Ishinryu Competition

July 2010 - BKF International Open Championships

Travelling all the way from Australia to Glasgow Dean "TANK" Hollowood once again proved himself as one of Ishinryu's finest athletes - he certainly must be the fittest, as National Coach Mark Golding said "he has a tank full of energy"

At the British Karate International in Glasgow Dean won Gold in the Cadet Open' division and was placed third in his weight division.  Seen here with Sensei Bruce Hyland (6th Dan) and Peter Hollowood (3rd Dan).

June 2010 - Corfu -Greece  WKF Youth World Cup

The World Karate Federation presented the Youth Camp and World Cup event for the 3rd year in 2010 on the island of Corfu in Greece.  Ishinryu was represented by Australian competitor  Dean "TANK" Hollowood who was awarded second place in Kumite.      

June 2010 - Junior Austrian Open (Salzburg)

Aimee Sell travelled to the Junior Austrian Open in Salzburg hoping to retain her title and didn't dissappoint. 1,000 entries from 22 countries this was to be another high standard European event. This was Aimee's 5th time competiting in Austria and again there was a large number of entries in the kata events. In the female 14-15 years there was just under 60 individual entries including bronze european medallist Laura de Frenza from Italy.

Aimee went through 6 rounds, in the first round she had a bye and the following rounds saw Aimee perform the following katas:

• Ni pi po 5-0
• Unshu 5-0
• Annan 4-1
• Super-Empi 4-1

Completing with Chatanyara Kushanku 5-0 with Gold going to Aimee. It was also good to see many EKF England 'A' squad fighters there too, with some outstanding performances from them and nearly all obtaining a place on the podium. For further info on results www.Austrian-open.info

April 2010 - EKF English National Championships

A STUNNING performance by our Ishinryu athletes saw us claim seven gold, nine silver and three bronze medals at the EKF English National Championships.

There was an amazing spirit from the squad throughout the tournament

Our kata competitors set the tone for the event with Sensei Jonathan Mottram once again proving why he’s the nation’s best by beating his own student, John Gardiner in the final. And it was a 1,2,3 for Ishinryu – with Steve Karwacinski taking the bronze in the repechage.

Emma Lucraft had to settle for silver in both the junior and senior women’s kata. Both Aimee Sell and Rebecca Birch made the final of the cadet female kata – with Aimee coming out on top, but it was a close call. The girls stepped up again along with Kate Karwacinski and took gold in the junior female team kata.

Steve Karwacinski took his second kata medal with a silver in the junior male event.
And it was Karwacinski No3, Chris, who took gold in the male cadet kata with an excellent performance.

Sensei Mottram led John Gardiner and Gareth Haines to victory in the senior male team kata, over the Wilson brothers, Mike and Chris, and Alan Evans in the final for an Ishinryu gold and silver. Young Dahni Maisuria took silver in a brave performance in the 10-13yrs kata.

In the kumite, a superb performance from Liam Conroy saw him take gold in the male cadet U-57kg category, beating European medallist Jacob Kiernan in a hard-fought final.
Joe Wright took bronze in the same event, while Connor Chatfield missed out on the medals in a much-improved performance.

It was gold too for Melissa Williams in the 13-13yrs girl kumite. And Dania Enright, Grace Terry and Caitlin Warson took silver in the girls U-9yrs team category.
Kate Karwacinski was expected to take gold in the junior female U-59kg category – but had to settle for silver. Kate was penalised due to “excessive” contact, but a change in WKF guidelines in the future could see to a relaxing on the rules on face contact. Watch this space!

Aaron Swales, Gareth Haines, and Alan Evans all missed out on the medals in the senior male U-75kg category. But they were determined to make up for their disappointment in the team kumite. With one down through injury at the start of the day, young Steve Karwacinski was drafted into the line-up. But the team took another blow when Michael Day found himself out of the tournament after disputing a refereeing decision as he fought off for bronze in the senior male heavyweight. With an apologetic Michael on the sidelines, and just four of the five-man line up going into the first round, the team were up against it – but showed some Ishinryu team spirit to blast though to the semi-finals.

The team came up against an experienced and talented WKU squad – and were left to fight it out in the repechage. With their opponents retiring, Ishinryu claimed a well-earned bronze – crowning off a memorable weekend.

Mike and Chris Wilson also passed their national kumite judges exam after impressing with consistent decisions throughout the tournament – a great plus for the association.

A delighted sensei Donovan said: “This was another amazing performance. The squad is going from strength to strength. It’s great to see Ishinryu claiming medals across all disciplines which shows the quality in our karate as a whole. I would like to say well done to all our athletes and a thank you to everyone involved with the squad. It was a memorable performance.

