Federation of European Wadokai – European Championships – Reading, England 2014

On the weekend of Sat 1^st & 2^nd November, I had the pleasure of being invited to the Federation of European Wadokai European Championships held at the Rivermead Leisure Centre on the banks of the river Thames in Reading.  Some twenty five years ago I used to instruct at Reading Shotokan Karate Club (KUGB, now JKA-England) on Thursday evenings at this centre so it was a real pleasure to return to my old hunting ground. 



Officials at the FEW European Wadokai Championships 2014



I, along with fellow European officials Steve Coupland, Tony Dent, Ivor Thomas, Brian Jarvis, Nigel Blood, Dona Marshall plus top British officials Dave Robinson & Tracey Archer together with top English officials Rob Lambe, Sara Cotton & Phil Whyte were invited by Chief Referee Vince Parker on behalf of Sensei Sakagami 8^th dan, Peter May and the FEW.  We were joined by FEW officials Mauricio Sai (Euro Ref -Italy), Violet Brown (Euro Judge - Ireland), Siobhan Lecky (Ireland Ref), Mark Symmonds (British Ref – Eng), Csaba Bistrony (Ref – Hungary) Mick Ryde (Eng Judge), Sue Ryde (Eng Judge) and a number of other Wado officials from various European countries.



Saturday was the elimination day for the championship and kicked off as usual with kata across four areas.  I was assigned to Tatami 1 under the direction of Mauricio Sai from Italy (the most senior Ref at the tournament) as TM and Tony Dent as TM covering areas 1 and 2.  Kata judging was handled in the main by the senior Wado kai officials – I consider myself not to have the appropriate technical detail on wado kai kata to feel competent to judge the kata so I opted out of this.  This is the same at our Kofukan Internationals where despite having world kata refs we only use senior Kofukan officials even if they are not a national Kata Judge.  This ensures that we get only true Kofukan kata’s in the finals which have some differences in emphasis/feel & also moves to the Shito-kai/Itosu-kai/Inoue-hai Shito kata more often seen in open competitions.  Likewise with Wadokai kata I found that sitting by the side my vote was going in opposition to the other Wadokai judges – subtle differences that I was not picking up so I did not potentially want to cost someone a European medal.

Amelia Harvey (England competitor at the 22nd WKF World Champs in Bremen Nov 2104 & Mairi Kerrin  (Ireland competitor at same World Champs & MC for FEW Euro Champs)

All progressed well with the Senior Competition with no issues raised, this was completed and we headed to the hotel for a wash and brush up prior to going to Chinese restaurant just a few doors away from the hotel.  I have to say though that parking in Reading is an absolute nightmare – there are no free spaces anywhere whereas when I lived all those years ago it was possible to find free parking – not anymore!  Anyway the China Palace ‘all you can eat’ Chinese meal was brilliant and most of the tournament contingent feasted in there.

Tatami 1 Officials Saturday with Csabo, Sara, Tony, Mauricio, Siobhan, myself & Rob Lambe

Sunday was Finals day and the tatami’s were reduced to two and I was assigned to Area 1 again, this time under the direction of Ivor Thomas (Euro Ref B) and Tony Dent (Euro Judge A).



Tony Dent & Ivor Thomas show how a TM's job should be done.



One deeply regrettable incident occurred in the Cadet Kata Final and involved a table official not doing their job properly.  If we as Referees make an error then we put our hand up to admit the mistake, correct the mistake and take it on the chin along with all the embarrassment – not so some TO’s.

