Tyne & Wear Invitational Karate Championships @ NISSAN
Photos are available from here (taken by John for Hartlepool Wadokai)
Professional event Photographs are also available here (taken by Michael’s photography)
Tyne & Wear Invitational @ Nissan – PRE-INFORMATION
You have special arrangements to pass beyond the Entrance Gates Inner compound and park in the Designated VIP & Officials Parking area. Please look for the large sign.
Tyne & Wear Invitational @ NISSAN
Finally reminder that today is the closing date for all entries.
Please submit your entries today, or you may end up missing out.
Tyne & Wear Invitational @ NISSAN
Just 3 weeks until we host the Tyne & Wear Invitational Karate Championships at NISSAN. Entries (from invited clubs) need to be in no later that Monday 21st November – entries will also be strictly capped so we urge you to submit them early to avoid disappointment.
We would like to thank our sponsors:
Hartlepool Four compete in Europe
Today four members of Hartlepool Wadokai Karate Club start a road trip with a difference. They are meeting some team mates in Leicester, then jumping on one of a number of coaches that will be taking the entire squad to compete in the Federation European Wadokai Karate Championships in Liege, Belgium.
The Hartlepool Four are competing as part of the Wadokai England Team.
Joe Flounders (12) is competing in Kumite (fighting), Joe Hind (14) Kata, Harvey Kerridge (14) Kumite and Kata and Lewis Muldown (18) Kumite and Kata.
All four lads have worked their socks off this year to keep their England places, training at our Hartlepool Wadokai club a minimum of four nights a week, and most weekends. Including monthly England squad training in Leicester/Birmingham and entering regular competitions. They have been joined in this gruelling regime by fellow squad mates Mollie Cooper, Daniel Spires (who himself medalled in Portugal in July) and Paul White who aren’t competing in Belgium this year.
They travel with the full support of their families, their team mates at the club and the town behind them. Go and smash it guys!
About Wadokai England
Wadokai England is an organisation made up of hundreds of independent clubs/associations across the country. They all come together each month to train with some of the best Wadokai coaches in the country, headed by Sakagami Sensei, 8th Dan. A squad is selected each year to compete at the European championships and to periodically enter the Wado World Championships.
Wadokai England members are very active in Sport Karate, and the squad has a proven track record of giving athletes international competitive experience, before aiming for a spot on the English Karate Federation (all styles) national team. Some of the biggest domestic competitions are also ran by Wadokai England members. The organisation will also be hosting the next Wado World Championships in 2018.
About the club
Hartlepool Wadokai is a family run, non-profit Karate Club. We have Karate classes for 5 years+ and Little Ninjas classes for 3-7 years. Beginners are always welcome at the club.
The club also hosts the North East Open Karate Championships 2x per year & the Tyne & Wear Invitational Karate Championships at NISSAN.
Tyne & Wear Invitational at Nissan – CATEGORY UPDATE
Tyne & Wear Invitational at Nissan – CATEGORY UPDATE
North East Open/Tyne & Wear Invitational @ Nissan – Sponsorship opportunities
In March we ran the North East Open Karate Championships in Darlington. This was one of the largest Karate events ever held in the North East with over 1000 people attending, and teams entering from all over England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, many of these being children. These high profile events will get bigger and better every year.
We are seeking sponsors and therefore partners to be part of these prestigious Karate events including the North East Open and the Tyne & Wear championships at Nissan. This is a fantastic opportunity for your business to support the local community and gain excellent exposure of your brand. With Karate earmarked as an Olympic sport from 2020 this is an exciting time to get involved as a sponsor. We also have additional prestigious events coming up, including International championships which you could become involved in.
We are offering a number of…
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Full Karate / Little Ninjas / WadoFit Timetable
Thinking about starting?
Beginners are welcome to come along at any time.
- Karate – Beginners can simply turn up without booking to start a 6 week Beginners course. These are £20 (6x 60min sessions) or £30 (6x 90min sessions). After the initial course, payment is done monthly via standing order.
- Little Ninjas – Beginners need to be booked in advance by speaking to Amy on 07926 045935. These sessions are payable 4 weekly.
