Welsh Bushi-Kai Karate Association

Course reminder:
The Brown Belt Course is taking place at the Baglan Karate club on Friday 16th April and starts at 7pm.  This course is primarily aimed at Purple and Brown Belts who will be grading in May. Would students who attend this course please bring their Licence Books with them so that course attendance can be recorded. Normal dojo fees apply for the course.
Brown Belt Grading:
The Brown Belt grading will take place on Sunday May 9th at the Cwrt Herbert Sports Complex in Neath. (11am – 2pm )
Dan Grade Course:
The Dan Grade Course starts on Monday 19th April at the Baglan Dojo and continues on Tues (Gilfach), Thurs (Cwmafan) & Fri (Baglan). Details can be found on the Events Page.
Dan Grading: 
The Dan Grading is being held in the Cwmafan Dojo on Saturday April 24th and will start at 10am

At the WKGB event held in Cardiff earlier today, the WBK Squad fought with great skill and determination resulting in a 21 medal haul.
Full results will follow but we can report that the WBK won 8 Gold, 6 Silver and 7 Bronze . Fantasic result , Well done to all, particularly our new WELSH CHAMPIONS. Many thanks to Gary Southall, Mike O’Leary and Dai Jones, our coaches at todays event.

See Results page for full listing of Medal winners.
Photos are now in Gallery

Day 1
First report back from the USA Open is that Nigel Taylor, Welsh Bushi-Kai Kumite Coach, has won a Bronze Medal in the Veterans category. This means that Nigel has now medalled in tournaments in each decade since the 70’s !  ( His first medal being won in 1979 )

Well done Nige.
Other news from Friday’s event in Vegas is that Jordan Harris, competing in the “Junior Olympic” category & scheduled to fight at 11 am eventually got on the area at 7pm and was “unlucky” to lose early on to an American opponent.
Team events will be taking place today ( Sat ) and the Individuals tomorrow.

Day 2
Yesterday the Welsh Bushi-Kai team were in action in Vegas and put in another outstanding performance. After making it through the earlier rounds, they finished with a Top 5 placing after losing out to the USA National team for the Bronze medal. This achievement can be put into context when you realise that our team were the only “Club Team” present, the rest being National Squad teams.

Day 3
Today saw the individual categories taking place and our fighters once again did themselves justice by competing against some top quality opposition. Anthony Bridge, Rhys Edwards and Jordan Hopkins all progressed into the last 16 of their categories before losing out. No medals , but 3 top 16 placings at one of the biggest events on the karate calendar is still a great result and demonstrates that our fighters can compete at the highest level. Finally, Jordan Harris, the last of our fighters to compete today continued on from his fine performance in Turkey by winning the Bronze in his event. Well done to everyone .

U.S.A  Open Karate  Championships
This coming weekend sees the US Open Karate Championships being held at the world famous Caesars Palace Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and the WBK will be there !!  Mark McMahon, Nigel Taylor, Anthony Bridge, Rhys Edwards , Jordan Harris and Jordan Hopkins are flying out on Weds and will be representing our Association at this Top International Tournament. Joining our fighters for the team event is our good friend, Paul James from the Western Karate Union.- Have a great trip guys and good luck.

Welsh Jnr & Snr Karate Championships
Also taking place this coming Sunday is the WKGB Welsh Closed Karate Championships which is being held at the usual venue – WIS, Sofia Gardens, Cardiff.  The remainder of our Senior squad plus a strong Junior squad from the WBK will be there and will be giving their all to be crowned WELSH Champions.  Again we wish all our fighters well – we know you will give a good account of yourselves.

WKGB Coaching Courses
Would all members of the Welsh Bushi-Kai who intend to renew or attain a WKGB Coaching qualification please make sure that your name and details are  given to our Admin Officer, Liz, by this Weds ( 24th).
Liz will then be organising the dates for the courses with WKGB Coaching Officer Paul Scott.

