Brecon Shotokan Karate Club News. 

(20/12/10) Merry Christmas to all Brecon Members past, present and future and their families.

(22/11/10) Our thoughts and love are with Sensei Higgins at this time.

Congratulations to Brecon's Newest Dan Grade!

(31/10/10) On 31st of October 2010 the club sent Ryan Winney to Litchfield, just north of Birmingham to attend a course and grading with Sensei Poynton and Sensei Sherry. The course was well attended and started at 10.30, with the brown belts training until 12 and the black belts training until 1.30.  The brown belts concentrated on the grading syllabus and Kata while the black belts concentrated on the kata's Tekki Sandan and Tekki Nidan..

After the course there was a short break before the grading could begin....

The grading started and Ryan was one of the first 6 students to be called up.  Firstly was the basics which Ryan looked very comfortable. The nerves didn't show even though they must have been bad!  Up next was the pair work.  Ju ippon kumite and also free fighting. Ryan was paired with a student from the Malvern club, which is a very good fighting club. Both boys looked good and Ryan did very well. Then the two boys had to fight in front of the Sensei's on their own.  Ryan totally dominated his opponent and looked like a different person as he pressed forward and put his opponent under constant pressure.  The kata section of the grading went to plan too with Ryan's Bassai dai standing out. Then the grading was over..... All that had to be done was to hopefully get another call up at the end of the grading for one more kata.  Thankfully Ryan got the call up and did the final kata.

It is with a massive smile that I write this report and Sensei Derek and Sensei Matt would like to Congratulate Ryan on achieving his 1st Dan! He truly deserved it and worked extremely hard putting in extra hours at the club. Ryan started his training at Tekki in 2005 but decided to change clubs and train at Brecon in May of this year and has been a fantastic addition to the Brecon family.

We are all extremely proud. I would also like to thank Ryan's parents for their continued support.

Well done on a great day... Keep it going...

Course and Grading with Sensei Higgins.

(25/09/10) Another great grading and the Sensei's congratulations go to:

Purple to Purple and White

L. Davis, T. Kruk and C. Penny
 
Green to purple

J. Davies
 
Yellow to Green

S. Higgins
 
Red to Yellow

L. Wilkinson, K. Bowen, G. Brooking, L. Roe, C. Harley, E. Prosser and H. Brooking
 
Orange to Red

L. Parkinson, B. Davies, E. Davies, N. Lambu and D. Woodland
 
White to Orange

B. Davies, J. Skinner, L. Skinner, J. Rai, J. Rai, L. Roka Magar, S. Sambahanghe and S. Sambahanghe

Course and Grading with Sensei Higgins.

(11/09/10) Brecon SKC will be hosting a course and gradings with Sensei Higgins on Saturday 25th September 2010. Senior class from 11.30 until 13.00, Junior Class from 13.00 until 14.00. Grading starts at 14.45. The course will be held at Ysgol y Bannau Primary School. Those wishing to grade must attend the pre-grading class. Cost £10 training, £10 grading.

The Fabulous Four 
 

(30/08/10) On the 14th August, students and instructors from the club traveled the 3 hour journey to Chesterfield for the second Grand Slam Competition of the year. This competition is held so that international experience is achieved for squad members of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales both at junior and senior levels.

It is also a chance for the national team coaches to finalise their teams for upcoming competitions such as the European Shotokan Karate Championships which this year is held in Koblenz, Germany.

The international teams are selected throughout the year and are based on attendance, performance, attitude fitness and most of all consistent results. This year the club had 4 students who were in the running for a team spot.

Kirsty James, who after losing out on a place last year, was hoping to prove a point to the selectors and regain her place in the team. Nikki Stockham, who was hoping for her place in the team after a fantastic 2009. Amena Jasper who is the youngest of the quartet who was hoping to be selected for her first trip abroad and finally the only male of the group; Phillip Nicholl, who after a falling out of favour with the selectors last year was asked to rejoin the squad in July of 2010.

Kirsty, Philip, Amena and Nikki.

Although the day was both long and grueling on the competitors, the club is extremely please to announce that all four of our students were selected for E.S.K.A. Congratulations to them all. Below is a guide to what they will be entering and representing Wales in:

KIRSTY JAMES - 23 - SENIOR TEAM KUMITE,  SENIOR INDIVIDUAL KUMITE AND SENIOR INDIVIDUAL KATA.

