RSA Lambeth Open Karate
Renshinkai Southern Academy (RSA) hosted the 7th Lambeth Karate Open Tournament (LKOT) on Sunday 04th May 2008 at the Brixton Recreation Centre.
The dynamic duo of Fallon Rayman and Connor Chatfield headed off to compete.
Fallon was entered into four different categories and the day saw her compete on every mat and visit A&E!
Kata was first, Tatami 1. In a competition dominated by Shito Ryu and Shotokan Fallon knew medalling in kata was always going to be hard. To say it was a large group would be an understatement. There must have been between 40 and 50 competitors. The category was mixed, 10 – 15 yrs and 2nd kyu and over which explains the size of the round! Fallon could see that Rachel Newey and Jack Newey of Khalsa Karate were both in her category and with Rachel medalling at the EKF National Championships she pretty much figured out that if the judging went as expected then Rachel would win it by a mile and deservedly so. Therefore, Fallon chose to use the event as a platform to showcase her Wado Kata.
The kata was judged on points and the scores were high. Midway through the first round the group was split in half and it was decided to run the event on two areas and take the four highest scoring kata from each mat through to the final. Off to Tatami 2! She chose to perform Suparimpei and her scores totaling 21.9 were enough to leave her in the lead for a long time. However, Rachel was still to compete as were many others. The round finished with Fallon just nudged into 5th position on her mat by .3 of a point. Unfortunately, her score was not enough to take her into the final even though it was higher than the scores from two competitors from Mat 1 who did make it through. Hey Ho, it’s a toughie, higher scores but different judges so hard to really make a judgment. As expected the day belonged to Rachel who added another gold to her growing collection.
Kumite next, Tatami 3. This time is was Fallon who stormed her way to Gold looking every inch the Champion. Harry Cannon, Khalsa Karate, kindly coached her to victory and deserves much of the credit. Harry has competed for England on the EKF National Squad and gave Fallon many tips which she made full use of during her bouts. Fallon fought outstandingly in a very tough category, girls 10 – 15 yrs, open grade, under 40 kgs. Fallon weighs 28.4 kgs and is only a 1st kyu so she did exceptionally well.
Next was more kumite, Tatami 4. Girls, 10 – 15 yrs, open grade, under 45 kgs – could she do it again? Not quite but very nearly! She stormed into action, again with Harry in her corner, and did her best but it wasn’t quite enough. She ended the event in 4th position after taking some heavy blows. The girls were all taller, stronger and really meant business. In hindsight it was probably too much to ask of her but she gave it her all. To finish 4th in this event took real courage and determination. The referees were scoring the hard contact techniques and she came off the mat with a black eye and her arm hanging to one side. She refused point blank to have medical attention in case that prevented her from competing in her final category the pairs kata event.
Fallon has been practicing very hard with her grading partner, Connor Chatfield, and they both stood a really high chance of medalling and were very much looking forward to the event. Fallon soldiered on despite the pain but in the end the event was cancelled due to lack of time.
Fallon ended the day in A&E having her arm Xrayed luckily it was just badly bruised. It is good to see her back on top form and looking good for the Commonwealth Karate Championships in Scotland at the end of the month.
Connor was also entered into four events. The pairs kata was cancelled, which was unfortunate, but that still left three events for him to contend with.
His Kata event was first, Tatami 1. The category was mixed, 10 – 15 yrs and 2nd kyu and over which saw him pitted against Rachel, Jack and Fallon. He chose to perform Unsu, a Shotokan Kata, and his score of 21.8 was enough to make the final cut on Mat 1 and take him into the final. Connor performed Wanshu but as expected the other more experienced competitors pushed ahead and Connor was not in a medalling position when the event ended.
Connor now had a bit of juggling to do. His two kumite events were called simultaneously and he had to compete on Tatami 2 & 3 at the same time. Quite some feat!
Connor competed in both the Male 10 yrs to 15 yrs, any grade, under 45kgs and also the Male 10 yrs to 15 yrs, any grade, under 50 kgs
It must be noted that this is Connor’s first season on the competition circuit and he has only recently begun to compete in the kumite events and was yet to medal.
Connor has also only recently graded to 1st kyu and so the odds were really stacked against him.
Suprisingly it was the lower weight category that gave him the most trouble.
First round of the lower weight group saw Connor take a kick to the groin that knocked him for six but he battled back and somehow scrapped through into the next round. Buoyed by this victory he transferred tatami's to compete in the heavier weight category where he stormed his way to Bronze. His first kumite trophy and very well deserved. Just enough time to collect his trophy then back to compete in four more rounds of the lower weight group. Connor picked up a punch to the face and a kick to the head and yet he bravely battled his way through to take his second bronze of the day. It was great to see Connor finally begin to reap the rewards for his kumite as well as his kata.
The end of every competition sees Connor’s confidence grow and I am sure the elusive kumite gold cannot be very far away.
From my perspective it is great to be a part of watching these two kids grow in confidence and ability and never more so than now when karate looks like being back in the running for the London Olympics in 2012. Watch this space!