Welsh Bushi-Kai Karate Association

Northern Open Karate Championships:

Following Saturdays hugely successful North Wales Open, 9 of the squad travelled to Warrington for the Northern Open Classic Championships where they were joined by 4 more competitors from Swansea university. After signing in at 9am the long wait began until the 1st kumite event started after 3pm. Tom Hole was 1st up and repeated the previous days gold medal – Tom won 5 fights all within 45 seconds to claim the Boys 6-8yrs title. Next up was Toms sister Becky, who went one better than the previous day,  winning  Silver in the Girls 9-10yrs.
It was a full 3 hours before Jodie Denton and Holly Carey stepped up for the Senior Ladies.  Holly Carey, who has only been competing for 6 months, performed exceptionally well beating much more experienced competitors to claim a well deserved Bronze.
Next up was Nic Hole in the 11-13 boys. Nic fought superbly winning his 1st 3 fights against much larger opponents, before losing out in the 1/4 finals, after being penalised for avoiding contact despite being blatantly pushed off the tatami.
The Senior Mens started at 9pm ( just as the 1st aid were leaving! ).  Ryan Phillips, Rhys Edwards and Mark McMahon all fought well before losing out to some highly “debatable” decisions. Mark & Rhys settling on Top8 placings.
Due to the late hour & the lack of recognised 1st Aid cover the decision was made to pull out of the Team events and head for home.
A long and frustrating day but a valuble lesson for our less experienced fighters.

North Wales Open Karate Championships.

The Welsh Bushi-Kai sent a large squad to todays competition held in Wrexham. Our fighters had a remarkable day, winning Gold in 9 out of  10 Kumite categories. In addition to the 9 Golds, our squad members also won 3 Silver and 4 Bronze medals. Of particular importance is the fact that we won Gold medals in all categories, from Senior to under 10’s. Our squad coaches, Nigel Taylor and Mark McMahon, have done a great job with the fighters and must be delighted with todays results. The Welsh Bushi-Kai squad of fighters is getting bigger and better with every tournament and we can look forward to more great results as the year unfolds.
Congratulations to everyone who fought today.
Full listing of our medalists can be viewed on the Results page.

This year the Welsh Bushi-Kai Karate Association celebrates it’s 3oth Anniversary. Since it was founded in 1980 by Shihan Ritchie Noblett the association has gone from strength to strength and is now recognized throughout the karate fraternity as one of the country’s finest karate organisations, and our formidable kumite squad is known throughout the UK and Europe for the quality of its fighters.

Last night saw the WBK members, friends and families gather for an Anniversary Dinner at Blancos Hotel in Port Talbot. Nigel Taylor got proceedings under way with an introductory speech,  briefly outlining the history of the Association, the success and continued growth of all of our clubs and the fantastic achievements of our Kumite squad. As a tribute , those assembled  rose to give a minute of  applause in memory of  our founder and Chief Instructor, Shihan Ritchie Noblett. – who was undoubtedly one of the finest Karate – Ka seen in this country. Then, after a superb meal, it was time to party !

We would like to thank the staff and management of  Blancos for providing us with a first class service throughout the evening.
Also,our thanks and appreciation go to Liz, for arranging the celebration and for her never ending efforts as Association administrator.

The Welsh Bushi-Kai has seen many changes in the past 30 yrs but one thing will remain constant – our dedication to producing top class Karate-Ka

Successful students

On Sunday May 9th,  the Welsh Bushi-Kai held the first Brown Belt Grading of 2010 at the Cwrt Herbert Sports Centre in Neath.  After completing a pre grade course in the morning, our students then took their grade examination in the afternoon.

The standard of Karate displayed by the students was first rate and a credit to themselves and to their Club Instructors, and a 100% pass rate was acheived.

Congratulations to everyone on their fine efforts yesterday….Keep up the hard work … your goal of acheiving Black Belts is getting nearer !

Passes by grade were:  3rd Kyu – 12,  2nd Kyu – 8 and 1st Kyu – 3
Group photos have been added to gallery page

The next Brown Belt grading is scheduled for November 21st.

