SPORT RELIEF 2012

The Nottingham University Karate Club put on a non-stop 10 hour karate display on Tuesday 20th March to raise funds for Sports Relief. Please help us raise as much money for this very worthwhile cause as possible. It's still not too late to head over to their sports relief page to make a donation!

 

March 2012 - Annual GB Championships

Thankyou to everyone who contibuted to making our innaugural national championships a great success with competitiors from every Dentokan Karate dojo in the country competing for prizes in over 30 categories. You can enjoy photos from the event in our gallery and videos on our YouTube channel.

 

Report by Emma Aveston of Shinbukan Kent Dojo

 

Martial artists from across the country converged in Canterbury on Sunday for the Dentokan Associations inaugural National Karate Championships. Mark Caddy (National President and Chief Instructor for Dentokan clubs in Canterbury and Faversham) hosted karate clubs from as far afield as Nottingham, Northampton and Bath joined those around Canterbury for the association's 2012 national championships.

From children to veterans, Karateka of all ages and grades competed side by side with nervous grins on their faces. There were many categories throughout the day, including men, women, and children's kumite (sparring) and kata (sequences of pre-arranged techniques where competitors are marked on their grace, balance, and sharpness) among others.

Friendly rivalry abounded in the Male Team Kumite when the karate veterans took on their eager students. The gold eventually went to the University of Kent dojo with some ex-students returning specially for the day. It was a particularly successful day for the University club, with gold medals won for self-defence, weaponry self-defence, weapons kata and silver for the Female Team Kata along with many other wins.

Other Kent clubs had much success too in all their categories. The children in particular brought home a hoard of gold, silvers, and bronzes through a technique and focus which more than matched their older colleagues. It was a useful day for all who entered with every club winning medals including Margate Karate Club, Faversham & Whitstable Shotokan club and the Crow Karate Club from East Kent.
Following the success of the day all the competitors are planning to defend their titles next year in Nottingham and looking forward to more events in the year ahead.

 

 

Feb 2012 - KUmite Seminar University of Bath

Feb 11th saw around 60 Dentokan members from around the country came together for a great weekend of training and socialising hosted by Jim McCafferty at the University of Bath with instruction lead by Winston Williams, Steve Taplin and Ivor Thomas.

 

 

 

 

Be sure to visit the gallery now for all the photos from the event.

 

 

 

 

 

We're greatful to Emma Aveston of the Shinbukan University of Kent Dojo for the following report on the event.

 

For the crew of Kent karateka, crammed between hand mitts, leg guards and coats into the shaky university minibus (NCC-1701-E lovingly smeared into its grubby back window), Bath could seem a long way to travel for a seminar. But off our minibus puffed at Warp 5 down the M4, and we weren't alone. Clubs from Northampton, Nottingham, Wales, all came together to join the Bath dojo in their grand and beautiful city.

As we've come to expect from Dentokan events, there was no divide between grades, no superiority or preference. A rainbow of belts swept across the hall – red, yellow and green training alongside black. With kumite often the simplest techniques are the most effective so we drilled these together, creating a Mexican wave of kiais to surge down the room. Dripping with energy, we all made the most of sparring with those of different dojos. We practised feinting and drawing out an attack, but also how to recognize them. With a good selection to add to our repertoires, my favourite were the simplest. Altering the common one-two kazame-oezuki, for instance, by leading with the back arm first in a gyaku-jodan to open your opponent's guard; making your double punch a triple one; or feinting to the side to place a mawashi-geri to the back.

We weren't the only ones training hard though. There was a fair number of satisfied smiles when we watched our senseis being picked on for a change by the British champ Winston Williams (Kent's own Mark Caddy avoiding that one by guarding himself with camera duties). Williams' is a fantastic instructor, a delightfully charismatic man and he easily kept everyone focused, working our minds as hard as our bodies, the tempo fast. There was chance to cool off after lunch as Ivor Thomas went through the changing WKF rules for the more competition focused of us. After the break though, the gloves came on with Steve Taplin leading people through some of the feints and techniques he learnt from Wayne Otto over the years interspersed with opportunities for aach dojo head to have their chance to show the room a technique as we practised sparring with our new friends.

To finish, the higher grades got a chance to exercise some (friendly) competition with their Dentokan colleagues. The coloured belts too were kept focused as the uncertain kyus were guided to the corners of the mat with a red and blue mitt thrust into their hands and ordered to judge. I'm sure I wasn't the only one surprised at how difficult a job it is. When two dan grades charge at each other in the time it takes you to blink, it's a little more than difficult to see who scored first. I certainly gained a new respect for judges. It was disappointing that the rest of the room didn't get a chance to spar on the mats too, but time was limited. With the coming Dentokan competition in March though, we will certainly all get our chance and armed with a new set of skills picked up in Bath, it will surely be another eventful day.

The day was made invaluable by the numbers of eager karateka that converged in the city, and the fantastic guidance of Winston Williams and all the dojo heads. Thanks goes to all these instructors, and those 'volunteered' in traditional Caddy style to help organise the day (Maddie Dorey, struggling under an armful of registration forms and fivers waved in her face surely deserves a mention). A huge thank you must be given to Mark Caddy though as, despite his powers of delegation, constantly puts immense effort into bringing the Dentokan family together These events are always made special by the variety of people who come to train as equals and the commitment they put forth.

 

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