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English Karate Federation - The WKF appointed National Governing Body for English Karate Associations practicing Karate in England
Welcome to Uechi Ryu Karate club and our updated blog by Sensei Dean Lowe. We are a family friendly club and we teach traditional and competition Karate to beginners and grades of all ages and ability. As a coach I have had the pleasure and privilege to coach some of the country’s top fighters, many of whom have won medals at British and English championships and represented England at international level. We have four students currently in the England squad.
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38th EUROPEAN JUNIOR & CADET KARATE CHAMPIONSHIP
3rd Under 21 European Karate Federation CUP
Day 1 - Monday 7th Feb 2011 - Travel to Serbia
After a few minor delays due to the traffic for our Northern squad members the squad all checked in and went through to start their journey to Serbia. There was a slight delay but before long we were all aboard.
The squad were seated together on the plane and this made things easier for the new squad members to mix in. In no time at all we were soon landing in Belgrade, Serbia, thankfully not quite as cold as we were expecting and no sign of snow. Once off the plane, the squad then boarded the coach to complete the journey to Novi Sad.
Once at the hotel the athletes were given their room keys and National Coach Wayne Otto OBE briefed the squad on protocols and the next few days training pattern. Rhe squad then unpacked and headed down to dinner which was surprisingly good!
There arw a few other national teams staying at the hotel, Georgia, Italy, Finland and Turkey, so should be a good atmosphere at the hotel.
The squad will be resting in the morning then training around lunch time at a nearby venue. Hopefully we will be able to take some photos of them in action.
Day 2 - Tuesday 8th Feb 2011 - Training
The squad had a quiet morning and after breakfast had a couple of hours to relax before the coach came to take the squad to a gym at the Dura hotel.
The squad trained for approximately 2 hours with the Kata squad on one mat coached by Jonathan Mottram and the fighters on the other mat being coached by Wayne and Natalie.
After training had completed the squad travelled back to their hotel where the Kata squad are having another training session later in the afternoon.
Just been informed that Russia, Ireland, Estonia and Portugal are also staying in the hotel!!
After some light training at the hotel in the afternoon the squad met for dinner at 7:30pm where at the end of the meal the whole squad sang 'Happy Birthday' to Lauren Crawford. Lauren had turned 16 years old today and she was presented with a candle lit cake and card from the squad. Suffice to say Lauren was very embarrassed. :-)
Day 3 - Wednesday 9th Feb 2011 - Training Day
The squad had an early breakfast as a training session had been arranged at the SPENS sports stadium for 10am. The squad had the whole 3 areas to themselves today to work on techniques. The session, although a short one, had a more relaxed atmosphere about it.
The squad are really bonding together and are proving to be a great bunch of athletes to work with. There is a good buzz amongst the squad and many are now looking forward to the first day of competition.
Some of the the other teams have started to arrive with the Irish squad first and followed by a massive team from Turkey who turned up in the afternoon.
Tomorrow is registration day. Only some of the athletes will be training tomorrow while others will be mentally preparing themselves.
Less than 48 hours now until England take to the mats, let's hope the first day brings the first bunch of medals.
In Serbia , fighting starts tomorrow , can't wait - Come On England
Day 4 - Thursday 10th Feb 2011 - Final Training
This was the final day of training before the competition gets underway tomorrow. The squad once again had a light hearted yet focused session in a relaxed atmosphere.
There were many more teams practicing at the SPENS sports stadium today all preparing for that final push.
The registration of the athletes took place today along withthe coaches briefing. The coaches were instructed to bring all Karate Gi's belonging to the competitors with them as their participation country (ENG in case there was any doubt) was being sowed onto the back. Not entirely sure this was ok with many of the squad members, especially the Kata competitors who had paid dearly for their specialised Karate Gis.
At the coaches briefing the customary draws take place. Please go to the WKF site where these draws are available to view.
This is it, the lull before the storm. Tomorrow the Cadets compete. Up first will be Aimee & Chris with Emma competing in the U21 Female Kata along side her Kata teammates.
Good luck squad, it's all down to you now.
