White Tiger Martial Arts

National All Styles Competition 6th May 2007

Photographs: Action from the competition

On Sunday 6th May, eight WTMA students entered the NAS competition, held at the K2 Leisure Centre in Crawley.

Thomas was first to compete and came first in his age group for kata, with a fantastic display of Nidan. Tyla and Mica were then next to compete in their age group, and although they both performed Shodan to a very high standard, they were up against very strong competition (5th Kyu to 1st Dan) and were unable to secure a place on the podium.

Thomas was back to compete in points sparring, and narrowly lost in the third / fourth place play off, to deny him a second trophy for the day. He did, however, perform exceptionally well and delivered an almost perfect side kick (see pictures) during the last bout.

Tristan was on the same ring immediately after Thomas and quickly got into the groove in points sparring that we all know he can. He charged into the final with some excellent counter attacking reverse punches, winning the semi final in extra time. He narrowly lost out in the final by one point after both fighters had been in the lead during the contest. Another thirty seconds would have probably given him the victory, but it was not to be, and Tristan had to settle for second place this time around.

After a very long wait, Sensei Sally was next to compete in the veteran's (over 35's) open kata. Sensei Sally was the only female in the contest and performed a very powerful Kushanku kata. As before with Tyla and Mica, the competition was extremely strong, and she was unable to pick up another trophy for the club. Sensei Sally was the only competitor in the female veteran's points sparring and gracefully declined the first place trophy that was offered to her, as this would have been a totally empty win.

Adelle was next to compete in the female intermediate (7th to 4th Kyu) kata. After a tie for first place, Adelle performed Shodan kata again and this time won by a clear margin. At the same time, both Carl and Shaun were performing Shodan kata and Sandan kata respectively, in the male intermediate (7th to 4th Kyu) division. As the first competitor, Shaun had a second chance, but could not improve on his earlier score, and neither made the top three, in what was a packed division.

Carl then lost in the first round of points sparring by a very dubious disqualification for excessive contact, although his opponent had no stance or guard, and basically walked into a lot of Carl's techniques (see pictures). Shaun was even more unlucky, losing by 2 points to 1, when both of his opponents points were awarded for kicks that Shaun actually blocked (see pictures). This can happen in this type of non contact event and Sensei Damon has made the competition organisers aware of both of these situations.

All in all a very successful day for WTMA, it is just unfortunate that it ended on a sour note for the two guys above.

Congratulations to all students who entered and continued to show the rest of the martial arts world what a great bunch of people we are. We truly lived up to our No Egos promise. Finally, huge thanks to Sue, Kira and Al, who supported valiantly all day, and especially to Al, who became official WTMA photographer for the day, and captured all of the images shown.