Shuhari-Kai Christmas Championships - 23 December 2007

Sunday 23rd December 2007 saw the Shuhari-Kai Club Invitational Christmas Championships & Social Evening take place at the RUSSC Club, Romford. The competition was well attended and started in earnest at 1:00pm commencing with the Kata events. The Junior 8 years and below competitors were up first and produced some fine Kata displays which were scored on points by the three judges. As the age and ability of competitor increased, so did the 'accessories' attached to each competitor - musical  and flashing Reindeer antlers, ankle weights etc. Very comical...

Alex Sell Selected for England - 9 December 2007

Congratulations to Shuhari-Kai's Alex Sell who attended the English Karate Federation training and squad selections on Sunday 9th December 2007. After a long hard day training and competing against his fellow opponents, Alex came through all his selection fights undefeated without dropping a single point. Alex was selected by National Squad Director, Ticky Donovan OBE, to represent England in the Cadet Under 70kg category in the forthcoming Cadet & Junior European Championships being held in Trieste, Italy, 15-17th February 2008. Alex's Sensei, Richard Burridge, was also attending the selection in his official capacity as a British Referee and was on hand to see Alex selected. Well done Alex and good luck for the Europeans.

EKF Northern Regional Championships - 25 November 2007

Gold & Bronze for Alex, Bronze for Aimee

The inarguable English Karate Federation Northern Regional Championships took place at the Richard Dunn Sports Centre in Bradford, West Yorkshire, on Sunday 25th November 2007. Aimee and Alex Sell from Shuhari-Kai Karate Club travelled up to the event the night before staying in Bradford's Holiday Inn Express, with an evening visit to Frankie and Benny's. Nice...

Welsh Open National Championships - 18 November 2007

Gold for Alex and Silver for Aimee Sell.

Alex and Aimee Sell accompanied by Sophie Roberts from Shuhari-Kai Karate Club travelled to Welsh Institute of Sport, Cardiff, Wales, to compete in the Welsh Open National Karate Championships held on Sunday 18th November 2007. The Welsh Championships is always well attended and provides the kids with some stiff opposition to keep them working hard...

BT Exact Championships - 18 November 2007

Gold for Jodie, Silver for Callum, Bronze for Brandon

The EKKA hosted BT Exact Championships were held on Sunday 18th November 2007 and had four Shuhari-Kai students travel to Ipswich to compete. Jodie Miles was the only Kata entrant and competed in the Ladies Dan grade section where her Annan Kata secured her Gold against her 5 opponents.  Callum Alboni and Brandon Halling both competed in the same Kumite event and both successfully negotiated 2 rounds with Brandon securing Bronze and Callum claiming Silver after being disqualified in the final. Jordan Hodges failed to make it past the opening round as he too was disqualified for excessive contact. 

I.K.G.A. Invitational Kata Competition - 4 November 2007

Bronze for Callum Alboni

Two students from Shuhari-Kai travelled to Corringham in Essex, to attend the Goju-Kai invitational Kata competition.

Callum Alboni was in the mixed 4^th to 5^th Kyu 5 to 10 years category and received a first round bye. In round 2 he performed an excellent Pinan Sandan and won 3 flags to 0. In his next round he performed Pinan Nidan...

European Wado-Kai Championships 2007 - 3 November 2007

Alex Sell - European Wadokai Champion and Kata Medallist

The European Wado-Kai Championships, hosted by the Federation of European Wado-Kai, was held in Gothenburg, Sweden on Saturday 3rd November 2007. The championships meant a long weekend adventure starting very early Friday morning for the 7:00am fights from Stanstead Airport where the main squad met up. No problems with check-in and subsequently no problems with the 1 hour 30 minute or so flight to Gothenburg City Airport. Gothenburg City Airport, an old military airfield with a corrugated shed for the terminal. Actually it wasn't quite that bad, but it wasn't the largest airport in the world...

Click HERE for photo gallery. 

Toyakwai International Open Championships - 28 October 2007

Double Gold for Alex Sell, Silver & Bronze for Sophie Roberts and Bronze for Aimee Sell.

With two big tournaments on the same day, Sunday 28^th November 2007, the 3^rd South West Open nr Bristol and the Toyakwai International, it was a tough decision which to go for but the 15 minute journey to the Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham in Essex swung it heavily in Toyakwai’s favour. There was a big turn-out for this tournament with entries from Malta and Georgia present too which made the competition that much tougher...