Day 5 - Friday 11th Feb 2011 - Cadets Competition Day
Aimee Sell makes the final of the Female Cadet Kata event, Chris Karwacinski bows out in the opening round of the Male Cadet Kata event and Emma Lucraft loses out in repechage.
Jacob Keirnon suffered a 1st round exit as he was disqualified after picking up successive warnings for contact. Jacob was leading the fight 6-3 but the slightest of touches put Jacob out after a final warning and disqualification leaving his Cypriot opponent through.
Jack Lowe bowed out in the 3rd round narrowly losing 1-0 to Spain. Jack had come through two earlier rounds winning 4-1 against Croatia and 3-0 against Israel but he just couldn't get passed the Spaniard's defence.
Jack made repechage and faced Luxemburg for a place in the repechage final, unfortunately Jack lost out 2-0 just missing out. Unlucky.
Robert Camp, well unlucky to bow out in the 2nd round after receiving a 1st round bye. A weak Ura-Mawashigeri kick from the Ukrainian got a twitch from a judge but when the ref halted the fight the flag was raised and 3 points went to the Ukrainian. Robert fought back but could score against his opponent.
Charlotte Wastell lost out 3-0 to Bosnia in her opening round. Her Bosnian opponent scored a chudan mwashigeri kick to open up a 2 point lead within a few seconds. Charlotte chased the fight but near the end she was penalised and gave away another point to lose 3-0.
Charlotte made repechage as her opponent made the final. Her fight was a cagey fight with neither girl scoring in normal time. After 1 minute of extra time, Charlotte's Danish opponent received a 3 flags to 1 vote on the match decision to go through.
Lauren Tutty faced a Ukrainian opponent in her 1st round fight and unfortunately didn't progress any further. Lauren was award a point as her opponent gave away a penalty point but a gyak punch and a jodan kick with 5 seconds on the clock left saw her narrowly loose out 4-1 after looking like it was going to be a draw.
Jasmine Pomeroy was unlucky losing out in the 3rd round. She had won her 1st round 1-0 against a Czech opponent winning after her opponent conceded a warning. In her 2nd round she won 3-1 scoring 2 gyak punches and collecting penalty point and only dropping one point to her Hungarian opponent. The 3rd round saw Jasmine suffer two 3 point jodan kicks in quick succession to bow out losing 6-0. Unfortunately her opponent lost the next round meaning there would be no repechage for her.
Jerome Brown make final. Jerome came through 4 rounds beating Italy 2-1 in the 1st round, Czech Republic 4-0 in the 2nd round scoring with a lovely take-down mid way though, Greece 3-0 in round 3 after going into extra time with the scores tied at 0-0 and finally beating Bosnia in the 4th round semi-final with a 3-0 score. Jerome was fighting excellently all the way through and could have scored many more points but did enough to make the show case final.
Jamaal Otto also makes the final. Jamaal had a 1st round bye then beat Denmark in round 2 winning 3-0. The 3rd round against Belarus went into extra time with the scores tied at 0-0. Jamaal scored the only point in extra time which put him through tot he semi-final. The 4th round pitted Jamaal against France. Both scored with a 3 point jodan kick early on but it was Jamaal who held his nerve and saw out at 5-4 win to seal his spot in the final.
Day 6 - Saturday 12th Feb 2011 - Juniors Competition Day
The competition for day 2 has started in earnest commencing with the Kata events. However, no medals today for the Kata squad.
Steve Karwacinski competed in the Male Junior events and faced Poland i the 1st round. Both competitors performed Jion Kata and Steve won the round 4 flags to 1. The 2nd round pitted Steve against a Czech opponent who performed Seienchin against Steve's Kanku-Dai. Unfortunately the Czech won the round 5-0.
Alex Gardner competed in the Male U21 Kata event and also facing a Czech opponent lost the round. Alex performed Kanku-Dai whilst his opponent performed Jion and it was the Jion Kata that secured a 5-0 win. However, the Czech made the final leaving Alex in repechage and a chance for a bronze medal.
