Karate England Fiasco

On the day of our selections for the forthcoming Cadet & Junior European Championships which are being held in Turkey, our competitors were told and issued a letter about Karate England having no funds and how much it’s going to cost the selected competitors themselves to compete for their country.  Why is KE board putting the cart before the horse?  Will they ever be proactive?  Are they going to reimburse the monies which went MISSING when they were in power as board of directors?  ...

Karate England Unanswered Questions...

Since last week Sport England are supposedly in dialogue with Karate England but, as yet, there has been no communication received by the associations. Just rumours and innuendos go on with a wealth of emails and texts between interested parties still trying to gain some of the answers to many outstanding questions. What Shuhari-Kai would like to know is: ...

Karate Scoreboards for Sale

Sensei Richard Burridge has secured a deal to obtain the K-KTOP Electronic Karate Scoreboard for £695.00 inc. VAT. Deals for more than one scoreboard are available. Anyone wishing to make a purchase or for more information, please feel free to phone Richard on 07850 253998.

K-KTOP * Controlled Via Back Panel (Portable Club Model) - 35 Metres Readability - User friendly - Lightweight - Transportable - Battery Powered

Shuhari-Kai Christmas Championships Photos

The Shuhari-Kai Christmas Championships photos have been loaded onto Photo Box. Photos of the event can be viewed and accessed through this site where general and speciality photos can be purchased too. So if you fancy seeing your 'mug' on a mug (face on a cup...) then check out the photos here.

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/4702031

17th Karate Project - Venice Cup

Noale, Venice was the venue once again for this years Venice Cup held a couple of weeks earlier than last year on 2-3rd December 2006. Alex and Aimee Sell from Shuhari-Kai Karate Club both made the trip this year. This was Alex's third time here, both times previously as part of the Southern Regional squad, this year there was no Regional squad and not much of a Governing Body left either as it goes. This was Aimee's first visit here now being 11 years old and allowed to compete where previously she had been too young and she was keen to make her mark. Alex too was keen to keep his phenomenal streak going in Venice having won his individual Kumite events the previous two years and gaining a silver in Kata last year. Alex also gained gold in team Kumite last year as part of the Southern Regional squad who topped the overall medal table, but as said before - no squad this time. What a difference a year makes.  Even though there were less competitors from England this year, at least from the old Southern Regional squad with Alex and Aimee probably being the only possible representatives, there were more competitors with 1335 registered from 23 countries...

Welsh Wonders

It was the three amigos who become the Welsh Wonders on Sunday 26th November 2006 as Sophie Roberts, Aimee Sell and Alex Sell travelled to Cardiff, Wales to take part in the Welsh Open Championships. Last year the trio came home with 5 medals - all Gold as it happens, this year they won another 5 medals between them - 3 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze...

BT Exact Championships

Callum Alboni took the opportunity to further his competition experience by attending the BT Exact Open Championships hosted by EKKA. The championships took place on Sunday 19th November 2006 at St. Joseph's College, Ipswich. Callum was the sole representative from Shuhari-Kai Karate Club which added that extra pressure to him...

Haart Estate Agents sponsor Shuhari-Kai

Jodie Miles collected a cheque on behalf of Shuhari-Kai karate club, from Rob Butterworth manager of Haart Estate Agents who sponsored the club. Haart very kindly donated £5 for every board erected outside students homes that live in the Harold Wood / Harold Hill area...

Toyakwai International Open Championships

Sunday 29^th October 2006 saw ten Shuhari-Kai Karate Club students travel the short distance to one of our most local tournaments, the Toyakwai International Open, which was being held at Goresbrook Leisure Centre in Dagenham, Essex. The squad did reasonably well bringing home four silvers and two bronzes but no gold this time round. The squad had a few new faces competing at this event and although not everyone medalled, it’s hoped that the less experienced and new squad members enjoyed the experience...

Jodie Shines in Ipswich

Jodie Miles was Shuhari-Kai's lone representative at the EKKA East Anglian Open Karate Championships held on Sunday 22nd October 2006. Jodie did exceptionally well to bring home two medals, Gold in her Kata event and a Bronze in Kumite. Well done to Jodie.

