Welsh Bushi-Kai Karate Association

Good luck to the Welsh Bushi-Kai Squad who are travelling up to Scotland tomorrow to compete at this weekends Scottish International Open Karate Championships. This event, held at the Meadowbank Sports Complex in Edinburgh, is hosted and organized by the SKGB and is one of the biggest events on the UK Karate Calendar, attracting competitors from across Europe.
Many Top class International fighters ( and some squads ) will be in attendance.

The WBK Squad have a busy tournament schedule ahead and  during the next few months we will be attending the following events:-

Western Karate Union Invitational Championships – May
BKF British Karate Championships – June
WKGB Welsh Junior Championships – July
WKGB Welsh Open Championships – August
BANZAI CUP, Berlin, Germany – September.

WKGB WELSH CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Welsh Bushi-Kai have confirmed its status as the driving force in Welsh Karate after an incredible set of results at the Welsh Karate Championships held in Cardiff on April 9th, with our squad winning an unprecedented 16 Gold, 9 Silver and 13 Bronze Medals.

Winning a total of 38 medals at our National Karate Championships is an amazing achievement  for our squad and they must be complimented on their efforts, dominating all categories from Senior Mens and Ladies down to Boys and Girls U12’s.

For the first time in the history of the Welsh Bushi-Kai we now hold Welsh Titles at Individual and Team in both Mens and Ladies categories. Our Squad Coaches, Nigel Taylor and Mark McMahon,  have done a great job with our fighters and should be suitably applauded for their efforts.

In addition to the performance of our Squad, the Welsh Bushi-Kai now has a Qualified Welsh National Referee in Nigel Taylor, who was awarded the position at Saturdays tournament. Well Done.

WELSH BUSHI-KAI DAN GRADING – March 26th 2011

Earlier today the WBK Spring Dan Grading took place at the Baglan Community Centre nr Port Talbot.
Having undergone months of hard training plus an intensive week long Dan grading course, the following students were successful in passing their Grade Examinations:

Gary Southall – 3rd Dan,  Matt Francis – 3rd Dan & Anthony Bridge – 3rd Dan
Josh Lewis – 2nd Dan,
Ryan Phillips – 1st Dan &  Adam Hanford Jnr 1st Dan.

The Grading Examiners for this event were Percy Brown 6th Dan, Paul Bridge 5th Dan, Nigel Taylor 5th Dan, Owen Cranfield 5th Dan and Mark McMahon 4th Dan.

Having been tested on the full syllabus of  Basics, Combination techniques, Sanbon / Ohyo / Kihon Kumite and advanced Kata, which were executed to the very high standard that we require, those grading were then pushed to their limits of endurance with several bouts of Jiyu Kumite ( Free fighting ) .

The WBK would like to congratulate Gary, Matt, Anthony, Josh, Ryan and Adam – your new grades are well deserved.
We would like to thank Danny Flynn, Mark Coleman, Dave Jowett ( all 3rd Dans ) and Darren Williams ( 2nd Dan ) for their assistance with the Partnered Blocks. Our thanks also to those family and friends who came to spectate at todays’ event.

Photos added to gallery page

B.U.C.S Karate Championships ….Ponds Forge, Sheffield

This weekend, our Swansea University Karate Squad has been competing in the British University Championships in Sheffield.
News just in from the event is that our students have come away with 2 Silver, 2 Bronze and 4 Top Five placings.
Uni Club Instructor Dave Jowett and WBK Asst. Kumite Coach Mark McMahon have reported back that all of the Squad fought well and gave 100%.

Congratulations to everyone on the squad for acquitting themselves so well.
See the Results page for details.

Below are the details for the week long Dan grade course. Will all club instructors please notify their relevant students.

MONDAY 21st March
BAGLAN COMMUNITY CENTRE    7.30 – 9.00pm
(Percy, Paul, Owen)

TUESDAY 22nd March
GILFACH GOCH KARATE CLUB    7.00 – 8.00pm
(Nigel)

WEDNESDAY 23rd March
PORT TALBOT KARATE CLUB 6.45 – 7.45pm
(Mark)

THURSDAY 24th March
CWMAVON COMMUNITY CENTRE 7.30 – 8.30pm
(Nigel)

FRIDAY 25th March
BAGLAN COMMUNITY CENTRE 7.00 – 8.30pm
(All Senior WBK Dan grades)

Liz will be at Baglan karate club on the Friday night to collect the licence books etc.

The Dan grade will take place on SATURDAY 26th MARCH at BAGLAN COMMUNITY CENTRE
10.00am start.

