The BKK held its regional tournament in Dunmow on 29/06/2013 and as ever the IKK sent a team. We had 11 fighters entered in a variety of categories. Some of the team traveled over on the Friday with the balance opting for traveling over on Saturday morning and coming back Saturday night. This involved an early morning start to get to the Airport. A technical problem caused a delay in takeoff but did not really delay us. A short taxi ride to the venue later and we got all of our fighters checked in. Next was the weigh in and medical. Everyone made the weight and passed the medical - all that was left was to fight. But where were the mats?

Being held alongside the regional was the Annual  England Vs Wales tournament so in the absence of mats (which at this stage were stuck in traffic) it was decided to hold the Kata event first. As luck would have it the mats arrived just as the first Kata team walked on. Both teams displayed some fantastic kata and once this was over everyone jumped in to get the mats down. And on with the Knockdown.

First up was the Novice mens middle weights and we had three fighters in this category - all first timers. All three fought well and showed great heart and determination but sadly all three lost in the first round by decision. Well done to Sean Murtagh, Johnathan Glennon and Daniel Perello. Im sure we will see more of these in the future.

Next in the Novice Mens Heavyweights we had two fighters - Jaroslaw Goralczyk and Artur Smolarek. Artur had a tough first fight and unfortunately lost on a narrow decision. Jaroslaw fought very well and won his first fight and found himself in the Semi-finals. He had a hard fight in the Semi-final and lost on decision but fought a very measured fight, It was hard to believe it was his first tournament. This was our first trophy of the day - 3rd Place.

Last up in the Novice section was Emilia Cahill in the Novice Ladies Lightweight. As there was only five fighters Emilia found herself fighting in the only quarter final. Early on in the fight Emilia injured her foot but fought on for two rounds before loosing on a close decision. Once the fight was over it became clear that the injury might be more than we first thought so off she went to Hospital with Sensei Shane Mulhall to get it checked out. It turns out that she had broken a bone in her foot so she returned on crutches. Incredible spirit to fight for four minutes with a broken bone in your foot.

With so few fighters entered in the open event all of our fighters found themselves in the Semi-finals so all were guaranteed a trophy but what would the trophy be?

In the Womens open Heavyweights Patrycja Calka was up first but sadly lost after four minutes by decision. Another Trophy - Third Place. We also had Aneta Meskauskeine who fought in the final over four rounds to take first place. Another great performance from Aneta and yet another trophy for her.

In the Mens open Middleweight Patrycjas husband Bartek got a bye to the final where he fought one the BKKs up and coming fighters Over four rounds and lost on a very tight decision. Another Trophy - Second Place.

In the Mens open Heavyweight Dave King was up first and after 4 minutes took a well deserved decision. In the final he fought a very tough competitor and again this went four rounds before he lost on decision. Dave has improved a lot in the last year and this was a well deserved trophy - Another Trophy - Second Place.

Last up we had Ben Kelly who was supposed to fight in the Novice Mens Lightweights but as there was no one else entered in that category he forewent his last novice event and moved up to the Open categories. He had a bye to the final where he started explosively and really took the fight to his opponent. Shock and Awe was how it was described and it worked as he won by Ippon in 56 seconds. Another Trophy - first place.

Jaroslaw Goralczyk - Novice Mens Heavyweights 3rd Place
Bartek Calka - Mens Middleweight - 2nd Place
Bartek Calka - Best Spirited Fighter
David King - Mens Heavyweight - 2nd Place
Ben Kelly - Mens Lightweights  - 1st Place
Aneta Meskauskeine - Womens Heavyweights - 1st Place
Patrycja Calka - Womens Heavyweights - 3rd Place

So there we had it - six trophies in all. But it turns out we were not finished yet as Bartek Calka also took the trophy for the Best Spirited fighter. All that was left was to go to the Airport and go home which never would have happened if Shihan Liam and Shihan Alex and another friend  gave us a lift to the Airport as taxis were nowhere to be found.

