Chuldow Squad Pages

SPARRING REPORT

Ah HA! A tournament where I'm not coaching Form Squad or competing myself! And now you will see a real sparring report MWAHAHAHAHAAAA (I hope you appreciate it was bloody murder standing up with that notebook all day trying to see over hyper LKA kids...) Anyway on to my most marvellous, spiffing report ever. (Pictures by Rob Wilson)�

Well getting there was fun, what with a complete lack of directions and in some cases, kit - *cough* Emma Watson *cough* - but we got there in the end, after the obbligatory and traditional stop at Birch services to scare the pants of the ladies who work behind the food and coffee counters by coming in en masse all dressed the same hehehe. We got there in good time, despite some peoples worries that we wouldn't! and our competitors proceeded to hurl their entry forms at me like normal. One day I'm gonna take 'em all and hide them somewhere! But I digress� on to the fighting�

Well it all kicked off with the Mixed U4ft section. Our very own Adam Fields was up first against S. Priestley (I should warn you now that all names are guesswork - it's very loud at tournaments you know). Both competitors showed excellent movement and there were some really good hand techniques being pulled off. Hats to off to these smallest fighters! Adam went on to win 6-3, but it was a well matched and exciting fight to start the day.

Adam showed everyone the flexibility his gymnastics and forms training has gained him by winning his second fight a comfortable 14 - 5 through the use of numerous well executed head kicks. The final was a thrilling and close fight between Adam and T. Canon. Canon took an early lead with a great ridge hand and some good blitzing from Adam kept the fight level throughout. The crowd was going nuts in the final seconds, with Adam eventually emerging victorious with a 2-4 win.

The Mixed U4ft 4in category was characterised by a show of skill and control by all fighters involved. It was also notable for the girls, showing the boys that they can give as good as they get! A little lad called Chris from 'Back Alive' should be mentioned for his valiant effort against a much taller opponent, and Elli Murray from LKA showed everyone how to do those high kicks. A Back Alive fighter beat her in the end 5-4 but it was a close thing, going to extra time.

C. Love from Alfs (?) and Toby from Team NSKA had a great fight - with Toby putting up a good show despite last minute nerves, gaining confidence as he went along. Love showed control and accuracy during the fight, gaining her a 6-2 win overall. Kodi Dearden from NSKA showed a quick lead jab and nice clean technique, picking her opponents off with style. Her first fight ended 7-2 in her favour.

Enthusiastic coaching and determination led A. Duffy of Back Alive all the way to 3rd Place in this category despite numerous taller and more experienced opponents. His 'cheeky' jabs frequently got under guards to gain him those crucial points. Many fights looked lost until Duffy pulled them back through sheer force of will. Well done kidder!

The final of the U4ft 4in category saw a cautious but skilled display from C. Love and K. Dearden, both fighters using every trick they knew to try and outwit the other. It was very close with practically nothing between them - Love's kicks against the timing of Dearden's jabs. Eventually Love took it with a 7-6 victory.

The U4ft 8in section kicked off with some aggressive displays from a DFK vs. LKA match. The DFK lad was very quick and attacked often, showing no fear, but was picked off by the more experienced LKA competitor. With an eventual 0-1 decision in favour of LKA, these are both fighters we should look out for in years to come ( if I ever find out their names that is� ).

In the same category the match between Liam Watkinson of LKA and Thomas Wilson of Warlords II was an enjoyable one. Thomas took an early lead with some great defensive countering, but Liam quickly brought it back, fighting with aggression and determination. The match went to extra time, but a great head kick and late explosion of speed gave Thomas the edge, bringing the final score to 2-6 for the Warlords.

Next we saw the inimitable Harry Pilkington of NSKA vs. T. Emmett of LKA. Emmett did really well against this much more experienced opponent, showing no fear and gaining valuable experience himself. Harry's cool and collected performance lead him to a 5 - 0 win, thanks to some brilliant timing and a well executed head kick.

The final saw Harry (NSKA) vs. Sarah (LKA) - a very close match. Harry showed why he's one of the best in his height group by pulling off some seriously fast blitzing. Sarah made good use of any mistakes, often picking off points after a blitz had missed and using a defensive side kick to great effect. Both fighters were determined to win and there was little in it, but eventually Sarah took the gold with a 3-2 win, showing girls can fight with the best of the boys! (proving they should let me enter men's sections - but that's a whole other argument lol).

In the U5ft section J. Ashton of Leeds Freestyle was in good form, pulling of some really long static reverses that seemed to cover the entire length of the mat! He fought his way to 3rd Place overall - an excellent achievement! L. Fields of Chuldow fought well against J. Duxbury of Back Alive, showing good thinking and controlled technique, landing a superb head kick, finally winning 5-1. He was then to face J Ashton, and the fight was so close it had to go to sudden death with J Ashton finally winning 7-6.

An evenly matched fight saw Tom of LKA and Dominic of Freestylers Karate executing some serious style in their fight. Tom's leading jab, and Dominic's jumping jab saw it point for point right up until the final moments. Whilst Dominic had some really clean sharp technique, Tom was the more aggressive fighter, battling to a 4-3 victory in the end.