Renten Goshin Join Ranks

Craig Phillips's Karate organisation, Renten Goshin Martial Arts, has now joined Shorai Karate-Do International Association. SKDI, Shuhari-Kai's parent Association, has been running for a number of years and boasts Shihan Timmy Francis, Stevie Gul and Richard Burridge, as founding members. Shuhari-Kai would like to welcome Renten Goshin on board and hope to be competing with them in the future. Click HERE for SKDI details and HERE for Renten Goshin website.

Welsh Karate Association Open Championships

Sunday 15^th October 2006 saw three students from Shuhari-Kai Karate Club travel to Port Talbot in deepest Wales to compete in the Welsh Karate Association Open Championships. The squad had never attended this tournament before and didn’t quite know what to expect, but as ever they are always on the lookout for new challenges. The squads’ forays into Wales usually prove to be fruitful with the squad coming home with a bag full of trophies and this foray proved no different with the trio coming home with 4 Golds, 2 Silvers and 2 Bronzes between them...

Shuhari-Kai Medal at Meopham

Sunday 15^th October saws 8 students from Shuhari-Kai attend the Meopham Open.

The Meopham Open is a very well organised event, and ran very smoothly with all four mats being used continuously. With over 100 competitors the whole competition was over by 3p.m.

The competition started with category 1 which was mixed kata novice to 7^th kyu. Our only competitor in this event was Brandon Halling...

South West Open Championships

Well the idea was good and the time and effort that went into the planning was evident to see. The idea of the South West Open Championships was to bridge the gap between club/association level and national level competition and bring a high calibre tournament to the Bristol area. The major categories all had a 'Showcase' final held towards the end of the tournament preceded by music and a street dance group to liven things up. A free prize draw of an LCD TV before the finals also kept the audiences interest as did the cameras from SportUK.TV, the film crew who were tasked with bringing the best of the tournament to the masses. The tournament organisers wanted to showcase the finalist, the best talents from Britain, rather than shy away from their achievements. This wasn't your ordinary medal and go tournament and I applaud Simon O'Brien and Imperial Karate for attempting to break away from the traditional tournament mould and trying to make it more spectacular and rewarding for the competitors...

Luckily for us the venue is only about half an hour away but with the M25 shut we had to make a detour and find another alternative route which took us a little longer than expected and then only arriving with about 15 minutes spare to get ready...

7th Czech International Karate Cup

Aimee and Alex Sell flew out of Stanstead Airport early Saturday morning to take part in the 7th Czech International Karate Cup which was being held over two days, Cadets and Juniors on Saturday 30th September with Children on Sunday 11th October 2006. Due to the very early start we found ourselves in Pilsen, around 10am. After dropping off our luggage we jumped into a taxi and headed off to the sports hall to catch up on the mornings action. At the venue we met up with fellow England participant, Harry Cannon from Khalsa Karate. We also found two England squad members - Reece Taylor in the midst of his Kata event and James Steadman patiently waiting to go on for his Kumite event.  After a few hours of watching the Cadets and Juniors in action, we headed back to our hotel in the centre of Pilsen... 

Karate England National Junior Championships

Shuhari-Kai's Aimee Sell became the latest English National Champion as she secured Gold in the Girls 10-11yrs Kata event. Brother Alex Sell claimed a Bronze in the Boys 14-15yrs Kata with Vishaal Dovedi claiming his first National medal with a Bronze in the Boys 10-11yrs Kumite event...

Toyakwai Grand Open Championships

Callum Alboni became Shuhari-Kai's Golden Boy as he became TKA Grand Open Champion at the Toyakwai Grand Open Championships held recently. Callum, competing with four other members of the Shuhari-Kai squad, travelled to Clacton on Sunday 17th September 2006 taking part in both the Kata and Kumite events within his grade and age group. Callum came home with a Kumite Gold, Alex and Aimee Sell both came home with Kata Silvers with Jodie Miles capturing a Kata Bronze. Shane Mitchell featured well but unfortunately didn't medal this time...

AMA Southern Open Championships

Sunday 10th September saw a small squad of five from Shuhari-Kai travel to the Rivermead Leisure Centre in Reading, Berkshire, to take part in the AMA Southern Open Championships. The championships were not overly busy with about 250 competitors taking part meaning the squad got away fairly early at around 4:30ish. Not too bad...

