Karate Unification

Karate is still the most popular Martial Art in England according to Sport England figures for participants over 16. Including juniors the figures would give a total of around 150,000 practising Karateka. Yet this apparently healthy situation should not make us complacent; there are a number of challenges faced by Karate. These include:

• Competition from Mixed Martial Arts which is a fast growing activity and from Taekwondo in this Olympic year.
• The pressure of Karate instructors who are not members of major groups and who often provide poor quality instruction at exorbitant prices.
• Disunity, which means that we do not speak with one voice and do not have a Governing Body recognised by Sport England.
• A consequence of disunity is that our influence is reduced and Karate has no lottery funding from Sport England (unlike Judo and Taekwondo for example).

In order to address these challenges a Karate Unification process was instigated last year by the Sport and Recreation Alliance (formerly CCPR); the author is a Board Director of the SRA and worked with the Chief Executive of the S+RA. An initial meeting in October 2011 was attended by four S+RA members: AMA, EKF, FEKO and KE. NAKMAS, the fifth member did not attend but were supportive of the process. A second meeting took place in December 2011 which whilst supportive of the principle of unification, identified a key difficulty for the EKF: the rules of the World Karate Federation (WKF). This obstacle could not be overcome and it was therefore decide by the other three groups (AMA, FEKO, KE) to go ahead with unification. NAKMAS have now decided to join the process, which is described in detail in the paper entitled, ‘Proposal for a unified Karate Body for English Karate’.

The structure proposed is for an umbrella body formed from the major groups who are operating at the moment. Smaller groups who wish to remain independent are included but not single clubs. This is because one of the problems faced by establishing a united governing body is the fragmentation of Karate. Also the major groups do not wish to duplicate what is being offered by those groups. The aim is rather to consolidate what we already have and create a set of Portfolios, operating standards supported by all which can be used to give confidence to sports bodies, venue owners and the public.

Work has already commenced on these Portfolios and the meeting of the English Karate Council held on the 15^th March considered the following topics;

• A draft constitution for the new body
• The consolidation of Instruction guidelines
• Protocols for gradings
• Child protection
• Insurance

The meeting was fortunate to have expert advisors present for the last two topics. Hamish Telfer delivers child protection seminars for SportscoachUK and was a co-author of the UK Sport guidance on the subject. Mike Cowburn and Clive Baker have huge experience in Karate insurance issues. The EKC Board are determined to produce the best possible advice and guidance on these important topics. Our aim is to demonstrate that this new body can add value at low cost and be a real benefit to Karateka everywhere. We also need to convince Sport England that we have put in place appropriate governance arrangements if we are to succeed in gaining Sport England recognition. To this end we have adopted the Voluntary Code of Good Governance for the Sport & Recreation sector published by the S &RA. This code has been endorsed by the Government and Sport England as a guide to effective governance in the sport sector.

All involved in the EKC want it to be a success, and support has also been given by the large majority of the most senior experienced and successful Karateka in the country. The EKC now comprises the largest Karate group in the country with over 50,000 members. We aim to serve, not to dictate, and to be guided by what is best for Karate to develop and grow.

John Bell

Chairman, Karate England

Director, Sport and Recreation Alliance

March 2012.

AMA International Open, 25^th-26^th Feb 2012, Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield, UK

The International Open has long been an important event in the calendar for many competitors, attracting entrants from across the globe. Ponds Forge as a venue has a great deal to recommend it: the excellent facilities for spectators, competitors and officials; an impressive track record in hosting international events in a wide variety of disciplines; superb support staff;  central location and ease of accessibility. Add to this the established culture of international competition in the historic steel city of Sheffield and all the ingredients are in place for a great tournament.

This year’s event saw over 450 entrants from 17 countries and 58 different groups or federations (including some from outside the WUKF) over the two days. The WUKF statutes do not exclude other organisations from participating in their events, encouraging exchange of skills and friendship. The WUKF kumite disciplines of Shobu Ippon, Shobu Nihon and Shobu Sanbon as well as team and individual kata events were contested, kata on the Saturday and kumite on the Sunday.

