Welsh Bushi-Kai Karate Association

Association Course & Grading, Cwrt Herbert, Neath   08/07/12

Congratulations to all the students who passed their grade examinations yesterday.  There was a good standard of Karate displayed  from Red Belt through to Purple Belt, and you can all be proud of your new grade …. you all worked extremely hard in your preparation and your effort paid dividends.
Many thanks as always to the Grade Examiners & assistants, to the friends and families of the candidates and to the 70 odd students who gave their very best throughout the course & grading.

Welsh Bushi-Kai took a small squad of 11 to the 2012  BKF 4 Nations Championships in Glasgow on the Jubilee weekend. Bank holiday traffic meant the squad had a near 12 hour drive in the mini bus. This year the championships were being held over 1 day (rather than the usual 2) which left the coaches and competitors expecting a very long day as there were 801 entries. Kumite started about 45 minutes later than scheduled, and thanks to the hard work of the referees and officials in attendance, the categories did not fall any further behind schedule, with the day finally coming to an end at just after 7.30pm.

The younger members of the squad were 1st up. James O’Leary was 1st to fight, having just moved into the U12’s category he fought well, losing out in the 2nd round to eventual silver medallist, unfortunately there was no repercharge for the non WKF (u14) categories. Morgan Phillips, another to have just moved up an age category, was next to fight, despite being unwell, Morgan dominated his opponent winning 7-0 in the first round, and looked like he’d have a real chance of finishing in the medals, unfortunately he had to withdraw as his illness worsened.
Megan Taylor, in the U12’s girls was next to fight, despite being a good foot shorter than most of the girls in her category Megan fought with great determination, trailing by 2 points with just seconds to go Megan landed a head kick that could have seen her win the fight, however, the kick was deemed to have made contact, meaning Megan was penalised and ended up losing the match.
Jack Jones and Morgan Evans were the last to compete in the children’s categories in the boys U14 +45kg. Both boys fought well, but were unable to progress through to the later stages. Despite losing to the eventual winner there was no repercharge for Morgan at this event.

Tom O’Leary & Kieran Hooper were both competing in the Male Cadet -70kg category, Tom was 1st to fight, narrowly losing to his Scottish opponent, who unfortunately lost in the semi final and denied Tom the chance of returning in repercharge. Kieran won a very tight 1st fight, on flags, before losing out against an England international in the semi finals.
Kieran had one more fight for the Bronze medal, and pulled off what is surely the best performance of his short competition career to win the match 7-0! Our 1st medal of the day.
Amy Nicholas was next up in the Junior Female -59kg category, which had some very strong opposition. Amy made a slow start but soon picked up the pace, before losing to the eventual winner in the semi final, she bounced back strongly to win the bronze through repercharge.

The senior categories got underway around 5pm, with Holly Carey (Female +68kg) 1st on to the mat, she made a very strong start and was too fast for her 1st opponent to handle, after this she was full of confidence winning through to the final without conceding a point. The final started off quite cagey, with both girls keen to test the other early on, an interruption due to kids running through the area to get their medals saw the match switched to another area with 30 seconds gone and the scores level at 0-0. As the match resumed Holly quickly went through the gears to score 8 unanswered points to take the gold medal (and British title) with 1 minute 30 seconds remaining in the match.

Jordan Harris was next up, in his 1st major tournament since turning 18,  has proved many times that he was one of the best Juniors (U18) in world karate, and was keen to show he will be a force to be reckoned with in the Senior categories. He had a very tough 1st match against the reigning British champion, but showed great speed and skill to be leading the fight by 1 point going into the last 10 seconds, unfortunately a small lapse in concentration saw his opponent equalise with just 2 seconds remaining – the match was to be decided by the referee and judges (as there were only 3 judges plus the referee, if the flags were even the referee would have the casting vote), unfortunately for Jordan the flags went 2-2, with the referee preferring his opponent, his opponent couldn’t repeat last year’s winning performance, losing out in the semi final and therefore denying Jordan a place in therepecharge. Mark McMahon was the last to fight, winning through to the final with some solid performances, unfortunately Mark was unable to match Holly’s gold medal winning performance, having to settle for the silver medal.

