EKF NATIONAL KATA YOUTH SQUAD: FINNISH OPEN 2017 REPORT Day 1: Thursday 14th September An evening flight from Manchester Airport at 17.50 saw myself and a couple of the squad members catch the Finnair flight to Helsinki, which took around 3 hours. A 15 minute taxi journey from the airport took us to the Original Sokos Hotel in Vantaa. Arriving at around 23.30 we checked in and went straight up to our rooms. Day 2: Friday 15th September The morning started with breakfast and a short meeting with the squad members and parents who had already arrived. We left the hotel at 10am to find the arena and to figure out the transportation to and from the hotel. A 2 minute walk took us to the closest train station where we then purchased train tickets for the 2 days, so we could have easy access to the train. A short 10 minute journey, only two stops down the line, took us to the closest station to the arena. From there a 20 minute walk through the nice scenery of Finland and we arrived at the arena. Our first glimpse of the arena. This would be our journey for the whole squad to and from the arena. From here we then ventured into Helsinki and waited for the rest of the squad to arrive on their flights from London. The whole squad was aware that we were to meet at the hotel reception at 5pm for a squad briefing. As athletes and parents arrived one issue unfolded. One of the squad members Antony Sempebwa and his dad had accidentally booked the Sokos Hotel in Helsinki instead of Vantaa, which is where the rest of the squad was staying. As we discussed how to resolve this issue I suggested that he went to reception and say that he'd made a mistake whilst booking and to ask to be transferred to our hotel in Vantaa. He did and he was moved into our hotel within the hour. Problem solved. 5pm and all the squad members met me in a small room in the reception with plenty of seating for the 23 of us that had flown out there. (athletes and parents). I started off by surprising the squad with the EKF Youth Team T-shirt that was organised last minute by myself after speaking to Jonathan Mottram and emailing Billy Brennan, our line manager. I have attached below images of the t-shirts that were funded by the EKF.
The team talk then began. I started off by welcoming the squad to Finland and reminding them that they are England National Athletes so behaviour, attitude, effort, and respect had to be at the highest level. I also gave them some tips on how to deal with the pressure and nerves of competing abroad for the first time. Parents were also given a reminder that they were there as parents and not as coaches. They were told to support all athletes from the stands and not to get involved with the karate side of things whilst we were out there. After this all the parents were given an EKF Welfare and Conduct of the Child form to sign. All parents signed this form and I will give them to either Aimee Sell or Debbie Sell on Saturday 23rd September, when I will next see them. Registration for the competition was at 6pm at the venue. I collected all of the athlete s licences with their 30 euros registration fee. Now as the venue was a train journey away, I made the decision to go myself, with one of the parents to accompany me, rather than dragging the whole
squad on the train journey as it was unnecessary. When we got to the venue we registered all athletes within 10 minutes making it a quick and easy trip to registration. Before I was aware that it would be me taking this squad to Finland and organising everything, the decision was made for all athletes to register themselves on sport data. Now I believe that this was done so that all athletes could then pay for themselves online rather than the EKF or the Coach having to do it. This did cause a few issues. Some people did struggle to register as the EKF National Youth Team. This was due to many reasons such as the account name already being in use by other athletes on the squad. There was also one athlete that had entered accidentally under the club Liverpool Karate Academy. However at registration this was all corrected so that all the EKF Youth Squad Athletes were then entered under the same name. For future reference I would suggest that the Coach registers all athletes and that the athletes pay the Coach the registration fee at the final selections, if they are selected. This would resolve any issues. On our return from registration the squad and parents all met up at the hotel restaurant