Venice trip 2022 K1 - Team RTK (L-R) Michelle Baron, Gary Pratley Sensei, Mike Baron Sensei, Izzy Baron, Grace Baron Sensei, Jaime Pratley Sensei, Rob Head Sensei and Paul Wolstencroft Sensei.

Last week the RTK team headed out to Venice, Italy for our first run out at a World Karate Federation event. The World Karate Federation (WKF) is the largest international governing of sport karate with 198 member countries. Formed in 1990, is the only legitimate karate organization recognised by the Olympic committee and has more than ten million members Worldwide. They run the highest level competitions at various cities across the world, where the very best competitors meet. We have always wanted to offer our members opportunities such as these and now we have the access and the talent willing to do it, it is so exciting!

We’ve enjoyed a successful year with our squad winning plenty of medals but as this was our first ever International event, we selected only 3 competitors to perform on the World stage. Grace Baron Sensei, Jaime Pratley and Izzy Baron. All of our coaches went along to support and of course the lovely Michelle. What an experience for them to compete on this stage, in such a beautiful city. I’m sure it is one they will never forget. All three are so young and still have plenty to learn. We were confident that they would do their very best to represent both club and country and they did not let us down!

Paul Wolstencroft Sensei has written a brief report about their performances:

“The trip started with Grace Sensei from the Standish Dojo competing on Wednesday and coming a respectable 4th place in the first round and narrowly missing progressing to the 2nd round. She was the first up her pool which is an unenviable position to be in, because there are so many students the judges have to watch after you’ve been. Also, you don’t really know what exactly the judges are looking for. Going in ‘blind’ Grace Sensei performed Kata Gojushiho-Dai and came 2nd in the table for technical performance. A great result. Grace was excellent at this level, very strong and her performance was solid. Most karateka could only dream of competing at this level and Grace has had a fantastic start and has plenty to build on. She should be proud of herself and did the Club proud. I have no doubt she will continue to work hard and improve following this experience. Well done Grace Sensei.

Next up on Friday was Jaime Pratley from the Darwen Dojo. We had a couple of days to prepare and see how the judges were scoring and what kind of Kata’s and performances were gaining the highest marks from the judges. At the last minute it was decided to change his Kata. Originally, he was to perform Kanku Sho however we decided to switch to Gojushio Sho. Jaime did brilliantly, he was sharp and strong but sadly did not make it through his pool. Clearly Jaime was among seasoned competitors who will have been competing at these Championships for many years. To share the mats with the likes of Francesco Valdesi (Luca Valdesi’s son) was a privilege for Jaime who has earned his right to be there. He did not look out of place but recognises there is plenty to work on to make his mark going forward. Well done Jaime, we are all proud of you. Little by little, you will get there. It’s fine margins at this level.

The last competitor up for our group was Izzy Baron from the Standish dojo. Izzy was the ice queen, nerves of steel and had the best game face of all our squad. One of the smallest competitors in her category and not fazed one bit. Izzy performed an excellent Gojushiho-Dai. Izzy was in a large group of 120 competitors over 8 tatamis and did not make it through her pool. Similar to Jaime and Grace, Izzy has plenty to work on but a hunger that will see her come back stronger. We are proud of her always and she is so brave for putting herself forward to do this at such a young age. We have no doubt, she will get better and better the more experience she gets.

Lots of food for thought and a massive step forward for our Group. We will continue to build on the excellent beginning we have made. As the head of Red Tiger I’m immensely proud of the three karate ka representing our Group and our coaches Mike Sensei and Gary Sensei for giving them the confidence to believe in themselves and the opportunity to be there. The courage it takes must be admired. Our group has access to some top level tuition through the membership to the English Karate Federation and we must continue to take full advantage of these opportunities going forward to work on the performance and strength side of Kata. We anticipate more participation in future WKF K1 Youth competitions in 2023 so watch this space. Hopefully next time, we can send some more Kata Squad members and some of our kumite fighters. The future is bright!

The rest of our trip was spent watching excellent display of kata and kumite and visiting the wonderful City of Venice. A few of our Tigers even had a trip on a gondola. It was lovely to meet up with old friends and meet new. Thank you to Rob Sensei who offered guidance and support throughout the trip. Michelle Baron was also a great support and it was wonderful that you could experience this as a family. Great memories made I am sure. This is the spirit of karate-do.

I’d like to thank all our members and family back home for the continued support and positive messages for our fab three. It is appreciated and really does help our competitors. Here’s to our next one.”

OSS Paul Wolstencroft Sensei