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 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.
The competition itself was held in a sports hall with only three mats. Spectator seating was just chairs laid out. Was perhaps expecting a little more given the 'status' of the competition but perhaps that's the Wado way - less is more? Also the reputed
1000 competitors looked to number around 200 to me. The running order of the competition was a little strange too, the central mat was used for Kata starting with the seniors and working downwards in age, whereas the two outer mats were used for Kumite working upwards in age.
This meant Aimee didn't actually get to go onto the mat until around 4:30pm and also one or two people missed Kata having picked up injuries in Kumite which they had to compete in first.
Aimee's first category was the Mixed 11-15yrs, 3rd Kyu & Over. Aimee was the very first competitor up in this event and chose to perform Seishan Kata for this points scoring event. A judges discussion ensued following Aimee's performance centering on whether her foot should
move inwards on a step. This was JKF Wadokai England rules and exactly what Aimee's been trying to understand and learn over the last couple of weeks since Shuhari-Kai affiliated to Alliance of International Wado-ryu (AIWa). Although the decision was for her foot to step inwards where she just stepped forward, she received a reasonable score of 7.1, 7.0 & 7.0 from the three
judges (which included Sakagami Sensei - JKF Wadokai England president). The score was understandably not high enough to see her through to the finals.
Aimee than had another shot at performing as she then competed in the Girls 11-15yrs, 3rd Kyu & Over category. Up 4th this time Aimee performed Wanshu Kata. Aimee drilled this Kata nicely but stumbled slightly on the landing of her jump which let the
overall Kata down. She scored a much improved 7.3, 7.3 & 7.2 from the judges but missed the finals by 0.1 her jump landing just letting her down on this occasion.
Given the fact the she has never really practiced her Wado Katas for competition, she gave it a really good go. Trying to integrate the Wadokai England way of performing with all their technicalities is a real challenge for Aimee but like
I said earlier, challenges are the way she really pushes herself.
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