Overall 4 medals and 1 British Champion – and a great weekend enjoyed by all!
Videos to be added to our YouTube Channel later this week.

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Brown Belt Grading – Saturday May 19th

Yesterday, the Welsh Bushi-Kai held it’s first Brown Belt Grading of 2012 at the Cwmafan Community Centre.
Prior to grading, there was an opportunity for the students to have a final run through their syllabus during an hour long course.
From the very start, it was obvious that all of the students were fully prepared to attempt their grade examination.
After a 10 minute break, the students were split into their grading groups and the grading itself took place.
We are pleased to report that everyone who attempted the grade examination was successful….Well done to all.

The Grade examiners on the day were Percy Brown 6th Dan, Nigel Taylor 5th Dan, Paul Bridge 5th Dan & Mark McMahon 4th Dan, who were assisted by Natacha Coleman and Dave Jowett, both 3rd Dans.

The next Brown Belt Grading takes place on Saturday 10th November.

A selection of photos from the grading have been added to the “Photos” page of this site.

Competition News:
Yesterday, the Welsh Bushi-Kai Junior / Development Squad competed at the Invitational Event in Weston, hosted by the Western Karate Union. This tournament is firmly established now on the Karate Calendar, and yesterday saw a huge number of competitors in attendance, some categories had 70 plus entries. Once again, our squad acquitted themselves very well, returning home with 3 Silver and 11 Bronze Medals….well done to all…..See Results Page for details.

Squad Training:
There will be an Association squad training session at the Cwmafan Dojo on May 19th, Starting at 11am.  This session is open to all members of the Bushi-Kai regardless of grade, age and experience. We have recently seen quite a few “new faces” entering tournaments and we look forward to seeing them, and more, at the training session.
NOTE: This training session takes place after the Brown Belt Grading, which will now commence at 9am on Sat May 19th.
REMINDER: The 2nd Brown Belt Course takes place at the Baglan Club on Friday 11th May….7.00 til 8.30pm

Selection News:
We are pleased to announce that 2 of our members, Mark McMahon & Holly Carey, have been selected to represent Wales at the Senior European Karate Championships which are taking place in Tenerife next weekend. Well done to both.
In addition, Holly has been picked for the British University Squad which will compete at the World University Karate Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia, in July.

EKF Championships
The Welsh Bushi-Kai will have two representatives at the Senior European Karate Federation Championships, being held in Tenerife in two weeks time.
Our congratulations go to Mark McMahon and Holly Carey who have both been selected to fight for Wales at this major karate event.
Mark and Holly will be joined by Alice Hooper (WKC) and Cheyne Phillips (WSKU) , who are also selected. Good luck and well done.

World University Championships
As further recognition of  her current form and tournament success so far this year, Holly Carey has been selected to represent the British Universities at the World University Karate Championships. This event takes place in July in Bratislava. – Well Done

Yesterday the Welsh Bushi-Kai attended the WKGB Welsh Closed Championships in Cardiff, and we returned home with a 25 medal haul.
Our squad, comprising of Junior and Seniors, were magnificent on the day and their discipline on and off the tatami was fantastic.
It was great to see a few of our students entering competition for the first time and we are sure that they will have learned a lot from the experience.
In total we came home with 12 Gold, 7 Silver and 6 Bronze medals – just reward for all of the preparation training put in.
Our thanks to all of the friends and family of our squad who came along and gave such great support.

Full list of our medallists can be seen on the Results page. ( to be updated later )

Junior Friendly Event – Bushi-Kai & Vale Karate. March 31st

The WBK sent a small squad up to Barry on Saturday for a friendly competition with our friends at Vale Karate. As always we had a fantastic welcome from Rob, Cathy and Gareth as well as the parents, supporters and the Vale Juniors.

For the first hour,both squads were given a quality training session by Vale Kumite Coach, the very talented, Gareth Reynolds. Gareth is a multiple Welsh Champion and a former British and Commonwealth title holder, who is now passing on his experience via his coaching skill.

Then we matched both teams up for 2 rounds of kumite.First were the under 10’s (James, Alfie and Evan ) followed by the under 12’s (Ellis ,Megan and Kieran). Both our teams were narrowly beaten by the Vale youngsters,but it was a keenly contested match with both squads performing very well and gaining some valuable time on the mat.