Seishin Open Championships

The Seishin Open held on 6th August 2006 was one or our local competitions only being about 20 miles away at the Grundy Leisure Centre in Hertfordshire. M25, A10, nice and easy, unless the A10 junction is closed due to road works - doughhh! There were nine students from Shuhari-Kai competing at this tournament including Terry Morton who's only just dabbled his toes into the competition scene over the past few years but hopefully he enjoyed his experience and we'll get to see him at some more competitions shortly...

Meopham Junior Open Championships

The Danson Junior Open (the forerunner to the Meopham Junior Open after its relocation and obvious name change) benefited from being a small, well run competition with a good high quality field always taking part. the Meopham Open has generally kept the same format and just as popular still attracting some high calibre competitors. The popular Kata format was brought over from the old Danson days and although a few tweaks to the categories have made, the competition is just as tough, if not tougher as the standard of Kata definitely seems to have gone up in recent years.  The competition held on Sunday 16^th July saw the same categories as the previous comp back in March with the usual suspects there, although there seemed to be more competitors from Ishunryu in attendance this time round. Also, there were some competitors who had recently been graded, so the once sparsely fielded Dan grade Kata category had a good crop of entrants this time...

Toyakwai Essex Open Championships

Sunday 2^nd July was another scorching day and where better to spend it than down by the coast, Clacton to be precise. The only problem was that rather than being on the beach splashing around on the seashore, building sand castles and eating ice cream, six Shuhari-Kai Karate Club students chose to spend the day at Clacton Leisure Centre competing in the Toyakwai Essex Open Karate Championships. The small squad of six, Callum Alboni, Jade Lewis, Billie Lowry, Shane Mitchell, Aimee Sell and Alex Sell showed great attitude and spirit at this tournament and were rewarded with six trophies between them for their two gold, two silver and two bronze placings...

Harold Court Summer Fete Display

Saturday 1^st July saw 13 students attend Harold Court Primary School’s summer fete. After gathering together and getting changed in the scorching heat, the students went into the arena and started warming up; as Sensei Richard was injured Jodie took the class with sensei giving a chat about the club...

Shuhari-Kai Rainham Display for Mayor

Seven students from the Shuhari-Kai Karate Club were invited to take part in the Mardyke annual fete on Saturday 16th June 2006...

London Youth Games - Girls Retain Title

Another hot summers day sweltering in the sizzling temperatures of the gold fish bowl that is Crystal Palace, signalled the return of the annual London Borough’s clash, the London Youth Games – Karate Event...

Click HERE for photos

Austrian Junior Open Championships

Aimee Sell travelled to Salzburg, Austria, to compete in the Austrian Junior Open Championships. Aimee plus mum flew out to Salzburg early Friday morning of 16th June 2006, on her birthday, to arrive nice and early so as to take in some of the city before the competition stated the following day...

British Youth Title for Alex at BKF Youth Championships

Shuhari-Kai Karate Club student Alex Sell claimed a British title winning Gold at the British Youth Karate Championships, held in Ponds Forge, Sheffield, on 10-11 June 2006.  14 year old Alex, competing in the Boys 14-15 years Kata category, did extremely well coming through three rounds to make the final. Alex cruised through his opening round Kata as his Bassai-Dai won 3 flags to nil. Round two saw Alex perform Nipaipo and once again secure a 3 flags to nil win. The semi-final saw another 3 flags win for Alex as his Chatanyara Kushanku Kata proved too strong for his opponent...

Ishinryu Summer Karate Invitational

Eight Shuhari-Kai students made it to the Ishinryu Summer Karate Invitational on Sunday 4^th June 2006. The squad originally down to attend this rearranged tournament at Hornchurch Sports Centre, was much larger but for various reasons, not least just coming back from our Summer camp, only eight managed to attend. This meant a few our the squad were not firing on all cylinders having returned from camp feeling tired after being put through an intense training schedule and coming home with various niggles, sniffles, and not least with Sophie Roberts undergoing and passing her 1st Dan grading. Well done Sophie...

United Styles Association Open Championships

Aimee Sell was Shuhari-Kai's sole representative at the United Styles Association Open Championships held on Sunday 14th May 2006. Aimee travelled up to the Next Generation Gym in Dudley, West Midlands to compete in the Mixed 10-12yrs, 3rd Kyu & Over Kata event. An interesting change of rules meant the Kata events were to have an opening round scored on points with the top eight going through to a knockout stage to be judged on flags. Well that was the plan...

