SKC News December 2007
-- 9th F.S.K.A. World Championships --
Seaford Karate Club recently took a
squad of 14 competitors to take part in
the 9th F.S.K.A. World Karate
Championships at the K2 Leisure Centre
in Crawley on the 13th and 14th October
2007. Shihan Funakoshi 
9th Dan arrived
with his team of organisers and held a
fantastic two day competition that saw
teams from all around the world compete
in kata and kumite events, with high
lights on Meridian TV.
Counties competing included England,
France, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Poland,
Russia, Ukraine, USA, Argentina, South
Africa, Ghana, Georgia, Germany,
Switzerland, Hawaii and the Czech Republic with over 1200
competitors and spectators.
The kata events took place on the Saturday and in the first event
Lewis Finch perform
ed Taikyokyu Shodan very well in his first
tournament after only four months of training to take a silver
medal in the under 5 years novice category. This result inspired
the squad and was followed up by Paige Curtis, also in her first
competition, winning Bronze in her girls novice kata event
performing Heian Shodan. Gareth Muller faced a tough category
in the boys intermediate kata and showed good determination
winning a Silver medal performing Heian Nidan.
Things were going well, but then took a turn for the better. Matthew Delaloye took Gold in the Cadet novice category with Heian Shodan as Matthew Killick stepped up to take the Gold medal in the cadet intermediate kata also performing Heian Shodan to see them both become F.S.K.A. World Champions. A fantastic effort by both these young karate students.
Chris Fleischer faced a hard category in the boys purple belts and despite performing a good Heian Godan kata his foreign opponents were exceptional, leaving Chris out of the medals.
In the under 21 kata Rose Franks beat off opposition with Bassai
Dai to finish with a Silver medal only losing to a competitor from
South Africa, while in the Ladies Kata Angie Pepper performing
Kanku Dai was pipped by 0.1 for the Gold by a USA competitor to
finish with Silver.
The men's kata saw Steve Jakes competed three times with Kanku Dai and Enpi finishing in joint 3rd and having to go back to try and win the bronze, which he did in style and all judges giving Steve the victory and a well deserved bronze medal in the men's shodan division.
In the team kata Sensei Martin Dean came out of retirement to
compete with Angie and Rose. 
Seaford produced a strong and
well timed kata Chinte to beat off all other opposition and win the
third Gold of the day, pushing the Ukraine Team into second and
USA taking the bronze.
The Sunday saw the start of the kumite (fighting). Even more competitors turned up for the second day and it was going to prove harder than the kata to win more medals.
Seaford's four cadet fighters were all fighting in various categories at the same time. Chris Fleischer fought first and won his first fight 2-1, then in his second fight he was beaten 0-2 to miss out on a medal, while Connor Smith went the same way losing 0-2 in the first round despite his aggressive attacking style.
Damian Shepherd stepped up to win his first round 2-1 before losing 2-0. He then got asked to fight off for third place and won before the judges error saw he fought the wrong fighter. In the proper fight off Damian lost and finished fourth, despite beating the World Champion on the way.
Matthew Delaloye fought well but lost in the semi final 1-2. In the fight off for third place he won well 2-0 to take a bronze medal home and gain vital experience.
In the ladies under 21 kumite Rose cruised into the final where she faced a
talented and fast South African girl. The two fighters flew into each other to
score a point. Straight from the re-start the same thing happened and
Rose found herself on the losing side finishing with a
silver medal.
Sarah Dumelow fought in the novice ladies and stormed to victory winning every fight 2-0 beating another South African in the final to take Seaford's fourth Gold medal of the tournament.
Simon Lambert fought in the men's brown belt light heavy weight division where he dropped the first point. He fought his way back into contention making it 1-1 before losing the final point to finish with another silver.
Rose and Sarah joined three other girls to enter the team kumite. Only Rose won her fight
against a bigger fighter from the German
team. Rose came out aggressively and won 2-0 inside
10 seconds. The second round saw our girls fight a strong team from Poland for the bronze
medal. This time it was Sarah who scored a point before going down 1-2. Rose got her hand
injured in her fight but this didn't stop her showing great courage and spirit trying to fight back
before going down 0-2 and the team finished in fourth place just outside the medals.