The kata sections were whittled down to the final two on the Saturday but they did not give their kata into the table after winning their semi-final bouts where this would have been immediately spotted.  On the Sunday, each final was called and the kata names were collected and added to the draw sheet by the other roving Table Officials.  The rules precluded any immediate repeats and one of the finalists nominated the same kata as she had done in the Semi Final.  In this instance the competitor was Ao (Blue), so would go on after Aka (Red) giving plenty of time to spot the error and advise the competitor to change their kata.  Now we all know that the WKF Rules state that it is the responsibility of the competitor or coach to ensure that the kata nominated is correct for the next round but here we are talking under 14’s who are possibly not renowned for their short-term memory or awareness of the detail of the competition rules concerning repeats.  Table officials have a vital role to play and are there to assist both the competitors and the referees, but in this case neither competitor nor the TM were assisted as they should have been.  The error was spotted by the Table Official but not communicated to the TM until they had both completed their kata – TOO LATE!!  Despite this competitor being far better that the other finalist, she was disqualified and clearly distraught to be Hansoku’d in a European Final!  This is reprehensible and in England we never disqualify children under 14 in kata events never mind finals.  It could so easily have been avoided if only the table official concerned had:

1. Recorded the kata name immediately after the semi-final - I advised this on the Saturday,

2. Checked the draw sheet before the final started and the kata eligibility i.e. for repeats.

3. Advised the TM immediately and NOT at the end of the two kata performances. 

Dona Marshall (Euro Kata Judge B, Kumite Judge B) and I sitting at the side watching were absolutely horrified that this had happened and that effectively the Table Official had cost this young girl a EUROPEAN GOLD MEDAL!!

Anyway on to more positive stuff and when we got onto the Kumite finals one good point from Ivor was that if the competitor chasing a score after a successful takedown steps out then he is in Jogai and not the other competitor. An important one to look for that a lot of inexperienced judges would miss.

Another unfortunate incident was the disqualification of Curtis Harvey for contact.  Curtis is one of the best young fighters in England and a rising star of the European Wadokai.  Unfortunately, in his fight, that I was refereeing, he became a little frustrated after not having about three kicks scored (by any of the judges or myself) that he clearly thought should have scored.  He duly caught his opponent’s leg and punched him in the head way too hard (in my opinion as the ref).  The fighter went down for longer than 10 seconds and the very experienced medic immediately said he was gone.  The only options when the 10 second clock has timed-out are KIKEN, HANSOKU or SHIKKAKU.  The fighter was certainly not in mubobi so Hansoku was administered to Curtis.  A real shame since he then went on to fight in the team finals brilliantly and hopefully he will no doubt learn from this incident.  The refs are there to administer the rules fairly and equally and a technique must have all six criteria to score.  No quarter is ever given to any competitor, whether they are a favourite or not and if the rules are violated then a penalty must be given.  This is exactly why Vince and the FEW invited the top English and European Officials to the tournament.  As the rules state a worthless technique is a worthless technique and will not score.  Jodan kicks must have all six criteria just the same as punches and strikes and it is not just a case of getting the foot to the target to score as many spectators seem to think cheering every time a foot reaches jodan.



Curtis Harvey in the Team Kumite Final has just pulled back after scoring a gyak as signalled by Tony Dent in the chair.  Lisa Bhajwaj (Tournament Organiser) on the camera



With no further incidents to report, the competition concluded late Sunday afternoon and it was back to the hotel for the Sayona party featuring a Jim Gladwin’s rock band – ‘Backlash’.  Jim is a 5^th dan Wado and used to be the instructor at Loughborough Uni retiring at the end of last year.  I trained under him on many occasions and I have seen this superb band perform on a few occasions.  Needless to say they were excellent and really got the crowd going – a fitting way to end an international tournament.

The accommodation / tournament was really well organised by Lisa Bhardwaj and the FEW Executive committee and with England squad numbering some seventy competitors, they took the lion’s share of the medals.  The Penta Headquarters hotel was excellent and very comfortable.  I would say however, that Rivermead Sports Centre is not really a centre befitting a European finals – the toilets were often reported by my colleagues as being in a very poor state and with no arena spot-lighting the finals did not get the atmosphere that they richly deserved plus competitors/spectators have to pay to park - outrageous!  The refs got complimentary parking so perhaps this could be extended to all next time. Maybe one to consider by the FEW for next time?

