Rothwell Shotokan News
This section of our site is dedicated to all our students’ achievements and recent successes. It will include any competition success, Dan grade promotions and important club news. Monthly newsletters are handed to all club members and include more detailed news and events. This page is intended to compliment the Monthly newsletter.
Adam Smith passes Black Belt!
Huge congratulations to Adam Smith who passed his black belt (Shodan) grading on Sunday the 4th February 2007. Adam passed his grading with flying colours and this is partly due to all the hard training that he did beforehand. His grading was conducted by KUGB Chief Instructor Andy Sherry 8th Dan and KUGB England coach Frank Brennan 6th Dan (both pictured with Adam just after grading). The grading took place at the Queens Park Leisure Centre in Chesterfield.
Adam took the whole process in his stride and coped with the stress of grading really well. During his grading he performed really well and was without a doubt the ‘man of the match!’ The grading process took around three hours to grade all the brown and black belt candidates. This meant quite a long wait. Only the students grading and the club instructors were permitted in the small aerobics room. So a very long wait outside for Sharon and Adams Mum, Debbie.
Adam was in the very first group to be called for grading so at least he got it out of the way quite quickly. Both club instructors Rob and Sharon are very proud of Adam and his achievements. Adam is also the current Rothwell S.K.C Kata Champion. He now joins the growing list of Dan grades training regular at our club. With the large number of brown belts training at our club Rob is in no doubt that this list will be considerably larger by the end of the year. Well-done Adam!
Joe Bennett achieves 2nd Dan!
All students of Rothwell SKC would like to congratulate Joe Bennett on his excellent display at the KUGB Black and Brown belt course, held at Kendal in June 2007. He successfully passed his Nidan grading with KUGB chief Instructor, Sensei Andy Sherry, 8th Dan and Senior Instructor Sensei Frank Brennan, 7th Dan. Although not a natural fighter he tries his best every single time and doesn’t let anything faze him. He is testament to what can be achieved with constant training, courage and determination.
Joe Bennett has trained at Rothwell Shotokan Karate Club now for more than five Years. He is very consistent with his training and is present at all competitions, gradings and courses. His enthusiasm for his karate training is second to none. His attitude towards his karate is excellent and he takes his training very seriously. A huge well-done to Joe for an excellent performance.
ROB WINS KATA AT ‘ALL ENGLAND OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
At the beginning of October both club Sensei’s Rob and Sharon took part in the ‘All England Open Championships’ held in Bradford on Saturday the 28th of October.
The event was truly an open event with all manners of karate styles on display. Because of this it was run under the current WKF rules and regulations.
Very odd when you haven’t competed under these rules before! Both Rob and Sharon were entered into the Senior Kata events. The rules for the kata events were that you were able to perform the kata of your choice but had to pick 3 different ones.
Unfortunately someone who had two corner judges on her side in a very disputable fashion beat Sharon! Sharon was far superior with an excellent performance of Nijushiho. The katas that Rob chose were Nijushiho, Jion and Sochin. Nerves getting the better of him Rob performed a very wobbly Nijushiho in the first round but it was still sufficient to win his opponent.
In the second round Rob performed a credible and strong Sochin beating his opponents Kanku-dai. For the final event competitors were able to perform the kata of their choice and again Rob chose Nijushiho. Only this time Rob performed it to his best with no wobbles and with excellent form and kime won the Senior Male Kata event!
This competition was very different from KUGB events but still had a huge turnout. Rob will almost certainly be back next year to defend his title.
NORTHERN REGION CHAMPIONSHIPS- RESULTS
The KUGB Northern Region Championships this year was held at the new South Leeds Stadium. The competition as always attracted some of the KUGB’s premier competitors from all around the North of England. Competing from Rothwell were club instructors Sensei’s Rob and Sharon, Simon Merrett, Joe Bennett, Charlotte Whittles, Cameron Rhodes, Bethany Gilvarry, Adam Smith, Jordan Adams and Karl Hardcastle. Firstly the children’s kata events started the eliminations.
That meant that competing on all four areas at once were Cameron Rhodes, Adam Smith, Bethany Gilvarry and Jordan Adams. Bethany narrowly lost to a black belt after a draw. Adam Smith on the other hand seemed unstoppable. Winning three rounds and narrowly missing a final placing.
Adam eventually lost to a black belt. Adam is the current Rothwell SKC kata champion and also placed 2nd at the ‘North West Open’ earlier in the year. Adam will no doubt establish himself as a kata heavyweight in the not too distant future.
Charlotte Whittles managed to win all her elimination rounds and secured herself a final placing. This was the first time that Charlotte has entered Kata competition and she coped extremely well. Charlotte has got plenty of style to her kata and with the right amount of tuition and guidance from Rob she will definitely make a name for herself within the KUGB in years to come. Charlotte performed a credible Heian Yondan for the final and eventually placed fourth. This is a huge achievement for Charlotte. A well deserved win.
Well-done Charlotte!
Joe Bennett performed really well in his first fight of the day in the Junior Male Kumite event. This he won in excellent style with a full Ippon awarded by the judges. An excellent double leg ‘Ashi Barai’ and follow up punch. This was the only Ippon win that Rob saw all day. Maybe there were some more but they were very rare. Unfortunately Joe lost his second fight and was beaten by being punched in the throat, which is a totally illegal move! This was a very credible performance here Joe. Keep it up Joe you are improving all the time.
Rob would also like to congratulate the students that entered the team kata events for the first time. These were Karl Hardcastle, Charlotte Whittles, Jordan Adams, Bethany Gilvarry, Cameron Rhodes and Adam Smith. After the first round only four teams go through to the final, unfortunately our teams weren’t one of them. This is only due to lack of experience. Make sure you keep practising ready for the next competition.
Well done to everyone who entered and made it an excellent day.
DAN GRADE PROMOTION 29TH JUNE 2006
Huge congratulations to Rothwell SKC member Wayne Dean for passing his black belt grading at the FREE Black and Brown belt course at Kendal. Wayne has been training now for the past four years. Wayne attended the Kendal course with other club members Rob, Sharon, Cameron Rhodes, Adam Smith and Bethany Gilvarry. Both the training sessions and Dan grading were conducted by Sensei’s Andy Sherry 8th Dan and Frank Brennan 6th Dan. As is usual now Kendal had a huge turnout of students hoping to be successful in their karate endeavours.
Wayne took the whole experience in his stride and coped really well. Wayne has trained really hard for this grading and his desire for his Black belt has always being evident. He will now join our list of Adult Dan grade successes at the club. Last year on the Kendal course also saw success for Joe Bennett who passed his 1st Dan and assistant club instructor Sharon Taylor 2nd Dan. Huge congratulations go to Wayne.