Yesterday we held the first General Grading ( 9th to 4th Kyu ) of 2011 at the Cwrt Herbert Sports Centre in Neath. In total there were over 80 students in attendance for the pre-grade course with 57 of them going on to take their grade examination. All who graded can be proud of their efforts and the examiners were suitably impressed with the standard of karate on display. Once again, a 100% pass rate was achieved, a creditable achievement for both students and Instructors. Furthermore, there were several students who excelled on the day and were considered worthy to jump a grade. Passes by grade were as follows: Red – 12, Yellow – 20, Orange – 6, Green – 8, Blue -6, and Purple – 5. The next general grading takes place on Sat 2nd of July

Brown Belt Course Feb 19th
Yesterday the WBK held its’ first course of 2011, which was held at the Baglan Community Centre.
This course , for Purple and Brown Belts, was a great success and the WBK Senior Instructors, headed by Percy Brown 6th Dan, would like to thank all who attended.
The students were put through a strenuous session of  Basics and Combination techniques before moving on to Blocking techniques.
Further courses will be held throughout the year and will be of great benefit to the students who attend as part of their preparation for future gradings.

UK Open Karate Championships,  Stourbridge,   Feb 20th
The WBK Squad were in action earlier today at the UK Open event, hosted by Paul Campbell 6th Dan.
We are pleased to report that our fighters enjoyed another successful day, returning home from the Midlands with 4 Gold, 5 Silver and 4 Bronze medals. Significantly, both our Senior squads (Men and ladies) plus our Juniors were among the Medals (See the Results page for details).
Once again we congratulate all of our fighters for their efforts.

BROWN BELT COURSE: 4th KYU – 1st KYU

BAGLAN COMMUNITY CENTRE
HAWTHORN AVENUE,
BAGLAN
SATURDAY 19th FEBRUARY 2011
10.00am – 12.30pm
£5 – all ages welcome.

INSTRUCTION BY THE SENIOR WBK INSTRUCTORS

This coming weekend sees the European Junior Karate Championships taking place in Novi Sad in Serbia, The Welsh Bushi-Kai are represented by Jordan Harris and Amy Nicholas who fly out on Wednesday with their Welsh team- mates.
Everyone at the Welsh Bushi-Kai wish Jordan, Amy and the rest of the squad good luck at this top international event.

Saturday 5th February, saw our Swansea University Karate Club take on Cardiff University in a Welsh Varsity Match. The event was arranged to give both squads some preparation to before the BUCS in March. Both University had large squads at the event. The competition started with Junior grade kata, and a great start for Cardiff taking 3 of the top 4 places, with only Laura England in her first competition preventing a clean sweep of the medals. The senior kata was next up, which saw Swansea take the top 2 positions, with Pete Twibill (Gold) and Emma Powell (Silver).

The Kumite started with the lightweight women, which saw one of Swansea’s more experienced competitors, Jess Forse, take the gold medal, with Kerri Morgan winning bronze. Next up were the heavyweight women, this category was won by another of the associations regular competitors, Holly Carey, Charlie Maling and Emma Powell, won silver and bronze respectively. The first of the men’s events saw Swansea’s Welsh International, Sean Rees, win gold, after a series of assured performances, without needing to hit top gear, Pete Twibill won his 2nd medal of the day, taking the bronze after beating last years BUCS bronze medallist Sam Larcombe in the 1st round. Swansea’s run of gold’s came to an end in the Heavyweight mens, with Cardiff’s experienced Matthew Coope emphatically winning the gold. Ryan Woodward (Silver) and Chris Lawrence (Bronze) kept Swansea in the medals.

To make sure all of the competitors got as many fights as possible there were Openweight categories for the men and women. In the women’s event, Holly and Jess continued their good form from earlier in the day to win through to the final. Both girls, knowing each other very well, started cautiously, Holly scored the first point which saw the fight open up. Holly was triumphant, to take her 2nd gold of the day, with Jess settling for silver. In the mens event Sean Rees was unable to compete due to an injury sustained in the lightweight category. Cardiff’s Matthew Coope, beat Swansea’s Sam Larcombe in the final to win his 2nd gold of the day.

The final events were the team events, as Swansea had 2 male and 2 female teams and Cardiff only one of each a round robin format was used. In the ladies event, Swansea A (Holly Carey, Jess Forse & Charlie Maling) were triumphant, with Holly ending the day undefeated with 3 golds, Jess winning 2 golds and a silver and Charlie 1 gold and 1 silver. The men’s event was slightly closer with Swansea A (Ryan Phillips, Ryan Woodward, Pete Twibill, Dan Kuras & Sam Larcombe) edging Cardiff to the gold.

The event was a great success, with all competitors having a minimum of 4 fights (Holly and Jess had 8 fights each) and gaining some invaluable tatami time. There was a really friendly atmosphere throughout, with the 2 squads being supportive of each other and wanting to do similar events in the future.

Mark McMahon.