Dokan Karate Club

Sunday the 20th of November found me hosting our association tournament with 187 people entered, which equated to about 500 entries. Four areas well ran and supervised by quality wukf official referees aided by Dokan volunteer judges and table staff. The set up and efficiency of the day is a credit to all those people who gave up their time to make it work. The feedback has been wonderful and virtually everyone enjoyed the day. A sincere thank you to my helpers, our Refs, and all the parents for supporting the event. 85 of my own Dokan club students setting the best of examples, done me and their parents proud . And let’s not forget my friend John Bearby photographer extraordinaire who a lot of these photos were taken by. Also thank you to Monika Baxter for making a superb video of the event.

Dokan presentation party night. I've said this before. Some people go for a posh affair, a meal with ballgowns and suits ! Not me, I'm a working class lad that remembers what it is to be a kid and I also know how quick that childhood flies by, so I try my best to make my parties a joyous fun night out. Forget the funds, the certificates and the trophies, my main goal is that all the kids have a laugh and enjoy themselves.

Autumn grading at Dokan karate club. In volume of numbers attending I have had more than double todays tally, but I have never had a more pleasing grading day. The student now understand what is expected at my gradings, their effort level is where I believe it should be and the standard was fantastic. I dare not mention names for I will be labelled with the old favouritism banner but at least 20 kids surpassed expectations and I will be in touch about squad sessions for some new children.

Dokan entered 13 students into this 5 day event held at Antribes France. (Unlucky 13) We finished 14th on the medal table which is respectable. I believe most of our students performed to the best of their abilities and no one can ask more than that.
Sometimes everything goes your way and this was not one of those times. In a few fighting bouts there were head kicks that simply went unnoticed and this could have altered our tally dramatically. We also had 4 x 4th place, 2 x 5th and a 6th in large individual kata sections.

WUKF EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP 2022

Dokan karate association that has its head quarters in South Tyneside and Sunderland, took a small squad to Florence Italy for the WUKF European championships. A tournament that had 21 countries, over 70 referees, 260 coaches and 1852 athletes attending, and was ran over 4 days with a further day for registrations and weigh ins etc.

The squad had a hard time of arranging the trip due to rail strikes and multiple flight cancellations that saw some parents withdraw completely, but those that persevered were rewarded with an experience they will never forget.

The 12 students who are all from Tyne and Wear won 4 gold, 3 silver and 8 bronze medals between them. Quite a respectable tally for such a small group, and they could have done better with a smidgen of luck.

Hot on the heels of a great succes at the GB International Birmingham in mid September, we made our way to Dundee for the Kanzen international. 8 countries and over 1000 entries, yet our small squad of 15 emerged on top of the medal table. What a fabulous achievement and payback for the students hard work and dedication.

There are 3 aspects to me arranging these parties. 1. To raise cash for the funds (which this year was spent on your kids competition fees) 2. To present certificates and awards. 3. Most importantly to get the students together outside of the dojo and away from training to have a nice time together and a bit fun. My club would run in exactly the same manner without them and save me and Ali an unbelievable amount of hassle.

This is one of three posts that I will do this week, as I can only add 80 photos. And I am having facebook problems. It will not allow me to tag or comment. Regardless I hope you enjoy looking through these and that your child enjoyed the experience of competing. These photo's were taken by Lyndsey Gates on my outdated camera. Thanks Lyndsey. Next post will be the photo's by John Bearby and if you want more look up Monika Baxter who took some good ones too.
There will be a photo of me awarding the top external club trophy on the next batch of photos later this week.

Dokan Spring Grading. There's a couple of video's here and some photographs, mainly for our own parents pleasure, but anyone interested in joining a club, you will find no one pushes harder to maintain standards than we do. For any of my friends involved in karate you will see no matter what grade you are here at Dokan you must know every preceeding kata up to your rank.