5th Wado-Kai All England Open Championships

Three Shuhari-Kai students travelled to Reading to participate in the Wado-Kai All England Open Championships on Saturday 13th May 2006. The tournament was being held over two days with the Kata categories being held on the Saturday and the Kumite categories being held the following day, Sunday. The three from Shuhari-Kai, Callum Alboni, Shane Mitchell and Aimee Sell were only participating on the first day for the Kata tournament. As in the previous year, the Kata categories were generally divided into age, grade and also by style with separate events for Wado, Shotokan and Shito mixed with Gojo...

Sports Awards for Shuhari-Kai Stars

Sophie Roberts and Aimee Sell both picked up unexpected awards recently from the Jack Petchey Foundation and the UK Sports Development Company. Sophie was nominated by her school, Shenfield, following her sporting success and achievements during the course of the year. Sophie is a school sports leader, she runs in the school cross country team, she plays in the netball, basketball, gymnastics,  badminton, trampolining, rounders, cricket, football teams. She's also the captain of the hockey and captain of the athletics teams. Oh yes, and also she got the award for her outstanding achievements outside of school - Karate (as if she had time!). Aimee was nominated for the UK Sports Development Company Sports Star award as someone who has achieved outstanding results in sport after overcoming adversity. Aimee suffered a serious eye accident in January 2004 which threatened the sight of her eye, but 6 operations later and and some serious determination and refusal to be beaten has led the UKSDC to award Aimee with their first ever award. The award was a complete surprise to Aimee who was presented with a certificate and trophy at her school, Brentwood Preparatory. Well done to both girls, you truly both deserve the recognition.

Havering Games

The Havering Games held on Saturday 6th May 2006 proved to be a big success with more competitors this year than in pervious years helping to make this a more fiercely fought contest. The Kata events commenced first with the boys and girls split into the two competing age groups as per the London Youth Games - School years 6-9 and School years 10-12. The Kata events judged on points with each competitor performing an initial Kata and the top six going on to a further round once again scored on points...

Click HERE for photos of the event.

Mushindo Wad-Kai Open

After considering what competition to go to on Sunday 23^rd April, 4 students from Shuhari-Kai decided to travel to Cannock in the West Midlands to compete in the Mushindo Wado-Kai competition.  It was an early start and after 2 ½ hours travelling we arrived at about 8.30 a.m. a little early so we waited patiently outside the dojo. We were allowed into the dojo at about 9 a.m. and the four students got changed and started warming up for the day’s events.

First up was our 6 year old Callum Alboni he was entered into the 10 years and under 6^th to 4^th kyu category...

EKKA Eastern Counties Open

Sunday 23rd April 2006 saw Shuhari-Kai's sole representative, Sophie Roberts attend the EKKA Eastern Counties Open in Ipswich. Sophie started with Kata judges on points. Sophie performed Unshu Kata and scored 7.2, 7.2 & 7.3 from the three judges totalling 21.7. Sophie's score was enough to secure a silver, losing by 0.1 to the gold medallist. In Kumite, Sophie was competing in the Girls 15-17yrs 3rd Kyu & Over category with the first to 6 points rule in force. Sophie had a tough opening round draw, at only 15yrs old, Sophie found herself against and much bigger 17 year old, who went on to win the event. Sophie had the scores level at 4-4 when her opponent scored a Sanbon against her knocking Sophie out on the first to 6 points rule. A good effort by Sophie and unlucky.

Shuhari-Kai Easter Competition

What a great day. 

Sunday 16^th April was the day for this years Easter competition. Unfortunately with so many students off on holiday there were slightly less than usual attending.

It all kicked off with the kata events, this was split into three sections peewees to yellow belts, orange to brown belt 3^rd kyu, and adults. This year Sensei decided not to give the higher grades any surprises with weights on there legs or flippers on there feet so it was straight forward any Wado kata of there choice...

Click HERE for photo gallery of the event.