Thanks to Vince and the FEW Exec for the invite to referee and the kind hospitality offered by FEW.

Lisa has put hundreds of photos on Facebook taken throughout the tournament.  Search for her on Facebook if you are interested in viewing them but set aside a few hours to do so.

Sensei Kuniaki Sakagami 8th dan JKW



Peter May 6th dan with Tracey Archer British Referee



Kaizen Open International Tournament, Kolding, Denmark 2014

Over the weekend of the 25^th & 26^th of October I had the very real pleasure of attending the above tournament in Denmark, hosted by the Danish Karate Federation and superbly organised by husband and wife team Henrik Katborg and Merete Katborg.

I, along with refereeing colleagues Billy Brennan (World Referee), Tracey Archer (British Referee) and Andy Cornish (British Referee) travelled out from Stansted airport on the Friday at 7.35am which meant a 3am start to get there from Loughborough and park up.

Henrik had invited me to the tournament whilst we were at the British International Open in Glasgow in late September.  Billy had already been invited and was telling me about it over lunch at the British, so I was pleasantly surprised when Henrik, whilst still sitting in a judges chair, invited me along as well as I was walking out of the tournament near the end. 

Tracey has aspirations to get a Euro badge so was quick to contact both Henrik and Dale Gamble (England Chief Referee) to see if it would be ok for her to go along and get her first taste of open international tournaments.  She has of course officiated many times at the single style Kofukan International tournaments in places as varied as Japan, South Africa, Denmark, Portugal, Slovenia, & Russia so is no stranger to international tournaments.

Andy is a student of Billy and has similar aspirations so this competition was ideal as a starter for both Tracey & Andy on the open international circuit which may ultimately lead to Euro Judge qualifications for both of them in the future.

All was going spiffingly well despite the early start until I got to the other side of airport security and realised I’d left my phone on the car seat so for the full weekend was completely Marillion! (Incommunicado for all you non-rockers)

Henrik kindly agreed to pick us up at the airport and ferry us around which was brilliant of him.  After checking in and playing a quick game of ten pin bowling (at which Andy was supreme) the first port of call was the castle in Kolding (pronounced Kolling) – apparently ‘d’s’ within a word are silent in Danish.  Henrik dropped us off in the city centre and we spent a good couple of hours walking around the castle which was magnificent and well worth the 10 Kroner (about £11) entry fee.

After completing the castle tour and taking many photos, we headed off to central Kolding for food at a café recommended by Henrik – the Blue Café where we succumbed to the temptations of huge burgers.

Back to the hotel and another game of bowls at which Andy was again supreme – he really is a dark horse(!) followed by meeting up with one of our Kofukan colleagues from Denmark Sensei Lars Sorensen who is based in Copenhagen.  Lars is a superb referee having officiated with him on many Kofukan International tournaments and it was really good to catch up with him again.  The setting up of the tatami was completed by Henrik and his team of parent helpers and all was ready for Sat morning.

Saturday dawned and we assembled post Breakfast for the Referees meeting conducted by Henrik and Lars.  Lars was appointed Chief Referee by the DKF for the tournament.  Rules were as current WKF with a couple of  points stressed to the TM’s briefing that no hard contact would be allowed, scorpion kick would be allowed to score, not to support colleagues on penalties (only points) and C2 for dangerous techniques would be ok signalled by judges (eg for punches past the head). 

I was assigned as Tatami Manager (TM) to Tatami 3 along with Lars as TMA, Sven Ferner (Germany National Ref), Dina Kjong (Denmark National Ref), Katrine Voigt (Denmark National Ref B), Jutte Heinrich (Germany National Ref) and Phillip & Linda as table officials.  Henrik took Tatami 1 and Nilgun Springer an excellent Euro Referee from Germany took Tatami 2.  I had previously seen Nilgun on the Euro circuit (Cadet, Senior & Regional Champs) but never had an opportunity to work with her or socialise.

