andy Sensei saw us going through a simple but testing round of gyaku tsuki, this exercise leads on to some pairs work to practise the combination of attack front turn and attack rear then front attack again, attacking 3 different opponents. The last part of this exercise we split up and had mini competitions between 2 lines to see who could react the fastest to the combination. 

The final part of the session we went through JONO kata (beginners Kata) followed by a look at the application of the kata and how it is more advanced than it appears.

Andy Sensei demonstrating a take down
making Ben eat sand.

After a break for lunch and some playing in the sea and sand we had our second session this time lead by Paul Sensei, to begin we ran through Heian Shodan but after a couple slow run throughs Paul sensei added a twist and had us run through facing 4 different directions doing a directional team kata style go through. This proved that it doesn’t matter what way you face while doing a kata no matter where you are doing it the kata will always start and end the same and every step in-between does not change. 

Practising the take down.

After practising Heian Shodan, we moved on to Meikyo (polished mirror) fortunately for HSKC some of the seniors had had a brief run through of the kata the Thursday so we could look in to more of the detail of the kata, but for many it was their first try at it. Meikyo is a symmetrical kata that branches out to envelop a lot of basic khion to create a fantastic kata. Finally, some of the more complicated moves Paul sensei described and demonstrated so we would properly understand what was happening in them rather than us just washing through the kata and running through the motions without thought for what was happening.

What bears on the beach is about!!! fun in the sea.

Ending our day on a high we packed up base and headed up to the kiosk to get our last ice-creams and gather ourselves before our  journey home after a very warm extremely fun day on the beach, really couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend a Sunday than with great company and friend and a whole lot of karate, and maybe an apple juice or two for the adults.

So on behalf of HSKC I'd like to thank Andrew Sensei for inviting us to join KNM on the beach and for his expert instruction and Paul Sensei for his thorough instruction of Meikyo.

Oss

Ben

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

Fantastic grading course with Hans Sensei

Our latest grading seemed to arrive very quickly after the previous one, although it had been a full three months since the February Grading, many of our club members were still getting comfortable with their new grade, and were not ready to step in front of the examiners this time.

 

The mid grade class getting ready to perform kata

It is perhaps appropriate to remember that after 9^th Kyu everyone is assessed using the same syllabus, there is not distinction between an adult and a junior karate-ka, it should be no surprise that not everyone will be ready to grade at every opportunity. Bear in mind that for each new grade there is a new kata to learn (and at certain grades a whole new kihon and kumite syllabus as well!).

With 22 karate-ka going before the examiners, what we may have lacked in quantity, we certainly more than made up for in quality!

Not only was I busy greeting people to the course as usual, but I also helped Mike Sensei out on the grading tables, although I did not get to see everyone, what I did see was very impressive!

We were lucky to have one of our favourite instructors return to teach at this course, and from what I saw, and heard afterwards Hans Rana Sensei (JKS 6^th Dan) did not disappoint!

Holly Sensei leading the Junior Class

The training started with the class being split into two groups. Hans Sensei took the senior group for some gentle(?) warm ups, exercises and training, whilst our very own Holly Sensei took the junior karate-ka for some karate related games into order to warm them up and distract them from potentially worrying about their grading later that morning.

It must have worked as James, Jack, and Vismaya all successfully completed their first grading with the club to attain their 12^th Kyu Orange Belt. It was nice to see James and Jack (and father Jason – but more on him later) perform so well on their first grading, it is always difficult for people to change clubs, and this marks the completion of their assimilation into Haxby Shotokan Karate Club.

Next up were Poppy (P), Alfie, Austin, Ella, Florence, Angel, and Kevin. They have all been training with us for some time, and are making excellent progress. I know they (and their parents!) were all relieved when it was announced that they have all passed their 10^th Kyu and they could now exchange their tired old Orange belts for a brand new Red one!