Wayne Otto Training Course

England Karate National Coach, Wayne Otto, paid a special visit to Shuhari-Kai Karate Club on Sunday 9th April 2006 to train with some of the students and guests of the club. Once again Wayne was in awe inspiring form running through a number of techniques that made him the very best Britain has produced. Wayne spent two hours with the students and made the time fly. Shuhari-Kai would like to thank Wayne for coming down once again and really look forward to more sessions.

Click HERE for photo gallery of the event. Gallery updated with additional photos 17/04/2006!

Scottish International Karate Open

The 2nd Scottish International Karate Open saw 3 Shuhari-Kai squad members, Sophie Roberts and Alex & Aimee Sell, travel to Glasgow on Friday 31st March 2006 to participate in the tournament being held over the weekend. The squad's 4th member, Lawrence Grosvenor, travelled up on Saturday morning to compete his individual and team event being held that day. After an early Saturday morning rise, a full Scottish breakfast and a leisurely walk to the venue, Kelvin Hall, it was down to business with Aimee up first in her Kata event...

Toyakwai Greater London Championships

The Toyakwai Greater London Championships, held on Sunday 26^th March 2006 at Gorebrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham, saw more success for Shuhari-Kai Karate Club as they collected 6 medals (2 Gold, 1 Silver and 3 Bronze) as they brought their medal count up to 43 for the year so far.  

The championships started off with the Kata events first, and as ever at these championships the Kata was judged by three judges using a scoring system, the medallist being the competitors with the highest combined score after performing a single Kata...

Golds by the Dozen at Ryobu-Kai Open International Championships

Eight students from Shuhari-Kai travelled to Worthing on Saturday 18^th March 2006, to take part in the England Karate-Do Ryobu-Kai Open International Championships. None of the squad come away disappointed as between them they achieved 16 medals. First up was team Kata with Jodie Miles, Sophie Roberts and Jade Lewis entering the advanced section. The trio decided to perform Jion first as they had to change the Kata every round...

Southern Region retain Junior Title

Continuing their domination on the English Karate Junior scene, England’s Southern Regional Junior Squad successfully retained the Junior Regional Title winning four out of the six team events contested against the other two regions, Northern and Midlands. The annual challenge took place on Saturday 18^th March 2006 at Ponds Forge, Sheffield and followed the England Karate Senior Championship’s first day’s events...

Shuhari-Kai Shine at Meopham Open Junior Championships

The Shuhari-Kai squad shone once more at the Meopham Open Junior Championships dominating the Kata rounds again and also showing well in the Kumite events too with the squad bringing home 8 medals in total, 4 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronzes. The largest squad of the year so far at 14, set off on Sunday 12th March 2006 to meet up in Meopham, Kent, to take part in what is becoming a very popular tournament...

Sports Award and Regional Call-Up for Alex Sell

Alex Sell earned a hard fought place in the Southern Regional Boys 14-15yrs Team to compete in the Children's Regional Championships being held in Sheffield on Saturday 18th March 2006. Alex travelled up to England Karate headquarters in Bisham Abbey to take part in the regional selections...

AMA International Championships

The small squad of 5 travelled to Nottingham on Saturday 25^th to compete in the AMA International Championships. Callum Alboni, at only 6 years old, was really there to experience the occasion and would have a tough time to medal as his categories were all aged U10 years, but the other four, Jodie Miles, Sophie Roberts, Aimee Sell and Alex Sell are all extremely talented and very experienced and are always genuine medal contenders which ever tournament they attend. The only one not to medal on this occasion was Alex whilst the other 3 secured 2 Golds and 2 Silvers between them...

United Kingdom Open Karate Championships

A welcome return to form for the Shuhari-Kai squad who competed at the United Kingdom Open Championships on Sunday 12th February 2006. Six Shuhari-Kai students travelled to Dudley in the West Midlands hoping to recapture their form of 2005 after some disappointing results in the recent British International Championships. The squad produced some excellent displays and brought home four Golds between them for their efforts...

Junior British International Open Championships

Well the first tournament of 2006 is out of the way and although we saw some good performances, the squad come home practically empty handed with a solitary bronze earned in team Kumite. This was the first major tournament for some squad members with Shane Mitchell and Elle Ayerman experiencing their first big competition, and Aimee Sell and Jade Lewis competing in this competition for the first time. We also saw a return to competition from Lawrence Grosvenor who's been out of action for a while taking a break for his studies...