Click HERE for Photo Album.

Meopham Open Junior Championships - 14 October 2007

1 Gold, 5 Silver, 4 Bronze.

Sunday 14^th October 2007 saw 9 students from Shuhari-Kai travel to Meopham in Kent to compete in the Meopham Junior Open Championships hosted by Ken-No-Sen.  Shuhari-Kai has supported Ken-No-Sen for a number of years now and always enjoys the hospitality that we receive.  Kata started the day on the two mats with Brandon Halling in the Novice to 7^th Kyu, 9 to 15 years...

Sakagami International Wado Kata Competition - 14 October 2007

1 Gold, 1 Bronze.

Alex and Aimee Sell from Shuhari-Kai Karate Club were the only two representatives from the club to show support for the Sakagami International Wado Kata competition being held on Sunday 14^th October 2007. The competition was arranged by Sakagami Sensei, president of JKF-Wadokai England. The competition was being held in Cheslyn Hay, West Midlands which meant another early start for the duo. Given the fact that there was a much closer open competition being held on the same day with both Kata and Kumite, and also the Sakagami International competition was Kata only restricted to Wado only Katas, both showed great spirit with their support....

Shuhari-Kai Weekend Training & Camp - 6 & 7 October 2007

It was a busy weekend - Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th October - as Shuhari-Kai squad members Alex & Aimee Sell attended the first English Karate Federation training and selections, Wadokai England training joined by Lawrence Grosvenor and the remaining club members attended the Shuhari-Kai weekend training camp at Clacton...

EKF Southern Regional Championships - 30 September 2007

1 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze at EKF Southern Regional.

This was the first of the Regional competitions under the new Karate Governing Body for England, the English Karate Federation.  It was good to see some big associations in attendance including AMA, Toyakwai, Ishinryu, especially after all the recent turmoil within Karate. 

The day started as usual with Kata with Callum Alboni, Jodie Miles, Sophie Roberts and Alex Sell all taking to the mats...

WadoEXL 2007 Karate Championships - 30 September 2007

Sunday 30th September 2007 saw Aimee Sell from Shuhari-Kai travel all the way up to Shrewsbury in Shropshire to compete in the WadoEXL 2007 Karate Championships. Reputed to be the largest Wado expo and gathering with over 1000 registered attendees, Aimee realised she competition itself was going to be impossible to medal in given her categories were 11-15yrs. Even though she had the option to attend the EKF's first regional championships being held only a few minutes from home where she'd be in with a good shout of gaining a medal, she opted to go for the challenge and experience of the WadoEXL. That's what's so good about Aimee, it's not just about medals, it's about new challenges, learning and improving...

Wadokai England Selections - 23 September 2007

Shuhari-Kai's Alex Sell has been selected to represent England in Gothenburg, Sweden at the Wadokai European Championships in November in both Kata and Kumite.

Alex travelled to Bristol on 23rd September for the final Kata and Kumite squad selections which took place before Sakagami Sensei, president of Wadokai England. Alex chose to perform Seishan and Wanshu during the Kata squad selections in front of Sakagami Sensei giving a very strong and sharp performance which earned him a place on the Kata Squad. A little while later he was also selected for the Kumite Squad after winning all three of his selection fights only dropping one point throughout the selections which was due to a warning. Alex is now heavily in training polishing up his Wado Katas and homing his Kumite skills in preparation.

English Karate Federation Update - 18 September 2007

The English Karate Federation met in Birmingham on Sunday 16th September, a few miles down the road from the KiE meeting in Coventry. Not present at this meeting were any of the KiE and English Karate Alliance people who had declared their own meeting the "unification" meeting. Willie Thomas from Kaizen Central, apparently representing KSE attended, but declined a nomination for election to the EKF board and a representative from UKASKO in attendance declared himself an observer.
 

Full minutes will appear on the EKF website, but the interim board was elected as follows:

Mike Burnand

Les Cutting
Terry Daley
Mike Dinsdale
Ticky Donovan
John Gilliland
Carl Lindley
John Moreton
Dave Wilson

A motion passed was that there would be a per captia charge of £2 plus an initial "joining fee" of £250 per association. With Mike Dinsdale on the interim board it is expected that WKF recognition will be granted to this body. It is understood that FEKO at least, in the "other group" have nailed their colours to the WUKO mast, effectively disbarring them from WKF membership.

