UK Open Sept 2009

The Kaizen Ryu National Squad went to the Malympex UK Open competition in Stoke Mandeville, Aylesbury. Seven members of the national squad competed in three of the major events of the day. Kata (individual and team), Kumite and Light continuous fighting. The team were in good form when they arrived, and were ready to face the challenges of the day, face on.

First up Kumite, all suited and booted they headed for Gold, which they achieved due to the concentration, knowledge and team work. Dominik John who recently joined the squad attended his first squad competition and fought his fellow team member Jack McAllister in the final and gained his first Silver medal in kumite, one of many to come!

Kata was next where every single member performed their kata to the best of their abilities which in turn gave them the heads up they wanted and came away with Gold’s. Rishi Patel the youngest of the days’ competitors performed Kata Enpi at a high standard which put him on top to receive his gold medal. Also receiving golds in Kata were Gina Boot (Kata Enpi), Tyrone Briscoe (Kata Kanku Dai), Molly Ullah (Kata Enpi) and Jack McAllister (Kata Kanku Dai), who performed with an injured toe after his Kumite fight. Luke Joslin (Kata Enpi) gained a joint Bronze.

Next light continuous; a category the squad have trained hard for, for a long time and deserves the results that we saw today with two of our girls gaining their well deserved places in the final. Molly Ullah and Gina Boot won silver and gold respectively.

Last up team kata where Molly Ullah and Rishi Patel performed on form after a long day of competing. They, not only had to perform their kata the best they could, but also had to perform in time with each other. They both done very well and came away with Gold medals.

The Squad did extremely well and all of the coaching team are very proud of the way they worked together as a team and are exceptionally pleased with the work they put in individually to achieve the results they all deserved. Overall Team Kaizen went away with 10 gold medals, 3 silver and 2 bronze, an awesome result worth celebrating. Indy Sensei and Marie Sensei were over the moon with the performances and said next year we're aiming for gold across the board ...

Review written by: Tyrone Briscoe & Vicky Phillips - Coaching Team