There’s no stopping us now!”

GOLD:

• Sensei Jonathan Mottram: senior male kata
• Jonathan Mottram, John Gardiner and Gareth Haines: senior male team kata
• Liam Conroy: male cadet 14-15yrs U-57kg
• Chris Karwacinski: male cadet 14-15yrs kata
• Aimee Sell: Female cadet 14-15yrs kata
• Aimee Sell, Kate Karwacinski, Rebecca Birch: junior female team kata
• Melissa Williamson: girls 12-13yrs kumite

SILVER:

• Emma Lucraft: Junior female 16-17yrs kata
• Emma Lucraft: Senior female kata
• Alan Evans, Senior male team kata
• John Gardiner: Senior male kata
• Kate Karwacinski: Junior female 17-17rys kumite
• Rebecca Birch: Female cadet 14-15rys kata
• Dania Enright, Grace Terry and Caitlin Watson: Girls team kumite U-9yrs
• Dahni Maisuria: Boys 10-13yrs kata.
• Steve Karwacinski: male junior kata

BRONZE:

• Steve Karwacinski: Senior male kata
• Gareth Hains, Aaron Swales, Steve Karwacinski, Alan Evans: Senior male team kumite
• Joe Wright: Male cadet 15-15yrs U-57kg kumite

April 2010 - Australian Open Results

Best ever results at the 2010 Australian Open by team Ishinryu. Our program over the past two years has improved everybody’s performance including coaches. Let me take the opportunity to thank Stuart, Peter, Paul and all the Dojo Sensei’s for getting behind the Ishinryu performance program.

Peter, Stuart and myself coached athletes from different styles/dojos. This is a great honour and privilege that their instructors have faith and trust in our ability.

To the parents of Ishinryu thanks for supporting us, all your children, win or lose, put in a fantastic performance and you should be proud.

TEAM ISHINRYU RESULTS

• 6 GOLD
• 5 SILVER
• 5 BRONZE

Dean “TANK” Hollowood 2 - Gold - Bronze. Selected for 3rd World Youth Cup/Greece BKF International/Glasgow
Liam Dix 2 - Gold Attending BKF/Glasgow and Ticky Donovan Summer Course/London
Shuan Donnet - Gold - Bronze
Andrew Grace - Gold

• KATA CHAMPION our first Aussie Open KATA Champion EVER!
• April Saks - 2 Silver
• Jessica Burrows Silver - Bronze
• Jonathan Carter - Silver
• Mason Riley - Silver
• Kate Golaszewski - Bronze
• Coralie Stuart – Bronze

WELL DONE TO THESE OTHER ATHLETES; Zac Dean – Ethan Saks - Brittany

April 2010 - 11th Italian Open Championships

Team karwacinski the Sells, Emma Lucraft. Conor chatfield and Jon Mottram competed at the 11th Italian Open championships. The event was like a world championships, with teams competing from Australia, Israel, Switzerland, Spain, Greece, Egypt, Germany, USA, and Slovakia to name but a few. An extremley well organised event with 10 tatamis, five judges/referees on every mat plus table officials. The Italians really know how to put on a true international event. The smooth organisation and the sheer number of competitors in each event was amazing. In the men's Kata 120 competitors the same with the female senior Kata event too. This required four pools of competitors alone, if you manage to medal here it proves how difficult an event it was. Even if a competitor just missed out on a bronze medal it's definately worth going through 5-6 Rounds for the experience alone. It seemed all officials and referees worked really well together but that's probably one reason it pulls in the best competiors around Europe and the World and makes it the premier international event to attend!

The squad of seven Aimee Sell, Kate, Steve and Chris karwacinski, Jon Mottram, Emma Lucraft and Conor Chatfield (plus Alex Sell of Suharikai) came away with two golds, Aimee Sell cadet Kata champion and Kate Karwacinski -59 kgs Kumite champion. Four 5th places in the kata, two 7th places as well all bode well for the Barking Abbey Ishinryu team.
Well done!

March 2010 - Dutch Open Results

Aaron Swales, Gareth Hains, Jon Mottram, Emma Lucraft and Sam Cannon all attended the Dutch Open on the weekend of 13-14 March.

First up was Sam Cannon. Sam performed Unshu but the judges decision was split with Sam losing 3-2 in the first round.

Emma Lucraft was up next with Unshu winning 4-1 against her Czech opponent. The following round saw her perform Annan, winning 3-2 against Germany. The third round saw Emma against Portugal. Emma performed Gojushiho-sho. However, Portugal won 4-1. Unfortunately Portugal lost to the winner of the Dutch open 2009 - so repechage for Emma.