A fantastic weekend for Seaford Karate Club saw them finish with 4 Gold, 6 Silver and 3 bronze
medals.
The Seaford squad containing Sensei Martin Dean, Steve Jakes, Angie Pepper, Rose Franks, Simon Lambert, Damian Shepherd, Chris Fleischer, Connor Smith, Matthew Killick, Gareth Muller, Matthew Delaloye, Paige Curtis, Sarah Dumelow and Lewis Finch.
Competitor of the day - Rose Franks - winning 1 Gold and 2 silver medals.
-- A.S.K.A. Panel Grading --
Congratulations to the four successful students who attempted the senior grading at Great Barr
School, North Birmingham, under the senior panel consisting of A.S.K.A. President Jack
Warner, Chief Instructor Colin Hexley and senior instructors Ben Brown and Mick Davis.
In the usual way the grading started with basic kihon techniques, before going on to kihon and jiyu ippon kumite pairwork. The four were then asked to put their kumite mitts on and fight off against each other. After a short recovery they were then put through their paces performing katas for the panel.
After all the hard work was done, all the nervous students could do was wait while the panel discussed the standard and technique. A short while later the panel announced that all four had indeed passed and the jubilant students celebrated.
-- A.S.K.A. National Championships 2007 --
After the cancellation of last years tournament the 32nd Annual A.S.K.A. National Karate Championships proved a huge success under the organization of our Chief Instructor Colin Hexley 5th Dan. The events got under way promptly at 10am with Ben Brown the chief referee, and Martin Dean, overseeing the matted areas, starting with the children’s kata events. After all the preliminary rounds the finalists were brought together on one mat and introduced to the audience wearing their red and blue belts with background music and cheers from their respective clubs, as they prepared to contest the National titles for 2007.
It is good to see that the standard within the children’s kata events is very high with notable wins for Jamie Allison, Laura Shaw, Jayna Bains and Jack Mason, while in the adults kata Lee Finch from Seaford defeated David Hathaway from Loscoe in the final. It is clear to see that these sections will produce the future champions of A.S.K.A. and it will be interesting to see how they improve over the next year.
In the Men's senior kata Karl Mason from Sneyd took the title in his first year as a senior performing Unsu, showing good strength and determination defeating Colin Simmonds in the final. Jodie Nesbitt took home the honours in the Ladies Senior kata performing Nijushiho defeating Angie Pepper’s Enpi from Seaford.
The team kata events have excelled with over 20 teams spilt over three categories. North Birmingham dominated the gold medals with Seaford taking silver and bronze.
The afternoon saw the start of the kumite events, as Enzo Tamilio dominated the under 4' 5" to give Sneyd karate club their only kumite success. Seaford won gold in the under 4' 10" as Chris Fleischer won four rounds to be crowned kumite champion. Allie Hexley performed fantastically well to beat all the boys in the under 5'3" category and Yosef Parvez took the over 5' 3" title to improve on his silver from last time.
The best atmosphere was seen in the female kumite final between current champion Rose Franks from Seaford against local favourite Jodie Nesbitt. Jodie started the stronger with a head kick but Rose fought back, despite getting a warnings from the referee. Jodie went on to extend her lead and won 9-4 to take a well deserved Gold medal in a fabulous fight.
In the men’s junior grade kumite Simon Shakespeare triumphed once again as some bruising encounters took place as the competition heated up. In the men's senior kumite former English Champion Colin Simmonds cruised his way into the final where he defeated club mate Adrian McKeown to take the senior title for another year.
The team event, as always, is a fiercely contested battle with club pride at stake. Seaford karate club just missed out on making the finals which saw two teams from North Birmingham contest the victory. Birmingham 'A' proved their supremacy over the 'B' team to once again lift the A.S.K.A. Team Kumite Shield.
A.S.K.A. President Jack Warner 6th Dan expressed his delight in such a well organised and friendly tournament and said he had had a thoroughly enjoyable day.
-- Dates to remember --
JANUARY 2008
7th Back to training Monday usual times Seaford
Home | About Us | Gallery | Seaford Comp '08 | Downloads | Contacts | Links
