National Karate Championships.
 
(22/05/11) On 14th May 2011 the club took a handpicked few to Birmingham to compete at the National Championships in the NIA. The handpicked few consisted of Lewys Davies, Corie Penny, Lucy Nicholl, Kieron Davies, Erin Howells, Rhiannon Rogers and Martin Hughes all of which were making their debut for the club in a national event. Also picked were Phillip Nicholl, Nikki Stockham, Kirstie James and Matt Stockham.
 
First up were the children's events.  All the students performed well in their respected events. Corie Penny put in some very good performances in the ippon kumite but unfortunately didn't get the decision in her favour in the 3rd round and lost to a very good boy.  Hopefully she will take her form into the Welsh championships in a few weeks.

Lewys Davies was making his kumite debut and after a cagey first round it was lucky that Lewys scored a half point and kept hold of that lead to progress into the second round.  The second round was a little more fiery and his opponent was more experienced and took Lewys by surprise in the first few seconds to take the fight.  

Up next was Lucy Nicholl who was making her national kumite debut.  Lucy fought through her first round and was in total control all fight.  Lucy won the fight and was overcome with emotion with her first win.  Lucy went through another 2 rounds before unfortunately losing out to a good opponent.  Up next was Elin Howells who was making her debut for the club.  Elin didn't really want to fight as she was very nervous but went on the area and looked good.  Elin fought a very good girl but took instruction well and seemed to enjoy herself.  In the end her opponent was too experienced for Elin and she lost out. Up next was Kieron Davies.  Kieron was in the 12 - 15 years kumite and did well.  He fought with lots of pride and again was up against a good fighter who made his experience pay and beat Kieron.  Hopefully this will do Kieron well and prepare him for his black belt later in the year.

I would just like to take this opportunity to say well done to all our juniors.  Its a massive event and you all did yourselves and the club proud.

Up next were the under 20's categories.  This meant Phillip Nicholl and Nikki Stockham were on.  Nikki was placed 2nd in this event last year and was hoping for another medal to keep her consistent run going. Nikki fought her way through the rounds looking comfortable, and In the third round she faced an opponent from Ireland.  This was a girl who she'd fought in the European championships late last year.  After a battle and Nikki hitting the floor she managed to be too technical for her heavy handed opponent and had made it once again into the finals.

Phillip was also fighting at the same time and was fighting very well.  He made it through some potentially difficult rounds with somewhat ease.  Phillip had a good end to his year last year and looked as if he was continuing that form today which was bad news for the other fighters.  After some hard battles Pip made it through to the finals and Sensei was very pleased with his strong consistent performances throughout the day.
 
The last competitors up were the seniors and their events. Rhiannon and Martin were making their national championships debut, where as Matt was still seeded in the kumite event and didn't have to fight until later on.  Up first for the trio was Rhiannon who didn't let the event get to her and although very nervous looked very good on the mat and took each fight as an experience.  This must have been a very good day for experience as Rhi made it through round after round, beating opponent after opponent and before she knew it she was facing one of the seeded fighters for a place in the semi final.  Unfortunately the fairytale wasn't to go any further and the seeded fighters experience took over and she beat Rhi in a close fight.  She should be very proud of her debut and individual performance.

Next up was Martin and after a few months off with illness this was his first competition for the club.  He had a tough first round draw against a very good fighter and took him all the way.  The opponent was getting very frustrated with the fight because Martin wasnt letting him get his own way.  Experience paid off once again and after a battle Martin was out of the individuals.  A good performance none the less and not many purple belts have the bottle to fight the best in Britain and he should take a lot from the day. Well done.

Up next was Matt and he was seeded in the top eight from the year before.  As he watched the results unfold Matt was drawn up against Dean Ackerman from Ystrad Mynach karate club.  The build up to this event wasn't the best preparation but Matt was very keen to keep his top 8 placing.  After going a point up with a Mawashi geri chudan kick the tactics were too sit back and conserve energy.  This worked well and Matt was through to the next round and more importantly had kept his seed for 2012.  In the quarter finals Matt was against a younger up and coming fighter and this was a good fight with both fighters going after the point.  Unfortunately the referee thought he had seen a point which was awarded to Matt's opponent.  Well done on keeping your seed though and a good positive performance. 
 
