Dokan Karate Club

On Sunday the 18th of November Dokan karate club entered a small squad of twelve students into the Hartlepool Junior interclub championships.

Between the twelve of them they won eleven gold, six silver and ten bronze medals. If that wasn't enough Dokan Karate was awarded a very large silver trophy for the most successful club of the day (gauged on the number of gold medals won)! The Most Successful Club award was even more amazing when you take into account that Dokan only had twelve competitors, most of whom were in the same categories.

Eleisha was outstanding in kata, as was Tammy Proctor in a lower grade section. In kumite Ben Purvis picked up his second gold in two competitions and at only seven years of age he was probably the youngest competitor. He won silver at Hull as well, so he's a boy to watch out for.

A massive new talent to the club is Lola Cassidy who got a bronze in pairs kata, gold in kumite and gold in kata. She breezed through all the rounds with super sharp multiple technique head shots, finishing all her fights in less than 30 seconds.

Of special note was the 10 to 12 years Girls Kumite category, which really was a Dokan affair. First place went to Becky Purvis (Ben's big sister) when Abbie Scollen was disqualified with only 15 seconds to go and she had a five point lead! Abbie will learn from her mistakes.

Arguably the best fight of the day was Abbie and Tammy Proctor who cancelled each other out throughout the bout but this was the most entertaining fight I have watched for a long time with loads of combinations and the widest variety of kicks used throughout the fight. It was first class stuff.

The competition was efficiently ran by Carl Jorgeson, Harold Stephenson and Jeff Westgarth (the latter two being the Chief Refereess) and the trophies were beautiful and well worth taking home with pride. A really enjoyable day was had by the Dokan kids.