Canary Wharf Sports Awards 2011 - Kaizen Ryu Karate delivers!

On Thursday 17^th February 2011, members of Kaizen Ryu Karate Do joined other young athletes from East London at the 10^th Annual Sports Personality of the Year Awards, sponsored by Canary Wharf Group. The prestigious event was held at East Wintergarden in Canary Wharf, and the awards were presented by Perri Shakes-Drayton; former winner and current Olympic hopeful in athletics.

We were privileged to have been asked to put on a display as part of the evening’s celebration. Excitement, nerves all played a part, and after only four hours worth of rehearsals both squads, ‘Yudansha’ and ‘Team Kaizen’ had massive fun as they took to the stage and showcased a display that was met with a rapturous applause!

Marie sensei, Emmie and Vicky performed their team kata; Unsu, which won them silver at last year’s FSKA World Championships. The ladies are going to keep on working hard at their performance and hope to take it to the opposition at this year’s FSKA World Championships in Turin, Italy at the end of the year.

The real crowd pleaser, though, was Team Kaizen’s display of a “karate-off”.” Two rival groups of karateka meet to settle some scores” would be the tag line and all members performed brilliantly. Whoops and cheers from the audience were at times deafening as the team gave it their all in thumping, kicking, grabbing and throwing each other across the stage. The end of the display saw all the rivals hug and make up and the crowd gave them a massive ovation (the best of the night by far).

Both of these displays can be viewed on our official Youtube channel KaizenRyuDotCom. Well done to everyone involved!

Finally to cap off the evening, Kaizen Ryu also picked up four nominations awards in the following categories:

* Junior Team of the Year Award (Received by Team Kaizen)

* Senior Team of the Year Award (Received by Yudansha)

* Group Achievement Award (Received by Kaizen Ryu Karate Do)

* Individual Achievement Award (Received by Marie Tanabalan)

Congratulations to all!

******

Youtube links;

Team Kaizen's display 'karate-off'

http://www.youtube.com/user/KaizenRyuDotCom#p/a/u/0/SihWt2BkjUE

Women's Team Kata; Unsu & Bunkai

http://www.youtube.com/user/KaizenRyuDotCom#p/a/u/1/Oph2WGV5nIY