The main issue for me as TM certainly for the Senior Competition (all WKF categories) was to try and preserve neutrality.  The vast majority of the entrants to the tournament were either German or Danish.  Hence for a large number of the bouts I had to have two Danish and two German officials and either myself (or Billy if available) as the fifth official.  This kept me extremely busy in refereeing kumite bouts and judging kata bouts.

One pleasantly new experience was to be exposed to Shinen Gensei Ryu  a school of kata that I had never seen before, let alone judged.  Again this proved a challenge as TM since I could not determine whether the kata they had given in to the table was the same as the one performed.  The table officials helped as best they could as did Katrine as a Gensei ryu practioner and Lars as a previous exponent of this style.  I therefore made a resolution to try to find out more about this style and in particular the katas to a point that I could at least tell the difference between a Chi-I, a Jen-I and an Ten-I (more of this later).

All senior bouts passed off without incident with Freja Katborg (Henrik’s daughter) taking Silver in the U21 Kata and the Senior Kata losing out each time to the very strong Rikka Lincke from Itosukai Karate in Denmark who represented Denmark in the 22^nd World Karate Championships at kata.  Freja also took Bronze in the Senior Female Kumite so this was a good day at the office for Henrik’s daughter.

After the tournament all of the officials were treated to a marvellous evening meal in the restaurant of the Tre-For sports centre.  The buffet food was excellent with smoked salmon & steak amongst the delicacies on offer.

For evening entertainment a group of us travelled by car into the centre of Kolding to the ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ bar an excellent English pub started some ten or so years ago by an English geezer.  The pub offered a selection of beers from around the world and was very popular.  Here I met Steen Mundos a senior of the JKS (Japan Shotoremnei of Kagawa Sensei).  Steen had spent many years in Japan and regaled us with his stories of the JKA hierarchy and the numerous requirements to do the same gradings with different groups.  We were also exposed to a game of ‘Mayer’ a dice game of fibs taught to us by Nadine one of the Danish officials who worked on tatami 2.

The clocks went backward this weekend meaning we had an extra hour of sleep time.  However, this almost backfired on us.  I was up immediately at the sound of Andy’s air raid warning alarm, jumped in the shower and then got dressed.  When we finally worked out it was only 6am, the other two went back to sleep and I sat by the wardrobe for half an hour or so until I got cheesed off with it and climbed back on to the top bunk-bed.  The next we knew was when Trace knocked on the door in full refs garb to say everyone had gone down and we collectively said she was an hour early.  Needless to say when Billy checked his world clock, it then became something of a mad rush to get ready in time for breakfast and the refs briefing.

The ref’s briefing clarified a few bits – specifically contact rules for children and neutrality requirements.  Billy also rotated the TM’s and TMA’s as done at Euro championships.  This kept everyone on the toes and stopped complacency setting in – a good initiative by Billy.

I was rotated to Tatami 1 with Andreas Kjong (Denmark National Ref), Jan Hesse (Germany National Ref), Tracey, Ingrid Heinrich (Germany National Judge), and joining us later for the kumite Jan Martin and without the requirement to maintain neutrality meant I could give all the other officials a good run-out at judging, reffing and Kansa-ing (if that’s a proper word?).

One puzzling issue was that the Table Officials did not have score sheets to manually record the scores as inputted into the electronic scoreboards.  Apparently, these have never been used in Denmark even at their Nationals Championships but are mandatory in England as a permanent record of the scores and also used at Euro championships where the qualified Judges are assigned to keep score.  Needless to say these were implemented for the Sunday competition courtesy of Tracey who had the files with her and to Marete for printing them out.

