The LKA's first BJJ regular training starts this coming Wednesday, 21st July 2010 at the Farsley Hombu.  Instruction will be from Juan Reppin, a BJJ Black Belt and former Copa America Champion.  Classes start at 7.30pm following the normal Wednesday evening Karate session.

For those on the LKA Gold membership the training is free.  For all others it is £10 a session.   Any non-LKA members are welcome to come along if they wish. 

The LKA sent a group of 40 young Karateka to the KUGB Youth Championships at Chesterfield at the beginning of July.  As usual for the LKA at this event, we had a mixture of both experienced competitors and novices.  All in all we were very pleased with the results, winning three events, which surpassed our performance at the KUGB Nationals back in May.

First Gold medal went to KUGB National Champion Emelye O'Brien who took the Girls Kumite 10 & 11 Years old title.  Emelye never looked in touble in this event and took the win with a fine Jodan Mawashi Geri.  This has been an excellent start for Emelye with the LKA, winning two titles in her first two events.  Her next challenge is to be able to maintain that level of perfomance when she moves up a category later in the year....and obtain her Black Belt of course!

Next up was Holly Dickinson, herself becoming a regular medalist.  Holly won the girls Kumite Under 5'3'' event with two very fast dynamic punches.  This despite being given a rather bloody nose during her final fight.  Holly also took fourth place in the Girls Black Belt Kata event, showing her potential to become an excellent all-round competitor.

Our final winner was Hayden Steele who won the Boys Kumite 5'-5'5'' event.  In the semi-final he beat LKA team mate Adam Banks and then went on to win the final with a superb Ippon, gained with a Jodan Mawashi Geri. 

We had a number of other medalists including Kieran Tucker who improved on his Nationals performance by taking Silver in the Boys Kata Novice-4th Kyu category.  Well done to everyone who took part.

The full list of our medal winners is shown below:

Our full list of competitors was:

Nick Smith, Jordon Probst, Ryan Tucker, Andrew Lister, Stephen Brown, James Brown, Holly Dickinson, Tom Little, Josie Fishkin, Oliver Deane, Dan Martin, Ronan Cain, Hayden Steele, Tom Mitchell, Jed Dickinson, Ellie Hardman, Pat Cryer, Kate Lister, Sam Mitchell, Laura Mackintosh, David Lister, Jamie Horwell, Adam Banks, Emelye O'Brien, Connor Payne, Daniel Tremble, Callum Payne, Jamie Booth, Jude O'Brien, Nicola Williams, James Williams, Charlie Swift, Abraham Thomas, Jeevan Mulamoottil, Chavy Mtawali, Joe Bulmer, Matthew Guest, Ben Wharton, Dumile Sibanda and Kieran Tucker.

The LKA held it's first specialised Brazilian Jiu Jitsu course at the Farsley Hombu on Wednesday 9th June.  Over 40 students packed in to receive instruction from Purple Belt, Duane Harper and Black Belt, Juan  Reppin.  Juan is one of  roughly only half a dozen Black Belts in Chek Mat Jiu Jitsu in the UK and is a Copa American Champion!  We were very honoured for him and Duane to come along and share their skills with us. 

During the course of the evening, Juan presented Sensei Matt Price with a his Blue Belt in Chek Mat Jiu Jitsu, in which he has been training for over a year now under Duane.  It was agreed after the session that Juan and Duane will be starting regular weekly classes at the Farsley Hombu in roughly a months time.  This is an important move for us as it will develop the Farsley Hombu into a centre of excellence for both Karate and Jiu Jitsu with a very high level of instruction in both Arts.

The LKA had a very impressive day winning a wide range of medals at the KUGB National Championships at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. We took a total of 13 different medal positions spread over Childrens, Juniors and Adults events. A superb showing, of which everyone within the LKA can be proud.

Emelye O’Brien won our only Gold of the day with a clear cut victory in the 10 & 11 Year Old Girls Kumite event. In what was her first event in the KUGB, she took the title with with two fast Gyaku Tsuki.

Ashley Scott was our most successful competitor of the day, taking medals in all four events she entered. She was beaten narrowly to the Female Kumite title by England Team-mate Zoe Campbell and followed this up with Third Place in the Female Kata event too. She was also part of the LKA Team kata which took Silver medal position behind Manchester University, coached by our regular Grading Examiner, Sensei Garry Harford. With both teams performing Unsu, the Manchester Team (who have all individually been National Kata Champions) pipped us to the the title. Finally, in a repeat of last years Female Team Kumite Final, we were again narrowly beaten 2-1 by Halewood. However, despite the disappointment of not collecting Gold, Ashley should be very proud of her all-round performance. 

David Wright took a very creditable Silver in the Senior Male Kata event where he was beaten by this Years KUGB Grand Champion, John James Bruce of Sendai Kushiro. 

Holly Dickinson and Jordon Probst also both took Silver medals in their respective Kumite events and whilst both fought very well, they were both beaten by physically bigger opponents. 