Jason was grading for the first time with the club after recently joining with his sons James and Jack. He was successful alongside Robert and Harley in attaining his 9th Kyu. He will have to work hard to ensure that his sons do not overtake him (as Holly did me!).

Hans Sensei taking the lower grades

Jesteena, Mathew were up next chasing 8^th Kyu, Jesteena is one of the quiet stars of our Early class, she is always listening and tries hard! Both were successful in their grading, and Mathew managed to keep one step ahead of his son Robert! Yellow Belt is next for you, with a whole new kata to learn!

Jeon put in a very composed performance to secure his 6^th Kyu Green Belt, and to keep several steps ahead of his younger sister Angel. I knew that Paul (D) was nervous going into the grading for 5^th Kyu Purple Belt. Like many Karate-ka who start training later in life (me included!) he has struggled with injury and to teach his body how to move in a whole new way, but his nerves proved to be completely unfunded as he put in a confident (seeming) performance to pass his grading – Brown Belt is in sight now Paul!

Thomas and Edwin were up next. Thomas to continue his steady and determined pursuit towards Shodan, and Edwin to try to catch his brother up before he reaches it! Both were successful in taking their next step and were awarded 4^th Kyu.

 

Paul (D) getting some 1-2-1 instruction from Hans Sensei

The last of our karate-ka to grade was Paul (B). Paul has returned to karate after a prolonged break and has only recently begun grading again. He was not expecting to attempt a grading this time, and I think was a bit surprised when Mike Sensei put him forward for grading. The proof that you should always trust in Mike Sensei’s judgement was evident when he was awarded his 1^st Kyu. With Shodan firmly in his sights for a potential February 2019 grading, Paul has a lot of work ahead of him, but there is plenty of support at the club for those whole are willing to put the effort and dedication into their training!

Although he did not grade at the course, it is only fair to mention Ben’s success in attaining his 4^th Kyu a couple of weeks earlier. Ben displays a huge amount of determination and dedication to his training. He commonly trains for 3 hours a session, and attends as many courses as his work will allow. This was reflected in the strong performance he put in during his surprise grading at the club! 

 

Paul (B) performing Bassai Dai

Whilst all this was going on Hans Sensei was tirelessly putting our karate-ka through their paces. One of our Junior grades was most impressed with the fact the Hans Sensei would be training with the same level of intensity throughout the day for over 5 hours! Every person that I spoke to after the course praised Hans Sensei and his instruction. I did not get to see much of what he did (although I am sure I saw the higher Junro Kata as some point) being kept busy helping with the organisation of the course, but Holly was certainly impressed and morn out afterwards.

 

Hans Sensei taking the Senior Class through some advanced kata

I would like to thank Paul Sensei for his tireless effort to organise and run these courses. It is hard ot overstate just what and excellent job he does. I would also like to thank Mike and Keith Gullen Senseis for acting as the examiners for the grading. And of course Hans Sensei for his excellent tuition and proving once again why he is one of our favourite instructors!

If you enjoyed Hans Sensei’s instruction, he will be coming to our Dojo of the afternoon of Saturday 11^th August 2018. Places are limited and are being booked up quickly – so let me know if you would like to take advantage to of opportunity to train with him again.

OSU

Jim

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

Fantastic Results at the Selby Competition

Saturday saw the arrival of this year’s Selby Novice Competition. We had a fantastic turn out from HSKC with over 25 members competing in kata and kumite.

 

Olivia performing Heian Sandan

The day started early for Paul Sensei setting off to manor school to set up with the help of  Mike, Ian S, Matt, Rebecca, Steve Sensei and myself, soon followed by a few other members arriving early to the competition. Registration began at 10am and the hall soon filled up with all 63 competitors and supporting family and friends from York, Selby and Haxby and the atmosphere of the day seemed to be set with some having competition nerves, others very excited and most fitting in a little bit of last minute training before hitting the mats.