2 Golds at UK Open Karate Championships- 16 September 2007

Shuhari-Kai had two representatives at the United Kingdom Open Karate Championships, Alex and Aimee Sell. The championships, held on Sunday 16th September 2007, were being held in Dudley, West Midlands, which meant a very early start to the day. The Kata events were judged initially on points with every competitor completing one Kata which was scored by three judges. The top 8 competitors then went through to a flag knockout contest...

Gold & Bronze at EKKA East England Championships - 16 September 2007

Two Students travelled to Ipswich on Sunday 16^th September 2007, to represent Shuhari-Kai Karate Club at the East of England Championships hosted by E.K.K.A.

First up was Callum Alboni. Callum entered the mixed junior Kata 6^th to 4^th Kyu grade; unfortunately Callum missed out on a medal by 0.3 points as they were only giving one 3^rd place medals...

Sophie becomes Sports Ambassador - 3 September 2007

Shuhari-Kai's Sophie Roberts recently secured the post as Sports Ambassador for Essex. She was nominated by one of her school teachers for the Sports Ambassador Award with the teacher having to say why she thought Sophie would make a good ambassador. Sophie's nomination, along with 33 other nominations from schools across the county was put before a panel...

2 Gold, 1 Bronze at Senior British International Championships - 1 September 2007

Double Gold & a Silver at Welsh National Junior Open Championships - 5 August 2007

Alex and Aimee Sell from Shuhari-Kai Karate Club travelled to Welsh Institute of Sport, Cardiff, Wales, to compete in the Welsh Junior Open Karate Championships being held on Sunday 5th August 2007. The Welsh Championships is always well attended and provides the kids with some stiff opposition to keep them working hard...

Meophan Junior Open - 29 July 2007

Bronze for Vishaal Dovedi at Meopham Junior Open in Kent. Full report to follow.

Austrian Junior Open Championships - 23 June 2007

"The hills were alive with the sound of Kiais". Salzburg in Austria, made famous from the 'Sound of Music', renowned as the birth place of 'Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart' and now host to the Austrian 'Golden League' and 'Austrian Junior Open Karate Championships'. Two students from Shuhari-Kai Karate Club, brother and sister Alex and Aimee Sell, travelled to Salzburg to participate in the Austrian Junior Open Championships being held on 23rd June 2007. For Alex this was his first visit to Austria and was keen to pit his Karate skills amongst some of Europe's finest. For Aimee, this was her second visit to Austria having competed in last years championships and collecting a Silver in Kata. She was hoping to go one better this year but having just celebrated her 12th birthday the week before she found herself officially competing in the 12-13 years category for the first time and was obviously the youngest competitor in this group...

Karate England - 21 June 2007

It seems that yet again we cannot agree to what’s going on in Karate England.  We need one solid tree to grow from all the mess, not a plethora of bushes! There should be ‘one’ licence fee for ALL parts of Karate or Martial Arts, it would then be the governing body who decides how the money should be spent. The new 'Karate Sport England' group are still trying to steamroll ahead and it looks like the parents and students are to foot the bill! To join them, your association requires a minimum of 250 students... 250 to be part of what exactly? ...

2nd South West Open Karate Championships - 17 June 2007

Hutton Moor Leisure Centre was the venue for the 2^nd South West Open Karate Championships held on Sunday 17^th June 2007. Not only had the date changed from last year’s inaugural event held in October, but the venue had changed too due to the shear number of entries received last time and the expected number this time round. The venue had a larger capacity with extra tiered seating which allowed the spectators a better view of the action.  Four Shuhari-Kai students participated in this event, Alex and Aimee Sell, who took part last year, accompanied this time by Shane Mitchell and Callum Alboni both taking part for the first time...

Havering Karate – Best in London - 10 June 2007

Havering Boys and Girls Karate teams secured the ‘double’ as they both triumphed at the London Youth Games at Crystal Palace National Sports Stadium on Sunday 10^th June 2007. Havering Karate coach, Richard Burridge, had great difficulty in selecting his squad of 10 boys and 10 girls to represent Havering, due to the strength of depth and quality of availability but after careful consideration the final squad selection proved spot-on as both boys and girls teams romped home triumphant winners...

