April News 10

Congratulations to Emily Griffiths and Chris Harris who have both been once again selected to represent England as part of Senior England Karate Squad in Athens, Greece in May 2010. Emily Griffiths Senior Lady -50kg and Chris Harris Senior Male -60kg.

They have both had to under go the selection process and are now both following the fitness and training programs set out for England Elite Karate Squad. Chris and Emily will shortly be going off to pre-training with Chief England Coach Wayne Otto before the start of championships.

We at Links Karate would like to wish both of these LKK Students the very best of luck in Athens. We know they will do their best and I am very proud of both these students for their commitment to the club, their training and of course their selection for these championships.

English National Championships

Congratulations to the students from LKK who have been selected to represent our association EKKA at the English National Championships to be held at Ponds Forge Sheffield 24th/25th April.

Juniors: Lincon Pretlove, Zak Coates, Mitchell Williams, Sam Day.

Seniors: Kelly Pender, Emily Griffiths, Loren Cook, Daniel Szabo, Chris Harris.

LKK held a Senior Dan grading on the 11th April at Gt Holland Village Hall.

Loren Cook and Chris Harris who have both been training and preparing for this grading over past months under the guidance of LKK Chief Instructor Paul Harris.

Both received top marks from EKKA Senior Instructor Sensei Billy Brennan 8th Dan, along with the rest of the grading panel.

They were both a credit to LKK Karate, Loren Cook gaining her 2nd Dan and Chris Harris his 3rd Dan.

Well done to you both from Senior Instructor Paul and all at Links Karate Kai.

Emily Griffiths travelled to Edinburgh Scotland on the 17th April to compete in the Scottish International 2010. She was the only squad member to attend this event due to the air flight cancellations, but this was not to stop Emily who had an exceptional Championships.

First competing in her section Senior Female -50kg losing out to the Scottish International fighter and had to settle for the Silver.

She then stepped up to the Female Open Weight section and after several hard rounds took the Gold medal and the title Scottish International Open Weight Champion 2010.

Well done to the latest group of Links Tigers from our 3-5yrs class who have just been assessed for their latest Tiger grades.

Tiger Blue: Frankie Ellis-Hall, Connor Jarmain, Ysabelle Tye
Tiger Red: Harry Lancaster
Tiger Orange: Johnny Grosvenor, Alistair Wainford, Phillipa Dowton, Jack Lofts
Tiger Green: Ben Stockwell

The 3rd Official English National Championships took place over the weekend of the 24th & 25th of April 2010 at Ponds Forge, Sheffield with over 700 entries to this premier event.

The two day competition followed the usual format of Kata and younger competitor's Kumite on the Saturday, with the remainder of the Kumite divisions being contested on the Sunday. LKK Karate had representation from three of its member clubs, with a wide range of ages.

Our first competitors for the LKK team to medal were Lincon Pretlove and Zak Coates competing in the 9yrs and under Team Kumite, previously this year they were both part of the team that won the British Championship. They joined together with team mate Stefan Farthing of EKKA to contest this years 9yrs and under team Championship with great results. The Team order was chosen to give us the best chance of winning this years title and the first round against Sport Karate went to plan with Stefan Farthing and Zak Coates both winning their fights which allowed us to progress to the finals where we meet the Shindo Kai Team. Stefan Farthing was back up as first fighter but unfortunately lost his fight so it now up to Zak and Lincon. Zak managed to hold his nerve and win his fight leaving the final fight to Lincon which he won making the team 9yrs and under English Team Champions 2010.

Next to compete for the LKK Team was Mitchell Priestley. Mitchell had been struggling at some of the major events over the last 2 years but of late has been on top form competing in the boys 12–13yrs -45kg section. He fought extremely well on his way to the final where he meet fellow team mate from EKKA Michael Blackwell. Mitchell proved too sharp on this occasion and took the Gold medal and this years English title. He then went on to join the EKKA association 12–13yrs team and won the Bronze medal in this event.

Chloe Duce competing in the Girls 14–15yrs -54kg has been performing to a much higher standard recently winning Bronze medals at all the major events this year and she can be very proud of her achievements winning her first English medal fighting her way through to win the Bronze.

Next to compete in the Senior sections was Emily Griffiths Female -50kg, Loren Cook Female -57 kg and Chris Harris Male -60kg all three have been unstoppable in these sections at the English National Championships for many years and proving again to be top English fighters all winning the Gold medals and once again English titles.

Team: Zak Coates, Lincon Pretlove, Sam Day, Mitchell Priestley, Chloe Duce, Daniel Szabo, Kelly Pender, Emily Griffiths, Loren Cook, Chris Harris.