Jon Mottram performed Kanku-Dai against Luxemburg and won 4-1. Jon then performed against Germany winning 5-0. The third round saw jon won 5-0 against Belgium In round 4 Jon won with Unsu 5-0 against Slovakia.

The fifth round against another Slovak saw Jon win convincingly 5-0 with Chatanyara and a place in the final - what a rollercoaster ride it had been. The finals were held in the evening on a central stage. Jon performed against Finland and won 4-1 to claim gold and become Dutch Open champion.

Aaron and Gareth both fought extremly well but it wasn't to be their day this time around. However it was a good warm-up for Aaron and Jon who are both off to the senior Europeans in a couple of weeks.

Some great performances from Ishinryu - well done to all and keep up the good work.

February 2010 - Aaron Swales secures European Place

GREECE is the word for East Durham Ishinryu's Aaron Swales after securing his place on the plane for the European Championships.

Aaron, 22, impressed England squad coaches at a final selection in North Yorkshire and was given the news that he's heading to Athens in May.

He will be part of the men's fighting team that will con the medals. He said: “I'm just thrilled, I've been working really hard for this and it's paid off. The coaching I'm getting now is really working for me and I just hope I can repay that now by getting among the medals.”

Second Dan Aaron has picked up a string of successes in the last 12 months after stepping up from the junior ranks. He secured his place on the England senior A squad in December, and has improved even more in the early part of this year.

Aaron's sensei, Gavin Foster,3^rd Dan, and former England international, said: “This is a tremendous achievement for Aaron, but he can't rest on his laurels. He's got about 10 weeks now before the tournament and his training will be intense.” Aaron faces several international warm-up matches before the Europeans, which start on May 8, the first of which is the Dutch International Open in Rotterdam on March 13.

February 2010 - Swiss International Open (Zurich)

Emma Lucraft and Aimee Sell competed in the 2nd Swiss International Open in Zurich. This competition, although only in it's second year, attracted over 1,300 competitors from all over Europe and countries outside Europe too. 22 countries attended including France, Colombia, Italy, and Bosnia. Emma had 5 Rounds and Aimee 6 Rounds.

Both girls did extremley well with both winning gold 5-0 in their respective finals. Well done to the organisers from the Swiss Karate Federation for a surperb international event.

October 2009 - course cash boost for England hopefuls

Five World Junior Championship medal hopefuls were given a fantastic boost after proceeds of the Ishinryu one-day open course were donated for the trip to Morocco.

Sensei Ticky Donovan 9^th Dan OBE made the generous gesture – which was greeted with cheers and applause from the 90 people who attended the superb event.

And the coffers were boosted even further when Ishinryu 3^rd Dan Tony Spinks announced his firm Merritt Rail Ltd was adding a further £250 to the fund.

Sensei Donovan said: “Financially, these are difficult times and it is a lot of money to expect families to fork out in order that these youngsters can represent their country.

The EKF are in the process of trying to secure financial backing for the future, but in the meantime, we need to support our athletes as best we can.

“As an association, it a massive achievement to have five members of the England squad for the world championships from Ishinryu.

“We had a fantastic course, it was a great atmosphere and I was only too happy to help these young people to achieve their dreams.

“I would personally like to thank Tony Spinks for his contribution. Hopefully, knowing that they have the full backing of everyone in their association will give the athletes an extra boost when they get on the mat and bring back some medals. No pressure!”

The junior world championships will take place in Rabat, Morocco, from November 12 to 15.

Emma Lucraft will represent England in the junior female kata and the team event alongside Aimee Sell – who also goes in the cadet individual.

Chris Karwacinski takes his place in the team kata, while his sister, Kate, fights in the U-59kg junior female category.

And Gareth Hains holds our hopes in the U-21, U-78kg kumite event. We wish them all the very best of luck.

The gesture by sensei Donovan rounded off an excellent day at the course which saw guest appearances from some old faces, including former champions Frank Lee-Sang and Dianne Reilly.

October 2009 - Copenhagen Open Championships

Results now in from this event held on the 3rd and 4th October. Ishinryu won the following awards for Kata:

Jonathan Mottram - Gold
Emma Lucraft - Gold
Aimee Sell -Bronze

Aimee also won Silver at the Welsh Open.

September 2009 - British Championships Edinburgh

Another fantastic result for Ishinryu at the 2009 British Championships in Edinburgh. A team of just 16 made the trip - but they returned triumphant with a haul of 11 medals, including three gold, four silver and four bronze.

