February 2015 Club Grading
Well done to all the Karate students and Little Ninjas who graded today at the club. It’s always great to see students working hard, progressing through the grades and leaving with a huge smile on their faces.
5 Little Ninjas graded & 11 Karate students, as follows:
NINJAS – White & Red belt: Noah Parkes, Ethan Hold, Ben Sotheran, Jake Chapman
NINJAS – White & Yellow belt: Evan Carney
Red & White belt: Samara Cartright, Rachel Starrs
9th Kyu – Red belt: Brenden Garrens, Finlay Lindridge, Anastasia Rogan
Yellow & White belt: Roman Scott, David Robson
8th Kyu – Yellow belt: Bailey Carter
Orange and White belt: Harry Wilson
7th Kyu – Orange belt: Adam Spires
6th Kyu – Green belt: Will Davidson
The next scheduled club grading is in May but we have a large number of new starters so we are looking at grading some beginners who weren’t quite ready for this one, to grade on an evening whilst the regular classes are on. It will just take a bit of time to pick a date as we have to work around Sensei Michael’s work commitments to ensure we have enough instructors.
Hartlepool Wadokai Winter Championships
Sunday 1st February 2015
Last weekend the club held a small club competition to give our competitors a run out with the latest version of the WKF rules (Version 9, January 2015). This was primarily done for our older, more experienced competitors, and our club officials ahead of our March open championships and the English Karate Federation National Championships in April but the younger students also got some valuable experience on the day too, with many gaining medals for their efforts.
It was only a small competition as we only ran individual Kata, individual Kumite & Kick Master categories which meant that we were done within a few hours. We were also able to explain the rules and decisions as we went so that the parents & students could follow the day better.
I would like to thank all of the club judges, and table officials who gave up their afternoon to volunteer at the competition. I would also like to personally thank the students who were brave enough to enter the competition and support the club. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is stand up on the mat and give it a go, if students never rise to the challenge then they may never know what they’re capable of in karate. I personally think that competition gives us a fantastic opportunity to test ourselves and our skills under pressure, in a controlled setting, and those that never compete are missing out on a massive opportunity to learn and improve.
Click HERE to download the results.
The next club-run competition is the Hartlepool Wadokai Open Championships, Sunday 22nd March at Belle Cue Sports Centre, Kendal road, Hartlepool, TS25 1QU.
To prepare for this competition, the club is running a 6 week competition Karate course starting this coming Monday 6-7.30pm, see the club for full details and booking (club members only, 10yrs+). This course will cover Kata and Kumite training skills needed to perform well in a competition environment. There are limited spaces so make sure you book up as soon as you can.
England call up for World Cup
2015 is Wado World Cup year, this championship only comes around every 5 years and is held in Japan.
The 2010 event saw both Sensei Amy & Sensei Carl compete as part of the Wadokai England squad. Sensei Amy brought back two very well deserved BRONZE medals for her efforts, and thus helped England place a respectable 4th (if I remember correctly) in the medal tally. (Carl ended up pulling out of both Kata & Kumite events through injury).
This time around we have one of our students competing with the Wadokai England squad, Lewis Muldown was pre-selected for the WWC Squad just before Christmas and it looks like he will be joining one of the biggest Wadokai England team’s to visit Japan in recent history.
The Wado World Cup will once again take place in Nagoya city on 14th & 15th August and some athletes choosing to stay on for the JKF-Wadokai National Championships two weeks later in Tokyo. This is a huge competition with over 2000 athletes competing over two days.
Realistically, the cost per athlete for this event will be circa £2000 factoring in flights, hotels in two different cities, JR pass (cheapest & quickest option for travelling between the two cities) and sustenance whilst there. For the vast majority of athletes this will be entirely self funded, this doesn’t even consider the preparatory training costs, equipment & costs of chaperones! – This is a considerable amount when you think that the athletes are representing their country!
Sport England doesn’t really sponsor Karate athletes and even if they did, this is a single style (Wado) event so it would be unlikely to qualify for funding anyway. The NGB only funds a very small number of elite athletes and again, not for single style events.
The club will be doing what it can to sponsor Lewis and we would like to ask local businesses and friends to help if they can. The club is a registered Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) so any donations are entirely tax deductable and we can also claim gift aid (meaning that your contribution is further increased by the tax man).
Please contact the club for more information (Tel: 07984 798634, Email: carl@hartlepoolwadokai.com).
Update:
This article was amended on 3rd Feb 2015 at 16:30. The original article stated that the JKF-Wadokai Nationals would take place the week after the WWC, this has been changed to state that the event will take place two weeks later. CJ
Hartlepoolwadokai's Blog 