CEWKA Championships
Central England Wado-Ryu Karate Academy Open - 2013.
On the hottest day of 2013, (26 degrees - I didn’t realise thermometers went up so high in North East) Dokan karate club travelled for over four hours to Wolverhampton for the CEWKA championships. Mind you we cannot complain about the travel time because plenty of Scottish clubs were in attendance.
There were big pluses and big minuses about this competition but we will concentrate on the plus points. Firstly the standard of the competitors was unrivalled as everyone who is anyone appeared to be here. The trophies and medals were lovely quality and the categories massive so everything won was well earned.
Our teams and pairs were the best they have ever been, which is a good thing considering the scale of ages in these categories, and we managed to pull a few kata medals here. I consider our results in individual kata to be not only unlucky but also wrong, mainly due to some seemingly bizarre favouritism. Yet we still won two bronze and one silver medal for kata.
It was Dokan’s kumite performance that saved the day as the kids put on a tremendous show against the hardest of opposition. We fought hard and no one in our squad showed poor commitment or lack of courage. We were the feared club in some sections. A fine change from three year's back when our kids were nervous entering big kumite sections. Now the boot seemed to be on the other foot. I was proud of our kids who all stood their ground and gave it their best shot.
On a day when we won less medals than we have for a long time I came away feeling prouder than ever. This was the toughest competition we have ever entered and our students conducted themselves brilliantly and, despite some bad luck, I left feeling more optimistic for the future than when we set off.