Sunday was the Non-WKF categories i.e. the 10 to 13 years.  Again we were exposed to Gensei Ryu kata and immediately from the outset it was clear that they would feature heavily in the junior sections with some superb examples of this style of kata presented particularly by Stefanie Pederson of Gladsaxe Gensei Ryu karate club who eventually took Silver.

Again as TM I had the same problem again with these kata and with Katrine, my only source of Gensei ryu now on T3 and me on T1 I had a problem.  Moreover, the runners who were getting the kata entrants ready were not recording the name of the katas to be performed.  Needless to say this soon changed.  I also managed to collar Katrine and she gave me the correct spellings of the kata and also pointed out the Gensei Ryu squad coach a 2^nd dan Thomas Benzon.  At a convenient break I went over to him and picked his brains about his style and got a full listing of the kata.  These are all based on Shotokan and are:

Jen-I, Teni-I, Chi-I, Sansai, Naihanchin, Bassai Dai, Bassai Sho, Shokumine Bassai Dai, Seienchin, Kosokun Sho, Kosokun Dai, Chinto &  Wankan

One notable competitor to watch was the winner of the 12 to 13 Male Kata – Veselov Hermann from Germany who performed Shotokan kata extremely capably.  He is from Jan Hesse’s club who was an official on my tatami.

An interesting point that cropped up was on the kata.  Billy had asked us to try to reduce the number of 4-1’s in kata judging (eg 4 red flags to one blue flag at Hantei).  As TM he had asked me to keep a note of the number of 4-1’s on my area which I had done the previous day.  As it was one of the judges was involved in a 4-1 so at a convenient break in proceedings I asked why they had gone for the other competitor.  The reply was that the wrong flag was put up!  I was then asked what should the judge do if they put the wrong flag up.  My immediate view was that they should stay with the flag since it looks decidedly ‘iffy’ if they change to follow the other four.  However, I decided to defer this question to Billy Brennan who said that you must change it immediately since if it was a 3-2 situation then it would send the wrong competitor through if the judge did not change the flag.  Either way the judge is in for a hard time from the TM since he will get grilled for the 4-1 and also for the change of flag!  I have only ever seen a judge change their flag once and that was the Chief Judge in the finals at the Karate England 2005 Championships and it did look ‘iffy’ at the time.

The tournament went on to finish with a cracking final of the boys 12-13 -45kg kumite.  This was ref’d by Billy with judges Nilgun, Tracey, Henrik and Lars as Kansa and myself as Scorekeeper.  Three times Aka looked to have scored with very fast jodan kizami’s with three flags shooting out but each time Billy correctly over-ruling them for the glove having touched the face and awarded Aka a Cat1 penalty instead.  Aka then immediately went to Chudan and scored.  The exciting and very fast bout went to a 2-2 draw and then 3-2 to Aka on Hantei – this was a fitting finale to the tournament.

Group Referee photos were taken and once again, the DKF treated all the officials to a buffet meal and we then said our Sayonara’s to everyone.

Henrik, Marete, Billy, Tracey Andy and myself went back to the centre of Kolding to the Irish bar and had a very sociable evening putting the world to rights over a beer or two.

Monday was departure day for Team England Refs but first we were treated by Henrik to a terrific visit to the historic Jelling Stones in the town of Jelling.  This was preceded by a second visit to the Blue café for more burgers for Billy and Andy and for those whose bodies are temples - a mere chicken salad!

Just prior to leaving for the airport in Billung for our Ryanair flight we visited Henrik’s dojo in Kolding where we saw the start of the session.  This was well attended by children whose behaviour was exemplary with Freja as sempai and Henrik as Sensei.  We said our goodbyes and set off on the 45 minute journey to the airport with Merete.

The rest of the trip was routine at least Ryanair now allow two bags per person as hand luggage which is a welcome initiative.

At Stansted we said our goodbyes and journeyed back home. 

Thanks you to Henrik, Merete and the Danish Karate Federation for a fabulous weekend of Danish hospitality and great karate – Sayonara - arigato gozaimashita.