The last events of the day were the female team kumite and the male team kumite.  The men were up against Leeds karate academy in the very first round.  Leeds are a tough, hard and fit team and Brecon were up against it.  First fighter for Brecon was Martin who again had a tough fighter too be up against.  Martin did well trying to hold the opponent at bay but unfortunately got swept in the last thirty seconds and lost by an ippon technique.  Up second was Phillip who was on form and carried it into the team.  Pip took the fight too his opponent but went half a point down in less than a minute.  Luckily he fought back and showed great heart and scored half a point of his own.  This fight was back and forth and it could've gone either way.  Unfortunately it didn't go Pips way and Leeds had won the second fight.  So Brecon were down by two fights and it was only pride to fight for so up stepped Matt.  The fight started frantic with his younger opponent taking it too him in the opening 30 seconds.  Matt had the answer though and swept his opponent and scored an ippon technique.  Although the team had lost this was a very positive performance for a young team. 
 
The women's team also had Leeds Karate academy, but this was in the second round and for a place in the final against Halewood.  First fighter was Rhiannon and she again took the confidence onto the mat that she had in the individuals earlier in the day.  Rhi was up against a very tough fighter but didn't looked fazed with the task ahead.  Rhi lost but it was a good fight and the more experienced fighter didn't have it all her own way.  Up second was Nikki who was also on fire from her individual performances.  Nikki had a good battle against the Leeds fighter and won the fight relatively easily, and this put the pressure on Kirstie who was up last.  Kirstie hadn't trained properly in the build up the championships due to injury but wanted to fight in the team.  So now it was on her shoulders to try and get Brecon through to the finals.  Thankfully Kirstie scored a half point early in the fight and held on for a narrow win.  The joy was overwhelming and this showed in the fighters faces as they had just beaten a top team and this was a good upset.  Happy days.
 
So onto the finals.
 
Up first out of our fighters was Nikki.  She was up against a fighter from Halewood who had been looking good all day.  Unfortunately Nikki didn't seem relaxed on the finals mat and it was a tough fight.  Nikki eventually lost out but dug deep through the fight.  This is Nikki's second, second place in two years and has another two years in this category.  Nikki is the most consistent fighter in not only the Brecon squad but also Wales too. Next year its going to be gold!!

Up next was Phillip and he was fighting a very good opponent.  Building up to the championships Phillip gave this opponent too much respect and praise.  Luckily he fought away the demons on the mat and took it too his more experienced opponent.  This was working well for the first half of the fight where he was having the upper hand.  In the second half of the fight he let the opponent have one too many chances, and he took them. A very good fight even in defeat and the game plan was working. Well done on your day Phillip.

The last event was the team and they had their work cut out because they faced Halewood who are a very strong outfit.  Rhiannon was up first once again and put in a good performance against a difficult fighter.  She lost the fight but the club couldn't of asked for more off her on her debut.  Next up we fought Kirstie and although she looked good her lack of training obviously had to come into the equation and Kirstie lost her fight against a good fighter.  Last up was Nikki and she was placed against the girl she had lost to in the finals of the individuals.  Thankfully after a bloody battle the outcome was a different one and Nikki restored the pride and took the victory. So the team had narrowly lost 2-1 to a fantastic team from Halewood.
 
Well done to everyone with their results and also performances throughout the day. Be it if you won or if you had lost I'd just like to say thank you for representing our club. I'd also like to thank the support we received throughout the day from parents. The club and instructors are again proud of you all.
 
Thank you for giving us our most successful National championships to date.
 
 
Oss

Kyu Grades Competition Success!

(26/04/11) On 27th March the club travelled to Prestatyn for the annual Kyu grade karate competition.
  
This year the Brecon club took a large squad to compete in the event, ranging from the very young to the not so young. The juniors were represented well and we would like to thank the following and their families for the support through the day: Liyoung Roka Magar, Bradley Tracey, Josh and Leo Skinner, Newton Lambu, Bernie Leeman, Caitlin Harley, Shona higgins, Lauran Roe, Giorgia Brooking, Jack and Lewys Davies, Rhydian Rogers, Corie Penny, Lucy Nicholl and Kieron Davies.
 
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Kirstie James, Phillip Nicholl and Dai Davies for helping out on the day.  It was much appreciated.

Everyone performed extremely well throughout the day and even those who were competing for the very first time impressed the judges and the instructors.
Although all of the students did the club proud, there were a few who surpassed any expectation of Sensei Stockham.

Well done to Shona Higgins, Jack Davies, Lewys Davies, Lucy Nicholl and Kieron Davies who narrowly missed out on places in the finals of kata and ippon kumite.
 
Some students did even better than that.

