British Wadokai News 2007

British Wadokai Southwest medals

British Wadokai Southwest gain medals with all representatives. Four competitors from Plymouth's Kyokai Karate Club (Pomphlett, Plymouth, Devon) arrived at Horsham in Sussex to compete in the National Kata Championships, and all four competitors came back with achievements:

Zoë Swift Gold (Adult Female Kata),
Shannan Rayman Gold (Junior Advanced Kata),
Ryan Maffey (Junior Advanced Kata) Silver (Individual Kata) & Bronze (Team Kata),
Justin Swift Silver (Junior Kata).

Well done to you all!

2 Silvers for Fallon Rayman at the Wadokai European Championships in Sweden

Fallon Rayman represented England in Gothenburg Sweden on 3rd November at the Federation of European Wadokai European Championships.

She took the silver medals in both the Kata and Kumite sections. This was an amazing achievement considering that this was an international, open grade competition and Fallon has only just graded to 3rd Kyu!

Not only that but she was one of only two people to medal in both disciplines, the other being Alex Sell, so that is a remarkable achievement in itself.

Fallon has received superb Kata coaching from Gary E Swift, 7th Dan Kyoshi throughout this past year. Sensei Swift has been travelling to Surrey from Plymouth to instruct her. She has also been helped by Sensei Paul Elliott, 6th Dan. The outstanding tuition Fallon has received from British Wadokai has seen her mature and move up to the next league.

Fallon has been coached and instructed in her Kumite by Alex Sell, (2007 Federation of European Wadokai European Kumite Champion and Kata Bronze Medallist) and her brother Shannan (Seni07 Kumite Champion). Alex and Shannan are both instructed in Kumite by Ticky Donovan OBE and are looking to be selected next year on to the National Squad. Their tuition has been invaluable and they make great sparring buddies!

Fallon has an outstanding team around her now and is looking good for the Wadokai World Championships in Vancouver, Canada next year.

View the video here.

The full Sweden Squad

New Video Section

We have added a new video section which over time will grow with recordings of competitions and other interesting media!

Kata competition medals for BWK Squad

Members of the British Wadokai Squad gained prestigious medals in the Sakagami Wado Kata Competition on October 14th 2007 - click here to read the full report.

Revised licence fees from 1st November 2007

Dear British Wadokai Member,

Due to increases in Affiliation Costs, Membership, & Insurances, etc., British Wadokai are forced to increase the Licence Charge to £25.00 per annum.

Please find the 'new' British Wadokai Licence Application Form, which must be used as from the 1st November 2007, in the Documentation section.

Thank you for your support.

Best regards & wishes,

Gary Swift 7th Dan Kyoshi

Outstanding Display of Kata medals at the All England Open Karate Championships

Connor Chatfield of British Wadokai travelled to Rivermead Leisure Centre in Reading on the 21st July to compete in the 6th All England Open Karate Championships hosted by Wadokai England.

Connor has only recently joined the British Wadokai Squad but more than proved his worth at this event by bringing home not one but two trophies for BWK.

He was very unlucky only to receive the Bronze in his individual Kata event as his Pinan Yodan far outclassed the majority of the competition. Unfortunately, the luck of the draw was not in Connor’s favour today. However, he more than made up for that in his Open Individual Event producing some outstanding Kata that left the rest of the field standing which saw him take Gold. He is a real force to be reckoned with. With JKF-Wadokai England looking to recruit new members for their own squad I would not be surprised if they select him in the not to distant future.

British Wadokai Team Kata Success

Oren Teichmann of British Wadokai travelled to Rivermead Leisure Centre in Reading on the 21st July to compete in the 6th All England Open Karate Championships hosted by Wadokai England.

He was part of a three man Kata Team representing BWK in the individual and open team kata events. The team looked tight and perfectly in syncronisation as they battled their way through the rounds against tough opposition. Oren was delighted to take a very well deserved silver in the individual event and also a Bronze in the Open Category at the end of the day.

Medals for British Wadokai Squad at the All England Open Karate Championships

22nd July 07

British Wadokai Squad members Connor Chatfield, Fallon Rayman and Shannan Rayman represented BWK at the 6th All England Open Karate Championships on the 22nd July in the Kumite events.

Connor was unfortunate not to medal today after some outstanding Karate displayed during the repecharge and a last minute gyak discounted on the final whistle.

Fallon was very happy to bring home silver for BWK in the Individual Kumite Event and narrowly missed the Gold for the second week in succession.

Shannan happily settled for Bronze in his individual Kumite Event with the second and first places being taken by the WIKF World and European Champion and the WKF Champion. Both are Dan grades and Shannan only graded to 6th Kyu last month so this was quite an achievement as the standard in this event was extremely high.

Medals for British Wadokai Squad at the All England Open Karate Championships

21st July 2007

The British Wadokai Squad travelled to Rivermead Leisure Centre in Reading on the 21st July to compete in the 6th All England Open Karate Championships hosted by Wadokai England.

