On Sunday 6th July 2008 I took MiniMe to the Guildford Spectrum to watch the JKA England 2008 National Championships. Entrance to the competition was restricted to brown belt and above with events split by age, by grade (no 3rd Kyu fighting against a 2nd Dan), and event type (individual kata, team kata, kumite, and team kumite).

I was not really sure how long MiniMe would want to stay and spectate since the Championship runs from 10am well into the evening so I took along our swimming bags to make use of the swimming facilities and we also went ice skating and bowling during the day.

So we arrived a little after 10am and watched some of the heats while cheering on participants from Kilburn SKC. With a total of 72 entrants from our club this year it meant that there was usually a club member taking part on at least one of the competition areas during the early rounds. I took along my camera to try and get some good action shots but it was quite difficult to; a) get the timing right, especially during the kumite when the punches / kicks flew so quickly; and b) get good pictures thanks to the indoor lighting in the hall. I did have a quick chat with someone using a Nikon D3 who was getting some cracking shots even with the relatively poor lighting but unfortunately my ISO settings do not go as high as the D3.

MiniMe quickly tired of the watching the karate at this stage so we went swimming along with a fairly large group of people escaping the rain at Guilfest 2008, which was taking place opposite the Spectrum. The kids pool and slides were closed for maintenance so we had to make do swimming around the shallow parts of the main pool with MiniMe equally interested in watching people throw themselves off the diving boards into the diving pool.

We then went back to watching the karate again as the competition became more fierce, especially in the men’s kumite 2nd Dan and above (I think that was the grade restriction at that level) where there was plenty of small blood wounds. The attending first aiders were certainly needed numerous times to deal with a variety of punch / kick inflicted wounds. There was a particularly competitive round of kumite between two of our club members, who I believe are also both squad members. I have watched them spar a lot on a Sunday morning Kilburn SKC session and their familiarity led to an amazing round of competitive kumite.

Next up was lunch and a round of ice skating, which was a first for MiniMe. He had quite a few minor falls starting off but he was soon telling me to skate around by myself while he tackled his own brand of skating then holding onto the side then skating again. I think he would have stayed there for the full 2 hour skating session had it not been for a blister he developed on his ankle.

When we returned to the karate the various heats were concluding, which made for more great viewing as the standard rapidly grew across all the events and age ranges. We both sat and watched the women’s kumite which was just as competitive as the men’s kumite and equally fascinating to watch.

This took us up to around 5pm and I hadn’t expected MiniMe to last that long but he wanted to stay and watch the finals so we took a break to go bowling then came back to watch the ceremony proceeding the finals. This is where we both became transfixed with the standard of karate across the board and were happy to see a number of Kilburn SKC members pick up medals. Unfortunately the finals were still ongoing at 8pm and it was time to take MiniMe home (although surprisingly he wanted to stay) to make sure he went to bed on time.

Congratulations to everyone who took part because I know how daunting it can be performing kata in front of such a large audience. We both competed in the JKA National Kyu Grade Championship last year and we will both be competing again this November. It was good to see all aspects of karate performed to such a high standard while also giving us the opportunity to meet karateka from other clubs.