at 7pm for a team meal. Everyone paid their bill separately and myself and the athletes then went to a meeting room for a light evening training session and stretch-out. The meeting room was booked by myself at reception, and the hotel kindly let us use it for free. This meeting was a whopping 100m square space, giving us plenty of room for the session. All the athletes had a small warm-up and stretch-out followed by going through all their katas lightly. A few corrections and pieces of advice were given by myself and then we finished the session with a final team talk. I suggested that all the athletes would meet with their parents up at reception, where they were waiting for us to go straight to bed for an early night. I walked them upstairs from the meeting room and we all went our separate ways to bed. Day 3: Saturday 16th September Competition day arrived. An early start saw the squad meeting in reception at 8am after an early breakfast. We arrived at the arena at 8.30am, alert, awake, and ready to show Finland what the EKF Youth Team were made of. With regard to the schedule of the day. All of the categories we had entered lead one after the other on tatami 1 excluding one of the categories, the boys Under 14 Kata. With our first category starting at 10am the boys Under 14 kata was not scheduled to start until 17.20. I discussed with the organiser if this was a mistake, but it turned out it wasn't. The Swedish team had a boat to catch, therefore their categories took priority to the Under 14 Boys kata, so we had to wait the time. Our first category of the day was the Under 12 Female Kata. All Squad members were in the warm-up room since arrival giving them a full 1 hour 30 minutes of preparation prior to their event. From the warm-up room a marshal would collect each category and walk them to their tatami / holding area. Whilst waiting for the competition to start I was in the warm-up room with the athletes until the coaches meeting was called at 9.40am. I told the squad and left them in the warm-up room saying I would meet them out in the arena. By the time the coaches meeting had finished the Female Under 12 category had been walked out to the holding area behind the tatamis. This category saw our athletes Adriana Palokkaran and Lily-May Bedford in the bottom half of the draw. Out of our athletes Adriana was first up. She smashed her first round with Shito ryu kata Paiku against Shotokan Enpi. This took her through to the semi-finals. Lily-May was up next with a very strong Annan against Finland with an Enpi. Lily May sailed through to the next round 5-0. This is where Adriana met Lily-May. Adriana performed a fantastic Nipaipo against Lily-May who performed a brilliant Piku. Now was they were against each other I made the decision to not sit in
either ones coaches seat. I stood in the middle showing no bias towards either athlete. This I thought was fair and the athletes agreed. With an extremely close match Adriana took the win with a 3-2 result against Lily-May. This took Adriana into the final and Lily-May into repecharge. Repecharge started before the Final. Lily-May performed Chatanyara Kushanku in the first round of repecharge, followed by an extremely strong Annan in the final. This gave us our first win of the tournament. Lily-May, Bronze Medalist. The final was next. Adriana had a tough opponent from Finland Performing a strong Gojushiho Dai. Adriana pulled out a great Annan to see her win the final 3-2. Our first GOLD of the day. Next up was the Under 12 Boys. England Athletes James Selkirk and Jorunas Gorelcenka took to the stage at opposite ends of the draw. James was first up against Finland winning 5-0 with the kata Enpi. As Jim had an extra round, he was up soon with kata Gojushiho Sho against Finland. He once again sailed through this round 5-0. Shortly after Jorunas was on. Against Finland he smashed his first round with a fantastic Unsu. Both athletes were now in the Semi-Finals. Jim faced Estonia. A strong Kanku Sho took him through to the finals 5-0. Jorunas also smashed his next round beating Norway 5-0 with a solid Gojushiho Dai. This brought both England Squad athletes into the final. James brought Unsu to the table, and Jorunas had Gankaku. A brilliant final to say the least. A brilliant Gankaku, and a slight loss of balance from Jaronus, saw James victorious, winning 4-1 in the final. Overall an excellent performance from both athletes. GOLD and SILVER in our second category of the day.