Alex performed Unsu Kata in the repechage semi-final round against his Greek opponent's Chatanyara Kushanku. Alex won 4-1. The repechage final was Alex's chance for bronze but was against a strong Turkish opponent. Both competitors performed Kanku-Sho but Alex lost out for bronze 4 flags to 1.
Nurjehan Shaikh competed in the Female Junior Kata event and faced a Swedish opponent in her opening round. Nurjehan performed Seienchin but the Swede's Sepai Kata was too good and went through with a 5-0 win. Unfortunately she lost the very next round meaning Nurjehan was out of repechage too.
The fighters are underway now and the boys are out first.
Ryan Jay competed in the U61kg event and as previous Cadet European Champion Ryan looked a pre-tournament contender. Ryan looked good in his 1st round fight beating his Bulgarian opponent 6-1 with ease. The next round saw Ryan against a Romanian opponent. With no score at full time or after extra time the decision went to the judges vote. 2-2 but referee went for Romania and carried the decision.
Alfie Ambrose, European Junior U68kg Bronze Medal. Great achievement for Alfie taking bronze. Alfie drew 0-0 with his Swiss opponent in both normal and extra time but the vote decision went 3-1 his way. After that shaky start Alfie opened up more and beat his 2nd round German opponent 3-0. The 3rd round saw Alfie face Armenia and Alfie came through that with a 2-0 win. The 4th round pool final pitted Alfie against France and Alfie came unstuck here as the French opponent out-pointed Alfie winning 5-0. This left Alfie in the repechage final and he faced Portugal for the bronze medal fight-off. Early on in the fight the Portuguese fighter landed a hefty blow to Alfie's face. Alfie just got up from the floor within 10 seconds. A 2 point contact penalty was awarded to Alfie. Alfie then fought on well but was caught near the end to give a piont away but he hung on to win the fight 2-1 and claim European Bronze. Well done in a battling performance.
Lauren Crawford was a 1st round casualty in the Female U48kg event. Lauren faced a Luxemburg opponent and went 6-0 down before gaining a point near the end but eventually lost out 6-1.
Heidi Jay was another 1st round victim losing out to Slovakia in the U53kg event. The fight went into extra time with the scores tied 2-2. Extra time produced no score and the decision went to the judges vote. Unfortunately for Heidi it was 3-1 against her.
Hannah Baker followed in Heidi's footsteps as she also bowed out in the 1st round beaten in extra time by her Hungarian opponent in the Female Over 59kg event. The scores were all square at 1-1 forcing the fight into extra time. The Hungarian scored 2 single gyak punches giving her a 2-0 victory.
Kate Karwacinski, European Junior U59kg Bronze Medal. That was a fraught, tense experience watching Kate, especially standing next to her parents. Kate fought well in her 1st round fight beating her Russian opponent 3-0 but her 2nd round fight against her Finnish opponent was too close for comfort. The fight went into extra time after a no score tie and Kate came out victorious with a 1-0 extra time win. The 3rd round was another close contest but Kate's single point was enough to see off her Italian opponent. The 4th round pool final was very tense and with the fight looking like it was going into extra time her Turkish opponent scored a 3 point jodan head kick and that was enough to steal the win.
However, Kate had the chance to redeem herself in the repechage final. Facing Greece Kate made sure of bronze as she upped her game and although a couple of kicks were not scored she still won 2-0 to claim European Bronze.
Tom Hickman competed in the Male U75kg event and after a scrappy yet close fight went out to his Slovenian opponent. Tom was 2-0 within 30 seconds but a series of warnings saw the scores levelled at full time. In extra time Tom was the one to give away a contact warning and that was enough the Slovenian through with a 1-0 win. Tom's opponent made the final leaving Tom with a chance of bronze through the repechage rounds. Tom's opponent in repechage was Turkish and Tom was unlucky to lose out again. 2-0 up with under 1 minute left Tom gave away a point on warnings which spurred his opponent on. The Turkish fighter scored 3 times near the end and defeated Tom 4-2.
So competition day 2 see England claim another two medals, this time both bronze to add to the three silvers from yesterday.
Congratulations to coaches on doing a great job as they keep the medals rolling in.
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