Our stories of the WIKF World Championships
ADAM'S DALLAS REPORT
After 24 hours of travelling, we got to our hotel where it was a shelter from the heat outside. I was extremely tired and as we stepped foot into our hotel room, I fell on the bed and went fast asleep.
The next day we got up and had an American style breakfast. After meeting up with Barry and Chloe, we all decided to go to a shopping mall, after which it was training time. The whole of the England team met downstairs for the seminar with Jon Wicks. I was very nervous as I have only trained with Jon a couple times, but I enjoyed it. I learnt a new Kata, a knife defence and a sword defence. Later that day England met up for dinner at a steakhouse. I was again very nervous because I had to sit next to people in the team, who I didn't know at all, but I finally made some new friends.
The day before the competition, we attended the last England training session where I did my Kata in front of the squad. I was more nervous than ever! After training, we all got changed and met downstairs, where the England team got a limo to a football match, arriving in style! I don't quite understand American football, it seemed every 10 seconds everybody had a party, it was crazy but amazing!!
Competition day has arrived; I got ready, packed my Gi and went downstairs. I had butterflies in my stomach as we got the trolley bus to the Exhibition Centre. I waited for my name to be called, and when it was my turn, I walked on the mat, shouted the name of my kata (Pinan Yondan) and peformed it to the best of my ability. I didn't get into the final, but next time I'm going for GOLD! In the future I would like to do Kumite as well as Kata, so I need to practice them both before Greece next year. We had a memorial dinner in honour of Master Tatsuo Suzuki this evening. I did not get to train with Master Suzuki, but many others did and they came to honour him.
Day 2 of the competition and Kumite started the day rolling with 4 fights going on at the same time, I didn't have much to do with this, all I did was shout and cheer the day away, until we got to the hotel where I drifted off to sleep.
The last day of the competition, the finals of Kumite and the start of Team Kumite, again I did not have a great deal to do with this, so my job was to shout and cheer England on. But after many fights, England came out with 6 gold's just in Kumite! To celebrate, there was a Sayonara Party, with drinks and dancing. This went on until about 1 o'clock in the morning.
The next day my dad and I got up early to go shopping to get some souvenirs for my family. I was really looking forward to seeing them again. After getting back to the hotel we yought 3 tickets to the Six Flags amusement park. Sadly though today it closed at 6:00pm instead of 10pm, so we missed it! So then a little later feeling quite disappointed we went off to bed.
The Last day, Dad and I got up early and decided to go to Six Flags before our flight home, saying goodbye to Barry and Chloe before they left for the airport. We only had time to go on 3 rides, I thought I was going to die because they were very high and very fast! It was soon time to leave for a very long journey home.
Chloe's Dallas Report
WIKF World Ghampionships. Dallas 2011
The whole experience seemed quite surreal at the time; from being told I was being considered forthe England squad to doing a black belt grade at 3am to raise money to travel to Texas. The trainingsessions were hard and we were given an insight to how tough the competition would be, there was alot of work to be done!It seemed like I had ages to prepare but the trip came round very fast and before I knew it I was onthe plane. I'm scared of flying but luckily I had the reassuring words of sensei Barry... not! After twoturbulent flights we were Rnaily in Texas. The heat was the first shock as it was midnight and still 39*.
Before the competition, we did two training sessions; one seminar with sensei John Wicks where thefocus was not on the competition. ln this we did kata, knife defences and sword defences. The othertraining was w1h the whole England squad. Half way through all kata competitors were asked to showthe katas to the rest of the team and two of the judges for the competition. This was nearly as nerveracking as the actual competition and the judges gave their truthful opinions. This was quite worryingfor all of us just before the competition!
Finally after much preparation, the competition day arrived. I didn't feel as nervous in the morning as Ihave done before which was strange and I managed to eat breakfast. Once we reached the venuehowever, the nerves kicked in. All competitors were asked to wait in a holding area where we couldwarm up and prepare for our categories. The day was very well organised with all the category timesand details on a board at the front.I was second on in my section of I competitors from 7 different countries. The event was not 1s bigas I expected as many European competitors could not afford the expensive airfare. I came 4"' overallin my section.
The England squad consisted of 17 people, plus all the parents and coaches. Over the week I madesome really good friends and am still in contact with most of them now. We had two nights free afterthe compeiition so some of us took the opportunity to visit the 24-hour Wal-Mart where there was alsoa 24-hour McDonalds. We decided that you could visit America without going to a McDonalds so aftersome last minute souvenir shopping we went to see how big the super size really was. lt was massive!Everything in America was huge, including the Dallas Cowboys football stadium. We were luckyenough to get tickets to Dallas Cowboys vs Denver Broncos. This was really exciting as I'd neverseen American sport before and it's very different to English sport. The stadium had a capacity of 108thousand which is bigger than any stadium in England (Wembley holds 90000). The atmosphere wasreally good and very loud! There was lots of entertainment apart from the football includingcheerleaders, live music and Frisbee dogs!
Overall, the trip was an amazing experience, so thank you to everyone who helped to fund raise andmake it possible.
Sensei Barry's Dallas Report
It was a long time coming and after all the amazing fund raising efforts by our wonderfuls students, families and friends we left the UK for Dallas and the WIKF World Championships. Chloe was nervous of flying but I managed to say the right things like "the parachute is under your seat" and "sit at the back they don't crash backwards".
The trip out was via New York and the flight from JFK was delayed due to heavy traffic. We arrived in Dallas at midnight after 24 hours travelling to be greeted by 39 Deg of heat. Off to bed.
One of my duties was to make sure the guys were OK and understood everything that was going on but the England team coaches Andy Michaelides and Kevin Crine were brilliant and the whole squad was looked after very well.
We spent the first two days acclimatising, training, and getting to know everyone. We trained with Sensei Jon Wicks at his seminar which was entertaining as always.
I had been asked by Sensei Wicks to referee at the championships and as such I attended coaches and referees meetings prior to the competition.
The competition was not as well attended mainly because of its location and the expense of getting there. However the standard was very high both in kata and kumite.
I can't explain how proud I was to watch Chloe and Adam represent their country and perform so well. Adam was outstanding for one so young and Chloe missed a medal by .1 of a mark!!!
On the second and third day of competition my duty was to referee the kumite matches. All of the other referees came from the U.S.A. and amongst them were three or four world level WKF Referees. I was busy for most of the day so I was grateful for a nice cold beer in the evening and a chance to relax.
The finals day arrived and the finals were held on a raised stage and again I was very busy refereeing and I refereed 4 finals without getting told off by the Chief Referee!!
After the competition was over there was a Sayonara party held for everyone. I had to attend just to make sure everyone behaved themselves! Also to make sure that the beer was cold enough.
A bit of sightseeing, shopping and a lot of Texas steak later it was time to come home. A better trip home and it's always nice to be home.