NIKKI STOCKHAM - 18 - SENIOR TEAM KUMITE, JUNIOR TEAM KUMITE, JUNIOR INDIVIDUAL KUMITE AND JUNIOR INDIVIDUAL KATA.

PHILLIP NICHOLL - 18 - JUNIOR TEAM KUMITE AND JUNIOR INDIVIDUAL KUMITE.

AMENA JASPER - 16 - JUNIOR TEAM KUMITE, CADET INDIVIDUAL KUMITE AND CADET INDIVIDUAL KATA.

AGAIN THE CLUB AND INSTRUCTORS WISH THEM EVERY LUCK AND SUCCESS IN THE COMPETITION.

Kirsty, Nikki Amena and Philip.

Grading Success with Sensei Higgins 
 

(30/06/10) On 26th June the club held another grading with SBilly Higgins 7th Dan.

As usual the adults were training first and the course was 2 hours long.  At the start Sensei had the adults working and some basics.  It was a very warm day and it wasnt long before the gi's were dripping..  After the basics, sensei Higgins made the class run through the kata Tekki Nidan. The kata was broken down into parts and each part was then put into Bunkai, Sensei's favourite!
 

The adult class ended with some kumite but with two fighters on one. Which gave the student's quite the workout!  It was a very intense course and all the students enjoyed it very much. 
 

The club would like to thank Sensei Higgins for yet another fantastic mornings training.

Up next were the childrens class. The juniors trained for 1 hour and worked on what they would be doing for the grading.

There wasnt as much sweat from the juniors but they enjoyed it very much.
 
After a good grading with Sensei Higgins the club would like to congratulate the following on passing their new belts.

1st kyu - brown and 2 stripes
 

Dai D.
Lucy N.
 

Purple and 1 stripe belt
 

Tyler K.
Lewys D.
Corie P.
 

Green belt
 

Jack D.
 

Yellow belt
 

Shona H.
 

Red belts

Lauren R.
Georgia B.
Katy B.
Luke W.
Bernie L.     
Eran P.
Catlin H.
Harvey B.
 

Orange belts

Lisa P.
Ebony D.       
Bailey D.
Newton L.
 
Well done to everyone and Sensei Derek and Matt are looking forward to the next grading in September.
 
Oss!
 

Welsh Championships - 2010 - Photos will follow soon.

(19/06/10) On 19th June the club took competitors and supporters over to Merthyr Tydfil leisure centre for the Welsh Championships.

As usual the juniors were up first with kata and ippon kumite events. The Brecon juniors did extremely well and even though this was some of the students first ever competition. The juniors took everything in their stride and enjoyed being amongst some of the best juniors in the country. Unfortunately no one progressed through to the finals but Sensei Derek, and Matt would still like to thank the following for their good attitude and some very good results; Lucy Nicholl, Tyler Kruk, Shona Higgins, Lauren Roe, Georgia Brooking, and Katy Bowen.
 
Up next were the boys and girls kata and boys and girls kumite.  We only had two entries for these events.  Amena Jasper who was defending her grand slam titles from 2009 in both the kata and kumite events and Ryan Winney who was entering his first competition for the club.  Amena was in fine form in both events and after a longish 1st round in the kumite she eased into both finals at the end of the day. Ryan was up next and progressed through a number of rounds in the kata but unfortunately lost out before the 1/4 finals. In the kumite Ryan was up against the current national silver medalist from Ystrad Mynach. Although Ryan was very nervous before the fight he showed great fighting spirit and attitude.  Taking it too the more experienced fighter he scored half a point and was listening to all instructions from Sensei Matt. Unfortunately the experience of Chris came through and Ryan was out. A very good performance throughout though and the Sensei's were impressed.  
 
Up next were the Seniors including Nikki Stockham who was defending her individual kumite title from the previous year.
 

The womens senior kata was the first event and the club had a good entry for this including Kirstie James, Nikki Stockham, Lucy Smith, Rachel Davies and a first competition for Lisa Parkinson.