Next up was the Under 14 Female Kata. Here we saw England Athletes Myra Nasim, Courtney Power and Eva Groseva. Myra was up first against Finland. Annan was her first round Kata. A strong win of 5-0 saw her through to the second round. Courtney was up next. Nipaipo against Enpi from Finland. A solid 3-2 win for Courtney to finish off the opening round. Eva was next and a speedy Piku saw her win 4-1 against Finland. Round 2. Myra started against another Female from Finland. An amazing Papuryen sorted her place in the Semi Finals, a 5-0 win. A strong Annan also saw her placed in the Semi-Finals winning 5-0. Finally Eva finished the second round with Annan against Finland. A comfortable 4-1 win. Semi final time. Myra vs Courtney. Annan Dai vs Piku. With two brilliant performances, Myra was the stronger opponent winning 5-0 against Courtney to reach the final. Courtney s performance was great and something to be proud of. Eva was next in the Semis, but unfortunately lost her battle with Finland losing 4-1. Eva performed a solid Nipaipo but the girl from Finland had extremely precise technique and a strong Kanku Sho. Both Eva and Courtney lost their repecharge round, with both performing Enpi. Not their best round however, we know where we need to improve, and both girls did amazing at their first competition as England Youth Squad members. Time for the Final. I have to say, from a coaches point of view, I was extremely proud of Myra. She performed Chatnyara Kushanku against Finland with Sochin. A 5-0 victory for Myra saw her take away the GOLD not dropping a single flag the whole competition. Amazing result. Now the long wait until 17.20pm for our final category of the day. I spoke to the organiser many times throughout the day to try get this Under 14 Male category pushed forward but nothing could be done. So the waiting began. The plan was to get in the warm-up room at around 3pm for a good warm-up and stretch-out, which we did. This is where we received the bad news that the category was to be delayed. This meant that the category would not start until around 19.00. Seb Miles, Lewis Hunt, and Anthony Sempebwa had acted professionally and like true athletes throughout this long wait. A credit to the English Karate Federation. 19.00 arrived and the category began.
Anthony was up first with Kanku Sho against Finland. With direct lines and precise technique Anthony won his first round winning 5-0. Lewis was up next. Enpi to start with against Finland. With speed and a great jump Lewis sailed into the next round. The first round also saw English athlete Seb Miles go through to the second round with a bye. Round 2 came and Anthony was up. Gojushisho this time against Estonia performing Annan. A 5-0 win for Anthony took the young man into the Semi Finals. At this point two referees came up to me with a lot of positive feedback about Anthony this guy is one to keep hold of. A great feeling for a coach to hear such positive feedback. Lewis was next, winning his second round taking him also into the Semi-finals, where he would face Anthony. Amazing performances. At this time, Seb Miles unfortunately lost his second round with a solid performance of Kanku Sho. A strong opponent but was unlucky not to receive repercharge. A preference to be proud of though Seb! Semi-final time and Anthony was against Lewis. Sochin vs Sochin. A brilliant face off with the two katas. Anthony took the win though taking him to the final. Lewis would now receive repecharge. Lewis s first round of repecharge was fantastic. A great Gankaku gave him the win of 4-1, taking him to the repecharge final. Unfortunately a very strong opponent saw Lewis lose this round missing out on the Bronze. Some great performances and overall a very solid competitor in the Under 14 year old category. Time for the Final. Anthony Sempebwa of England vs William Tran of Sweden. Gankaku vs Annan Dai. William Tran performed an incredibly sharp Annan and was a strong competitor. However with Anthony's precise technique and unbelievable side kicks Anthony took the GOLD 3-2. Even nailing the famous Gankanku turn. An amazing achievement for and absolutely brilliant athlete. Well done.
The end of this day saw a celebratory talk and a late tea on the way back to the hotel. A 16 seater taxi was booked for those travelling in the morning and it was off to bed for the whole squad due to a 6am taxi to the airport. Day 4: Sunday 17th September For myself it was breakfast at the airpot with a few members of the squad on the same flight after check in, arriving back in England just after 9am local time. A long journey home from Manchester Airport saw the trip come to a close. Overall: GOLD IN EVERY CATEGORY! 4 Golds 1 Silver 1 Bronze What a brilliant start to the EKF Youth Squad. I cannot say how proud I am of these youngsters. All performing and acting like true National athletes. A force to be reckoned with. With such a bright future ahead for these athletes I cannot wait to see what the future holds. Overall, the trip ran smoothly with only a few small issues with easy solutions. The whole team supported each other after every round with cheers louder than any other team in the stadium. A real team and some real support towards each other. I cannot say how proud I am. I would like to thank the EKF for giving me this opportunity, the athletes for giving such a strong performance, and the parents especially for supporting the team and assisting us when necessary. Hopefully I have done you proud. There s has been nothing but positive feedback from this trip which is brilliant to hear. I look forward to my future here with the EKF and here s to many more successes in future. James Scanlon EKF National Youth Kata Coach.