- WadoFit – Beginners can simply turn up without booking, on a Pay as You Go basis. WadoFit is just £3.50 per session.
Great North Run – this weekend
One of our parents, David is doing the Great North Run this weekend. He’s decided to raise funds for our club whilst he does it, which is fantastic!
The club is currently raising funds through a variety of ways to replace the tired out Kick Masters (these are free standing kick/punch bags that literally, take a beating), and also replace the club-use gloves etc…
We’re about 1/3 of the way to our target so far after a Bag Pack event at Hartlepool Tesco, a raffle organised by the local branch of the Rotary Club and a very generous donation from one of the club families (who I won’t embarrass by mentioning their name here). We’ve also got a Sponsored Kickathon on 1st October at the club too – forms are available now.
If you would like to sponsor David & the club, you can do so by visiting his page here. There is also a paper sponsor form at the Dojo if you’d prefer to use that.
Good Luck David, and thank you very much for thinking of us…
Moscow State Circus = Awesome show!
Today we had the pleasure of visiting and supporting one of the clubs (& The North East Open’s) main sponsors, the Moscow State Circus. We have a very busy Karate schedule with most weekends taken up with Karate – just this weekend we had an open day and a birthday party at Dojo HQ and a squad competing in Leicester. Carl was also supposed to be in London for another event (which he skipped so he could catch this). So it was great that we could catch the show before it left the North East.
Sensei’s Lynne, Michael, Carl & Amy, along with Perrin (3 years) and Joe (1 year) arrived at Raby Castle with very little idea of what to expect. Our man who knows how to get things (we call him Red) introduced us to Anthony Anderson, who is one of the directors and wh is also from Hartlepool – it was great to finally meet face to face, if just for a quick chat before the show.
My cheeks were actually aching by the end from the laughing and smiling (and the occasional grimace). We’ve seen a lot of shows from the local theatre, to the West End to full blown Tokyo Disney and this matched any of the best for acrobatics and production value. We didn’t get many photos because we were too busy enjoying the show but we did get a couple of videos.
Despite the kids’ ages, they were absolutely glued to their seats. Joe didn’t blink when the women were in the giant bubbles. This video says it all I think…
I highly recommend this show, especially for kids. It’s fantastic!!! The show is heading South now, taking in Derby, Leicester and Worcester, where the club has many friends so visit the show if you can, you won’t be disappointed!!! #Awesome
http://www.moscowstatecircus.com
Impressive medal haul….
A squad of 6 Hartlepool Wadokai students entered the Wadokai England National Championship in Leicester today. The six students made up of Lewis Muldown, Paul White, Mollie Cooper, Daniel Spires, Joe Hind and Harvey Kerridge, had a successful day.
The boys 13-15 years category ended up with an all Hartlepool final seeing Joe win gold and Harvey Silver. Paul won a gold medal in the 16-17 years, and Lewis got a silver in his first 18 years and above category after coming of age only the day before.
Harvey, Joe and Daniel won the under 16 years team category. Excellent timing on the day!
For pairs, Harvey and Joe won another Gold in the under 16 years. Mollie and Daniel came out with a well deserved bronze in the same category. These two have shown excellent dedication preparing for this.
Lewis and Paul came away with the Gold medal in the over 16 years pairs kata. Great timing boys!
Fighting took place on the afternoon. Mollie was first up. Mollie had the biggest categories of the day, but still did well in her first time at this competition. She got through a round in kata, and kept her cool in her fight. A great experience.
Harvey came away with a silver in his individual fight and Joe got bronze in the 14-15 years under 60kg. Paul and Lewis both had excellent fights coming away with Silver medals each in their age categories.
A successful day for team Hartlepool Wadokai, with lots to work on and a haul of medals to be proud of. High five!
Hartlepool Wadokai Open Day
Come along to our Karate club on Saturday 3rd September from 10.30am-12.30pm to see what we offer.
Karate is IN the Olympics!
News just in, Karate has finally been accepted into the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
This is great news for our fantastic sport, and allows our athletes to compete on the worlds most prestigious arena.