Promptly at 10.30 Paul Sensei called all the competitors on to the floor to brief them on the day and where everyone needed to be. The first event was 7a (mixed knee boxing) followed by event 7b and 8 and event 3 (12- 16 kata) followed by events 4 and 5. From what I could see between competing everyone who stepped up on the mats for these events performed well and shone making themselves, myself and the club proud! The results showed this with a mix of achievements, Annie taking silver and Joshua taking silver and gold in event 7b, and Aiwin and Will M taking silver and gold in even 8. Olivia gained a bronze in event 3, I took gold in event 4 and Paul B walked away with Bronze in event 5

The next even to run was the family kata event which was very mixed and very competitive, with everyone performing strong kata, but Will and Annie seemed possessed as they performed showing some of the best kata the pair of them have performed together, and both the Vince’s and Simon’s came away with bronze.

Matthew performing Heian Shodan

After a short recess for lunch it was back to the mats for the final 3 kata events with the (12^th-10^th kyu) event 1a began and what a good event it was as I managed to watch through the whole event, with it being the first competition Florence, Isla and Robert have entered they did amazingly well. Followed quickly with event 1b and 2 where Annie and Joshua came away again with silver and gold, and in event 2 we had a very strong team going in and they showed off their best karate with Poppy taking home gold, Will M stealing a silver and Aiwin sneaking on the end with a bronze.

And with the conclusion of the kata events it was just on to the last 7 kumite events starting with (the female 9-12 category) event 9 where true to her love for kumite Lucy went up conquered taking gold and Poppy coming away with the silver. Next the event 10 (male kumite 12-14yrs) Joe went up and didn’t disappoint with a strong performance and taking bronze. And event 11 (female kumite 12-14) didn’t disappoint either with both Romie and Olivia going up and performing and taking bronzes.

 

Edwin and Will face off against each other!

After a brief stop for the judges to get up and move around a little we were back on with the final for events for the OAP categories also known as the Over 18yrs!  - first was event 14 (beginner - 3^rd kyu) and from the outset the atmosphere around the mats was strong and determined. Paul D was first up on the mats and he had what looked like his most relaxed match to-date, then Matthew and I were up and it was a close and strong round for Matthews first time up on the mats he performed extremely well, and the final was very competitive between myself and Alan from Selby. The results being me stealing gold, and Matthew and Paul D taking home the bronze. Next up we’re the ladies in event 15 and a small 3 way competition it was between Helen, Katherine and Kirsty who all performed well and showed that they enjoyed the rounds and Helen came away with a bronze to her name.

Ben performing Heian Yondan

Event 16 (Over 18 2^nd Kyu- Shodan) was next and we were all back up on the mats,  myself and Paul be stepped up for our first bout and the feeling on the mats were amazing the tension between Paul and I was phenomenal and it was a really fun and good round to be in, then Paul D was up with Alan for his round and they were both going round and giving each other a real run for their money, the semi-finals  saw Scott Haxby and I up against one another and for a fleeting moment we were on the mats before Scott took victory, next Matthew and Alan took to each other on the mats for a heated and what seemed a very long round. The final saw both Scott and Alan compete to the eventual victory for Scott who took gold, Alan silver and Matthew and I took bronze. The final event with the ladies Over 18 2^nd kyu- Shodan again saw all the ladies back up in the mats and again some very strong rounds. With Helen taking herself another bronze medal for her collection.

All events were done and all we had left was to pack up and with the help from everyone it seemed to fly by and was tidied away in no time. And as customary we retired to the local hostelry for a post completion drink with friends to celebrate what a good day we’d had.

Paul (D) also performing Heian Sandan

So I think all that needs to be said is a big thank you to all who competed in the completion and to all the supported that came for our club. A even bigger thank you to the officials both sensei’s, club members and  family alike and finally a massive thank you to Paul Sensei for if it wasn’t for all the hours of planning and preparation he’s put in to organising this event it wouldn’t have been possible.

Poppy gets in a lovely long Gyaku Tzuki

 

From me to all a big thank you.

Osu

Ben

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