Although we only won the one event, it is fair to say that the general standard of the LKA Competitors over all events was excellent. As we had medallists in Boys and Girls events, Junior Men and Junior Womens events and Senior Men and Senior Womens events, it certainly says a lot about the LKA’s strength in depth and we can be confident that we are heading in the right direction.

Matt Price and Tom Little also put on a very entertaining Demonstration for the crowd during the evenings finals showing a wide and spectacular variation in technique.

The full list of our results was:

The full list of our 39 Competitors was:

Ashley Scott, Daryn Hobden, Zoe Starr, David Wright, Nick Smith, Natasha Balyckyi, Jordon Probst, Ryan Tucker, Mel Finlay, Brian Lister, Joe Hart, Stephen Brown, James Brown, Holly Dickinson, Sam Goulden, Tom Little, Josie Fishkin, Oliver Deane, Dan Martin, Ronan Cain, Abi Chapman, Hayden Steele,Tom Mitchell,  Jed Dickinson, Andrew Cryer, Andy Deane, Pat Cryer, Kate Lister,  Jamie Horwell, Callam Payne, Emelye O’Brien, Adam Banks, Sam Mitchell, Connor Payne, James Williams, David Lister, Jude O’Brien,  Joe Bulmer and Kieran Tucker

The LKA held its first Club Championships at the Farsley Dojo on Sunday 11th April.  60 LKA members turned up to compete with categories split for both children and adults.
The standard was very high with some exceptional performances in some categories. 

In the Childrens events, we had a Grand Champion with James Brown winning both the Childrens Kata and Boys Kumite.  Hot on his heels was Holly Dickinson who came second to James in the Kata and also won the Girls Kumite category.  Excellent all round ability from both these youngsters.  Notable in these events was Kieran Tucker (Ryan’s younger brother) making his competitive debut.  In his first ever fight he won by Ippon with an excellent Jodan punch.  He also managed to come third in the Children’s Kata.  Not a bad effort for a Red Belt. 

In the Masters Kumite (for Males aged 35 and over) Peter Banks fought very well to beat Daryn Hobden to the title. 

The Senior Kata event was very close.  Three competitors initially tied for first place.  When the previously discarded top and bottom scores were added back in, Natasha Balyckyi and Ashley Scott were still tied for first place, leaving Glenn Riley in third.  Natasha and Ashley both had to perform their Kata again and Natasha’s Gojushiho Sho beat Ashley’s Unsu into second place. 

The same two ladies met in the final of the Female Kumite.  With a couple of girls having withdrawn on the day due to injury, there were only 6 girls left in the event.  So we divided them into two pools of three, with everyone fighting each other once within their pool.  The winner of each pool progressed to the final with the second placed people fighting off for overall third.  Zoe Starr beat Abi Chapman to third place and Ashley got the better of Natasha in the final.

The Male Kumite event was for those aged 16 years upwards.  The standard was very high with quite a number of KUGB Junior Squad members competing.  Jordon Probst pulled off a superb Ippon victory over Ryan Tucker in the second round, before losing in the next round to eventual Champion Tom Little who outpointed Joe Hart in the final.  Many of the fights were very close and excellent spirit, sharpness and techniques were shown by those involved.

James Brown was given the award for Best Overall Child and Natasha Balyckyi the Best Overall Adult.
We would like to congratulate all those that took part in what was a superb afternoons Karate.  Many thanks to all those who came along to support their family and friends and  also to John Bostock of Gaunts Ltd, who kindly sponsored the trophies.
The results were:

The LKA had another excellent day at the 41^st North West Open, held at the Howe Bridge Sports Centre in Atherton.  Sadly the date clashed with the British Universities Championships so we were missing 5 of our top competitors.  However, we still managed to win five of the events and completely dominated the Intermediate Male Kumite where we took all three top placings.

David Wright had an excellent day, winning the Senior Male Kata, taking third place in the Intermediate Male Kumite and being part of the winning Team Kumite team.  Ashley Scott and Ryan Tucker once again showed their consistent high level of performance, Ashley winning the Senior Female Kata and Ryan the Intermediate Male Kumite.

The Team Kumite event was perhaps the most satisfying.  We were missing two of the three fighters that had won the Karate England Nationals in November.  However, their replacements took their places superbly, each fighting well and showing they fully deserve their place on the team.  In the final, the LKA team took a very good win against their physically larger opponents.  Ryan Tucker earned an Ippon with a superb counter punch to win the title.

We would like to congratulate Sensei Billy Higgins for his organisation of this event over the past 41 years!  The atmosphere at this years event was excellent, invariably created by the crowd being allowed right up to the competition area.  Sadly these days, crowds are kept well back from the fighting areas creating a dull lifeless atmosphere at many events.  The NW Open is a shining beacon in this respect.

The LKA had a sensational weekend at the KUGB National Squad Selections held at the Liverpool Red Triangle club over the weekend of Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st January. In total we had sixteen competitors selected for the KUGB Squad, an unprecedented number, and is a result that all at the LKA can be proud of. This achievement highlights the depth of quality the LKA has. The LKA is considered amongst many the Premier Club in the KUGB and with sixteen squad members, the clear level of in depth talent shows we are moving in the right direction. We would like to thank all those selected for their efforts and hope that 2010 brings further success both domestically and internationally.

