<sup>Sensei Paul, Sensei Shaun, Tracy, Scott, Michelle and Beth all attended the championships, and everyone came away with a medal!!

Tracy retained the Kumite title she won last year with some impressive performances, as well as winning Silver in the Ladies black belt Kata. Tracy remained unbeaten in the tournament by leading Plymouth to Bronze in the team Kumite with Michelle.

JSKA Junior World Champion Scott showed he was worthy of this title by dominating the junior Kumite and winning Gold.  As well as this, Scott won Silver in Kata after narrowly missing out in a final play-off against a very high standard competitor from SSKI.  This win means Scott has remained unbeaten at Kumite throughout the whole year, an amazing achievement.</sup>

<sup>Shaun fought brilliant to gain Silver in the Men’s Black Belt Kumite and helped two members of the Plympton team to a Bronze in the team Kumite.

Other winners were Beth (Kata Gold and Kumite Bronze) and Michelle (team Kumite Bronze).</sup>

<sup>Sensei Paul took Silver in the Men’s Black Belt Kata and was very proud of the team’s performance.

Everyone performed with the true spirit of Karate and did the club proud.</sup>

<sup>Thanks also to Eden, Ros, Roger, Lindsey and Dawn for supporting all of the competitors, it really makes a difference.

Final Medal Tally: 3 Gold, 4 Silver, 3 Bronze!!!!! :-)

Team Plymouth back in the Dojo with their medals:</sup>

Sensei Dewey, SEKU Chief Instructor was in attendance for the quarterly Kyu grading.

It was a big class with many seniors in attendance from all of the local clubs, as well as many junior grades.

The two training sessions were aimed towards the Kyu grades, but everyone benifitted from the mixture of syllabus training and practical application scenarios prepared by Sensei Dewey.

Thanks to everyone for supporting the course.

Below are the grading results, well done to all:

Neil       - 4th Kyu
Beth      - 5th Kyu
Tilly       - 8th Kyu
Anjali    - 8th Mon
Kenzie  - 8th Mon
Caitlin   - 8th Mon
Frankie - 9th Kyu

Sensei Shaun and Senpai Ros were still buzzing about the Sensei Hazard course on Monday night at the dojo.

The topics covered over the two days included basic to senior grade preset kumite, keri waza with partners, stance movement and on the Sunday Sensei taught Gojushiho Sho and Bunkai.

As ever, all students left with great inspiration and lots to work on.  Shaun and Ros had a great time and enjoyed some high standard pair-ups.

When's the next course?!!

After an early start and a long drive through the fog, Sensei Paul, Shaun and Eden arrived at Portchester Community School for the Brown and Black Belt course.

Before the training was the AGM, which Sensei Paul attended with the other club instructors.

More importantly, after the AGM was the training session!!  Sensei Dewey took the class through Jiyu Ippon-Ni, Kaeshi Ippon and Jiyu Kumite (Randori).  All of these were expertly demostrated by Stacey Crowe and Dave Galloway from Portsmouth Karate Club.

In the second session Sensei Crowe took the class through Gojushiho Dai.  It was a difficult task to teach this senior Kata to a large class of brown and black belts, but he did an excellent job.  The attention to detail of Sensei Crowe's instruction was inspiring and everyone learnt a great deal.

After the training, many students took their dan gradings, congratulations to all. (Full results can be found here: http://www.seku.co.uk/blackbrown.htm)

Sensei Steve Hollister and his dojo in Saltash have officially joined SEKU.  Many of the Saltash club have trained with SEKU for years now and have been affiliated to SEKU through Plymouth Karate-Do.  But now they have left Swanda and have joined SEKU as a fully affiliated club.

This is great news for SEKU, especially in the south west, as this brings another strong dojo to the area. 

All at Plymouth Karate-Do welcome Sensei Steve and all his members!  Osu!

On 23/24th August the SEKU squad competed at the JSKA World Championships in Manchester.

Sensei Paul, Sensei Shaun, Senpai Tracy and Senpai Scott were all competing for the SEKU squad at this event.

The first event of the day was the veterans 45-54 Kata (I know Shaun doesn't look old enough).  Shaun fought hard through the Heian eliminations into the last 8, then performed Jion to gain a place in the final.  After a mistake by the judges, when they told Shaun to perform Enpi, when he should have been given a free choice, the referees worked out the error and asked Shaun to perform his choice kata.  As usual he chose Unsu, and why not!  His performance was by far the best of the category, we just had to wait for the scores.  19.4 was the score, and the title was his (beating a 7th dan into 2nd place!), Veterans Kata JSKA World Champion!!!  Shaun's hard work had paid off and he truely deserved it.  Well done!

Senpai Tracy did excellently to reach the semi finals in kata but just missed out on a final place.  Sensei Paul competed in the mens 22-34 kata, but lost early on to the current World Champion from Mexico :-(

On the Sunday it was the kumite events and after Tracy lost out in a tough fight, we knew it wasn't going to be easy.  But then it was Scott's turn!!

