SSKC Club Competition 2008

Well done to everyone that took part in this years club competition.

The competition for the younger members is run in a fairly informal manner and is treated as a teaching and experience exercise for younger Karateka.

This year we had three separate age groups U9, U12 and U17.

The group photo, well done everyone!

Match 1 - U9 Kata

1st Lewis Coward, 2nd Jake Taylor, 3rd Nathan Dye

The U9's are 9th Kyus to Beginners, they all had to perform Heian Shodan, in a proper competition environment 1 Referee (Shihan Keith Gullen - 7th Dan) and 4 corner judges ( Sensei Andy Denby - 5th Dan, Sensei Bernard Schilke - 3rd Dan, Sensei Ian Culpan - 1st Dan, Sensei Helen Milner - 1st Dan).

As a slight twist to the normal Kata rules for these youngsters we had a mid Kyu grade standing slightly in front of them performing the kata as well. It is obvious to the judges who requires a little bit of assistance and who can perform the kata on their own. This leads to a far better experience of competition for the less proficient Karateka.

A special well done to Jake who has only been training a few weeks but surprised us all by his performance.

Match 2 - U12 Kata

1st Sam Dennis, 2nd Holly Bamford, 3rd Jamie Bellerby

In the under 12's a few of our karateka were missing, competitors were all 12th kyu or beginners except Sam who is a 3rd Kyu.

An excellent performance from Holly from Haxby, keep up the good work Holly and look forward to your grading in June.

Jamie, you are progressing well, you have potential to do really well if you want to apply yourself, keep up the practising.

Match 3 - U17 Kata

1st Dominic Schilke, 2nd Rebecca Brant, 3rd Georgia Denby

Well done Dominic, 1st place and the TSB Cup, but a very hard slog to get there. Dom met Georgia in the Semi Final and the judges awarded a draw on the first two katas, and Dom only got through to the final on the third attempt. Georgia, one more flag in the semi final and you could have easily been the winner, a very respectable 3rd place. Dom and Rebecca will not be competing next year as they will both be too old!

Dom also put himself through some pain in the final, why is one kata never enough? More split decisions and more kata. When you start with Bassai Dai you don't have much breath left for the next kata. When Shihan announced Heian Godan I saw a horrified look on Rebecca's face. I could see that the "frozen kata" had struck again.... Rebecca limped through most of the Kata before it came to a grinding halt. This was not a win by default at all, Dom's kata has got stronger and stronger over the last 6 months and 1st place was well deserved.

Match 4 - u9 Kumite

1st Braden Poskitt, 2nd Lewis Coward, 3rd Nathan Dye

We obviously don't start U9's with freestyle sparing, but what we did was a knee boxing competition. A point is scored when the opponents knee is touched in the form of an attack. Competitors have to move and react as in sparring, with a good stance, looking for an opportunity. This is an excellent drill for developing kumite movement.

Braden who has only been training for a few weeks came away with a surprising win, beating the far more experienced Lewis and Nathan. Not bad for a lad that was adamant that karate was not for him, Braden, quite the tactician.

Match 5 - U12 Kumite

1st Holly Bamford, 2nd Sam Dennis, 3rd Jamie Bellerby

The U12's progressed to the next level, Gohon kumite, the judges making a decision on which karteka performance was more proficient.

A win for Haxby dojo, well done Holly. A reflection on Sensei Mike's Kihon training and an excellent student as well. Your form is far ahead of your grade. Sam attacked hard and a little faster than perhaps Holly is used to as a 12th Kyu. A clash of legs now and again lead to a slight limp as Holly came to collect her certificate for 1st place. It was like a re-run of David and Goliath, Holly had just beaten Sam who is 9 grades her senior!

Match 6 - U17 Kumite

1st Dominic Schilke, 2nd Rebecca Brant, 3rd Daniel Kozelko

U17's Kumite is run as a mixed event mainly due to numbers for a club competition. However don't think our young ladies are at a disadvantage. Lucy put up a very strong fight against Sam and was unlucky not to progress to the Semi finals. Rebecca "the psycho" Brant just doesn't seem to know what sidewards or backwards means, just forwards. A very good competition for all, Sam competed in the U17's as well as the U12's because of his grade. Both Sam and Daniel had strong matches and displayed good skills.

I think the parents were a little surprised to see the massive step up in a Shobu-Ippon competition, Dominic and Daniel had a very strong match, but with good control.

The final was fought as Shobu-Sanpon (3 points or 6 half points as it was). Dom was not daunted by Rebecca's style and scored some lovely gyaku-zukis. He did have a couple of Jogai (foot faults) where the area never seemed to be big enough to stop Rebecca advancing. Dom appeared to be on the back foot most of the time but still managed to win Sanpon to Ippon (3 to 1) and was awarded the Kumite Cup.

Many thanks to Shihan Keith for being our Referee, Sensei Andy, Sensei Ian Culpan, Sensei Bernard ( currently retired but not thrown his gi away yet), Sensei Helen (don't drop any more wardrobes on yourself) for judging and Jim and Lorraine from Haxby for gereral assistance which is always needed on the day.

We will try and put a plan in place for another competition in the Autumn, all being well.

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