LATEST NEWS - ROUND-UP OF 2007 HIGHLIGHTS
K.D.I CHRISTMAS DISCO 2007
It was an excellent success with Kata demonstrations from Emma Bayley and Robert Sanders. England International Jonathan Mottram did a special Kata demo slowly to music, then he did the same Kata full speed. Anyone could see why John is the best Kata exponent in the country, with beautiful timing and precision.
The final demonstration was from Sensei Tony Gray who did a multiple attack block and counter demo, followed by a breaking wood demonstration using open hand strikes and elbow techniques. The presentation was then handed out to Leigh Sanders & Robert Trought for achieving their Shodan, with Omar Shaffi receiving the student of the year award 2007.
A special award went to K.D.I.s Ross Mathieu who trains at the Polar K.D.I. karate club. Ross was awarded a trophy for the most prolific competitor of the year with English and British Gold medals in 2007.
EKF SELECTION SUCCESS
Emma O’Callaghan has been selected to represent England at the European Junior Championships February 2008 in Trieste Italy.
Emma won her fights on the day without conceding a point, this will be Emma’s 3rd time representing her country. Emma trains at the Barking Dojo under Sensei Tony Gray 4th Dan and has done so since the age of 10 years old. Also Sensei Steve Scotts K.D.I. students Alex Hodge and Luke Scott have also been selected to compete at the European Championships. We wish them all success in 2008.
K.D.I. Sensei Terry Wingrove has offered to sponsor all 3 competitors for the Championships in 2008 which is excellent and we thank Terry very much for his continued support.
VENICE CUP 2007
Sensei Tony Gray took 2 members of the K.D.I. squad Ross Mathieu and Emma O’Callaghan.
To this very high standard International event November 30th to 2nd December 2007 the trip was organized by Mark Adams sensei of the Yamaguchi Goju-Kai and friend of Sensei Tony’s. Ross won a bronze medal after fighting excellently all day. Emma went out in the 2nd round but fought well, although she was disappointed.
Emma and Ross gained more International experience for the future and that can only be a good thing for them both. I would like to personally thank Mark Adams and all the Goju-Kai squad for making our trip more enjoyable and supporting our athletes all weekend, and congratulate all the Yamaguchi Goju-kai's success at the event.
EKF SOUTERN REGION CHAMPIONSHIPS 2007
Goresbrook Lesuire Centre, Dagenham, Essex
Results as follows: K.D.I Squad win 20 medals!
Emma Ocallaghan takes Gold -53 kumite & Team Silver
Lee Rose Silver open weight & Team Bronze
Ross Mathieu Silver -70 kumite & Team Bronze
Resham Sira Team Bronze
Phillip Rich Indiv bronze medal and Team bronze Sensei Steve scotts K.D.I. squad brought the medal tally to 20 for the day a excellent result
K.D.I's ROSS MATHIEU GRABS ANOTHER GOLD MEDAL
Karate-Do International Athlete Ross Mathieu won the British International Karate Open on Saturday 1st September in the Under 65 kilo category although Ross is a under 60 Kilo competitor under 65 kilo was the lowest weight category Ross now holds all 4 Championship titles, the English / British / English International Open & now the British International Open.
A superb achievement for the young 18 year old who trains under his fathers tuition, Sensei John Mathieu 4th Dan at the Poplar K.D.I Karate club, Essex. Congratulations again for a superb result. Ross with his Gold Medal and in his Arawaza sponsored K.D.I. squad tracksuit.
CAMBER SANDS 2007
13th, 14th, 15th July 2007
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The K.D.I. groups turned up Friday afternoon meeting (in the bar, of course!) to find out the training times over the weekend.
A senior grading was held with Senseis Gray, Clarke and Lindley at 8.30pm Friday evening the grading lasted a grueling 1 and half hours with some emotional reactions to their success: Leigh Sanders & Robert Trought passing their 1st Dan Black Belts, and Andrew Rich passing his 1st Kyu Brown Belt. Well done to them and very well deserved.Saturday morning started with a jog to the beautiful sandy beach at 9pm the Instructors had the students running up the very steep sandy hill to warm up, which was extremely exhausting work, then on to the beach for some basics (Kihon).
The students were then split into groups after a jog to the waters edge and drilled some more and by now each group was in and out of the sea.The weather on the day was bright fairly warm but windy overall, Sensei Lee Rose K.D.I. had the juniors in the sea waist deep doing some basic drills much to their enjoyment, Sensei Norman Clarke T.K.O. was working with the lower grades at the waters edge with the assistance of Tom Rose. Sensei Carl Lindley K.D.I. had the senior grades waist deep by know doing Kata which was very difficult in the soft sand and the very choppy sea.
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On occasions students were falling in after losing their balance but were all (with the notable exception of Emma O’Callaghan) enjoying the experience once again. Last year was such good fun that the seniors were keen to get back on the beach and in the sea, which by now was keeping most of us warm and, for the not so keen, toughening them up I hope!After a short break the seniors were back out in the sea while the juniors finished off their hard training session and warming themselves back up on the beach watching the senior grades back in the large waves.
The Cambersands beach is a very sandy and clean beach so footing was never a problem apart from being very soft and you sunk in after a few moments. The training continued with some paired work with Sensei Tony Gray leading punching drills followed by the takedowns that always prove popular in the sea. Especially with Emma O'Callaghan again. After this, we all progressed on to the piggy back fights and again it got very competitive with all the group & everyone getting nearly drowned.
