Worcester Revisited
Last year seemed a long time ago as we headed for our second trip to Worcester for The Central England karate tournament. The weather was beautiful so some of us were dropped off seven miles short of our destination at Droitwich Lido, an open air salt water swimming pool situated in a park.
A fantastic couple of hours was spent in the pool (the mams that stayed sun-bathed) The kids, Glen and I played in the pool.
Afterwards it was down to the hotel to check in then over the river by rowing boat ferry to a pub for a quick pint. At 6.00pm most of us headed to the Pavilion pub in the park for a meal in the warm evening sun. I made sure I had games ready for the kids i.e. football, frisbys, bats, balls etc. to try to ensure everyone had a good time.
The competition itself is in the best English arena I have been in, large with excellent air conditioning - and it needed to be for the tournament was a busy one with many categories of over thirty. The trophies and medals were fantastic (the best I have seen for years) and the whole day ran like clockwork. There were eight areas going non-stop to get finished about 7.00 p.m. I would guess.
Kata wise we got off to a poorer than expected start but our teams and pairs did well. All our students were on top form, the decisions just sometimes go the other way.
Kumite was our saving grace where golds were concerned as our girls did the business against top opposition. Everything about the competition rang of quality, the venue, the awards, the competitors, the organisation everything was top notch. Even the surrounding area that the arena is situated in is a lovely setting for a comp.
We left at 6.30 p.m. for the long haul home.
Are we going next year?
Too right we are.