Scott had to wait til after 6pm for his event to start, but it was worth the wait.  He fought brilliantly in the early rounds, picking off his opponents with great timing and accuracy, using amazing speed which they couldn't cope with.  In the semi final his timing seemed to get better as he scored two very quick wazari's the second a jodan gyaku zuki thrown with speed and control which really deserved and ippon, but it didn't matter, he was in the final.  Now full of confidence, Scott had to fight a very good opponent and it was nihon kumite, the first to four wazari.  Scott waited for an opening and immediately saw one, and threw a scoring gyaku.  Then straight off the line after being awarded the first point his opponent came straight for him, but Scott was too sharp and caught him with a perfectly timed de ai gyaku.  It was 2-0 and his opponent was frustrated and Scott took advantage catching him cold with a kizami gyaku combination, 3-0, now he was ready to finish it and it didn't take long with another gyaku just like the first technique!! 4-0 in about a minute, 14-15 year old Junior Kumite JSKA World Champion!!  Wow!  And he didn't concede a single point in all his fights.

And lastly, the icing on the cake...

Earlier in the day, Shaun fought in the veterans kumite team with Graham Rowley (Portsmouth) and Lee Hollister (Saltash).  They had made it to the final and it was scheduled just after Scott's win.  The squad were buzzing after this, and Lee went out to fight first, he totally dominated his opponent and won 2-0, a perfect start, now it was Graham's turn, after a close fight it was 1-1 until graham scored in the dying seconds to secure the title, Shaun still fought though winning 2-1 against a tough opponent to win it 3-0 for the team.  Mens Veterans Team Kumite, JSKA World Champions!!!

A great day for the squad and for Plymouth Karate-Do.  Other squad results were MIke (Saltash) Silver Youths Kata, George (Lovedean) Silver Youths Kumite, Youths kumite team Bronze, Hannah (Saltash) 4th, female Kata.

Everyone at Plymouth Karate-Do is so proud of Shaun and Scott, SEKU's first individual World Champions, well done, Osu!.

Shaun, Lee and Graham, veterans kumite JSKA World Champions!


The SEKU squad before the tournament


Team Plymouth!  Tracy, Scott, Shaun and Paul


The SEKU Squad, after the tournament


The newly formed SEKU Squad Coaching Team, (Left to right) Sensei Paul with, Sensei Steve, Sensei Stacey Crowe (Portsmouth) and Sensei Terry Oliver (Lovedean)

Congratulations to Ros and Scott for passing their Nidan grading and to James for passing Shodan.  They all trained extremely hard for this and were outstanding in their exam led by Sensei Dewey and Sensei O'Donnell.

Well done !!! :-)

The SEKU squad were again the dominant force at this championships topping the medal table for the second year running.

Plymouth members were an integral part of this winning numerous medals:

Shaun retained the Kata title he won last year with beating another tough field.  His consistent high standards are an inspiration to all.  Shaun won bronze in the veterans kumite (I know, he doesn't look old enough!) and he also helped the SEKU Men's team to bronze in the international team kumite.

Riccardo did excellently also winning Gold in the brown belt Kata, this is the second year he's won gold at this tournament.

Tracy was on form again, coming second in the individual kata, only losing out to a brilliant karateka from Belgium.  Tracy then teamed up with two other excellent karateka from other associations and helped them win Gold in the ladies team kumite.  Then she finished off a fantastic day by winning the individual kumite, her third individual title already this year and her 7th Gold in total for the year.

Sensei Paul was squad coach for the tournament and was very pleased with the performances of the whole squad, in particular the Plymouth members.

Plymouth members were on form again winning numerous medals at the tournament.

Scott was the competitor of the day becoming Junior Grand Champion.  He won Kata gold with a brilliant performance of Sochin and later beat numerous squad members including the defending champion to win the Kumite Gold.  To win both events is an amazing acheivement, but to do it at 13 years of age, beating competitors over two years older than him makes the acheivement even more impressive.

Sensei Shaun won the individual Kata for the third year in a row, he was on form again, beating some tough opponents in the final.

Tracy had another great day, winning the ladies kumite title for the third year in a row, and she also came second in the Kata performing Sochin in the final.

Tracy also teamed up with Laura and Sensei Paul to win gold in the adult team kata.  Their performance of Sochin was a clear points winner.

After some time out of competing Maff fought really well to retain the youths kumite title he won last year, beating another squad member in a difficult final.

Other results were: Riccardo - Bronze junior kata and junior 3 step, Coirle - Silver junior kumite and junior 3 step.  Michelle - Bronze brown belt kumite.

Well done to all! :-)

The SEKU squad were very successful at the Legend Open again this year, and although only three Plymouth members were competing for the squad this time, they certainly helped the medal tally, all winning Gold!!!  

Scott retained the kumite title he won last year and Riccardo also won Gold in a very tough (older junior) kumite category as well.

Tracy was the pick of the competitors again (most sucessful competitor in the whole tournament), becoming Grand Champion for the second year running.  This is an amazing acheivement!  She was also part of the mixed team that won gold!

Well done to all!

The results of the Plymouth members are below:

Scott - Gold - Over 5ft Kumite   (11-13 year Olds)

Riccardo - Gold - Over 5ft Kumite   (14-15 year Olds)

Tracy - Gold - Ladies Individual Kata
Tracy - Gold - Ladies Individual Kumite
Tracy - Gold - Mixed Team Kumite (With Dave Galloway, Portsmouth and Matt Powell, Portchester)

Some of the SEKU Squad are pictured below, with Sensei Stacey Crowe (SEKU Referee) and Sensei Paul (SEKU Squad Coach)