Dokan Karate Club

Twenty seven Dokan students entered this year and after watching this squad in action I was hopeful of some good results. As usual the day did not pan out as expected, aside from my usual bad luck of not being able to park and quarrelling with carpark attendants etc things got off to a terrible start as we lost virtually every decision in kata 2 flags to 1.

The only exception to the rule was our adult female entry, Eve Whitaker, who took gold in her kata section. We picked up the odd bronze here and there but overall we did not get what we deserved in kata. This was down purely to the luck of the draw and a few bizarre refereeing decisions.

Pictured above are three of Dokans new competition squad members Lucia, Laura and Emma Ali. All wearing gum shields and kitted up for fighting. I kept the three together as a fighting and a kata team as these three play strongly in my mind for 2016. Inexperience got the better of them in team kata yet they were still very unlucky not to go through to medals.

A similar tale for team kumite too, as they won their first round but again narrowly lost on points in the second round. Emma (age 9) got a silver in individual kumite and fought brilliantly through the rounds, Laura (age 8) at only 9th kyu took a bronze here and showed some exceptional foot speed, really looking like a future champion. Lucia (also 8) carried no luck all day; despite winning 2 rounds in kata and kumite she went out in every event prior to medals but performed very well in everything. Along with these three in the under nine years low grade kumite was this year’s champion Leiarna Middlemiss, so Dokan did exceptionally well in this group. I was told by a referee the event had 1020 entries - this is a colossal amount but it was the overall standard of all the clubs that surprised me.

Basically it was the toughest kyu grade championships I have ever attended. Katie Hunnam pictured below (in blue) won bronze with her kata team and with her kumite team - which included Olivia Fellows, who also won bronze in individual fighting, and Anais Errington who has just moved up into this age section but conducted herself beautifully and gave it her best shot throughout. They drew their semi-final match on points but were beaten in a deciding bout.

We'd better not forget to mention our adults who decided to have a bash at a big karate comp. From left to right above is Rob Middlemiss, Rebecca Bradburn and Glen Hunnam. Rob and Glen train every week in our adult class and Rebecca is a veteran Dokan Elite squad member who has been training with me since she was 7 and was there at the very start of Dokan. She will be 14 in a couple of weeks and although a black-belt and unable to compete at the kyu grades she hitched a lift down and helped out all day with the littler kids fastening belts, finding their areas and giving words of advice and encouragement. What a lovely thing to do.

Rob and Glen both won a couple of fights each and got beat in the semi-finals, so a huge well done to both for not only picking up bronze medals but for having the bottle to cast aside vanity and get up and have a go. The fighting resembled something from the late 70’s with wild punches and huge power kicks flying everywhere and was as rough as hell, but credit to the lads for giving more than they took in this pub style bar room brawl. It was certainly entertaining stuff.

The day had started to pick up for Dokan as our fighters all put in fantastic performances and Isabella Shields pulling a bronze in the mid-grade fighting section was another good result but going one better was Maddison Taylor who lost in the high grade final by one point. Madz fought brilliantly all day winning 8 of her nine fights, she hurt her heel in the individual final but didn’t let this affect her as she captained and led her team mates to a gold medal victory in team kumite. This was a brilliant result with Isabella winning all her fights here too with team mate Leiarna. Isabella and Madz pictured below.

Next we had the under nines boys team fighting. With 18 teams entered this was going to be a long affair and as I looked at the quality of the teams entered I almost pulled my two out as the time was getting on and I did not expect too much. I had underestimated the determination of my lads. Marcus led his team right up to bronze with some mega-exciting fights, especially the quarter finals with brother Sam scoring a head kick in the dying seconds to secure a semi-final place. But the gold medal team led by James Tudberry with individual gold medal winner Luke Chatterje and Reuben Fellows made the extra hour or so worth the wait. It was a fabulous climax to hard and stressful day.

About 6 Dokan students won no medals at all. This is a bitter pill to swallow when you train regularly and hard. They will be told to look at it like this... "you have competed in an enormous competition against the best of your grade the country has to offer. There is no shame in defeat against such opponents. Take it for the experience it was and keep the memory. Not many of us have competed in such a prestigious or huge event. You have represented yourself, your family and your club. Dokan are proud of your efforts."