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Ritchie Noblett Commemorative Shield Event April 1st.

Sunday 1st April saw a 10 strong Bushi Kai squad travel to Bristol to compete for Ritchie’s shield against our old friends and fierce rivals the WKU. Nigel, Liz and Mark were all keen to see our squad compete against WKU,as they are coached by 2 of Ritchie’s oldest friends and rivals in the karate world, Alan Flook (who was on the course in Dale where Ritchie passed his 1st dan grading in 1969) and Andy Gunton.

Our two squads have battled hard against each other for 30+ years, and are still 2 of the top squads in Britain, which is testimony to the hard work, dedication and commitment that Alan, Andy, Ritchie and now Nigel have put into developing their students.

The Bushi Kai squad received a very warm welcome from the WKU when we arrived and the atmosphere was friendly. A short warm up taken by Alan, followed by  some light sparring which got everybody in the mood. Several first to score matches then took place on two areas which was great speed work. A short rest followed before the main event.

The team of 10 consisted of 1 under 16 boy, 7 senior men and 2 senior women. Fighting in that order.
Every match was extremely close, with neither team able to gain a significant lead in the match. WKU eventually won 5-4 with one match drawn. Liz was on hand to present Ritchie’s shield to the winning captain, Darren Haynes.

The Bushi Kai would like to thank Alan, Andy and the rest of the WKU for their hospitality. We’re looking forward to welcoming WKU to Port Talbot next year and the opportunity to win the shield back.

In Summary, a great weekend of karate for the Bushi-Kai, training alongside & competing against top class opposition. The atmosphere at both events was fantastic and we look forward to continuing our long standing friendships and rivalries with the Western Karate Union & Vale Karate, organizations who, like the Welsh Bushi-Kai, put the development of their students first.

Welsh Bushi-Kai Grading Examiners and New Black Belts. 

Yesterday, the Welsh Bushi-Kai conducted its first Dan Grading of 2012. The Grading took place at our Baglan Dojo and the Grade Examiners were Percy Brown 6th Dan, Paul Bridge 5th Dan, Nigel Taylor 5th Dan and Mark McMahon 4th Dan.

After completing an extensive pre-grade training program, all of the candidates were primed and ready to go and gave a great account of themselves. We are pleased to report a 100% pass rate, and offer our congratulations to the following:-

1st Dan
Richard Bacagan – Neath Bushi-Kai
Leighton Owen – Baglan/Lido

1st Dan (Junior)
Jack Furse – Cwmafan
James O’Leary – Cwmafan
Harry Lewis – Cwmafan
Morgan Phillips – Cwmafan
Tom Hole – Gilfach Goch
Georgia Thomas – Gilfach Goch

3rd Dan
Jordan Hopkins

We would like to thank the large group of spectators who attended the event and we hope you enjoyed and appreciated the standard of Karate on display, particularly the 3rd Dan Grading which was exemplary.

Great news from the Evening Post Awards ceremony held in Swansea this evening.-

Nigel Taylor has won the Coaching Award for Coaching at Grass Roots Level.
Well done to Nigel on receiving this accolade – a great achievement and deserved recognition of  his coaching ability and dedication to the Welsh Bushi-Kai Karate Association.

Last weekend saw our Swansea University Squad in action at the British University Karate Championships (BUCS) held at the Ponds Forge Centre in Sheffield.
The Teams were in action on Saturday and both the Male and Female Teams narrowly missed out on the Medals, losing at the qtr final stage. A very creditable and encouraging result.

On Sunday,the Individual Events took place. Once again our fighters acquitted themselves very well and we are pleased to report that 3 Individual Kumite Medals were won.

Gold for Holly Carey in Senior Ladies 68kg+, Gold for Jessie May Morgan in the Ladies Novice -57kg and Bronze for Sam Larcombe -60kg men.

The Welsh Bushi-Kai would like to congratulate the Squad on their efforts – Well Done.
Several video clips of our fighters in action have been added to the Welsh Bushi-Kai Youtube Channel …. click on YouTube link on Homepage to view.