What a great day for the Welsh Contact Karate Association. Saturday 2 June 2007 saw the return of the WCKA Interclub competition. Instructors from around South Wales brought many students to make the event a great success. Some students were unable to make it due to holidays but due to demand, Instructors have agreed to fix a date for another I nterclub Competition later in the year.
For the first time ever, Lil Dragons were invited to a competition. This division went down really well with parents and spectators, where nearly 30 Lil Dragons demonstrated a Form. Medals were presented to all the competitors for showing great attitude, determination and confidence. A truly great event to start the day from these outstanding 4 to 7 year olds.
The Gold Medals were awarded to Jack Feehan and Deinol Bowen.
The Silver Medals were awarded to Alex Moody and Abby Davies.
The Bronze (3rd place) Medals to Rhys Brittain and Cameron Bernard.
The WCKA Instructors have a fantastic track record for organising big events. Careful planning and pre registration enabled the competition to run smoothly. Every category had several competitors from different clubs and novice fighters who hadn’t fought before were encouraged to take part and they were kept apart from the more experienced competition goers.
Fighters didn’t just have one fight. Win or lose, they had 2 or 3 fights in their category and finalists were decided by those who had scored the most points. This kind of system is unheard of on the open circuit but it is a great way to give competitors a better chance of winning.
Referees are WAKO trained. Mike Kehely, Steve Bevan, David Rees and Daniel Parker run most of the fighting areas with judges Phil Webb, Dave Harris, Davyd Thompson, Rachel House, Samantha Pearce, James Bailyes and Jack Bevan. Not one complaint was reported for poor refereeing, which shows what an outstanding job was done.
The smallest fighters of the day were – Megan Modrate, Caitlin Simmonds, Laurie Bowkett, Samuel Stinton, Dylan Gooch, Mason Gronow & James Stinton. A fantastic display of points fighting to get the crowd roaring, with eventual Gold Medallists Caitlin Simmonds and James Stinton.
Next up were the more advanced boys – Kyle Eveleigh, Jordan Withers, Nathan Stinchcombe and Taine Hendy. These youngsters really are something to see even being so small. Kyle Eveleigh just beat Taine Hendy to take the Gold Medal.
In the next boys sections, Joshua Carter, Kaelum Gronow, Max Hendy, Harry Greenall, Levi Jones, James Bowkett, Jordan Galvin, Kieran Davies, Connor Haren, Logan Nicol and Robert Morgan came out on top but did not find it easy against their opposition. These categories had an excellent standard with fighters from Swansea, Barry, Pontypridd and the Vale areas, showing just how close the standards are in all these clubs.
For the girls, Megan Morris, Danielle Chase, Maddie Clarke, Aiyisha Phillips and Chloe Moody took the top prizes. Well done to them and also well done to Lisa Burlini, Chloe Jones, Catryn Morgan, Jamie-Lee Pyart, Shauna Edwards, Carys Rees and Emily Ward for fighting so well against them.
Fantastic displays of points fighting by the Superfit Squad members and also some up and coming new talent. Cobi Jones, Jacob Williams,  Curtis Davies, Daniel Jenkins, Jonathan Quinn, James Bailyes, Louis Minett, James Green and Connor Davies took Gold & Silver Medals in their categories but they had some tough battles against David Grady, Jay White, Michael Myatt, James Lewis, Michael Sandford, Johnson Sparkes and Jack Bevan.
Best fight of the day was in the Advanced Boys +1.55cm, where Ashley Martin and Michael Eveleigh had 2 rounds of excellent fighting. The whole arena were on the edge of their seats as the boys were level at the end of the 2 rounds. Real drama unfolded when an extra 30 seconds was added and Ashley just about came out winner with a head kick in the final 5 seconds to win by 1 point.
The girls sections also had some very good fighters to watch. The renowned Rachel House & Kate Ward were on outstanding form but they didn’t have it all their own way. New girls Rhian Rosario, Louise Newland, Heather Dighton, Kirsty Francis, Amy Huxtable and Hannah Thomas were excellent in their divisions and it was great to see so much new potential in the female ranks.
The younger girls also put on a good show. Dina Thomas, Amy Smith, Amy Withers, Lauren Lewis, Danielle Rouse and Charlotte Griffiths had a great battle. Amy Withers just taking Gold ahead of Lauren Lewis.
Some excellent weapons forms came from Mr Carter’s weapons team in Swansea. We saw Bo Staff and Kama forms with top prizes awarded to Joshua Carter, Jordan Carter and Ben Jenkins. There are likely to be many more forms competitors at the next event as these displays attracted a lot attention from  the audience.
By far the biggest categories of the day and how great it was to see so many willing to have a go. As well as top seeds Mike Kehely, Nathan Withers, Rachel House and Kate Ward in the Mens & Womens sections, it was great to see the others pushing them all the way. With the World Championships just around the corner, this encouraged more entries from those travelling. We eventually got down to the finals, with Gold Medals to Nathan Withers and Rachel House, Silver to Mike Kehely and Kate Ward and Bronze to Tom Davies and Suzanne Kennedy.
Centre Referee, Daniel Parker had his work cut out in these very tense (pre matched) contests. All competitors fought like it was a World Championship final. The results are below.
Callum Pearce v Daniel Huxtable Winner – Callum Pearce
Cobi Jones v Kaelum Gronow Winner – Cobi Jones
Jack Bevan v Johnson Sparkes Winner – Jack Bevan
Sam Pearce v Jacob Williams Winner – Jacob Williams
Connor Davies v James Bailyes Winner – James Bailyes
Mike Kehely v Nathan Rees Winner – Mike Kehely
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