Organiser Peter Allen, 7^th dan and AMA Vice President commented; “This has always been an important tournament for us, but we are very excited to be part of the WUKF organisation. This year’s event promises to be amongst the best yet, with many countries and federations already enquiring about next year’s championships”.

Refereeing was overseen by WUKF Chief Referee Sever Cucu and AMA’s senior official Mark Drake. Mr Cucu held a referees’ seminar over the Friday and the Saturday and an impressive line-up of referees and judges was in attendance keeping the six matted areas busy.

The choice of Sheffield for this year’s International was apposite for another reason. Peter Allen and the AMA have been granted the rights to host next year’s Junior European Championships and have selected the English Institute of Sport, a few miles away as the venue.

It is also noteworthy that representatives of all the major karate federations in England were in attendance, including the three groups making up the newly-formed English Karate Council: hosts AMA, FEKO and Karate England, and all three had representatives ascend to the medal podium.

Harry Crook of SASKA proved a great all-rounder taking golds in three events: junior boys’ Wado kata, weapons kata and boys’ kumite.

Predictably, the  Host  AMA group  topped  the  medal table  with by far the largest  contingent present, but  notable  were  Melissa Holmes  who  took  Gold in Shito and  All Style  kata, silver in Shobu Sanbon and bronze  in the  Shobu Ippon kumite. Other multiple, medallists from the AMA were Danielle Dunn with gold and two silvers, Sam Ernst with gold, silver and bronze, and Charlortte Bowie with a silver and  two  bronze medals all in kata.

 Young Iyad Ali of ESKF took three kata medals including two first place trophies. FEKO, ESKF, Heian Ryu and Tai Kai all did well in the overall medal table, but of the visitors, the Ukraine team was impressive with four golds, five silvers and a bronze.  Chris Galea’s group from Malta has been a long time supporter of this event and his clan did his country proud with the Galea family taking six of the small island’s nine medals.

The small group from Georgia tallied 5 medals including one from their national President Mzetchabuki Makharadze who was narrowly beaten in the Male Veterans’ kumite by FEKO’s Jason Smith. The male heavyweight kumite matched Karate England’s John Anderson against the big Georgian, Kaxa Egnatashvil, with the home fighter taking the title.

The female Vets’ kumite title was taken by Dudley’s Mandie Read, a former WUKF champion in kata too. Her gold was more impressive as she was complaining of back pain during the warm up.  The male Shotokan kata title was taken by Marco Mobilio, current WUKF World Champion, with Unsu.

The weekend  was  one of  cordiality and great  friendship, as  typifies   WUKF events, and all  are in eager anticipation  of  not only  next  year’s event, but  also  the upcoming  WUKF European Championships in Irvine, and the Junior  Europeans in Sheffield in 2013.

 Sever Cucu  expressed his pleasure  with  the  standard of  the refereeing  and  organizer Peter Allen  praised  the  support team including  the Ponds Forge team and  the  event  coordinator, the ever reliable  Jeff Grace.

Martyn Skipper  4^th Dan AMA Public Relations Officer

www.amauk.co.uk - www.wukf-karate.org full report and photo's.

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AMA-Int-2012-Peter-Courtney.JPG	[ ]	3833 Kb	28/03/12 08:01
AMA-Int-2012-Ref's-Training.JPG	[ ]	2591 Kb	28/03/12 07:58
AMA-Int-2012-Refs-Bow.JPG	[ ]	5 Kb	28/03/12 08:01
AMA-Int-2012-Team-Rotation-Final.JPG	[ ]	3053 Kb	28/03/12 08:02
AMA-Int-2102-WUKF-Refs-Course-Sever-Cucu-.JPG	[ ]	1753 Kb	28/03/12 07:10