Chuldow Squad Pages

ILKESTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

EMA Ilkeston

Forms Report

And so to sunny Derbyshire. Random thoughts for the day are: the verdict is out on the Latte Trial - Woodall or Birch - hmm! Motorway services are getting very posh these days - they even do sugar sticks and square pies! I wish we'd kept the other car - its hard to read the Sunday papers with a six foot pole in your left ear . . .

Forms squad in our convoy today were: Hannah and Jordan (well, it would be silly to leave them behind really), Nic, Becky, John, Ian, Timfred and Kempy, who was there in his unofficial capacity as Magical Trevor. He's been training with Team Impact, making cows disappear and cooking pigeons in Ragu sauce all week - hence poorly knees. Loads of folks on holiday with it being August (sniff) and still more upto knees in mud at some dangerous dog show . . . I think that's what they said.

The turnout was good with teams from all over the area competing aswell as some from further afield (York, Liverpool, etc).

First up were the weapons people. Nic, Jordan and Hannah took the top three places in their non-musical section, with Nic doing Enpi kama, and Jordan and Hannah doing their new weapons forms (kama and bo respectively) for the first time - or the first bits of them anyway. These three are gearing up for Canada and the extra work and coaching is making its mark. John, bless him, was doing really well until disaster and dropped his jo - big groans all round because he was looking good!

Aiden Neil won the U16 musical weapons section, with Mark Jones and Mark Watts (despite what looked like a painful injury) taking second and first respectively in the Mens' Non-musical weapons. Apologies to all - I didn't catch your club names.

The boys U16 coloured belt traditional forms section was a battle between competitors from Pocklington Karate Centre and Matrix Martial Arts from Leicester, with our Little John also looking excellent. Particularly enjoyed performances from Andrew Highfield (Matrix) and Simon Goodall (Pocklington).

Our own Becky Elvidge got her first gold in the girls coloured-belt traditional section with a solid Kuchanku - despite awful nerves before hand. Well done Becky!

Jordan took a silver in the U16 boys black belt section doing Jion, just ahead of Aiden Limb but missing out to A Danyani - I've seen him before on the circuit and II like him a lot.

However the real battle of the day was between Nic and Emma Harper from NSKF. THREE times they tied, with Nic performing Enpi, Kuchanku and Jion against Emma's Tai Kwondo forms. Unfortunately, despite a mammoth effort from Nic, she lost out in the end and took a silver - excellent forms from both girls. Nic got her own back later in the fighting!

The Mens Black Belt section, as always, was a treat. I always take far too many photos because the stances are so good! Our mate Nathan Blor took bronze behind J Maguire and Oliver Wilison from Pocklington. Ian's form was excellent and gets better at every tournament. Surely it won't be much longer before he gets rewarded for his efforts and gets placed in this incredibly hard section. Forms in this section must be incredibly hard to judge but they are great to watch. (Love the new hair Oli!). Nathan was later seen practicing some kind of Shaolin Kung Fu complete with animal noises in the back of the hall with Kempy - don't swap styles Nath!

Leanne Newton was disappointed to be the only one in her category (Womens Black Belt Traditional) but pulled off an excellent form nevertheless and came off smiling. I do think that if sections are small they should be 'consolidated' with others of similar age/grade, regardless of sex.

Timfred entered the Over 35 black belt section and took a silver after a tie with Andrew Danyani. Tim's off to Canada as well - as are 13 other members of the squad. All in all the group will total 24, including kit carriers and cheerleaders!

Under 16 teams was won by Pocklington with Alistair Playfair, Simon Durant and Simon Goodall performing brilliantly to beat NKA Team A. Infact, Pocklington continue to impress me more and more everytime I see them doing forms. They have a strong traditional base with a big emphasis on supporting each other. Great to see so many of their coloured belts doing well and not being phased by the competition environment.

All in all, a good day for all our forms folks - who are all improving every time I see them this lately. Some of those competing today had been going through a bit of a 'plateau' phase which I feel may have knocked their confidence and subsequent performances. Purely from a spectator's point of view today, it was easy to see that they are all gearing themselves up for a busy autumn of training and tournaments at regional, national and international level.

I didn't do too well collecting names of competitors/clubs today. If you think you should have got a mention here, or your name/club is wrong grab me at the next tourney - I respond very well to bribery with chocolate chip cookies...

SPARRING REPORT

Fighting Report!
By Rob Wilson

Well, as I've been forced into this and threatened to have Ł20 squad training sessions I suppose I should do it…This better be appreciated!