The Kata Squad have been practicing very hard for this event and were all looking forward to competing. The standard across the board was extremely high in all categories. Unfortunately, the draw in some categories forced the Squad to compete directly against their own team mates which meant that they knocked out their own club on route to the medals. However, the Squad still did extremely well with British Wadokai taking a Gold, Silver and a fourth place in one category alone. Below are the results

Connor Chatfield

Bronze (Individual Wado Kata Event)
Gold (Open Individual Kata Event)

Fallon Rayman

Bronze (Individual Shotokan Event)

Shannan Rayman

Silver (Open Individual Kata Event)

Oren Teichmann

Silver (Wado Team Kata Event)
Bronze (Open Team Kata Event)

All members of the Kata Squad would like to express their thanks to Sensei Swift and Sensei Elliott for all their support and instruction over the past few weeks.

Silver for British Wadokai

Fallon Rayman represented British Wadokai and competed in Birmingham on 15th July at the 11th Central England Karate Championships.

The championships were hosted by the Central England Wado-ryu Karate Academy (CEWKA) and were extremely well attended. The standard was exceptionally high. Competitors such as Jason Ledgister and his son Hussain took the competition to another level. Jason is the current 10K Clash Karate Champion and this gives you some idea as to the stiff competition at all levels.

Fallon's Kumite category was unusually large yet she battled her way into the final easily and was unlucky to lose 7 - 8 on the final whistle. She was happy to take away the silver for British Wadokai which was presented to her by Stennett Harvey 4th Dan who instructs her at Wadokai England. He was very happy with her performance and is looking forward to seeing her on the next Wadokai England Squad Training Session which is on August 5th.

Ticky Donovan’s Annual All Styles Open Summer Course

23rd June 2007 – 30th June 2007

British Wadokai members Fallon and Shannan Rayman travelled to St. Osyth, Clacton-on-Sea to attend Ticky Donovan’s Annual All Styles Open Summer Course.

The week began at Seawick Holiday Village on 23rd June and the final bow was taken at 5:30 pm on 29 th June. The week consisted of basic Kata, Combinations, Fighting Techniques and Special Competition Techniques.

Well over 300 Karate-ka attended this course which is now in its 32 nd year. They came from all around the world and produced some of the most amazing karate that I have ever encountered.

Training began each day at 7 am and progressed well into early evening. The aroma of ‘deep heat’ spray grew stronger every day, as did the spirit of all enduring the training sessions. Everyone involved gave a full 100% and enjoyed every second of it.

On the Tuesday of the week everyone took part in a fun run which must have been well over 5km. Of the 300 plus people that attended Shannan came 4 th out of the Junior Boys (12 th overall) and received a trophy from Sensei Donovan and Fallon just missed medalling coming in 5 th out of the Junior Girls (19 th overall).

On the Thursday Shannan took part in the Kumite event and fought extremely well. He easily won through to the final and a well-timed sweep made him the 2007 Ticky Donovan Annual All Styles Open Summer Course Kumite Champion. The weather wasn’t great but it was a fantastic week.

Imperial National Open Wado Championships

British Wadokai member Shannan Rayman was picked to represent Wadokai England at selections and travelled to compete for them at the Southwest Open Karate Championships.

He was entered into both the Individual and Team Kumite events.

He came unstuck in the first round of the Individual event losing 1 – 0 in Enchosen to a much more experienced opponent who went on to take the Silver medal.

Shannan recovered well to take a Team Gold for Wadokai England winning all his fights for his team. Shannan won through with some very well timed and executed ‘gyaks’ and by fast and effective movement.

Both categories were Open Grade events and this meant Shannan was often fighting against Yudansha. He did extremely well considering that he had only been awarded his 6th Kyu the previous day!

Special Announcement - Yanagawa Sensei

With the support of Wadokai England, Yanagawa Sensei will be visiting the U.K. in November 07 to perform and teach on a number of seminars. The courses will not be of the usual Wado type as they will go beyond style and will focus on giving the individual an insight into his budo karate. This course will be open to all styles and grades over the age of 16 years and the details will be published in Traditional Karate when they become available. Read full details here . . .

Congratulations to Gordon Hoare 5th Dan for his recent award of Renshi.

In light of Gordon's continual dedication & loyalty to the British Wadokai Karate-do Federation, it has been decided to recognise this fine achievement with his recent Shogo award. Last December saw Gordon achieve Silver Award for Service to the British Wadokai Karate-do Federation by the Chief Instructor of BWK, Gary E Swift (7th Dan) Kyoshi, on the 1st December 2006.

Well Done, Gordon-San, a fine achievement..

BWK Karate-ka Shannan Rayman selected for JFK-Wadokai England

14 year old BWK Karate-ka Shannan Rayman has been awarded a place on the JKF-Wadokai England Squad following a successful series of sessions at squad selection days in Birmingham. Shannan says ' I was really proud to be given the place and equally as proud to sew the badge onto my Gi'. Shannan is also a member of the BWK Kata and Kumite squads. We wish him continued success in future events.

BWK Karate-ka Shannan Rayman achieves Gold & a Silver at SENI 07

Shannan Rayman from British Wadokai travelled to London on 20th May to compete in the annual prestigious Martial Arts Event the SENI 07. The standard of competitors was exceptionally high. Karate-ka came to compete from as far afield as Malta and even New Zealand. Shannan has not been practicing Karate for very long but has trained very hard for this event. He currently trains with Sensei Ticky Donovan on his Open 'All Styles' Squad twice a month and also with the BWK Squad. He wasn't expecting to do well due to the exceptional standard of the competition but took silver with a beautifully presented Pinan Godan and Gold in his Kumite to become the 2007 SENI07 Kumite Champion for his height and grade.