The team once again showed its class in the kata with Connor Chatfield picking up bronze in the boys 14-15yrs category.

It was a one, two, three in the girls 14-15yrs with Rebecca Birch taking gold in a close final against Aimee Sell and Kate Karawacinski made it through to pick up bronze.

Jonathan Mottram confirmed his place as Britain's best taking gold in the men's with an awesome performance.

Emma Lucraft had to settle for bronze in the girls 16-17yrs - but another great performance.

John Gardner had to settle for a quarter final place in the men's kata and Michael Wilson missed out in the veteran's kata.
But young Melissa Williamson has just turned 12 -and took silver in the girls 12-13yrs.
Melissa showed she is all-rounder by taking silver in the open weight kumite.
As did Kate Karawacinski with silver in the girls 14-15yrs U-54kg category.
Her brother, Steve, went one better and took gold in the boys 14-15yrs U-70kg and Rachael Bramley earned a bronze in the ladies open weight.
It wasn't to be for Liam Conroy who was retired by the doctor 6-2 up in the fight off for bronze and Aaron Swales was disappointed after going out in the qurter-final of the men's U-75kg.

It was quarter finals for Michael Day who made his first return to the British Championships for the first time after making his comeback. It was a great performance from Michael.

It wasn't to be also for Chris Karawacinski the younger of the three siblings who missed out in Kata and Kumite and 10-year-old Samual Parle who did the same.

But it was a fantastic effort from them and all the Ishinryu squad. They did themselves and Ishinryu proud.

World Karate Championships in Morocco (Cadet Junior)

The following Ishinryu competitors have been selected for the World Karate Championships to be held in Morocco later this year:

• Aimee Sell (Female Cadet Kata)
• Emma Lucraft (Female Junior Kata)
• Chris Karwacinski (Male Team Kata)
• Gareth Hains (Male Kumite under 21 under 78kg)
• Kate Karwacinski (Female Junior Kumite under 59kg)

June 2009 - Austrian Junior Open

Twenty countries participated in this event in Saltzburg including the Czech Republic, France Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, the USA, and Germany. There were 938 competition entries with 121 clubs represented.

Included was a team from Ishinryu in the UK who returned with three Gold medals. Samantha Cannon beat Germany to Gold in the under 21 Kata event. Emma Lucraft beat Italy to Gold in the under 18's event, while Aimee Sell also beat Italy to Gold in the 16s and under Kata event.

April 2009 - Scottish Open

Congratulations to Liam Conroy after he picked up bronze at the Scottish Open in Edinburgh on April 6 in the Male kumite 14-15yrs category U-52kg. It followed his success at the AMA International Open where he took Gold.

April 2009 - Italian Open Golden League

Emma Lucraft wins Gold in Kata
Aimee Sell wins Bronze in Kata
Seen here with coach Jonathan Mottram

March 2009 - Dutch Open in Rotterdam

Emma Lucraft wins award

March 2009 - English Championships, Sheffield

"Well done everybody. And a special thanks to the Ishinryu coaches Eddie Gillespie, Jonathan Mottram and Gavin Foster" (Ticky Donovan O.B.E.)

Overall result was:
7 GOLDS
7 SILVER
10 BRONZE

GOLD
Aimee Sell 12-13 years KATA
Aimee Sell 14-15 years KATA
Mike Wilson veterans KATA
Steve Karwacinski 14-15 years KUMITE
Emily Kelleher 14-15 years KUMITE
Rebecca Birch, Aimee Sell, Emily Kelleher Junior Team KATA
Emma Lucraft, Nicole Taylor, Kate karwacinski Senior Female Team KATA

SILVER
Gareth Hains mens KATA
Emily Kelleher 14-15 years KATA
Rachel Bramley Womens KATA
Mark Handsford, Steve Karwacinski, Chris Karwacinski Junior Team KATA
Mike Wilson veterans KUMITE
Kate Karwacinski 14-15 years KUMITE
Dahmi Maisuria 9 years and under KATA

BRONZE
Aaron Swales, Mark allembey, Alan Evans, Gareth Hains, Mithel Scotcher Mens Team KUMITE
Rachel Bramley, Sarah Styles, Samantha Cannon Womens Team KATA
Lauren Taylor, Rebecca Birch, Tanya Lampreia 10-13 years Team KUMITE
Mark Handsford 14-15 years KUMITE
Chris Wilson veterans KATA
Sarah Styles veterans KATA
Emma Lucraft 15-17 years KATA
Rebecca Birch 12-13 years KATA
Jonathan Mottram senior mens KATA
Chis Wilson, Mike Wilson, Alan Evans Men's team KATA