Hastings & Bexhill took to Milton Keynes this year to compete in the National Championships. Sempai Lucy Wilson represented the club on a senior level with 14 juniors entering the junior categories.
In the junior red belt section, all 4 members, Kieran Kingsnorth, Stuart Hope, Harry Markford and Ellis Stanley, made it through to the 2nd round, but unfortunately missed selection for the finals. Ellis narrowly missed the final finishing in 4th place.
For the blue belts 6 juniors entered. Cian Piper, Pollyanna Batkin, Alex Davis and Owen Cullip made it through to the 2nd round. Owen finished in a well deserved 5th place.
Yellow belts, Todd Carr-Williams and Tobias Batkin performed very well with Tobias narrowly missing the final having to settle for 4th place. Todd convincingly moved into the finals where he was up against 2 older competitors and successfully claimed 2nd place with a sharp, clean performance.
In the team event, Tobias and Todd joined forces with Charlotte Harding to compete in the low-grade junior team event. At last years tournament they missed out on the finals in 4th place, but this year was a different story. 2 solid performances saw them through to the final where they took it up another level to take 2nd place. Fantastic result for them and so very deserved.
In the senior competition, Lucy Wilson entered the Black Belt Womens category. 2 strong katas saw Lucy through to the finals where she took on last years winner from Switzerland and last years runner up from London and settled again once more for 3rd place. This result for Lucy puts her in prime position to represent Great Britain in the World Tournament to be held in Switzerland in 2010.
A very good day for the club overall. Congratulations and well done to all who competed.
Another good set of results for the club.In this years annual international against Wales, Hastings & Bexhill will have 3 worthy members representing England!
Sempai Lucy Wilson makes it a second year in succession to Captain the English Womens Clicker team. Adding to this she also takes the role of Captain in the Womens Kata team, along with Becky Woods and Sarah Stoddart.
Making his debut, after two years of hard work, has paid off for 4th kyu Tobias Batkin who deservedly takes his place in the Junior Clicker team. This achievement for Tobias makes him the youngest member ever from the club to represent his country at the tender age of 11.
Another debut comes for Christopher Kingham, 1st Kyu, lining up in the Mens Clicker team. Chris took his place to take on Wales in the seven man team for the forth-coming competition, to be held at the Hilton Hotel in Stansted.
Good luck to you all!
Lucy, Christopher and Tobias performed extremely well in the event this weekend.
Tobias was first to fight for the club. He was the last and youngest of the team in the junior event. Not only was this his first fight for his country, he also had the added pressure of taking the win to give England victory over their Welsh opponenets after his team left him with the deciding bout. Tobias took the challenge head on in what became a very heated fight against his 14 year old, taller opponent. Fast thinking and effective techniques saw him awarded with the victory, giving England the junior title!
Next Lucy lead her team out to take on the Welsh. Fighting first in the team of five, Lucy lead by example, convincingly defeating her opponent to give the team their first win. Overall England were left with a draw, 2 wins, 2 losses meaning Lucy had to fight again for the decider against the Welsh Captain. Excitement built to a maximum at the venue in what proved to be a very close contest after Lucy scored well on the British Champion, forcing her opponent to chase the victory. Unfortunately, the judges awarded against Lucy and gave the title to the Welsh.
Last to fight for the club was Christopher. First appearance also for Chris as he took on his Welsh opponent who is a well known regular in what was a very experienced Welsh team. The English men's team was made up of mostly new comers and Chris was first out to take on the Welsh captain. Taking the fight to his opponent he was unlucky to lose the decision at the end of the bout. Eventually Wales took the men's title 5-2.
Lucy Wilson and Lorraine Garniss represented the BKK and Hastings & Bexhill in the IKK's International Open Knockdown tournament in a nine strong team that saw the BKK take all the top spots and senior titles.
Lorraine entered the womens over 65kgs event where she faced a far heavier opponent in the semi finals who continuously attacked her with wild technique. Lorraine easily out-classed the local girl and moved soundly into the final. Lucy advanced through her 1st round into the semi finals where she came up against fellow squad member and current British Champion Emma Markwell in the women's under 65kg division. Little seperated the two in the two round battle, which was evenly contested until Lucy gave away a point in the last few seconds.
In the final for Lorraine, she faced the new face of Samantha Williams from Wales, who has steadily been coming up through the ranks. Lorraine taught the 19 year old a hard lesson by completely over powering her, stepping up the pace. Proving the far stronger fighter over two rounds, Lorraine was awarded the fight and became the Heavyweight Womens Champion.
Lucy relished the challenge to contest for 3rd/4th position after missing out on the final against a French opponent. Determined not to go home empty handed, Lucy successfully dominated the fight from start to finish and at times left her opponent completely defenceless. A very convincing win from Lucy saw her awarded with 3rd place.
Fantastic tournament for our ladies, Lorraine's 1st title at open level competition!
To this years competition the club entered two competitiors. Senpai Lucy Wilson in the Lightweight Open womens division and Lorraine Garniss in the Heavyweight Open womens division. It was a pleasure to see a increase in the womens categories and some different ladies competing that Lucy and Lorraine have not fought before.
Lorraine competed first against Megan Grace from Wimbledon in the 1st round. A very good fight went to ensho-sen and unfortunately the decision went against Lorraine, but another good performance from Lorraine to be proud of. Lucy advanced to the semi-finals where she met a former European champion and World tournament finalist, Gitta Kondorosi from Crystal Palace. The bout went 2 rounds before ending in a draw, but unfortunately weight was taken into consideration to determine a winner and Lucy again had to settle for 3rd place.