So onto the tournament E.M.A Ilkeston this was a good day for the fighters considering very few of us were there to represent the fighting team due to injury(me) and absence(lazy people :).
Anyway on to the fighting ,when it eventually started, our first fighter was little Alfie Jackson who seems to gain more confidence every tournament he goes to. Unfortunately, he came up against Gary Grogan an LKA guy who was very good. Must mention that Alfie threw one heck of a hook kick that missed by inches. Keep it up mate!

Then it was onto girls over 5"4 I believe in which both Nichola and Emma participated and both had a bye for the first fight, quite lucky really. Then Emma was drawn against Lauren(don't know you're second name!) from Warlords II. This was an extremely exciting fight which eventually went to extra time and saw Emma win 6-5. Brilliant effort from both girls - Liv should get scared...

Then up came Nichola against Emma Harper from NFKA. This too was a very close fight and in the end Nichola got the better of her getting Emma back from three ties in kata and losing.
Next up was the 3rd place fight off between Emma Harper and Lauren from Warlords II which saw Gwiz reffing. Must be said this was the best refereeing of the day by far. You know what to take up when you eventually get too old to fight if that's possible. Lauren came out on top winning 6-4 after extra time. Also great punching from Lauren throughout I'd hate to be on the end of one…

Then came the final which saw Nichola and Emma squaring off against each other. This fight too went to extra time like many others in the category. Emma won very closely I believe it ended up 6-4 but I may be wrong. But just a note to Emma that it pays to keep fighting until the referee says stop not when you think you've scored!

Next up was Boys under 5"4 and Danny Crossley was representing Chuldow here. His first fight was against Tim Warner whose club I have no idea. Danny won a comfortable 5-3 which is excellent for him as it's only his third tournament I think. Congrats dude! Alas, his second fight wasn't quite as comfortable as he lost to Darren Chapman - don't know club - sorry :. No matter Danny didn't give up until the referee called stop - he really is like a pit bull when he starts! This, however, still meant he progressed to the third place fight off in which he fought Dale Denyardi this fight went to extra time and sadly it saw Danny lose a well fought battle 5-3. Brilliant effort mate!

The final boys category was over 5"4 which saw Tom and Ben competing. First up was Tom against a lad whose name and club I didn't find out. Tom was always on top in this fight and ended up winning 8-1 thanks to a brill spinning hook kick to the end of the nose! Beautiful!
Then in between Tom and Ben's fights Stephen Holmes of Warlords II brayed some lad…as usual. Up stepped Ben for his fight against a lad from Maverick didn't get his name but Ben lost although made quite a good effort.

Tom was then on again and was fighting Jack Manyard - as to who he trains with I have no idea yyet again. This was a very close fight in which Tom's fists benefited him greatly especially in extra time when a close fight was separated by 2 points in Tom's favour.
Then was the final in which Tom was faced with Stephen Holmes and this was one heck of a fight! Stephen eventually got the upper hand and won 6-4 but Tom once again executed another jump spinning back kick that won't be forgotten too soon! Great effort!

Then on to Luke Whitaker who fought extremely well! His first fight saw him facing Andrew Johnson - again don't know what club. Luke dominated this fight and went on to win 6-1 with a marvellous face punch thrown in! Then it was into the final with Luke battling out a hard fight with Mark Sullivan which concluded 6-4 to Luke thanks to two superb head kicks. Great effort mate!

And finally, the one you've all been waiting for Mr. G-wiz as Robbie Hughes calls him - lol! Back to the fighting - first up to combat Gwiz was Russell Yellott - don't know the club…as usual. Didn't struggle here, but does he ever!? lol! Ended up 6-2 to Gwiz so gave out quite a battering. Then up came Greg Hendrie who gave a good fight earning a very respectable 7 points only to be pipped to the post by Gwiz who had 8 - we had no nails left! On came the final and it saw Gwiz put on a brilliant display with his trademark blurry nack and his wonderful array of kicks against Andy Sellors. This fight was completely Gwiz's way as the final score stood at 11-4 to Gwiz.

Right Liv that's your lot and one thing…never, ever and I mean ever make me endure that again! If any of you don't want your name or photo on our site then feel free to email Liv and give her a gob full...

This is by far the best sparring report yet as it covers every squad fighter all donations made payable to…LOL! Nevertheless it's got me a free session so more cash for me!

1000 words!

··¤(`×[¤ (Rob™) ¤]×´)¤··

Liv - "Ok Rob I won't make you do it again, I'll just make sure you have more exercises to do instead since you'll have all that extra free time..."