Team SRK are joined by club mascot Yoshi for a photo with all of their trophies won on the day.
Three young students from our National Squad managed to win gold, silver and bronze medals in the AMA Southern Open Karate Championships held in Clacton-on-Sea on Sunday 14th April
Emma Ludkins, 10, brother Tommy, 9 from South Ockendon and Adam Baglin, 10 from Chelmsford, beat over 20 other competitors in the 4th Kyu and below junior division for kata to secure first, second and third placings. In addition to this, Emma also secured an additional 2nd place in the girls kumite division.
Chief instructor Sensei Richard Hang Hong said;
“They have all worked incredibly hard and its great to see it pay off at events such as these. The team spirit in the squad is fantastic, and special mention must be made of our youngest and newest member Megan Homer, who at just 8 years old won her first trophy for kumite today. She only started competing last month and this was only her second time in a tournament so this was quite an achievement for her. Her parents who were watching the entire day have been very encouraging and supportive and I’m sure they are extremely proud of her success too.”
The rest of the 12 strong squad kept up the good work and brought home 15 trophies in total. Richard Hang Hong won Bronze in the Men’s Black Belt Kata, following straight into the Mixed Open Black Belt Kata event and narrowly missed out on Gold but secured a Silver trophy. Fellow Wickford students Zoe Nolan (11yrs) and Connor Frost (12yrs) both whom had just graded to brown belt in March, won Bronze and Silver in their respective kata and kumite divisions. Chelmsford’s Martin Lawrence, 2nd Dan won Bronze in the men’s -75kg kumite, as well as winning Gold in Team Kata with Samuel Parker (Tilbury) and Sensei Richard. 16 year old black belt Jade Green from South Ockendon also had success with a Bronze win for Kata.
On Sunday 27th January at the South Woodham Ferrers dojo, students from across all Seitou Ryu Karate dojos were put through their paces at the bi-annual National Squad Selections.
Students had to demonstrate a variety of skills and abilities in speed, strength, co-ordination and agility, getting ranked on their individual kata and kumite performances, as well as going through a gruelling fitness and agility test to prove that they were capable of competing at the different levels of tournaments that they would be entering throughout the Spring 2013 season.
15 students were selected, 1 for the elite ‘A’ Squad and 14 for the ‘B’ Squad, with 3 of those being given an opportunity to be promoted to the ‘A’ Squad depending on how well they perform over the next 2 months.
The new line up is as follows:
‘A’ Squad
Martin Lawrence
,
‘B’ Squad
Samuel Parker
Connor Frost
Jaiye Akinosho
Jade Green
Tatum Mandy
Zoe Nolan
Katie Nicholls
Alvin Shaw
James Burberry
Adam Baglin
Tommy Ludkins
Emma Ludkins
Claire Gillman
Megan Homer
Congratulations to all of the squad, we look forward to seeing great things from all of you throughout the season!
Q. What is a pig’s favourite Karate technique? A. Pork Chop.
Basic Definition via Wikipedia ‘’Fun is the enjoyment of pleasure’’
We all derive our fun or pleasure in different ways, some will be fulfilled with sedentary past times such as going for walks in the countryside, sitting in a comfy chair reading or listening to music etc – I must admit to being one of those from time-to-time. But for karateka and even parents of karateka, the fun/pleasure comes from the doing!
The “doing” for the parents of the youngsters in the highly successful Seitou Ryu Karate Squad “Team SRK”, can be seen in fun/pleasure those parents get from supporting their children in all the highs and lows in competing by the photos and comments made via such media as the club Facebook sites and official club website pages. For the competitors the fun/pleasure comes from pitting themselves against like-minded individuals and the experiences they bring away from such events.
Q. What’s Bruce Lee’s favourite drink? A. WATAHHHH!
It has been said by many pundits over the years that karate/martial arts is a selfish “Art” in that the individual will spend a lot of their time in practicing and honing their skills in a solitary way so that they can become the best that they can and only when in the dojo do they have any interaction with other karateka so those who haven’t yet taken the first step on the karate path will ask “Where is the fun /pleasure in that?”
There is a saying “You only get out, what you put in” and for me I get a sense of fun/pleasure in the practicing at odd-times (places) of the day the technical aspects of a move or stance and have been known to stand in front of a mirror practicing mawashi uke and getting thoroughly frustrated after many failed attempts and then the sudden rush when you finally get one right!
Wow! What a rush, and the effort expended spurs you on to try/practice other things, I remember many moons ago on numerous occasions standing at the bathroom sink washing etc, in shiko dachi to try and strengthen my stance so that come the time to practice in the dojo I was one of the last one to stand-up which in a different way brings a sense of achievement in being able to measure yourself against others around you. This is where the selfish part of training comes into itself and the fun you can personally obtain through that selfishness when time allows. Just be careful that you’re not in a public area at work/ school/shopping and start practicing a flow-drill or kata and collide with someone!
Q: How many karateka does it take to change a light bulb? A: Just one, but then all the rest stand around and say “That’s not how MY Sensei said to do it!”
When in the dojo, be it a class of many or just a few that sense of wanting to excel, to be the best that you can be rises to the fore and spurs you to greater efforts and in so doing takes you away from the day-to-day routine of life and where you may have been hesitant to go to class that evening, you leave the class in a better frame of mind, even though the physicality of the class may leave you aching for awhile, the pleasure/fun that you have taken from your efforts far outweighs the aches and pains. With everyone be they junior or senior when posed with a new drill or kata the novelty of that new drill/kata stimulates our brain in such a way that a pleasurable feeling is then associated with that exercise which is then stored in our memory banks as something nice, so that when we repeat the exercise our brain tells us as we start that we will enjoy this and have fun in doing it. This for me is evident when I am fortunate enough to be standing in line in a basic kihon class, going though all the basic blocks, strikes, kicks and stances that we all started to learn from our very first class, the memory of the fun/pleasure in taking part comes flooding back along with all the memories from those classes be those of failure as well as success, of lifelong friendships forged along the way, of the aches/pains, lumps & bumps with an overriding sense of fun! Don’t get me wrong, I still strive to learn new things and sometimes “old dogs, new tricks” applies, but that just means I keep on trying and it may take me twice as long to achieve the goal but I will try again. Why? I hear you ask – because I want that rush…. I want that warm feeling time and time again that fun/pleasure gives in the “doing”. It’s something that I get from every class, be it a little, be it a lot, be it from standing out front and seeing the fun/pleasure those in class are getting from participating in the class, be it from taking part as a student in a class, it’s the “doing” that gives the fun/pleasure.
So, why is having fun important? Fun is important as it fuels your interest and pleasure in what you are doing, that ultimately helps you grow as a person in whatever field you wish to apply this to and will help you excel and reap the benefits of your endeavours.
“The ultimate aim of Karate lies not in victory or defeat but in the perfection of the character of its participants.” Gichin Funakoshi