Other mentions should be given to B. Logan of LKA, who was a seriously fast little fighter and David from LKA who lost out to Amy Watkin after a really hard fought battle. The final was Amy Watkin of Freestyler Karate versus Tom Johnson of LKA. Amy showed determination and fighting spirit and the match was close. Ultimately the deceptively quick back fist of Johnson and his good use of the mat to get around his opponent gave him the win, 3-2.

The Under 5ft 4in section was a real showcase of up and coming talent, with many excellent fighters from all the various teams. A real highlight was watching C. Nolan of NSKA and B Cartwright of Warlords II battle it out. This was definitely one of the best fights of the day. There must have been thousands of punches exchanged with lightning speed and accuracy.

The final of this section was excellent too, with B Cartwright versus someone who was excellent but whose name I never did catch, I think it may have been J Vaughn or something similar (shout louder refs please). Anyway, you can tell Cartwright has been watching Robbie Hughes for tips on style - he looks like a mini version! He was relaxed and unfazed in his fight, aggressive in attacks with a good leaning reverse. His opponent however, was not to be beaten and used some brilliant defensive footwork and cheeky jabs to rack up the points. At time it was 5-5 and then after another point each we went into sudden death. Finally another cheeky jab from the LKA fighter gave him the win at 8-7.

The Over 5f 4in section was full of some really tall juniors - we need to stop feeding them all seriously. C. Glover tried hard against Ben Rowe, a very experienced and skilled opponent eventually losing out 7-3, but giving a respectable showing. Our own Danny Pye looked half asleep as normal but his 'unusual' fighting style at first confused opponent J. Bailey, before he finally got the measure of Danny and pulled back the points. It was close, with J Bailey finally winning 2-3.

Chuldow's Tom Sampson and B. Lyons of NSKA had yet another good fight - very close (I seem to be saying that a lot but its true seriously - most of the fights were reeeeeallly closee). I enjoy watching these two fight because they seem very evenly matched for speed and skill. Lyons eventually won 8-9, after a tense and high speed point battle. Lyons went on to fight J. Bailey, who fought well but couldn't get to grips with Lyons jab and reverse, which he used to pick off points where he could. Bailey seemed to work it out towards the end though and pulled back a few points, proving he's a quick learner and one to watch. End result 7-2 to Lyons.

Ben Thatcher of Chuldow then got up to fight Stephen Holmes of Warlord II (thanks for the coffee 'Rodent') in a fight that really wasn't as close as it should have been. When Ben finally realises he's tall and doesn't have to kick opponents to hit them we shall all benefit. Anyway 'Sti' was as speedy as ever finally reaching a 9-2 victory. Ben is currently chained to a punch bag for training purposes and will likely be allowed out some time next month.

So it was down to Rowe and Holmes in the final. Rowe took and early lead, spurring Holmes to pick up the pace even more so than he had in previous fights. Holmes pulled it back quickly with some driving blitzing that launched across the length of the mat. Not to be beaten Rowe brought in a good defensive side kick and continued in this vein, working with the 'defensive offence' tactic' that can work so well against an aggressive opponent. The eventual score was 3-2 to Rowe - an excellent fight for both.

The Girls highest section was a good chance for me to see who I'll be up against in a few years time - and now I'm pretty scared that's f'sure. There's some seriously scary kids coming up - they shout and stuff - it's mad! I had to do a bit of coaching here so I didn't write much down, but I want to say well done to our three fighters. Nichola Rock seems to finally be learning to cope with the stress of competing much better, and though she took a knock, quickly recovered and got on with it, as did Jamie Lawton. Both deserve much praise for getting on with it and proving girls are just as tough as boys (or tougher!). Emma Watson fought brilliantly, despite having recent time off for injury and reached the final - fighting E. Woods in a tense and intelligent thriller that put some of the boys to shame! E. Woods won overall, but the whole section generally was off a high standard - keep it up all of you ok? I'm sick of lads taking the limelight!!!

Should mention that Emma Watson went on to win her Continuous section in good form, at which point we had to leave - which means people that I can't report the rest of the continuous sections, but judging by the standard of the points I'm sure it was excellent.

It was a good day all round I thought, and nice to have such a small competition with such a high standard of competitors. (Nice to not have to sit around for 12 hours as well - that's always refreshingly mind-numbing�)). Thanks to the organisers and to those who helped run it, even though I don't know who you are - I'm sure there's a whole bunch of behind the scenes people that deserve mention. All our team members enjoyed themselves and are looking forward to the next one so let us know!

Thus ends my 2000 word report - proving my superiority as report writer as I'm sure you'll all agree (*threatening glare*). I think I may have been brain-washed by university. What am I thinking spending all this time writing??? Although come to think of it, I am at work, and it's much better than actual work that I'm meant to be doing� Jacqui bet you can't beat my word count for the next Forms report!

------Liv------