Chojinkai Junior Championships March 2013

On March 10th, Competitors from three Wado UK clubs traveled across to Penrith for the Chojinkai Children’s and cadets Karate Championships. Some of our group deciding to stay over on the Saturday night. This may have been a wise choice, as the weather had once again conspired against us. With numbers of competitors being slightly down on previous years, this did at least assure a respectable 6pm finish.

Our competitors for this event were as follows;
Chikara Dojo-
Lauren Foster, Lauren Horner, Charlie Dorling, Thomas Fitz-John, Callum Longmuir, Toby Ashworth, isabelle Johnson and Thomas Balaam-Reed.

East Hull Woodford Dojo-
Amrit Dhesi, Charan Dhesi, Teerth Dhesi, Oliver Dearing, Charlotte Pinder and Joe Munro.

Zanshin Dojo-
Josh Hartery.

Kata
By the end of the day, the kata events had proved most fruitful for our competitors. 9 medals had been won from these categories, covering individuals, pairs and teams. In the pairs event, Wado UK actually had a clean sweep taking all of the medals on offer.

The medals started arriving almost immediately, with solid individual performances from Lauren Foster and Amrit Dhesi taking the gold medals in their respective categories. This however wasn't to be the end of the gold medal run in the kata, as the pairs event saw Oliver Dearing and Charlotte Pinder add a third for our group, while the Chikara team of Lauren Foster, Lauren Horner and Callum Longmuir finished things off with an excellent gold medal in the team kata category.

A trio of Silver medals would be added to the above success, as Oliver managed to reach the same individual final as Lauren Foster. Lauren nudging Oliver into this a very respectable runner up slot. Our second silver kata medal would go to the brother/sister pairing of Teerth and Charan Dhesi. The youngsters sitting one place back from Oliver and Charlotte. The final silver medal went to the team of Oliver, Charlotte and Teerth of the East Hull Woodford Dojo, who were held off from a higher placing by the Chikara team mentioned above.

Finally as far as the kata went, we had two bronze medals to bring home. The first was in the individuals where Charlotte Pinder managed a podium finish. This was to be matched by the pairing of the two Lauren's from the Chikara Dojo in the pairs category. This final medal was what helped Wado UK secure it's clean sweep in the pairs kata event.

Kumite
Although we wouldn't see the same amount of success through the kumite divisions, there were still medals won here also. By the end of the day, an additional 4 medals had been added to the overall tally.

The best of these went to Thomas Balaam-Reed and Lauren Horner, where they both stood proud as gold medal winners. Thomas managing to win both his matches without dropping a point. A feat he was to repeat in the team kumite event, where he was joined by Oliver and Teerth.
Charlotte was to come a close second to Lauren in their kumite final, where it was pleasing to see another all Wado UK match.
Finishing things off on the day was Joe Munro. Joe being older than the other competitors he was last to start and finish. However by the time he had, he had added another bronze medal to our tally.

Overall it was another great day on the mats for Wado UK, thanks to the clubs mentioned above. A total of 6 gold medals, 4 silver medals and 3 bronze medals is a fine display of our competitors ability to compete at an excellent level and with continued consistency.

Thanks must go to all those parents who gave their time and effort to deliver their youngsters to the event. Thanks also to Steve Balaam-Reed, Gaynor Dent and Joe Munro for their coaching duties on the day.

Well done everyone!!