Well done Lauran Roe who fought her way through to the final of the girls kumite event and earned herself a silver place medal and a big well done to Corie Penny who performed at a very high standard all day and improved every round of ippon kumite she progressed through. Corie made it through to the final and was against the favorite for the event.  This didn't put Corie off her game and she won the final of the ippon kumite with a 3 flags to 2 in her favour. Corie is now the National kyu grade ippon kumite champion. Very Well Done.
  
Next up were the Seniors.We took a squad which included Darryll Woodland, Andrew Mesham, Simon Penny and Rhiannon Rogers.
 
All the seniors also did well performing with good attitude and spirit.
 
We would like to thank Darryll for his efforts of the day.  Darryll was entering his first competition for the club and did extremely well in both kata and ippon kumite events where he earned a place third place medal. He was also thrown into the team kumite event alongside Andrew and Simon.  The team itself performed extremely well all day and earnt a 3rd place medal narrowly losing out in the semi finals. Simon fought well all day, scoring some great points against difficult opponents.  He also narrowly missed out on a final place losing to the eventual winner from Bargoed by just half a point but the third place was very well worked for.

Andrew had difficulty throughout the day finding his form, but things started to click into place through the team events and Mesh scored a beautiful ippon to win his last fight in the last team event.

In the female events, Brecon student Rhiannon Rogers did well in the kata event and lost narrowly in the quarter finals.  In the kumite event she seemed a different fighter from last year and performed comfortably throughout the day making her way through each round where she eventually met a very good opponent in the finals.  The opponent in the final was from Manchester University and looked like a very mature fighter.  Rhiannon took the fight to her opponent which nobody expected, especially the opponent.  Rhiannon went half a point up in less than 30 seconds but unfortunately after a very good performance and a really exciting fight Rhiannon narrowly missed out on the gold medal...But what a battle.

The club would again like to thank everyone who entered and represented the club.  It was a very long but very good day.  

At the end of the day the trophies are awarded and then some special awards are made. It was a great surprise to everyone when Rhiannon was awarded a trophy for most outstanding female competitor on the day. This trophy is given to the student who the referees seem to have earned it throughout the day, performing good attitude in winning and losing. This is the second year in a row a Brecon Student as been awarded a good attitude award. Well Done.

Oss    
 

A message to Sensei and his family.

(01/04/11) Club members and their families would like to send their condolences to Sensei Stockham and his family on the sad news of his father's passing. We all send our love and support to them at this difficult time.

Excellent Kata Course at Brecon with Sensei James.

(04/03/11) The course commenced with a exploration of the hip action in basic movements; stationary blocks and punches. We then progressed onto ensuring we came to a complete and synchronized stop when finishing a movement. Sensei Paul also gave us insight into how he trains kata and showed us some useful methods for building up our kata abilities, which was especially useful for improving up to a competition. We then moved on to learning the kata Gojushiho Dai and finished up with performing some excellent Bunkai, which included throws and locks. The course was very enjoyable and all who participated certainly have a lot to think about and put into practice in their normal training! Many thanks to Sensei James and we hope to see you back in Brecon soon.

Sensei Paul James is coming to Brecon!

(01/03/11) Sensei James 5th Dan will be coming to Brecon to teach a kata course on Friday 4th March from 6.30- 8.30pm at Ysgol y Bannau. Cost is £5 per student.

Sensei Higgins pays a visit to Brecon!

(21/02/11) On the 19th February 2011 the club hosted its first grading of the year.  It was held at Ysgol y Bannau and the examiner was Sensei Billy Higgins.
The Senior class trained first from 12 noon until 13.30 working on pair work and distancing.  Then worked on the kata Chinte which Sensei Higgins did bunkai too. It was another eye opening course from Sensei and the seniors really enjoyed every aspect of it.. We had some fantastic positive feedback from all who attended.
 
After the seniors had finished there was a short five minutes break before the juniors had their course.  As always with the juniors, Sensei worked on what they would be doing in the grading.  They all enjoy Sensei's course and he is very good with the younger students.  The course for the juniors lasted an hour and a half and then we had 10 minutes before the grading was due to start.

The grading was a great success and everyone did themselves and the club proud.

We would like to thank and congratulate all the students for their achievements. Keep it going through the year.