NEW - London Youth Games Photos

Shuhari-Kai Summer Camp - 26 May to 2 June 2007

Well another Shuhari-Kai Summer Camp has come and gone and once again there was lots of sweat, blood and tears - well not much blood and only a few tears but definitely lots of sweat. Aimee Sell became Shuhari-Kai's newest Black Belt passing her grading on 31st May whilst Sophie Roberts completed her Senior Black Belt grading along side Aimee to become the clubs first junior Black Belt student to migrate to Senior Black Belt...

A photo gallery of the weeks training camp can be viewed here: http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/5719200

SENI07 Karate Classic Championships - 20 May 2007

What a fantastic day at SENI07. This year’s festival of Martial Arts was held in the Excel Centre in London for the first time and ran from Friday 18^th May through to Sunday 20^th May 2007. The venue proved popular and large enough to house a large number of trade stands, demonstration areas, boxing rings and matted Martial Art tournament areas. One such area which drew large crowds of supporters and onlookers held the Karate Classic Open International Tournament which had well over 300 competitors in attendance.  The senior Male Kumite event had that bit of extra spice to it this time as it was sanctioned as a 10K Eliminator event too to make the draw and crowd even bigger...

England Karate-Do Ryobu-Kai International Championships - 19 May 2007

Five students from Shuhari-Kai karate club travelled to Worthing, West Sussex on Saturday 19^th May 2007 to take part in the International Championships being held by England Karate-Do Ryobu-Kai. It was a well run event with all four mats continually running throughout the day, with no hiccups. First up from our squad were Jodie Miles and Sophie Roberts, they entered the Rambu-ho (freestyle) section for the first time and was not sure what quite to expect, as the kata must last not more than 30 seconds, they ended up finding themselves in the final against one another...

Shuhari-Kai British Champion - 19 May 2007

Congratulations to Shuhari-Kai's Aimee Sell who secured Gold at the British Youth Karate Championships held at Ponds Forge, Sheffield, on Saturday 19th May 2007. Aimee competed in the Girls 10-11yrs age group Kata event and blew all her opposition away winning gold without dropping a flag. That completes an amazing treble for Aimee who holds the English National and British International titles simultaneously for the 10-11yrs age group. Also in action at Sheffield was Alex Sell who secured a Bronze in the Boys 14-15yrs Kata event. Alex managed to maintain his amazing run of securing medals in top class events so well done to both.

Shuhari-Kai May Day Karate Championships - 6 May 2007

There was an excellent turn out for the Shuhari-Kai May Day Karate Championships held at the RUSSC Club, Romford. on Sunday 6th May 2007. The competition got underway shortly after 2:00pm and the competitors, from not only Shuhari-Kai, but also from some invited guests and Shorai Association member clubs, put in some fantastic performances for the audience to appreciate...

Toyakwai Essex Open Championships - 29 April 2007

A small squad of three Shuhari-Kai students, Aimee Sell, Alex Sell and Sophie Roberts,  entered the Toyakwai Essex Open Championships held in Clacton on Sunday 29^th April 2007. Due to various reasons (injury, etc) all three opted to compete only in the Kata events making this a very short day for them for a change...

Eastern Counties Open Championships - 22 April 2007

Two students travelled to Ipswich on Sunday 22^nd April to take part in E.K.K.A’s Eastern Counties Open championships, Jodie Miles and Callum Alboni. Jodie was entered into the mixed junior black belt Kata section and won the category by 1.2 clear points, with a score of 22.1 for her Ni-Pi-Po Kata. 

Callum Alboni took part in the Kumite section, up against a boy a bit taller and older Callum knew he had to stand his ground and eventually won the round 6 points to 2 taking the second gold of the day.  Well done to both Callum and Jodie.

Welsh Bushi-Kai Championships - 1 April 2007

Jodie Miles and Sophie Roberts were the only students from Shuhari-Kai karate club to attend the Welsh Bushi-Kai championships held at the Afan Lido in Port Talbot Wales, on Sunday 1st April 2007. The first event was team kata. The girls were supposed to enter this event with a third team member but as she didn’t show for the competition they had to find another student who would enter with them. With 5 minutes to go they asked Laura from the Welsh Higashi team, Laura was a lot lower grade than the girls so they only had a choice of Pinan’s to do...

