Autumn Newsletter

WUMF World Championship Success

A strong Wales squad recently attended the 2nd WUMF World Karate Championships in Crawley. The Championships were held over two days and brought together 23 countries/federations. Saturday saw the championships commence with the opening ceremony followed by a day of Kata competition. For a number of our Lil Kicker this was their first ever competition so it was extremely pleasing to close the first day with a medal tally of 8 Gold, 13 silver and 13 Bronze.

The 2nd day of the championships saw the focus switch to Kumite and Jukuren and what turned out to be a very busy day with large number of competitors in attendance. Everybody from the youngest to oldest competitors represented wales with pride and Sensei was pleased with the effort and commitment from everyone. Another successful day saw the final medal tally for Wales reach 42 Gold, 41 Silver and 39 Bronze.

With the final medal table calculated it was confirmed that Wales had finished 2nd of the 23

countries/federations in attendance which is an excellent achievement for our squad. A special mention must also go out to Sensei Tia Lewis who was named top Athlete of the weekend with a personal medal haul of 8 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze.

Dan Grading Achievement

The day prior to the WUMF World Championships Sensei Andrew, Sensei Callum, Sensei Tia and Sensei Luke all attending their Dan gradings in Crawley. As instructors at our club each of the individuals keep working hard to continually grow our club and ensure they stay at the forefront in regards to their knowledge, experience and expertise of Karate.

Sensei Andrew successfully achieved his 5th Dan whilst Sensei Callum achieved his 4th Dan along with Sensei Tia and Sensei Luke both gaining their 3rd Dan. We are proud of each and everyone of you and grateful for all that you do to drive our club forward, congratulations to you all on your grading success.

Preparations Continue

As most of you will be aware Sensei Andrew and the team are working hard to bring a regular competition to our doorstep through the creation of the Wales Premier Karate League. Sponsorship has been sought, the venue has been booked and this new and exciting competition will start early next year and we hope that you will all support us to make this the best competition in Wales.

As we build towards this new competition we will be running a Welsh junior and novice senior championships at Markham & District Sports & Community Centre on 16th November . This will provide an opportunity for us to test equipment and organisation for the larger PKL events next year whilst also providing an opportunity for some competition time for our juniors and novice seniors.

We wish Sensei Callum and Jac Tucker the best of luck as the pair will represent Wales in the upcoming Mediterranean Grand Prix which will take place in Gozo on the 1st & 2nd November. Squad sessions will continue to run monthly with selection for upcoming competitions including Malta (11th & 12th April 2025) and the WKA European Championships (16th-18th May 2025) being held in Warsaw.

Annual Award and Celebration Night

That time of year has come around once again where we celebrate our achievements over the past year. Tickets will go on sale Wednesday 2nd October for the Awards & Celebration Night to held in the Woodbine Club, Blackwood on 13th December. please keep an eye on our Facebook club page for more information and ticket prices. If anyone would like to support this event with donations for raffle prizes please hand these in at the Dojo over the coming weeks.