English Regional Championships 2010
2010-03-24
The SKA Karate Team made a massive contribution to Hanko-Ryu’s 3 golds, 4 silvers and 3 bronzes at the English Regional Championships on 20th – 21st March 2010 in Stourbridge. All of Hanko-Ryu’s 11 competitors competed in the Southern Region section of the competition and 8 of these competitors were from the SKA, with the remaining 3 from Sensei Nariman’s Hanko-Ryu Harlow club. The competition was run over two days which meant it was a long and exhausting trip for the SKA youngsters who all stayed for the two days. It was also mentally frustrating as the competition was very quiet and spread out and there was lots of hanging around. Once they did get to compete the groups were generally undersubscribed which was quite disappointing and made it difficult to find enough motivation! Many groups only had one or two competitors and numerous athletes were just awarded a gold for being the only competitor in the group (which was also a shame to see). This is not to take anything away from the medal winners as this competition did seem to only attract top competitors and the standard was very high.
The SKA entered only two individual kata events and got quite the opposite results from each of them! Good news or bad news first? Bad news first.... In the girls 10-13yrs kata the SKA had 5 competitors who have always been successful and usual manage at least one or two medals between them! However, it was just not meant to be as one by one they bowed out in the first or second round. Most of the decisions were split and the girls were extremely unlucky but it was a wake up call for them to start training harder! Hopefully this was a one off so watch this space! Now for the good news! The 9yrs and under trio of Michael Holmes, 9, Toni Shering, 8 and Lewis Holmes, 7, have been doing consistently well in kata and this competition was no exception. It was 5th kyu Lewis’ first major competition, however he held his nerves together and beat some tough opposition. He only lost to older brother Michael to take bronze. Toni and Michael were both on form and Toni in particular showed a lot of improvement. They met in the final making it a Hanko-Ryu 1-2-3 finish! It was Michael who took the gold to become Southern Region Champion and Toni took the silver. She was however the highest placed girl in the South!
The SKA also entered two team kata events. These were a particularly quiet event across the board. In the 9yrs and under team kata, Michael, Toni and Lewis, who were the top three in individuals, also won gold in team kata. Ellie, Sian and Chloe performed well in their group of 10-13yrs team kata to take the silver.
The kumite took place over two days with Toni and Michael competing on day one and Ellie, Chloe and Bethany on day two. Katie Pharo was due to compete but did make her weight category so was disqualified. (It turned out she would have been the only competitor anyway!).
In the 9yrs and under, neither Toni or Michael were firing and both are capable of a lot more. Toni did claim a silver for her efforts but Michael lost in the first round. They both lost 1-0 by giving a point away for contact which is very frustrating!
Bethany Scoulding fought her best yet and has shown so much progression this year. She had yet another unlucky draw and always seems to be drawn against the strongest competitor in the first round. She only lost by 1 point and should be very proud of this.
Ellie Barton and Chloe Pharo both gave away 10 kilos and about a foot in height to the winner of their group! They both fought well and gave 110% effort and bravery. Ellie took the bronze and Chloe took silver.
The total tally for the SKA was 2 golds, 4 silvers and 2 bronze medals. Well done to all of the competitors and well done to Reece Taylor for his gold in kata and Nuri Shaikh for her bronze win in kata. It was not the best weekend of competing in more ways than one but a lot of positives will come from it.
Oosshhaaaa!!!
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