White to Orange belt

Noah Thompson
Robyn Thompson
Harry Williams
Ben Parry
Prabesh Rai
Pranav Rai
JJ Wilkinson
Bradley Tracey
 
White to Red belt

Darryll Woodland
 
Orange to Red belt

Sajog Sambahangphe
Erin Bishop
Liyoung Roka Magar
Braiden Davies
Leo Skinner
Josh Skinner
Sajan Sambahangphe
 
Red to Yellow belt

Newton Lambu
Bernie Leeman
Ebony Davies
Bailey Davies
Dafydd Woodland
Lisa Parkinson
 
Yellow to Green belt

Caitlin Harley
Erin Prosser
Harvey Brooking
Luke Wilkinson
Katy Bowen
Giorgia Brooking
Lauren Roe
 
Green to Purple belt

Shona Higgins
Martin Hughes
 
Purple to Purple/white belt

Jack Davies
 
Purple/white to Brown belt

Tyler Kruk
Rhydian Rogers
Rhiannon Rogers
 
Well done to Everyone! Looking forward to the next grading with Sensei Higgins on June 11th.

Another Dan grade for Brecon!

(06/02/11) On Sunday 6th February the first black and brown belt course took place in Chesterfield.

The course was taken by Sensei Sherry and Sensei Brennan and was very well attended.  The brown belts trained from 10.30 until 12.00 and were split into two groups.  Those who were grading later that day and those who were just attending the course.  For the first half Sensei Brennan took the grading group and concentrated on the technical points of basic and also the speed of the technique.  In the second half the grading group were taken by Sensei Sherry and they worked on kata. 

After the brown belts had finished it was time for the black belts to start.  This was also split into two groups with the first dans with Sensei Sherry and second dans upwards with Sensei Brennan. 

Sensei Sherry was taking kata and Sensei Brennan worked on a tough combination and also some pair work.

The grading itself started at 2pm and it was held in a small conference room.  Dai was one of only a handful of senior brown belts taking their grading but the total number who were grading was around 60.  It was a good grading and Dai was looking good, especially his kicking and his kumite.  In the kumite he did have his hands full with an opponent who didn't want to give him any room to show off his skills.  Luckily for Dai he didn't let it get the better of him and pulled out a good fight, even though he was running on empty and could hardly lift his legs off the floor. 

Dai held on and was called back up for a final kata.  This is a tough kata because although you can basically touch your black belt, you can also lose it with one mistake.  So this is a pressure kata!!  Dai was made to perform the kata heian nidan and he did very well.

I would like to congratulate David Davies on being awarded his black belt.  He worked extremely hard over the last 5 months for this day and put in a lot of extra hours at the club.

Well done Dai.

Oss

Welsh Squad Selection.
(25/01/11) ON THE 22ND OF JAN MEMBERS OF THE CLUB TRAVELED TO MERTHYR FOR THE FIRST TEST OF THE NEW YEAR..

THE TRAINING CONSISTED OF 2 HOURS OF KATA TRAINING AND 2 HOURS OF KUMITE TRAINING..

AT THE END OF THE TRAINING A SQUAD WAS SELECTED FOR THE 2011 WELSH SQUAD.

OUR CONGRATULATIONS GO TO THE FOLLOWING FOR BEING SELECTED:

MATT STOCKHAM

KIRSTIE JAMES

NIKKI STOCKHAM

PHILLIP NICHOLL

AMENA JASPER

WE WISH THEM ALL THE LUCK FOR THEIR UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL YEAR.

ESKA Championship report.
(04/01/11) On the 25th November, four of our students met with the rest of the Welsh national team in Heathrow to travel out to Germany for the Europeon Shotokan Karate Championships (E.S.K.A).

The team had a relaxing evening on the Thursday and then trained on the Friday to run over some last minute techniques.

The competition started promptly on the Saturday morning and everyone looked nervous but excited and ready to be there.

As always the kata events were up first and this meant Nikki and Amena were up.

With six areas and all running at the same time it was quite hard keeping an eye on where and when everyone was on.

After two good performances by our students it was unfortunate that they didn't progress further than the first round.

Up next was the cadet and junior kumite events.  This meant Amena, Nikki and Phillip were up.

Amena made a very nervous start to the fight and it was difficult for her to get inside her taller opponent.  The girl she was fighting was a Swiss team fighter and she looked experienced.  The girl used all her knowledge to beat Amena but it was a good debut to her international career.

