On the weekend of Sat 1st & 2nd 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.
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| 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 8th 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.
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| 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.
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| 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).
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| 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.
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| 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 5th 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.
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| Sensei Kuniaki Sakagami 8th dan JKW |
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| Peter May 6th dan with Tracey Archer British Referee |
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