The women did very well with good performances from Lucy and Rachel.  The 1st suprise of the competition was by our Orange belt, Lisa. Although her first ever competition and her lack of karate experience Lisa progressed through to the 2nd round which was fantastic.
 

The 2nd suprise, or suprises were to watch Kirstie and Nikki go through a number of rounds having only really touched the surface of kata training and knocking out previous finalists along the way. They were very pleased to get through to the evenings finals.
 
The next event was the 16 - 18 boys kumite. After some good performances and a shock along the way by Graham Hunt taking out the 2009 semi finalist the boys missed out on the finals mat and were disappointed. But they had a chance to make it up in the team later on.
 
Back to the female events and up were the fighters. Last year the club had all 4 of the semi finalists, but unfortunately only 3 are still training so that cant be achieved again this year.  There was alot of pressure on the female fighters because of last years results and they gave themselves all high expectations and goals.  All the ladies were in fine form in the eliminations, and it was clear to see that the hard training and dedication of most of the fighters was paying off.  Nikki took her form from the national championships into the Welsh and her attitude and cardio were head and shoulders above her opponents.  There were some iffy moments but mostly with control of her punches rather than anything else. Kirstie was also fired up and the confidence of the mornings kata eliminations was clear to see. Kirstie looked a different girl and eased into the 1/4 finals. In the 1/4's kirstie fought a woman from Tekki.  The gameplan for this fight was not to give her opponent the space to move.  Kirstie didn't disappoint and after about 10 seconds she used a sweep and punch combination and everybody was looking to the semi finals. Unfortunately for Kirstie the punch was deemed too hard and she was disqualified. Although disappointed with the outcome it was very good to see Kirst with abit of venom.  Up next was Lucy who also eased into the 1/4 finals where she used 3 gyaku suki techneques to beat her opponent in 30 seconds.

This set up an interesting semi final where last years runner up, Lucy from Brecon would fight last years champion Nikki, also from brecon.  In the other semi final it was a Tekki girl and she would fight Lauren Raggett from Kyoshin.

Because of the 2 fighters from brecon fighting in the semi's the coaching team was split in half with Matt coaching Nikki and Derek coaching Lucy.  The fight started a little cagey because both girls knew each others way of fighting so well and a few exchanges happened with no score or both punching at exactly the same time.  In the end Lucy couldn't pull off her stratagy against Nikki who had the edge and lost the fight 2 points to 0.  So Nikki was through to the final for the 2nd year running and on course for defending her title.  In the final she would be fighting Lauren Raggett. This fight was a war and both fighters gave everything.  Nikki went down half a point to Lauren at the start of the fight but kept her composure and in the end started to rattle up the points. The final score was 4 points to 1 in favour of Nikki. well done in retaining your title.   

In the girls kata Amena performed the kata Bassai Dai.  In a very close event she managed to be awarded second place. well done. In the kumite event Amena was relaxed but focussed. it took her 30 seconds to retain her kumite title, and didnt seem troubled at all by her opponent and used all her experience.
 
Up next was the team kumte event.  Fighting in the team were Dyfyr Davies, Phillip Nicholl and Graham Hunt.  The team itself is very young with pip and Graham still only 18. They did extremely well and fought with good attitude and spirit. The club was very pleased with the results and although losing narrowly to the eventual winners in the semi's and picking up a broken nose for Dyfyr and a lovely jodan mawashi for graham they managed a bronze medal. Well worth the pain and suffering..
 
In the medal ceremony Nikki was awarded best female of the day. Well done.
 
Sensei would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for giving 100%. And although some results didnt go our way there looks to be a fantastic future for the club. Keep training hard and the results will come for you 'the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary'.

On a different note the club would like to thank Lucy for training with us over the past 6 years.. Unfortunately Lucy has made the decision to end her training and quit karate.... We wish her all the best for the future. 
 

Course and Grading with Sensei Higgins.

(11/06/10) Brecon SKC will be hosting a course and gradings with Sensei Higgins on Saturday 26th June 2010. Senior class from 12noon until 13.30, Junior Class from 13.30 until 14.30. Grading starts at 14.45. The course will be held at Ysgol y Bannau Primary School. Those wishing to grade must attend the pre-grading class. Cost £10 training, £10 grading.

KUGB UK Nationals Competition, NIA.

