Worcester Competition January 2012
Tobi Ishi Kai Competition Sunday 22nd January 2012
We took a squad of 10 competitors to this competition, some of whom were more experienced than others.
The evening before the competition we all met up at a local restaurant with the competitors and their parents.
At one point during the evening we noticed a definite lack of children in the restaurant. We found them outside practising their kata!!!
The day of the competition arrived and we met at the venue quite early and got some practice in before the competition started.
Sensei Sarah was coach for the day and Sensei Barry was refereeing and judging.
The kata was first and our first competitor was Ollie O'Regan (Wadhurst). This was Ollie's first competition at the ripe old age of 6!
He performed really well and was unfortunate not to go through the first round.
Next up were James Evans, Eduardo Sawday and Harrison Clarke (all from Wadhurst) competing in the same category.
James and Eduardo, both taking part in their first major competition performed their katas well but didn't make the next round.
Harrison battled his way through five rounds and emerged with our first gold medal of the day performing Pinan Godan and Pinan Sandan.
Then came Matt Elliott and Bailey Coomber both from Hailsham in the same section. Bailey performed a creditable Pinan Godan
but didn't get through to the next round. Matt went through 3 rounds and won our second gold medal of the day
.
Adam Bailey from Hailsham was in the next section and was unfortunate not to go through.
Our senior students were on next where Chloe Sutherland, in a very tough section, performed well but not enough to go through.
Ellie Reynolds came next and performed her katas with power and focus to win our third gold medal.
The next section was team kata and pairs kata.
We had 3 pairs competing and 2 teams of three.
Mat and Bailey - Chloe and Mark - Harrison and Adam
Chloe, Mark and Ellie - Matt, Bailey and Adam
All the teams had been practising hard for this but found out that team kata is far more difficult expecially
as these sections contained all grades and all ages (including adults)
They all performed incredibly well but the opposition was stiff and none of our teams managed to progress.
After the kata we had three competitors in kumite.
First was Harrison who fought well but was outgunned by his opponent.
Frankie was next up in his first competition and won his first round 4 -0.
He then cam up against a more formidable opponent in the next round but was able to
gain valuable experience.
Adam fought in his first kumite competition (Adam is a seasoned kata competitor) and performed well
against an opponent who had tremendous kicking ability but couldn't score his kicks on Adam.
Adam was unfortunate not to progress but again gained valuable experince.
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After quite a long day we were very pleased with our students and would like to thank the parents who gave up their time
to bring the students to the competition.
Next up is the WIKF British Championships. We will be selecting for this soon.