AMA Southern Open Championships

Jodie Miles was the sole competitor at this competition to represent Shuhari-Kai on Sunday 31st March 2007 at the Rivermead Leisure Centre Reading. Being as it was on the same day as a competition being held in Ireland we thought it might be quiet but we were wrong as it was very well attended and well run...

Irish International Championships

Alex and Aimee Sell from Shuhari-Kai ventured to Dublin to compete in the Irish International over the weekend 31st March-1st April 2007. Aimee competed in the Girls 10-11yrs Kata event on day one and secured a Bronze after her excellent Nipaipo Kata was beaten 2 flags to 1. Alex also competed on day one in the Boys 14-15yrs Kata event but went out in round two after his superb Annan Kata was beaten 2 flags to 1 again after both competing on the same mat. Day two saw Alex compete in the Boys 14-15yrs, U63KG Kumite event and he went on to secure Gold winning the final 3-2 after winning three earlier rounds.

Meopham Junior Championships

'Golden Boy' Dean Bannister did the business recently at the Meopham Junior Championships held in Meopham, Kent on 25th March 2007. Dean went through three rounds winning 4-2, then 2-0 to make the final winning 7-4 to secure GOLD in the Male Cadets 16-18yrs Kumite category. Jodie Miles took Silver in the Girls 4'8''-5'2'', 5th Kyu & Over Kumite category to claim her second medal of the day adding to her earlier Bronze secured in the Mixed Dan Grade Kata event. Jodie went through four Kumite rounds narrowly losing out in the final 5-7...

Eastern Counties Championships - Ipswich 

Three members of the Shuhari-Kai squad attended the Eastern Open Championships at Ipswich on the  11 March.  First up was Aimee Sell who performed Annum Kata, she received the highest points in the 3-1^st Kyu category and won gold.  Next up was Jodie Miles in the Dan grade category.  Jodie performed Unshu and won our 2^nd gold of the day.  Our last squad member was Callum Alboni who was competing in the Kumite section, Callum won his fight 6-4 and won gold. Not bad from only 3 members of the squad. 

Malta Classic International Karate Championships

The forth edition of the Malta Classic International Karate Championships were held on Saturday 3rd March 2007 at the Savio College Sports Complex, Dingli, Malta. Alex and Aimee Sell from Shuhari-Kai Karate Club joined forces with some of their English colleagues from Toyakwai and Ishinryu to take on the 14 countries, Germany, Italy, England, Ireland, Wales, Holland, Tunis, Cyprus, Austria, Scotland, Palestine, Serbia, Poland and, of course, Malta also competing. The pair did extremely well to come home with 4 GOLDS and 1 SILVER between them...

UK Open Championships

Five students from Shuhari-Kai travelled to Dudley in the West Midlands on Sunday 18th February 2007 to take part in the United Kingdom Open Championships being held by P.C. karate. It was well attended with over 500 competitors, from all over the country including some from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Egypt which made it more of an International rather than just an Open...

AMA International Open Championships

There were two Shuhari-Kai who participated in the Kata events of the AMA International Open held on Saturday 24th February 2007, siblings Aimee and Alex Sell. The Kumite events which were being held on Sunday had to forsaken as a special course had been previously booked...

Toyakwai Greater London Championships

The Toyakwai Greater London Championships were held on Sunday 18th February 2007 at Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham, Essex. Not only is this a tough competition, it's right on our doorstep which makes this event very appealing. A small squad of six from Shuhari-Kai attended this competition with three competing in Kata only and three in Kumite only...

Wayne Otto OBE at Shuhari-Kai

Wayne Otto came back to Shuhari-Kai on Sunday 28th January 2007.  After the warm up Wayne went through some fighting techniques and drills. Wayne's training session lasted just over two hours and due to the relatively small class size the participants were worked really hard and got an awful lot out of the session. The students thoroughly enjoyed Wayne's visit and hope he will be able to return in the near future.

Click HERE for gallery of Wayne's course.

Junior British International Championships

Our first competition of the year was upon us once more and it was straight into the thick of it. The British International European Grand Prix event is one of the largest and most prestigious tournaments in England and so this couldn’t be treated as a light warm-up for the coming season, no, this was happy New Year and GO! Being on the radar for a while the squad prepared well for this tournament and came home with two Gold medals, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze medal, a much improved set of results from last year where we only managed to a gain a solitary Bronze...