2021 - Year in Review
As we arrive at the end of another trying year, it’s a great time to reflect on what has been achieved as our Club continues to go from strength to strength. 2021 has been much kinder to us than 2020. The first four months of the year were spent trying to help students progress over ZOOM. We stuck together and came out of lockdown with a great core of students who have remained so dedicated to both their training and our Club. Without your support we would have no Club, so thank you all for getting us through the worst period in our history.
Since our return to the dojo we have seen many of our dojo’s flourish, taking plenty of new beginners and welcoming back old faces.
Our Instructors are back together training, sharing ideas and motivating each other. We have welcomed new Instructors including Mark Ellicott Sensei, Grace Baron Sensei, Charlotte Jackson Sensei and Sam Jackson Sensei. We’ve said goodbye to some fantastic Sensei’s who have moved on to experience new challenges. We wish them luck and hope that they visit us!
We have hosted a handful of thoroughly enjoyable Kumite events with Joe Kellaway Sensei.
Black Belt Gradings have taken place with many students reaching the ultimate goal and beyond under extraordinary circumstances.
Our Squad classes have returned in a new format, which is working brilliantly as the students get to focus on what they enjoy the most. Elite Squad members successfully returned to action, attending a competition back in September.
We continue to make inroads with the English Karate Federation. Our Club is home to the EKF Northern Region Head Kata Coach (Paul Wolstencroft Sensei).
We have three newly qualified EKF accredited coaches (Mike Baron Sensei, Gary Pratley Sensei and Grace Baron Sensei).
We have one Senior EKF National Kata Squad member (Grace Baron Sensei), one Junior EKF National Kata Squad member (Jaime Pratley) and one Junior Regional Kumite Squad member (Lola Fellone).
Karate made its debut in the Olympics in the Summer resulting in far greater interest in karate globally and in the superstars who were created during the finals.
The WKF World Championships just took place in November. Shotokan Kata made a resurgence at this event. Both the Male Team Kata Gold Medallists and the Female Team Kata Gold Medallists performed the Shotokan Kata Unsu in the finals. The male team from Japan included Koji Arimoto Sensei, who has taught many times at our Club. He is now a two-time World Champion.
We have continued to offer in-class competitions and progression. Paul Sensei, Mike Sensei, Leesa Sensei and I have had the pleasure of visiting dojos and assessing students for their first or next grade. We have so many outstanding students and have been able to offer individual feedback to help raise the standard across the board.
Mark Jepson Sempai has developed a much improved new website, online shop and beginners booking system. Rob Head Sensei is the new boss of our social media and has been adding some great content to our Instagram page. (Check it out if you haven’t already).
Lastly, we finished the year on a high hosting first post lockdown large event - the Student of the Year awards 2021. Everybody pulled together to make sure this event went ahead in a safe manner. Parents and students were fully co-operative with all the extra safety precautions. Thank you all. Our Instructors helped us so much throughout, we are so lucky to have such a brilliant team who work hard and train hard. Well done to who all who took part. We hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did. It was a pleasure to host you.
Special mentions go to Leesa Beckwith Sensei for all her hard work and guidance. Mike Beckwith Sensei, Debbie Carter Sensei, Callum Miles Sensei, Rob Head Sensei and Paul Wolstencroft Sensei for teaching enjoyable sections. Grace Baron Sensei, Jaime Pratley and Molly Austin-Hogsden for helping out on the day and inspiring all our juniors.
We must also mention our outgoing student of the year winners - Lola Fellone, Kyle Girault, Gina Farrance and Lola Girault who remain exceptional role models to all of us. Your demonstrations were outstanding. To perform like you did in front of 150+ people takes an enormous amount of courage. We our so proud of all four of you.
Congratulations to Aaron Jefferson (Cadet Leader from the Haslingden Dojo) for being awarded the Student of the Year 2021. So well deserved for this talented young man who has been a pleasure to teach from the day he started. What a superstar. A full write up, results and Paul Towlers photos will be shared over the next few days so keep an eye out for that.
It is a return to winning ways for a Club that will always find a recipe to keep our students engaged, working hard and getting better. You simply cannot keep a great club down. We have too many determined people including our Instructors, assistants, cadets, students and parents who continue to make it a success.
Thank you to everyone who has played their part this year. We look forward to a happy and healthy 2022 for all!