On Friday the 17th of April 7 competitors of the Kaizen Central squad woke up early and made their way to the airport where they were meeting up along with our 20 strong group of supporters, coaches and referees.
We arrived in Koblenz after a plane and coach trip at 10.00am. We had this first day to allow the competitors to relax and prepare and gather supplies for the competition, while our 20 strong coaches, referees and supporters enjoyed themselves relaxing at the water front. That night the majority of the squad went down the road for dinner which every one enjoyed and then got back for an early night as every one needed to be up and ready by 7.30am to walk to the sports centre.
18/04/09 The Day of The Tournament.
The tournament began with an opening ceremony which took place at 8.15 and then the first events which were Kata began at 8.30am, with the first Kumite events starting at 11.00am.
The standard of the competition was high as it was attended by many competitors form national teams, and not one member of our squad looked out of place competing at this level. Out of the 7 competitors competing we brought home two medals in the Kumite:
Carla Burkitt won gold in her weight category.
We arrived in Koblenz after a plane and coach trip at 10.00am. We had this first day to allow the competitors to relax and prepare and gather supplies for the competition, while our 20 strong coaches, referees and supporters enjoyed themselves relaxing at the water front. That night the majority of the squad went down the road for dinner which every one enjoyed and then got back for an early night as every one needed to be up and ready by 7.30am to walk to the sports centre.
18/04/09 The Day of The Tournament.
The tournament began with an opening ceremony which took place at 8.15 and then the first events which were Kata began at 8.30am, with the first Kumite events starting at 11.00am.
The standard of the competition was high as it was attended by many competitors form national teams, and not one member of our squad looked out of place competing at this level. Out of the 7 competitors competing we brought home two medals in the Kumite:
Carla Burkitt won gold in her weight category.
Michael Burke won a bronze medal in his weight category.
Although we only brought back two medals every competitor should be proud of themselves, whether they won or lost, because every one went out their and held their own. Most importantly you could see everyone, not only the competitors but every one in our squad of 27, were enjoying themselves.
People that really stood out for me were:
Spencer Wheeler: I saw a big improvement in Spencer’s fighting at the weekend he went out there with an aggression and determination I hadn’t seen in him before. As well as looking very sharp on the day. He was very unfortunate to pick up a knee injury during his fight, which forced a trip to the hospital and ending his chance to regain the lead and get through the first round.
Carla Burkitt: Was very sharp and her movement and use of the mat was very affective all helping her to win that gold medal which she deserved after a very comprehensive performance.
Whitney Rose: Also performed well making it through 3 rounds before being knocked out in the fourth round of her weight category in a well contested fight.
I would like to say a big thank you to all the supporters that came over and
created such a good atmosphere and the coaches John Anderson, Glen Middleton, John Anderson Jnr and Trevor Justin for giving up their spare time to travel to Germany and coach us competitors. Also a big thanks to Julie Gunn for organising the trip and last but not least thank you to our officials Paul Gunn, Tommy Beaton and John Colpus for coming over and representing Kaizen on that side of things.
No comments:
Post a Comment