Central England Karate Championships 2008

The SKA attended the Central England Karate Championships on 13th July 2008 in Walsall. Most of them have attended before under their former club where they were extremely successful winning most successful club 2 years running. This year the SKA wanted to see if they could do it on their own but when they found out many other top English clubs and associations were attending this year, they knew they could not possibly win best club with a small / new squad and would have been happy with a top 8 placing. When they arrived it was even busier than expected, with top clubs and competitors there. The standard was not far off an English Championship but this made it all more worthwhile.

All of the regular squad competed, along with Rod competing for the second time, Simon who looked funny in a gi as it’s been so long and newcomer Katie Pharo who made an exceptional first appearance in the SKA team.

The day kicked off at around 10am and it was a fairly poor start for the SKA. BETHANY SCOULDING made an unlucky and unusual 1st round exit in the mixed 10-15yrs, 6th – 4th kyu kata, but LOUISE HICKS picked up the pieces slightly by taking a bronze after 4 rounds. In the 9yrs and under, up to 7th kyu, 5yr old LEWIS HOLMES had another unlucky draw and lost 2-1 in the 1st round to the eventual bronze medallist. TONI SHERING went further and after 3 rounds in a huge group, made it to the quarter final but lost as a punishment of trying too hard. She rushed and skipped techniques as a result of too much power, but will learn from her mistakes. On her debut performance, KATIE PHARO was the one who got through to the medals by taking a bronze after 4 rounds of her best kata performances to date. Well done Katie!

In the 9yrs and under, 6th – 4th kyu, EDWARD VAN MEERKERK, who was having a slightly emotional day, managed to win a bronze in another huge group but with his ability he could have gone further. So far, it was not looking good as the gold medal hopefuls were not delivering! Even MICHAEL HOLMES who has won gold at his last two kata competitions only managed a silver, but this was not because he did not perform well. He lost 2-1 in the final to superenpei which is not normally used at such a young age but the 9yr old beat him 2-1. Michael, who is only 7yrs old, will now work on this kata so he can match the difficulty and hopefully start winning gold again soon!

RYAN BEAVINGTON showed further improvement on his kata and although he struggles with stances, through no fault of his own, he performs well and was unlucky to have a tough draw and loose first round in the 10-12yrs boys, 3rd kyu+. In the girls side ELLIE BARTON made a 1st round exit after executing a strong Bassai Dai, but sister SIAN BARTON had a couple of good wins and just missed out on bronze. We usually manage a bronze in this group but CHLOE PHARO went one better and took silver, only loosing to a black belt in the final. The girls did very well in this group given their relatively little experience and only stepping up to this group from 4th kyu’s in March this year.

In the adult kata, ROD BARTON showed determination and wanted to go one further than his first round departure from his first competition last month. He went more than one further and took a silver after just being beaten with a score of 2-1 in the final. The only other adult to compete in individual kata was coach CLARE BONELLO who took gold in the female senior section after 4 challenging rounds.

The pairs kata was next and the coaches of SKA allow competitors to make up their own pairs and choose their katas. As ‘pairs’ is not a recognised category, not much effort is put into it in training. Ryan and Edward, Chloe and Michael, Bethany and Louise and Toni and Katie all lost in elimination rounds but sisters Ellie and Sian took a bronze in the open grade under 13yrs pairs. In the adult pairs, siblings Clare and Simon tried their luck and wanted to help the club get some well needed points. It did not quite go as planned as their Bassai Dai was whitewashed in the first round by Jonathan Mottram and Alex Sell’s Superenpei. However, Simon enjoyed competing again and Clare was quite pleased as it meant she did not have to do Gojushiho!

The team kata was next and the SKA do take this seriously! Toni, Michael and Edward got together for the first time and managed a bronze in the under 10yrs team kata. The more experienced team of Sian, Ellie and Chloe were under pressure after a yellow card in training! They did extremely well and did the coaches proud by taking gold in the 10-15yrs mixed team kata.