Initially, there will only be a small number of athletes able to compete but this opens the door to further expansion (& full kumite weight divisions?) in the future.
Hopefully, this will be the catalyst we need to overcome a lot of the political infighting that too often gets in the way. I also personally would like to see WKF statute 21.9 being removed completely as I see it (in England at least) as an unnecessary barrier for athletes.
I would like to thank everyone who has worked on getting Karate into the Olympics. Some Karate-ka have spent decades on this and their dedication has finally paid off. Thank you so much.
Summer Holidays timetable
Please note that the Karate timetable for the school summer holidays is now as follows:
These class times are valid until 31st August. The normal timetable will resume from 1st September.
Bank Holiday Monday 29th August – the full club will be closed on this day.
Little Ninjas – All classes are on as normal throughout the holidays except Monday 1st & Monday 29th August when the classes will not be running.
WadoFit, Competition Classes, High Performance Classes – All of these sessions re-start from 1st September at the usual times.
Portugal Success for Hartlepool Trio
As we’ve previously reported on this blog, last weekend we had three lads from the club representing Wadokai England in Portugal. The event was a combined elite training camp with some of the best Wadokai coaches in Europe, and a special Sakagami International Championships. The event was made that bit more special because it was a memorial event for Francisco Saalfeld, who was very close to the Portuguese squad.
Rachel and Harvey have put together a short diary of the weekend:
We arrived in the early hours of Friday morning at Lisbon airport to be met by our host Frederico Silva, head of the Portuguese team. Quite a privilege to be met by the top man! Frederico took us to our apartments for a quick sleep before an early start.
Training and the competition took part in the Amadora-Brandoa Sport Center. The group was split into 3, and then rotated between various groups. Sensei Sakagami focused on traditional Wado Kata and Kihon Kumite, Sensei Derek Desmond on Kumite strategy and tactics, and Sensei Frederico Silva on high performance Kumite.
Each meal time, we were taken to a restaurant for a buffet with some delicious traditional Portuguese food. Our hosts were fantastic recommending food and drink to try. We had some delicious meals while we were there, and I can personally recommend the green wine. The desserts were divine! Sergio especially was good at ensuring we all tried new dishes, and translated full menus to us.
After lunch on Friday we were treat to a sightseeing tour. We looked around a beautiful monastery in the city, and saw some amazing architecture, old and new. We were taken to what could be described as the Betty’s of Lisbon. On the outside it appeared to be a small café, but inside was room after room after room of tables and chairs, all full. Their speciality, was a delicious custard tart dessert with cinnamon on the top, fresh from the oven. We may have eaten one or two during the course of the trip, The boys might be nearer double figures….
The boys had more excellent training in the early evening, before dinner.
Saturday morning the boys attended the course again, with the same rotation basis. After lunch we were taken to Sintra, and the Palace of Pena. We took a hairy bus ride up a very steep and windy hill to the Palace. Watching bikes and various vehicles go up was like something off wacky races. The Palace was well worth a visit. Not only was the building itself spectacular, the views from the top were breath taking. There was a walled walk fairly near the top, not for the light hearted. I think David still bears the nail marks in his arm from Graham!
Sunday was competition day. The boys did fantastic. Joe just missed out on medals for the individual Kata, Harvey won gold, and Daniel Silver. An all Hartlepool Wadokai Final. The team Kumite was good, with Harvey, Joe and Daniel along with Michael Rankine winning a silver medal. All did well, but must mention Daniel who had a very good fight…for someone who doesn’t fight!
The competition was the Sakagami Cup, in memory of Francisco Saalfeld. It was quite an emotional event with Francisco’s family in attendance and some meaningful speeches. We felt honoured to have been involved in such an event. It was clear how much it meant to our hosts, so it truly felt like a privilege to be there. It might not have been the biggest competition the boys have entered, but it was the most meaningful.
In the evening we were taken to a local tavern with our hosts and some of their family members. What a night!!!! It was one of the best nights we all had with our hosts, and locals watching Portugal win the football. The atmosphere was unreal. As we left the tavern, the streets of Lisbon were full with everyone celebrating. The noise from car horns was deafening. We joined in the celebrations as Frederico sounded the minibus horn all the way back.