Those selected were: Senior Squad: Ashley Scott, Natasha Balyckyi and Zoë Starr. Junior Squad: David Wright, Nick Smith, Jordon Probst, Ryan Tucker, Mell Finlay, Andrew Lister, Stephen Brown, James Brown, Tom Little, Mark Hardy, Josie Fishkin, Abi Chapman and Andrew Cryer.

The annual ESKA European Shotokan Karate Championships were held over the weekend of 27th-29th November 2009 in the town of Wels in Austria. Four LKA competitors were members of the KUGB England Team that made the journey over to take on Europe's top Shotokan competitors.

The LKA had a very successful day at the Karate England National Championships held at the Hillsborough Leisure Centre in Sheffield on 14th November. We took our Adult Squad along to give the event a try and a very good effort they made. Starting off the day’s successes was LKA Instructor Glenn Riley who won the Senior Male Open Kata event, performing both Unsu and Gojushiho-Dai to take his first major title.

The KUGB Northern Regional Championships were held at the University of Sunderland on the 11th October and the LKA took a huge squad of 53 to compete.

Cancun, Mexico, was host to the 10th WSKA World Championships held over the weekend of 26th and 27th September 2009.  The event is held every two years with the last one having been held in Bydgoszcz, Poland. 

The new LKA, full-time Hombu Dojo opened on Wednesday 2nd September 2009 with a course held by KUGB Chief Instructor Andy Sherry 8th Dan.  The course had been sold out a couple of weeks in advance and the atmosphere was electric with 59 LKA karate-ka in attendance.

The LKA had probably our best ever showing at the 34th Shotokan Cup in Chesterfield.  We took four Gold medals, six Silver and three Bronze.

Leading the way this time round was Zoe Starr who narrowly missed out on being the Grand Champion in the Junior Female categories where she won the Kata and came second in Kumite.   This was the third event on the trot that Zoe has placed second in Junior Female Kumite, an excellent showing of consistency.  Maybe she can go one better at the Northern Regions next month in Leeds.

The LKA had a very successful day at the 43rd KUGB National Championships held at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.  With a Squad of 30 competing, we took 11 different medal positions.  James Brown looked very confident in winning the Boys 5' -5'5'' Kumite event and is showing great promise.  There was also an all-LKA final in the Male Junior Kumite 18-20 Years event, where Ryan Tucker outpunched David Wright to add yet another title to his impressive collection.  A superb effort by both young men.

A party of 13 LKA Karateka led by Sensei's Heald and Price have just returned from Tokyo after a 2 week trip to Japan where they were able to train with some of the World's leading instructors.  A trip to Japan is, for most, a once in a lifetime event so we tried very hard to get the balance right between training and sightseeing. 

At the KUGB Special Dan Course held on 3rd October in Egham, Daryn Hobden was promoted to 3rd Dan by the grading panel consisting of Sensei Andy Sherry 8th Dan and Sensei Bob Poynton 7th Dan.  This was an excellent result for Daryn and is testament to his hard work over a number of years.  As well as his Karate ability, Daryn is also a talented web designer and was in fact the person who built this very LKA website! 

At the KUGB Special Dan Course held at Chesterfield on Saturday 18th April, the LKA gained two new Sandans.  Juliet Finlay and Ashley Scott both performed excellently and were graded to 3rd Dan by the panel consisting of KUGB Chief Instructor Andy Sherry 8th Dan and Sensei Bob Poynton 7th Dan.  All at the LKA would like to congratulate both on this excellent achievement and we hope they inspire others to break the comfort barrier and seek to improve further.

The LKA was host to a 2 hour special course with former WKF Lightweight Champion Paul Newby at the Boston Spa Dojo.  Paul put the 46 strong class though various drills to develop footwork, lightness of movement and the ability to hit without telegraphing an attack to the opponent. 

The LKA had a small group of students compete at the all styles BUSA Championships at Sheffield over the middle weekend of March.  It was a very successful weekend with all 3 entrants gaining medals.  As the event was held under WKF rules, which unfortunately we very rarely get the chance to compete under, this made their achievements very impressive. 

On Sunday 15th March 2009, Sensei's Heald and Price travelled to Nottingham to train on a course hosted by the JKS.  Instruction was given by Sensei Masao Kagawa 8th Dan, former World Champion and present Coach to the JKF Team in Japan.  This is the All-Styles team that competes in WKF tournaments. 

Here are a selection of pictures from the new Dojo, which will open with the Sensei Sherry Course on Wednesday 2nd September. 

The LKA took a sizeable Squad along to compete at the 40th North West Open held at the Howe Bridge Sports Centre in Atherton on the 14th March.  The entry for the event seemed much larger this year and the atmosphere was very good, enhanced by the crowd being so close to the competition area, something sadly lacking in most events these days.  It is hugely impressive that this event has run for 40 years and we would like to extend our congratulations to Sensei Higgins on this.

Harrogate Shotokan has won 3 awards and had 2 commendations in the Harrogate District Sports Council Awards 2009.

This is an incredible achievement as there are only 9 awards up for grabs!