Two day tournament, the GB international, Birmingham. Without a doubt my favourite competition of all time (& I've been around a while now). Had my usual share of controversy, it wouldn't seem right without it . For Dokan club 17 gold, 7 silver and 23 bronze, add to this our association tally and it will be impressive. I entered 25 students.

Manchester open 02.10.22. A long and tiring day. Arrived 8.00am pulled out 8.00pm. Twelve hours is enough for me. Some great personal performances from our squad and the team effort was exceptional. I am proud of their attitude, skill and etiquette. Medal tally I believe is (& this counts pairs and teams as one medal) 17 gold, 7 silver and 8 bronze. Brilliant job guys. Not sure how our Ichiban Leeds branch done but we done well. I am really happy with the development of most of my junior students, and as per usual, my senior girls set the example. Fabulous girls. The attached video was made by student Ewan Baxters mother and all those shown are our own students. This tournament had 457 people entered and show cased how competent our students are becoming. The medal tally may have been a tiny bit higher had we not withdrew from 6 categories because of the time. 

Karate World Championships in Dundee. A long way off the start I hoped for, but tomorrow is another day. I only really watched female kata, but there was some really exceptional quality. Congratulation to Ariz (our only gold) Salma bronze and my 14 to 15 year old team of Rebecca, Fran and Hilda, another bronze.

GB Open Birmingham. 19 Dokan students and 2 Kawuaso from our Association club in Ryhope. A 2 day competition and a WUKF ranking event. My 21 students won 21 gold, 14 silver and 12 bronze medals, and I am counting team and pairs medals as only one win. What a fabulous achievement and a fantastic outing for those that attended. When the lockdowns were ending a year or so ago and I got a large influx of new starters, I set out to forge a new junior super squad and I thank those parents for putting their trust in me.

KKO competition Leeds on May 21st. Despite me suffering severly from softy man cold it was a fabulous day. 15 gold, 23 silver and 21 bronze medals. There were 6 areas and about 23 refs so the day flowed beautifully, finishing at 2.30. The sun was shining and it was back to Leeds town for a few beers in the sun. Great day, great weekend, great place. Thanks to Becky, Ian and everyone involved.

Second comp of 2022 for Dokan karate club. 33 students entered, half of those novices, so a testing day for all involved. We ended the day as the most successful karate club with a medal tally of approximately 17 gold, 21 silver, and 28 bronze, courtesy of team events. Of the tournament itself, I will say it was superbly run, and finishing well before 6.00 was an accomplishment in itself.

North of England karate Championship down Barnsley Sunday 19th March. Here's some stats, we entered 39 sections as a club and won gold in 33 of those, sliver in 27, and bronze in 20. I was disappointed with no one and very pleased with many. Well done to all our students and thank you to Graham Summerfield for doing his absolute best to please everyone.

Ryukyu comp at Newcastle, we entered 18 students and won thanks to team events about 21 medals. There was no kumite for the youngsters and the whole thing could be described as a a little bit different. I was pleased with all the Dokan squad and there was a high stand of kata and teams.

These past 2 weeks, I have been feeling sad within myself for being so harsh on the kids and told Ali on Friday I was going to lighten up, but the results were there to be seen today. The reality is I do not want anyone to go into a competition completely unprepared and sometimes you need to be strict. Dokan club had 27 firsts from 34 fights, but it was the way our kids fought that was the pleasing aspect for me.

Our medal tally 8 gold, 12 silver and 16 bronze. Might be more as I was so stressed running about trying to get inexperienced kids in the right place that I lost track of the tally. Also if i count teams as three medals we won way more. I will do another post on this weekend later, but I want to thank the organisers and everyone concerned with running a superb competition efficiently and amiably.

EKA 29th January 2023. I heard there were over 900 entries, so the nine areas were required in an exceptionally busy competition, which was ran with unbelievable efficiency. Massive credit to Gary, Analiese and Foxy fox and of course the table staff and refs etc for holding it together. I am impressed. ALSO we we top association / club on the day with 24 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze and that is simply my club tally, not the association total.