After 3 hard hours of training we headed back to the chalets for a well earned rest, shower, lunch, A grading for Juniors was held that Saturday afternoon with J.Trought, M.Trought, M. Rene, A.Singh, K.Singh, Z. Lalamahamode and D. Chabaz all passing.That evening, Sensei Gray and Tom Rose cooked all the food for the groups evening BBQ with a crate of beer supplied by Mark O'Callaghan & Maurren Nixon which didn’t last too long as the food & drink went like lightning.
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Tom Rose had brought along some entertainment in the shape of a rope for some tug-'o-war contests that went down with much laughter and some real shocks as some dan grades and sensei Gray lost to the juniors with a little help from Lee rose the traitor (he wil be punished soon). As the evening went on everyone moved to the bars and drank on into the early hours.
The next morning was a disaster for us as training was cancelled due to the whole site had a power cut and some had not hot water so there was no hall to train in and as we had a storm in the night we could train outside many left early in the day due to this but all were happy with the great day we had on the Saturday and were tired from the hard training they had received, especially the students that had passed their gradings. Eveyone is looking forward to the 2008 camp.
YAMAGUCHI GOJU-KAI TOURNAMENT
Held on the 24th June 24, 2007. Congratulations to Emma Bayley for winning a silver medal on the day.
LIVERPOOL KUMITE CLASS
On Sat 21st July Sensei Tony Gray and 4 students went to Merseyside Liverpool to Sensei Steve Scott 6th Dan dojo to teach a kumite squad class with him and welcome him and his group into Karate-Do International Steve will be joining Karate-Do International and we are pleased to have such a good quality Karate-Ka in our group representing the North of England.
Sensei Steve is a professional Instructor and 6th Dan in Shito ryu and a former Kata International himself and has produced some good National Competitors over the years in Kata & Kumite so Steve will be a great asset to Karate-do International and we hope to have a good working/friendly relationship for the future.
We arrived in Merseyside after a 3 half hour drive, Sensei Tony Gray brought some of his students Lee Rose, Leigh & Robert Sanders, Andy Rich , Sensei Norma Clarke from T.K.O. and Tom Rose , to train with sensei steve scotts group. After introduction from Sensei Steve The class of over 35 students was warmed up by Sensei Tony Gray after a stretch went on to some line work kumite drills, Moving onto paired work.
The Dojo was absolutely stunning with 2 full size judo matted areas inside a completely new building with offices showers etc, & a seating area for spectators, Sensei Tony was teaching blocking gyaku tsuki,with the back arm then counter attacking jodan then chudan gyaku zuki, followed by mawashi geri jodan, which the students enjoyed.
After a nother short break Sensei Steve Scott took the class through a a stamina drill which was a very good addittion to the kumite session and it got everyone warmed up again. The class was then told to pad up and the Instructors and senior grades went round and sparred with as many students as possible lasting 45 mins.
At the end of the two & a half hour session everyone was very tired Sensei Steve Scott made the announcement that he and his group were happy to join K.D.I and presented Sensei Tony Gray with a new Karate Gi for all his teaching on the day,
Sensei tony then went on to thank Sensei Steve for all his hospitality throughout the day and praised the standard of the students present.
We were all invited to food and refreshments at Sensei Steves house where Anne Scott out did her self with a selection of Indian food which went down very well with the London based visitors and the beers were flowing too. A very enjoyable day was had by all and we would like to thank everyone from sensei Steve Scotts group for a excellent day all round.
K.D.I TOURNAMENT 2007
On Sunday the 13th May Karate-Do International held their 2nd Karate Competition event which was organised by Tony Gray & Carl Lindley. The venue was the same as last year’s Langdon park Community centre, Byron street, Poplar, London, with over 165 competitors Junior and senior from grass root level to International standard, The Day was a success thanks to the Assistance from Mark Adams, Cheryl Hart, Goju Kai, John Mottram, Mike Tointon, Ishinryu, Carl Lindley, Tom Rose, & Andy Rich K.D.I. Plus far too many others from various groups to mention here.
Groups attended were uechi-ryu, Ishinryu, K.D.I., Seishan Karate clubs, Yamaguchi Goju-kai, Plus several groups from Shotokan, & Wado-ryu, and others. The event was supposed to be held in the main hall but 4 days before the event the Manager of the Langdon hall called to tell me we would have to use 2 smaller halls due to a school exam (as the School has priority over the hall ).
With no choice in the matter we had to make the best of what we had, although the hall with 2 matted areas was very busy with spectators and competitors after opening at 9.50am on the Sunday morning. After filtering some of the categories into the smaller hall with the 1 matted area being Run expertly by England referee Mike Tointon Ishinryu.
The bigger of the 2 halls became less crowded as the day went on. With the centres closing time of 4pm the whole event ended at 3.55pm. Not bad timing. Last years Kata winner England International Sammantha Cannon Ishinryu, came out on top again beating England International Lauren Adams Goju Kai in a very well contested final.
Also last years winner & current british kumite champion Ross Mathieu poplar K.D.I. Beat barking K.D.I.s Lee Rose in another well contested final in encho-sen. Ross also won gold in the cadet Kumite category.
I must say that a massive thanks to all our friends and colleagues that helped make the event a success on the day and all the support from the various group including K.D.I. s Terry Wingrove for supplying the sweatshirts and t shirts for the officials and winners on the day And all the officials for alround very fair refereeing.
Overall a great success which we will be building on for nxt year with a bigger venue for starters.