England Karate-Do Ryobu-Kai Open International Championships   Eight students from Shuhari-Kai travelled to Worthing on Saturday 18th 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. They performed a good Jion and won with all 3 flags in their favour putting them straight into the final.  The girls then decided to perform Seienchin Kata in the final and once again took all 3 flags and the gold medal, the first of many more to come.   The triumphant Kata team then went up a category to the expert section. As there were only three teams in this section a 'round robin' system was used. Shuhari-Kai were first up and they opted to perform Seienchin Kata winning by all 3 flags. The next round they went back to Jion and another excellent display once again saw them take all 3 flags and their 2nd gold medal.   Next event was the mixed under 8’s intermediate event and the squad had two in this event, 6 year old Callum Alboni, and 7 year old Billie Lowry.  Billie performed Pinan Sandan but performed the Kata a little too fast and lost 2 flags to 1. Callum was up next and he decided to perform Pinan Nidan and took the win with 2 flags to 1 which put him into the finals. In the final he decided to perform Pinan Shodan but was unlucky and lost 3 flags to 0 but did pick up a silver medal for his efforts.   Ali Ayerman was next and performed Pinan Shodan but up against a very experienced Kata Karateka he lost 3 flags to 0. Ali was unlucky as he performed his Kata with great enthusiasm especially as he doesn’t usually do Kata.   Jade Lewis was next up and as she was the only girl in her category so she was moved to the male section. Having to perform a different Kata in each round Jade decided to start off with Seienchin Kata and took all 3 flags.  Jade then went on to perform Bassai-Dai in the next round and again took all 3 flags. Now in the semi-final, and after some humming and haring, Jade decided to perform Jion and once again took all 3 flags. Now in the final she decided to perform Nipaipo and dropping her only flag won the event 2 flags to 1 securing the squads third gold so far for the day.    Jodie was called next and like Jade was moved to the male section as there were not enough girls in her category. Nevertheless she made a storming start with her first Kata Bassai-Dai and took all 3 flags. The second round saw Jodie perform Unshu Kata for the first time in competition and again took all 3 flags to secure her spot in the last two. Now into the final and up against Elliot Evans from Vale karate, she decided to perform her favourite Kata Seipai and took the win with a 2 flags to 1 decision and secure the fourth gold medal of the day.   While Jodie was up Sophie Roberts and Elle Ayerman were called to there section. Both being put in the same category Sophie was up first and performed Bassai-Dai and took the win with all 3 flags. Elle was then called up and decided to perform Kushanku winning with 2 flags to 1 which put Sophie and Elle up against each other in the semi-finals. Sophie performed Annan Kata while Elle performed Nihanchi but Sophie was the better and took all the 3 flags to book her place in the finals. Sophie then decided to do Seipai for her final Kata and once again took all 3 flags to claim victory and the fifth gold medal of the day for the squad, while Elle picked up the squads first bronze medal.     Dean Bannister, our only cadet student, was next up. After receiving a first round bye, Dean chose to perform Jion Kata in the second round but was unfortunate and lost all 3 flags to the eventual winner.  But as the second round was the semi-final round, Dean did manage to pick up a bronze medal, the second squad bronze of the day.   With the Kata now finished (or as we thought) it was time for Kumite,   Ali Ayerman was our first fighter and he stormed through the first round winning 5 points to 1, which put him straight into the final. In the final, Ali was up against a black belt who clearly had more control over his techniques than Ali did.  But with both boys slogging it out, the other student decided enough was enough and bowed out forfeiting the match leaving Ali with his first gold medal for Kumite and the 6th gold of the day for Shuhari-Kai.   Callum and Billie were both together again as there was nobody for Billie to fight in her category and so had their categories merged. Billie went up first but was unable to score any techniques against her opponent and lost her match 10 points to 1. Billie did collect a bronze medal though as her fight was a semi-final round, her bronze being the squads 3rd of the day. Callum was luckier though as he won his first round semi-final fight 3 points to 1, which then put him into the finals. Unfortunately Callum was not able to pull off another victory and lost the match 8 points to 4, but did pick up his 2nd silver of the day and the 2nd silver for the squad.   As before in Kata. Sophie and Elle were once again competing together, this time in the Kumite section. Elle went up first but was not able to get into the match and lost 4 point to 1, but she did pick up some valuable experience. Sophie was up next and stormed her way through the first match winning 3 points to 0. The second round semi-final match saw Sophie take the win 5 points to 3.  Now in the final she took no prisoners and won the match 2 points to 0 picking up the squads 7th gold of the day.   Jade and Jodie’s Kumite events saw another amalgamation as there were not enough competitors in there respective events. Jade stormed ahead in her first round fight and took the win 6 – 0. In her second round fight she just lost out to a much older and bigger competitor by 3 points to 2 failing to make the final. Jade then had to fight off for the bronze medal and won with an impressive 8 point to 0, taking a bronze medal, the 4th bronze for the squad. Jodie faired a little better by winning her first round match 5 points to 3. Then up against the girl who Jade lost too in the semi-final, Jodie gave it her all and finally took the match 2 points to 1 and another gold medal making it the 8th for the squad.   Our last fighter was Dean and up against lads twice his size but even so he took his first win 3 points to 2. Dean's second fight was a bit livelier but Dean dominated the mat and took another win 4 points to 1. The final now and with both lads seeing the medics for different injuries during the fight, Dean came out the victor winning 4 points to 2 taking his 1st gold and the 9th gold for the squad.   It was time for team Kumite with Jodie, Sophie and Jade teaming up for the 12 to 14 years category, but when they came to line up and bow in the organisers had changed the age groups to 12 to 17 years. After a few conversations between organisers, coaches and competitors our team decided to still go ahead even though our oldest fighter was only 14 years old. Jodie set the ball rolling by going out to fight first taking two kicks to the hip and 1 to the groin but still came out on top with an 8 points to 2 win. Sophie went as our second fighter and after going 2 points down she stepped up her fighting and ended the match 7 points to 4. This gave our team a 2 -0 win so Jade didn’t have to fight. The next round was the final with Jodie feeling a little sore from her injuries the team decided that Jade would fight first this time. Jade went out knowing this would be her last fight of the day and took the win 7 points to 1. Sophie went next and was up against a girl a lot bigger than her but she stormed through and took the win 4 points to 2 giving the girls another 2 – 0 win and the 10th gold medal of the day.   Thinking this was the end, the girls were then asked if they would like to enter for the best performed Kata of the day event, so a quick change back into their Kata gi’s and up against all the other female Kata finalists they performed one Kata each. Sophie performed an excellent Unshu Kata, Jodie up next and performed Seipai but had a slight slip and Jade then went up and performed Seienchin. With no actual scores or flags being used during this event we had no idea who got what or what the outcome would be. The decision was made and Sophie was awarded the gold trophy for best Kata, which made it 11 gold’s for the squad.   Thinking it was all over and getting ready to bow out, the judges then bought out another trophy and awarded it to Shuhari-Kai for best team Kata of the day making it there 12th gold medal, what a great surprise.   Shuhari-Kai had an excellent day with all squad members coming away medal winners. All the competitors, coaches and parents would like to thank E.K.R.  For inviting them to their competition, it was well run with all mats being used continually during the day.   Squad: Callum Alboni, Ali Ayerman, Elle Ayerman, Dean Bannister, Jade Lewis, Billie Lowry, Jodie Miles and Sophie Roberts.