Monday we took a trip to the beach before lunch in a lovely place on the marina. We watched the Portuguese football team fly over us with a plane either side. The perfect end to the perfect weekend had to be driving back to the airport we saw the Portuguese football team on the open topped buses followed by a ridiculous number of motorbikes and cars with flags.
Overall we couldn’t have had a better time. The boys have experienced some very high quality training, along with priceless memories that will last a lifetime. We cannot thank our hosts enough for the time and effort they made to make us feel welcome and ensure we had a lovely time. We saw a beautiful city but met some amazing people. Frederico, an amazing coach who has improved the Portuguese team so much but also has a heart of gold, Sergio, Nuno, and Faustino along with the Portuguese team and their families. All who made sure our time in their beautiful city was fantastic.
Sakagami International, Portugal
Left to right: Harvey Kerridge, Daniel Spires, Joe Hind
This weekend we have three of our athletes representing their club and country in Portugal. They are taking part in a weekend long seminar with some of the top Wadokai Sensei in Europe, led by Sakagami Sensei himself. They will also be competing with some of their Wadokai England team mates in the Sakagami International Cup on Sunday too.
All three are seasoned competitors, each of whom have represented their country at European level so they are not strangers to high level competition. Though this weekend will give all three guys some highly valuable international-level mat-time and help them further develop their Karate competition skills.
We’ll keep you informed of how they get on over there, Good Luck guys. Smash it!
1st Annual Awards
On Saturday 2nd July, the club held its first ever Annual Awards ceremony. The Dojo was transformed by a small team of volunteers, with all the mats being taken away, and the tables and chairs (and licenced bar) were set up instead. All the tables were dressed, and we had a balloon guy come along to help decorate them, the disco was set up, and we were ready to go…
The club invested £1400 into making sure the evening was a fantastic success and we are happy to say that it was exactly that. The atmosphere all night was really relaxed and friendly, and people were up and dancing within minutes of arriving thanks to the great music.
We had a number of ‘special’ achievement awards to present before we started with the main ceremony. These ranged from ‘Worst Haircut’ to ‘Services to One Life’ (One Life is a medical centre in town). These were great ice breakers and were all taken in good fun.
We then moved onto the very special awards, as follows:
- Outstanding contribution to the club – Leyton Davis
- Outstanding Senior – Neil Codner
- Outstanding Junior – Joe Flounders
- Student of the Year – Pennie Carter
- This award also comes with a scholarship to the club for a year
- Kerridge Award – Mollie Cooper
- This is in memory of Steve Kerridge (Harvey’s step dad, and our Vice Chairman Rachel’s husband) who we sadly lost a few years ago. Steve was a great, hardworking guy who would help absolutely anyone. He was the first person to help renovate the Dojo HQ, the very next day that we collected the keys! In short, this is the ‘nice guy’ award. It has nothing to do with Karate ability, it’s about the character of the person and this, to us, is the most important award we give out.
On behalf of the club, I would like to personally thank everyone who helped set-up for the night, and rebuild the Dojo afterwards. It’s always the same few who come along to help but it is massively appreciated. A special thanks must go to Wendy and Mollie who put a lot of work into the planning, even before the date was set.
As with all of our events, they are only successful because of the team of people who help arrange everything. So, thank you to every one of you…
Sensei Lynne, her sister Debi and niece Chloe prepped the fantastic food and George & Nick Gowland put on another fantastic disco for us. Our Chairman, Julia Gowland and her oldest son Lee staffed the bar all night so that the instructors could just relax and enjoy the evening. Lee also provided some sponsorship from his company, McEwen’s for the evening. I would also like to thank our anonymous sponsor for providing the fantastic awards for the evening, and asking for nothing in return.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who came along on the night. People were asking for many more similar events in the future so it’s fair to say that everyone had a great time.
The next big night at the club will be the Halloween Party in October (Theme will be Harry Potter/Hogwarts). Full details and tickets will be available from the club after the summer holiday.