The WKGB Welsh Squad will not  be attending the European Senior Karate Championships in Greece. Whilst the squad members will be extremely disappointed at missing this event, their safety and well being comes first and the Welsh squad management have had no alternative given the current situation in Greece, particularly Athens .

Extract from WKGB Statement:
” Unfortunately, due to the current volatile political situation in Greece, the personal safety of the Welsh Squad has come into question.The internal unrest has caused considerable turmoil to the Greek infrastructure, which has subsequently resulted in the cancellation of all methods of transport. The pre-arranged flights both in and out have been cancelled, with no possibility of alternative routes, which would allow Wales to participate and effect our return.
As the Safety & Well Being of our National Squad is of paramount importance, we have had to make to decision not to attend the event.”

The Welsh Bushi-Kai sent a strong squad to the Western Karate Union Invitational Championships held in Weston today, where we had 36 Individual competitors and 4 Senior Male teams in action. The WKU event is always a quality event attracting top karate-ka and is therefore a tough competition. We received our customary warm welcome from Sensei Alan Flook & his WKU – who have been such good friends & strong rivals for many years.
As always our fighters  and kata exponents gave 100% on the area and came away with a haul of 28 medals –  7  Gold, 7 Silver and 14 Bronze – a magnificent achievement which  shows the strength in depth that we have in our ranks. Our  coaches, Nigel Taylor & Mark McMahon are doing a great job with the Squad and their efforts are reflected in our success.
Congratulations to all who competed today.

See the Results page for full details of the medal winners,

Welsh Senior Squad for Athens

Next weekend the European Senior Karate Championships takes place in Athens, Greece. The Welsh Bushi-Kai is proud to have two members of our Association, Rhys Edwards & Dai Godfrey, selected to represent Wales at the premier event in European Karate.

Welsh Squad Members Photo: ( L – R )
Dean Draper – BKW
Rhys Edwards – WBK
Dai Godfrey – WBK
Gareth Reynolds – VGKO
Sammi Scott – WKK
Robbie Scott – WKK

The Welsh Bushi-Kai would like to wish good luck to our National team.

( Photo Courtesy of the Welsh Karate Governing Body )

Congratulations to our students who successfully passed their Dan Grading examination earlier today. All of the commitment and sheer hard work put in during the last year has paid dividends….Well done to all. Also we would like to thank the Dan Grades who assisted the candidates with the Partnered Blocks. 
WBK Senior grades on the Dan Grade Panel were:   Owen Cranfield 5th Dan, Nigel Taylor 5th Dan, Mark McMahon 4th Dan and our Principal Instructor, Percy Brown 6th Dan.  Passes were as Follows:-

Shodan ( 1st Dan )
Keiron Hooper,  Jessica Forse  and  Aaron Hughes
Nidan ( 2nd Dan )
Jordan Harris
Sandan ( 3rd Dan )
Danny Flynn

Group photos from todays’ grading can be viewed in the photo gallery.

The course held earlier this evening at the Baglan Dojo was a great success with over 40 purple and brown belts supporting the event.
The course was presided over by the WBK Senior Dan Grades, headed by Percy Brown 6th Dan.
After a very thorough warm up routine, students spent the first part of the course going through a tough session of basic and combination techniques. The second half of the course was more grade specific with each grading class assigned to one of the Senior Dan Grades to work on their Sanbon Kumite  techniques, before briefly touching on their  Ohyu Kumite .
The course came to an end all to soon but there was still enough time for a run through of the Pinan Katas
plus a few of the more advanced Kata.
The Senior grades would like to thank everyone who turned up and worked so very hard. Your effort and commitment was first class and will pay dividends come the grading in May. Needless to say, those who intend to grade still have work to do and should continue to work hard at their karate. Anyone wishing to add extra sessions to their grading preparations are welcome to come to the Baglan dojo.
More Courses will be held throughout the year and as soon as the dates are sorted we will let everyone know. Finally we would like to thank all of the parents of our younger students for your support, and to all of the Dan grades for your assistance.

Next week it’s the turn of those attempting Dan gradings and their week long training course begins on Monday.