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 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. We then had a choice with transport from the airport to the hotel... the local bus service to the main
bus terminal in Gothenburg followed by a tram ride to the hotel, or airport taxi. The taxi ride only lasted 15 minutes and as it turned out wasn't much more expensive when divided by six (shared with Jel and Fallon Rayman) than the journey would have been by public transport.
We stayed in the Gothia Towers Hotel, two large towers - the East and West towers, a massive conference/exhibition centre, lots of function rooms, very swish! The irony was that next to the hotel was a building called the World Trade
Centre, and when sited next to the twin towers of the hotel it made you wonder!... After check-in and a rest the squad met up for a training session held in Valhalla Sports Hall which was only 5-10 minutes walk from the hotel and right next door to a McDonalds.
Training stared at 4:00pm with the squad coaches taking the squad through their paces. The squad was split into two, Kata and Kumite. Only Alex and Fallon Rayman had the dubious choice of choosing which disciple to train for as they were
the only two from the whole squad of 44 who were entered into both Kata and Kumite events for the championships - both choose Kumite for this session. The training session soon finished and the squad went to register and weigh in, etc., for the championships which would start
in earnest the following morning. Before that, the Kata squad joined by many competitors from the other competing countries stayed for the hour long Kata seminar held in the main sports hall and hosted by Sakagami Sensei. Approximately 8:15pm it was back to the hotel, drop
gear off, get changed and head out to a local restaurant for some much needed food.
The next morning, competition day, and an early buffet breakfast saw the squad and parents congregate together in the large breakfast room/hall. The squad then met up in the hotel foyer at 8:00am for some photos and then on to Valhalla
Sports Hall. As mentioned earlier, Alex had been entered into both disciplines Kata and Kumite which was a great honour. Actually Alex's foray into the Wado-Kai world has been a short one when Shuhari-Kai initially joined AiWA. His first Wado-Kai training session was in
September which turned into the elite squad selection. Another squad session and a selection session followed and Alex was suddenly going to Sweden. Within two months from that first session, Alex has become European Wado-Kai Champion in Kumite and Kata medallist. Not too
bad.
Onto the Championships themselves. With 20 registered countries within the Federation of European Wado-Kai, many chose to send their squads along to these Championships with Macedonia, Russia and Sweden having particularly large squads
but England taking the honours on squad size with 44 competitors wearing the Wadokai England badge. Alex's first event was the Boys 13-15 years old Kata event. Alex received a 1st round bye and in the 2nd round he performed Seishin Kata against his Swedish opponent. Alex won
the round with a 2 flags to 1 win. The 3rd round semi-final saw Alex perform Jion Kata against his England team-mate. Although he performed a very strong and sharp Kata, he hadn't quite 'Wado-Kaied' his Kata enough only having a few Wado-Kai training sessions before these
Championships and as a consequence lost out 2 flags to 1 although gaining a European Championships Bronze medal for his trouble. Alex's targets for these Championships was to gain a Kata medal and a Kumite Championship title. So far so good but the real test was to come.
The very next event following Alex's Kata event was the Boys 15 years old Kumite event. A quick Gi change and Alex was ready for action. The customary 1st round bye was followed by a close 2nd round. Alex's Swedish opponent was
bigger/taller than Alex but gave away a penalty point after two successive category 2 warnings allowing Alex to control the remainder of the fight. The 3rd round saw Alex against a Russian opponent. Alex dropped the initial point but pulled it back and took the lead soon after.
Although he dropped another point he extended his lead towards the end to finish the fight 5-2. The 4th round semi-final had Alex against another England team-mate. Another close match saw Alex score a Gyak mid way through the match and hold on to the lead to go through 1-0 to
make the final. The final pitted Alex against another Russian opponent, a very big lad by all accounts. Undeterred Alex quickly opened the scoring and once in front used his speed to keep picking off the Russian eventually winning the match 4-0 claiming the coveted European
Wado-Kai Championship title. Well done Alex - no doubts whatsoever.
Well done also to 12 year old Fallon who gained two Silvers in her first major international tournament.
The remainder of the day was spent supporting the senior squad in their team and individual events before the Championships came to an end at approximately 6:00pm. The squad then came together again for a medal photo session after
claiming 11 Gold, 8 Silver and 21 Bronzes. It was then back to the hotel for a celebration drink and some food in the Sayonara Party.
Click HERE for photo gallery.
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