Fight Night 2016
This is the fourth fight night we have hosted and each one is different from the last. This one amounted to 33 bouts with an age span from 5 years old to over 40 years old and was, yet again, hugely popular with the students.
Again, we had custom made glass trophies with which to award the fighters so everyone receives something for entering. This is a nice touch for young students just starting out in the karate world as there are often no competitions available to them at such young ages and at such low grades.
The evening started with a fabulous kata display by the Stoner sisters, Sadie and Holly performing Shito-Ryu style kata. A big thank you to them and their mum Eve who ran the scoreboard.
For me the fighting on show from such low grades was exceptional and volume of young boys we now have coming through is a novelty too for us at Dokan as our main fighting squads have been female dominated for years.
Throughout the night there were countless good fights but from the tiny people my favourite was the Henderson brothers who although not very old or very big are now quite highly graded and put on a fantastic spirited and skilful performance. I cannot mention every fight but I also enjoyed Katie Hunnam versus Lucy Dixon. Lucy is a new association member as she is part of Derek Laings S.K.A. club group that have recently joined the Dokan Karate Association.
These nights are intended to not only be about the fighting, they are a good social get together and intended to be fun and enjoyable for the kids and parents alike. Also there is the educational aspect, not only helping parents come to terms with karate rules but on this occasion giving our fledgling referees an opportunity to practice their flag waving.
Many thanks to Rob Middlemiss, Richard Palmer, Eve Whitaker, Wes Chatterje, Steve Forster, Cuthbert Tatters and Glenn Hunnam for all giving it a go. Plus an extra big thank you to Brian and Peter our resident referees who were aided by Derek, our new member referee. Derek will be helping out at most of our future events.
Dokan’s very own Shotokan Tiger - Lola Cassidy.