Nikki was up next and her 1st round opponent was from Sweden.  The Swidish team are a very strong outfit and have produced a number of world champions in both male and female events.  This didn't put Nikki off and she looked comfortable on the mat even though she was very nervous off it.  The fight went to plan and Nikki scored two beautiful points to take the win.  The 2nd round she was drawn against a fighter from Belgium.  This girl seemed a stronger fighter than the previous fighter and Nikki had to use her speed and cardio to beat the girl, which again she managed with two lovely head punches.  Nikki's 3rd round was against an Irish fighter.  This girl is always fighting on the British circuit and is known as abit of a heavy handed fighter who likes to dish out the punishment.  Nikki went into this fight a little weary of her and didn't look her usual self for the first 30 seconds.  After a few exchanges and Nikki getting warned for too much contact the fight went into overtime.  When this happens in Europe the winner is determined by who scores first instead of having to score 2 points.  Thankfully Nikki's cardio was very high and she got the winning point which put her in the quarter finals.  In the quarters Nikki was up against an Austrian fighter who is in everyone's mind is the girl of the moment.  she is currently world and European champion and has walked over fighters for the past 15 months.  Nikki has always wanted to fight this girl to see how she fared against the best.  The fight itself was very exciting and both fighters gave the respect to each other.  Punches and kicks were exchanged but with no point being scored.  Then the Austrian made her move and committed to an attack.  As she moved into Nikki's distance she countered with a stunning punch who everyone in the crowd thought was an ippon technique.  It would of been the upset of the championships but Nikki wasn't awarded the point.  Much to the disappointment of the Welsh coach and also Derek and Matt who were in the crowd going wild. The fight went on and the Austrian champion made her experience and class tell and beat Nikki by 2 points. Very good performance but we'll get her next time.

Up next was Phillip who was brought into the team after falling out of favour with the selectors last year.  Phillip had a 1st round against a Czech rep fighter and looked very comfortable on the mat.  There wasn't a rush that we usually see from Phillip and showed that he was fighting with a wise head.  He took it to his opponent and listened to every instruction that was given to him.  He beat his opponent and moved onto the 2nd round.  This time Phillip wasn't lucky against a strong Spanish fighter and he got beat by a single point.  It was a good performance by the Brecon fighter and looked strong. 

Due to the performances by all the Brecon juniors in the individual events they were all selected for the team events.

First up was the female junior team and they were against the Swedish team.  The team consisted of Nikki who was 1st fighter, Amena who was 2nd out and Lauren Raggett out 3rd.

This was a big test for the team but Nikki started well with a good win over her opponent.  Amena was up next and put in a good performance but it was tough for her because she was fighting in the next age group up to her own and she couldn't pull out the win.  So it was 1 - 1 going into the last fight.  Unfortunately for the team Lauren couldn't pull out a win either and lost to a good Swedish team.  Next it was the junior men's and they were fighting Denmark.  Phillip was fighting first after his strong performances in the individuals. Ross was out 2nd and Jordan was fighting 3rd.  Phillip lead from the front in the fight and was picking up where he'd left off in the individuals by fighting well and strong.  He kept it very simple and worked hard throughout the fight eventually taking the win. Unfortunately for Wales Ross and Jordan couldn't manage to pull off wins and the team went out.

So the day was over and the juniors had done their part.  All that was left now was the Sunday events and the seniors.

Brecon only had one senior competing on the Sunday, and Kirstie seemed up to the task ahead.  The kata event didn't go to plan and Kirstie was out.  In the Kumite Kirstie's first round went to plan and she made short work of it being awarded an ippon.  In the 2nd round Kirstie looked good on the mat and her movement was working well.  The fight was hard and both fighters were giving everything.  Unfortunately Kirstie's opponent had the upper hand and was awarded the fight after the final bell had rang.  Unlucky to Kirstie but better luck next time. 

In the Senior team kumite, Wales was drawn against Portugal, and after his performance in the junior individuals and team events Phillip had got the thumbs up to fight and represent Wales at senior level.  This is a fantastic honour and a very proud moment for any fighter.  Phillip was out fighting first and the occasion didn't seem to have affected him as he carried on from the junior team.  He looked very strong and not out of place as the atmosphere hit the roof.. Phillip drew his fight and the rest of the team did their duty to put Wales through to the second round where they would fight Spain.  This team fight was extremely tough and Wales were beat and out of the competition.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone from Brecon SKC for giving their best for Wales.  You definitely wore the badge with pride.  Well done and Sensei Derek is looking forward to starting the training in 2011.  Have a good break over Christmas and see you all soon. Sensei Matt.

Brecon's New Dan Grade.

(03/01/11) Mark traveled up to Egham on 4th December 2010 to undergo his black belt exam. The course wasn't really well attended due to the bad weather, and this meant that in total there was probably only 25 grading for their 1st Dan. Marks grading thankfully went to plan even though he didn't seem confident after it. I'm pleased to say that mark was awarded his 1st dan by Sensei Sherry and Sensei Brennan. Congratulations.... Sensei Matt.

(01/01/11) Happy New Year to all Brecon members and their families.

For older news please see: News 2010.