KUGB Student National Championships 2014
The KUGB National Student Championships (often just "the Student Nationals") is the first major competition of the academic year and falls in the middle of Michaelmas Term. The competition is open to all KUGB members in full-time education and is held in Chesterfield. National Student Championships
Competition Report
CUKC Team
Sensei Richard Poole (Chief Instructor)Scott Ang (Captain)
Amy Oliver (gold, team kumite, bronze individual kumite, bronze individual kata)
Abigail Wood (gold individual kumite, gold team kumite)
Amy Hall (gold, team kumite)
Lis Kerr
Karol Fiedorczuk (gold, individual kumite)
Shinichiro Shinozaki
The National Student Championship of the KUGB was held on 15th November. CUKC had a smaller team entered than in previous years. However, they produced some spectacular results, winning 3 golds, and 2 bronze medals.
Individual Kumite
Karol Fiedorczuk - individual kyu grade gold
Abi Wood - individual kyu grade gold
Amy Oliver - individual kyu grade bronze
Scott Ang
We had many close fights over the course of the day. Amy Oliver did well to be placed third in her category. We also had the joy to witness Karol and Abi represent us in the finals of the individual kumite against very worthy opponents. Both of the matches were fought at the same time, and it was all the sweeter when Karol and Abi did us proud by winning their fights by convincing margins.
Individual Kata
Amy Oliver - Kyu grade bronze
Lis Kerr
Scott Ang
Karol Fiedorczuk
Amy Hall
We had very good katas from all who took part. The competition was very tough however, and only Amy Oliver made it to the semi-finals. She did an excellent kata, getting her a bronze medal in her category.
Men's team Kumite
CUKC was represented by Karol, Shin and Scott in the Men's team kumite event. Karol started off well and bested his opponent with a quick jodan punch. He spooked and feinted, throwing his opponent off his game. He made several good attempts that almost scored, but time ran out before he could widen the gap. Shin went next and despite coming from a different fighting style, managed to hold his own in the fight for the first minute. However, his opponent gained the advantage in the later parts of the fight with his superior range, eventually besting Shin with two waza-aris. Scott fought last, exchanging many spirited blows with his opponent in a close match. However, neither side managed to score, and the match was drawn. The opponent team advanced to the next round as they had an ippon to our waza-ari.
Female Team Kumite
The female kumite team consisted of Amy Oliver, Amy Hall and Abi Wood. In the knockout round, Abi bested her opponent, while Amy Hall lost her match despite a good effort. Amy Oliver won her match by default as the other team had not enough members.
Advancing to the finals, the three girls prepared themselves for an even tougher match. Amy Oliver and her opponent spent some time trying to get through each other’s defences. Then, a well-placed jodan punch earned Amy a waza-ari. As time was running out, her opponent went on the offensive to try to catch her up, but Amy was not intimidated and pushed back with very aggressive attacks of her own. Neither of them landed another score, but time ran out and Amy took the match.
Amy Hall then took the mat. Both sides fought hard but failed to land a clean hit at first, despite a number of close calls. Then, listening to advice from Sensei Richard, Amy changed her game and eventually scored with a jodan punch. She managed to hold onto the lead until time ran out, securing the Gold medal position for the team.
However, Abi was determined to take a clean sweep of the fights. She started her match and immediately went on the offence. She placed a clean punch to her opponent and scored a waza-ari. Abbie continued to put pressure on the opposing side, and took a few glancing hits to the face in the process. She was in pain, but still in the lead, and held on to the end, securing a spectacular 3-nil victory for the female team in the grand finals!
Team kata
Amy Hall, Lis and Scott represented CUKC for the team kata, performing Empi in the knockout rounds. There was strong competition, and despite a good attempt, they did not manage to make it to the semi-finals.
We congratulate everyone who participated in the Student Nationals competition for the wonderful results and great effort! We also thank Sensei Richard for all his support and help in coaching the team.