Dokan Karate Club

Dokans last competition on the 30th of November 2013 seemed a lifetime away by the time January 26th crept around. Having put more preparation, time and ground work into the run up to this National than ever before, we were at our best and ready for action. Which was just as well.

Almost 1,000 people entered in what was the busiest competition I have ever seen. I noted two categories with over 70 entries and two with 64 - the place was mobbed out. Eight areas ran constantly from 9.00am till 7.30 pm with no breaks, no stops and with contestants lined up waiting to start their event soon as the current one finished.

It was perhaps too intense as categories ran back to back and one of our students fainted when in the second round of kumite after making it to three finals in three different categories before starting the kumite. No time for breaks and parents were chased from the floor when trying to pass over drinks etc. There is no answer to this except not to enter all categories.

Dokan took 11 Gold, 14 Silver and 13 Bronze medals on the day which is a decent tally. Yet again there were areas where the referees suffered from heavy arm syndrome and seemed afraid to lift the flags, but overall the day was reffereed fairly and these referees get paid a pittance for their efforts.

I cannot mention every student personally but I will mention those who were exceptional or exceeded my expectations. I will also say that very few of our kids went out in their first round and most made it to the round before the quarter finals just missing out on medals. We entered 25 students.

All the brown belts performed as well as the Dokan squad should. Sadie Stoner was narrowly beaten in kata final and Eve Palmer won individual and team kata as well as picking up two bronze in her kumite events. She was on brilliant form throughout the day. Holly Stoner, despite a lacklustre training ethic recently, was outstanding in kata and again was beaten in the final. Lola Cassidy picked up one gold and two bronze but was not at her best on the day. Tammy Proctor was beaten by a professional foul in kumite (I was fuming). She was also narrowly beaten and very unlucky in kata but she was on top form. Ben Purvis is only 8 and made a couple of silly mistakes in both kata and kumite. In kata he saved his better kata’s for later rounds, this is no good if you loose in the early rounds! In kumite while 7 – 0 up he got needlessly disqualified for excessive contact. Poor Ben, but he still won two silver in team events.

Newcomers: Chloe Telford deserves more than a mention in winning individual kumite. What a tremendous result. She fought well all day. Also showing great fighting spirit and skill were Maddison Taylor and Faye Mcquillan both of these were excitingly good. I hope I am correct in saying we have a true potential rising star on our hands in the form of Olivia Fellows who was unlucky not to pick something up in individual kata as well as kumite. Currently she is still rough round the edges but I think we have here an uncut gem.

The work ethic of this squad is unrivalled and no one could dispute the fact that all our students gave it 100%. We were up against the best in the land and stand at the top amongst the best of karate. Some might out speed us but none outclass us.

WELL DONE DOKAN.

2014 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

1. EVE PALMER
2. TAMMY PROCTOR
3. SIMONE STEWART
4. MILLY POMFRET
5. ALEX STEADMAN
6. LOLA CASSIDY
7. GRACE KING
8. CHLOE TELFORD