All in all a great day and great experience for all of our fighters. Also for our coaches - Sensei Ken Fitzpatrick, Sensei Patrick English and Sensei Shane Mulhall and our Referee/Judge/man on the mike - Sensei Shane Lalor.

Thanks also to all of our supporters - Gytis Meskaukas especially.

Shane

Ps Many thanks to Gytis and Aneta for kind permission to use their pictures.

The oldest established dojo in the IKK is Killester dojo which is located in St Brigids BNS KIllester. On Friday 21st June Shihan Kevin assisted by Sensei Shane Lalor, Sensei Jon Maher and Sensei Shane Mulhall  performed a demonstration for about 150 boys from the school.

Shihan Kevin was introduced by the school principal and then proceeded to give a brief introduction to Kyokushin Karate. The three Sensei then performed a brief warmup followed by some Kihon and a Kata demonstration where they performed Pinan Sono Ni. This was followed by Sensei Shane Mulhall and Sensei Jon demonstrating Kumite. Next Sensei Shane Lalor and Sensei Jon did a tameshiwari demo - Sensei Shane breaking with Seiken and Sensei Jon with Shuto.

Shihan then answered some very far ranging questions from the boys - How long does it take to get a black belt? Where did Karate come from? Does it hurt doing breaks?

After the Q&A session the principal thanked Shihan and the Sensei for coming along.

Shane

The next Junior Clicker Training session will take place on 29/06/2013 in Mullingar Dojo from 13.00 -15.00. Please ensure that this information is circulated to all juniors. Anyone training must bring licence, pads and water. The course is €7:00 and will as usual be taken by the Junior Coach Sensei Stephen Quaille.

This will be followed approximately four weeks later by another Junior course where Sensei Steve will be picking his squad for the Severn Challenge on October 19th 2013. For those dojos that close for July or August please ensure that you have contact details for any Juniors that will be attending. The date and venue for the July session will be confirmed soon.

Shane

The IKK fighters who be travelling to the BKK regional in Dunmow on 29th June 2013 are listed below. As you can see there is a good mix of Novices and Experienced fighters across all weight categories. They have all been training hard. For some of our novices this will be their first taste of knockdown while for others this will be their last novice tournament before moving into the open categories.

Also travelling will be the coaches - Sensei Ken Fitzpatrick, Sensei Patrick English and Sensei Shane Mulhall along with Sensei Shane Lalor as a Judge / Referee. Our ever present team fan Gytis Meskaukas will also be with us

Shane

Letterfrack dojo will be holding their annual fundraiser on Thursday 27th June 2013 in Letterfrack dojo from 19.00 to 21.00. This years fundraiser will be sponsored sparring so expect a tough couple of hours. Please make sure you bring pads, licence and water.

Click here for the Sponsorship form.

Fundraising is vital to the continued success of our organisation so please if you are in the area do drop in and help out. Alternatively feel free to follow Senpai Nigels advice and get some sponsorship for their efforts. With teams just back from the Senior World tournament and with the Severn Challenge in October and many more tournaments in the next two years funding will be of the utmost importance.

Shane

On Saturday 8th June we held a joint National Grading and Knockdown Squad Session in Finglas. We had 4 people going for 2nd Kyu and 1 for 1st Kyu along with 6 of the squad who will be fighting at the forthcoming British Regional tournament at the end of June. Shihan Kevin ran the sessions assisted by the Senseis.

Due to the unusually good weather we decided to have the first part of the training session outdoors in a local park. This started with a series of sprints on a path that had somewhat of an incline followed by some basic padwork. At this stage those going for grading broke off to go through Kata. We had a short break for lunch back at the gym except for the grading candidates who were put through their paces on their own for a while longer. After lunch the fighters joined back in for a more technical padwork session and as usual we finished off with a solid hour of Kumite with particular emphasis being placed on the fighters for the next tournament though I did see some good up and coming prospects. At the end of the day Shihan thanked everyone for their participation and help and said that it was a great days training and everyone worked hard.

Shane