For further information please contact the Admin Office. [e-mail] , or Phone 01639 773854

WKGB Squad Selections
Congratulations to Rhys Edwards & Dave Godfrey on their selection to the Welsh National Team that will be competing at the EKF European Senior Karate Championships. This event is being held in Athens, Greece between Apr 30 – May 2nd.
Selected Athletes  (All Kumite)
Robbie Scott (WKK) Male -60Kg. & Team
Gareth Reynolds (VGKO) Male -67Kg. & Team
Rhys Edwards (WBKA) – Team
David Godfrey (WBKA) Male -75Kg. & Team
Dean Draper (BW) Male +84Kg. Team
Sammi Scott (WKK) Female -55Kg.

Welsh Bushi-Kai Brown Belt Course
THERE WILL BE A BROWN BELT COURSE ON FRIDAY APRIL 16th AT BAGLAN COMMUNITY CENTRE   7.00pm  –  8.30pm
 ALL THOSE ATTEMPTING THEIR GRADING ON SUNDAY MAY 9th CAN ATTEND. 
THE COURSE WILL ALSO BE OPEN  FOR ANYONE WISHNG TO HAVE THE EXTRA TRAINING.
 
NORMAL DOJO FEE APPLIES.

Sunday 14th March
Following on from yesterdays fine performances, our Uni squad again acquitted themselves really well at todays event.
Wayne Hartley won the Silver in the Mens lightweight  (novice) Kumite.  Sam Larcombe won Bronze in the -60kgs Mens kumite. Uni Club captain, Ryan Phillips narrowly missed out on Bronze after making it to the repecharge final and had to settle for a top 5 place. Also placed in the top5 in their Categories were Pete Twybill and Rachel Parker.  Well done everyone.

Saturday 13th March
A great start for our Uni Squad at the British Universities Karate Championships in Sheffield today, with our Ladies kumite team winning a very creditable Bronze Medal. Team members- Jess Forse, Holly Carey, Rachel Parker & Kerri Morgan ( Brown and green belts) fought with great spirit against more experienced opposition. Well done girls.

B.U.C.S Karate Championships
Good luck to our Swansea University Squad who are competing in the B.U.C.S Championships in Sheffield this weekend.
Mark McMahon will be attending as Squad coach, assisted by Jenna Evans and Hannah Griffiths.

WKGB Coaching Qualification
Would all WBK Instructors / Students wishing to attain or renew their WKGB Coaching Qualifications please notify Liz , or Club Instructor of their details (ie. Name..age..grade) as soon as possible so that we can arrange the courses with the WKGB Coaching Officer, Paul Scott. Available dates are Sat 15th and Sat 22nd May.

Today the Welsh Bushi-Kai held its’ first Kyu Grade course & grading of 2010.  Due to the unavailability of the Afan Lido, this event was held at the Cwrt Herbert Sports Centre in Neath, and the WBK would like to thank the staff of Cwrt Herbert for an excellent service.
The preparation course held this morning ensured that all students taking their gradings were fully prepared.
In addition to the pre-grading course, a course was held in the morning for purple and brown belts. There were 48 students on this course with the  WBK Senior Instructors.
The afternoon grading was a great success and the WBK would like to congratulate all who successfully passed their examination.
Passes by grade were: RED 7, YELLOW 5, ORANGE 7, GREEN 8, BLUE 8, and PURPLE 9.
The WBK Senior grades would like to thank all of the Dan grades who turned up and assisted throughout the day. Finally we would like to thank parents and other spectators for their support. – We look forward to seeing you all again at the next association Kyu Grading which takes place on July 18th.

UNITED STYLES UK OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS – FEB 28th:
Yesterday the Welsh Bushi-Kai sent a small squad of fighters to Stourbridge to compete in the UK Open  organised by Paul Campbell.
Our fighters acquitted themselves very well and returned home with 3 Gold, 4 Silver and 2 Bronze medals.
James O’Leary, Megan Taylor and Amy Nicholas won Gold –  Tom O’Leary,  Jack Jones, Anthony Bridge and our Snr Mens Team got Silver –  with  Mark McMahon & Dai Godfrey getting Bronze.
A Great start to what will, no doubt, be another very successful year for the Bushi-Kai. 

REMINDER :- COURSE & GRADING MARCH 7th:
The first Association Kyu grade course & grading takes place this coming Sun at Cwrt Herbert Sports Centre in Neath. In addition there will be a course for those students who are 4th Kyu & above  ( Purple & Brown Belts). The courses will be starting at 10:00am.