With the kata over, the coaches had mixed feelings about the results but before they knew it kumite started and it was go, go, go!

TONI SHERING could not get past the first round in the 7yrs and under or 9yrs and under kumite groups. She did not attack and gave away both fights, but her determination, talent and love of karate are a sign this won’t be a regular occurrence! Novice KATIE PHARO who was more than happy with a kata bronze at her first competition with SKA, then went on to put on very brave performances in the kumite. After winning 2 rounds she made it to the final where she took silver.

In the 7yrs and under kumite, 5yr old LEWIS HOLMES was outstanding for his age and size and won 2 fights against boys head and shoulders above him. He emerged with a bronze after understandably being overwhelmed in the semi-final. Older brother MICHAEL HOLMES came to the rescue and beat Lewis’s semi-final opponent in the final to take gold. Being the oldest in this group, Michael wanted to do well. He also entered the 9yrs and under group as it was split into heights. Michael remarkably won gold in this group also and made a spectacular finish with an 11-2 win in the final. He was exhausted by this point as it was his 5th event of the day but he pushed himself and showed tremendous fitness. EDWARD VAN MEERKERK also entered this group and although he tried hard he made a first round exit. Edward was not himself all day but still took away two medals. The only other boy to fight was RYAN BEAVINGTON and he got 3 byes which can be a huge disadvantage as he fought against a competitor who had warmed up and got the adrenaline pumping. However, Ryan fought well but lost fair and square to Neil from EKK who was looking sharp. Ryan is gradually gaining experience and at his level he can not expect to be winning these groups just yet!

At around 3 - 4pm coach Clare went to the head table to see as a matter of interest if the SKA were placed in the top 10 of the overall points placing. To her surprise the SKA were placed 1st overall but with only 3 competitors left it was certain the club in 2nd place and possibly those in 3rd and 4th would over take. With trophies for the top 3 clubs, the coaches suddenly had their eyes set on winning one!

LOUISE HICKS, BETHANY SCOULDING and CHLOE PHARO were the last hopes for the SKA to win more medals. In the individuals, Louise and Bethany, who have only just become blue belts, did well and both lost in close first rounds. CHLOE PHARO is becoming more confident with kumite and it showed on the mats. She just missed out on the final but won 3 rounds to take bronze. When they got together in the girls 10-12yrs team fighting they did extremely well and won 2 rounds to get to the final where they won silver, loosing to a team of black belts. With no more competitors left the coaches went to check their progress on the points table. They were told they were still in the top 3 and had to wait anxiously until the end whilst the competition continued without them!

Well done to Jack and Sean Perry who were the only other competitors from Hanko-Ryu. Sean picked up a bronze in a large kata section and Jack put on a good performance in his kata.

The end finally arrived at 8pm and with the whole squad still there it was announced that the SKA had placed 2nd overall and they were presented with a trophy for their achievement. With everybody used to making early exits from competitions, it was unusual to stay this late but it was for a good cause! Some people entered as associations so next year it would be good for the whole Hanko-Ryu squad to join forces and see if we can stay in the top 3!

In first place were deserving winners Ken Yu Kai who won by a 12 point margin. SKA placed 2nd, followed very closely by Ishinryu in 3rd place, who only had 2 fewer points. To put it mildly, the coaches, parents and competitors were ecstatic with the result! Coach Clare said, “this was totally a group effort. The squad is coached by myself, Simon and Lisa and there is no way I could have achieved any of this on my own. The SKA was only created 7 months ago with the help of many people and it has been nothing but team work, fun and success. The brilliant thing when we go to competitions is that different competitors bring home the medals every time. There is not one squad member who has not won gold this year but there is also not one who hasn’t lost in the first round. They all know they have a lot of work to do and a lot of experience to gain but for now let’s enjoy the success!

Oh one more thing… and no it’s not to thank the photographers; but that should be done! Thanks photographers! One more thing has to be said!....

.....OUSSHHHHAAAAAAAAA!!!!”

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