(We have many more pics to upload, but the storage on this blog is full so we’re removing some older content so we can fit them all on)
Hartlepool Wadokai Spring Club-Only Champs
On Sunday 8th May 2016, the club held its Spring Club-Only championships. This was the second of a series of four events this year. These events are designed so that even a complete beginner to Karate competitions can comfortably enter, and test themselves.
As instructors, it’s always a pleasure and a privilege to see our students taking a leap and entering competitions for the first time. It’s almost become a cliché when you say ‘it’s the taking part that’s important’, and obviously everyone can’t win a medal or trophy, so it’s important that we learn to win and lose with grace.
More importantly though, no matter whether we won the event or lost in round 1, our students are encouraged to reflect on their performances to see where they can improve. It is only through this #ContinuousImprovement that we learn to become champions on the mat, and in life. If we give up at the first hurdle we’ll never get anywhere…
The next event, the Summer Club-Only championships is taking place on Sunday 24th July. The sign up sheet will be available at the club from next week.
Some action shots of the Spring comp… (thanks to Lucy & Pennie’s dad)
North East Open/Tyne & Wear Invitational @ Nissan – Sponsorship opportunities
In March we ran the North East Open Karate Championships in Darlington. This was one of the largest Karate events ever held in the North East with over 1000 people attending, and teams entering from all over England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, many of these being children. These high profile events will get bigger and better every year.
We are seeking sponsors and therefore partners to be part of these prestigious Karate events including the North East Open and the Tyne & Wear championships at Nissan. This is a fantastic opportunity for your business to support the local community and gain excellent exposure of your brand. With Karate earmarked as an Olympic sport from 2020 this is an exciting time to get involved as a sponsor. We also have additional prestigious events coming up, including International championships which you could become involved in.
We are offering a number of different sponsorship opportunities, depending on your budget, which start from as little as £50 per event.
‘Monsoon’ hoarding examples (below), and planned layout (above)
Hartlepool Wadokai is a registered Community Amateur Sports Club meaning that any donations are also tax deductible. Any cheques should be made payable to ‘Hartlepool Wadokai’, BACS info can be provided upon request.
If you would like to discuss these options in further detail, or would like any more information then please contact me directly on 07984 798634, or via email carl@hartlepoolwadokai.com.
We are very passionate about making Karate a fantastic spectator sport, and running the best national and international events in the world, with the best referees and the best athletes. We look forward to working with you, The K is on the way!
Yours sincerely,
Carl Jorgeson
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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Advertising hoarding
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Category Sponsorship
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Championship Sponsorship (Non-Exclusive)
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Championship Sponsorship (Exclusive)
Karate Academy Associates Summer Camp 2016
We’re very happy to be hosting the KAA Summer Camp this year at our Dojo HQ. The course will be a fantastic experience for our competitors (or those who would like to start competing), led by one of the EKF coaches and some top competitors… definitely not to be missed folks…
Aiwakai Way to Excellence
Our Dojo HQ was the base for the Aiwakai Way to Excellence course led today (14th May 2016) by Sakagami Sensei 8th Dan JKF-Wadokai and Sensei Peter May.
For those who don’t know, the Way to Excellence courses are an important part of the Aiwakai Dan Grade (black belt) assessment so we were pleased to be able to host one of these at our own dojo and stop our guys from having to travel down to the midlands.
Thank you to both Sensei for making the 400 mile round trip to Sunny Hartlepool, and thank you to everyone who came along to support the course. I believe that Amy has been asked to write a report for the upcoming Aiwakai newsletter so we’ll let her write about the course itself.
North East Open SUMMER Karate Championships
As with our Spring championship, entries will be strictly limited to ensure we finish at a reasonable time. Please submit your entries early to avoid disappointment.
The entry form is now available:
North East Open Championships 21.08.2016 – PDF VERSION
North East Open Championships 21.08.2016 – MS WORD VERSION
We are now inviting sponsors for this prestigious event, please contact Carl on 07984 798634 or via email: northeastopen@yahoo.co.uk.
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