(15/05/10) A big congratulations to all who competed, especially NIkki and Amena who made it to the finals and came 2nd in their respective Kumite categories. More details to follow. Also see the KUGB news page here.

KUGB Kyu Grades Competition, North Wales.

(25/04/10) On the 25th of April students from the club traveled to North Wales for the annual kyu grades championships in Prestatyn.  The competition is in its 25th year and gives the opportunity to lower grades to gain competition experience.

Brecon juniors ready for action!

 
The club took a senior team which included Mark Scott, Dai Davies and Martin Hughes and a junior team which included Lucy Nicholl, Tyler Kruk, Corie Penny, Lewys Davies, Jack Davies and Shona Higgins.
 

All of the students did extremely well and gave 100% in each event and should be very pleased.
 

The Brecon Ladies taking on the boys!

A special congratulations must be said to Tyler, Dai, Martin and Mark for their achievements on the day.
 

 
Tyler came 2nd in the ippon kumite event performing the techniques with confidence and sharpness throughout each round beating opponents who were mostly 5 grades higher than herself.  Tyler carried the confidence into the final but narrowly missed out on gold by 3 flags to 2.  Well done on the silver trophy.
 

Tyler in Ippon action!

Martin was entered in the kumite event for purple belts and below, and although carrying a serious injury to his leg fought bravely through each round displaying great timing with his punches and good discipline.  This eventually took martin to the final where he carried on from the eliminations and displayed a good fighting spirit.  Martin won the fight with a strong gyaku tsuki punch making him the 2010 kyu grades champion.
 

Martin in action scoring gyaku tsuki!

Dai was fighting in the brown belt event and through the elimination rounds scored 3 ippon techniques.  Dai was fighting well and got to the evenings final.  Unfortunately Dai lost the final by just half a point.  Congratulations on 2nd place.
 

Dai taking some pointers from Sensei Matt.

The male team kumite consisted of Mark, Martin and Dai. The team also fought well through the day and eventually lost out to Bargoed in a close semi final. Well done for 3rd place.
 

Men's team kumite - 3rd place.

Although I have mentioned Martin's results throughout the day, the club would like to congratulate him on a special award.  At the end of all the finals the referees and judges vote on the best attitude of the day.  This is given to the karateka who stood out throughout the day.  Not only showing good fighting spirit but also good attitude in winning or losing.  For 2010 this was given to Martin who was was as shocked as the club.  Well done....
 

!st Men's Kumite, 3rd Men's Team Kumite and best attitude trophies! Well done Martin.

Again I'd like to say well done to everyone who entered.. The club and instructors are very proud of you all.
 

Big Kiai's from Brecon!

The future looks bright...       Watch this space!!
 
Oss

Nidan (2nd Dan Black Belt) pass at Egham.

(27/03/10) Congratulations to Dyfyr Davies on passing Ni-Dan with Sensei Sherry (8th Dan) and Sensei Rhodes (7th Dan) at the Black and Brown Belt course in Egham.

Grading results and training with Sensei Higgins (7th Dan).

(20/03/10) On the 20th March the club held a course and grading with Sensei Billy Higgins.

The course was split into two sessions with the Black ad Brown belts training first and the Kyu grades second.

The black and brown belt course consisted of an intense two hours of kata, kumite and Sensei Higgins' specialty Bunkai, in this case the application of kata Niju-shiho. Sensei then moved on to kumite training consisting of partner work and distance training.

Bunkai demonstration by Sensei Higgins.

The juniors trained for one hour with Sensei and concentrated on their form and grading syllabus.

Sensei Higgins and the Kyu Grades.

The grading had very positive feedback from Sensei Higgins. Sensei's Derek and Matt would like to congratulate the following on passing their grading and hope that they continue to improve towards the next grading in June.

Sensei Higgins and the BSKC juniors.

Congratulations to:

White to orange belt.

C. Harley, B. Leeman, L. Wilkinson, E. Bishop, K. Bowen, H. Brooking, G. Brooking and L. Roe.

Orange to red belt.

S. Higgins.

Red to yellow belt.

J. Davies.

Yellow to green belt.

L. Davies, C. Penny, T. Kruk and M. Hughes.

Brown to brown and one white stripe.

L. Nicol and D. Davies