WKC 2019 Season
It has been another great year for both the coaches and kids at WKC karate. We really have seen a massive improvement in all our students and truly believe your investment in our club has helped us give more opportunities to our kids. We really cannot thank you all enough for believing in us and our kids.
In 2019 the Scottish Karate Federation decided the way forward was to have two Scotland teams. They have had an Elite Squad for many years now but they have identified that they need to begin developing the younger members so that they are gaining the experience needed to be part of the Elite squad.
There were 10 available spaces available for the whole of Scotland in the development squad. WKC Karate secured 7 of the 10 places. This is such a credit to the athletes and their parents.
WKC Karate now have:
4 in the Scottish Elite Squad
7 in the Scottish Development Squad
This does mean added financial pressure for the club and the parents but we will work hard with your support to continue to invest in our young athletes and their karate careers.
Scottish International Championships
We had 20 students taking part in the Scottish International Championship. This was an extremely well attended competition with over 1010 competitors spread over two days. The performance from everyone was fantastic especially our young members who are just beginning their international career. We returned home with 2 Gold, 2 Silver and 7 Bronze.
British Championships
Our WKC team travelled to Leicester to compete in the British four nation championships. Due to the cost of the trip we had a relatively small squad taking part, however they certainly did not disappoint.
We returned with 1 Silver and 2 Bronze medals. This was a fantastic result from our small team. The categories were massive with over 60 in them all. A lot of our team were put out for bronze place so they had performed brilliantly.
Demark
We had only 3 of our elite members competing in Denmark this year. This is an extremely high standard of competition with over 1500 entries. We used SST funding to help give the kids some money towards this trip. No medals were won from our team at this championship and again 2 of them just missing out in a bronze medal position.
Berlin
We haven’t been able to send our competitors to Belgium the last few years to funding constraints. This year we were able to use SST funding to help send the 4 elite team members. This is one of the biggest competitions in the event calendar with almost 2000 entries over 9 areas.
Our students were exceptional and performed outstanding, all Scotland coaches were extremely pleased with their performances.
Luxembourg International Open
WKC has a great senior team who are getting the opportunity to travel all over Europe and competing against the best in their sport and style. We also have to get the next generation ready for their chance to be selected into the Scotland team. We took 14 youngsters to Luxembourg to compete in the Luxembourg international championships. This is a great experience for the kids. They all travel as a team, check themselves in at the airport and go through security with the coaches standing by in case the need help but it’s up to them to do it all for themselves. This trips isn’t just about competing it’s about learning life skills.
The trip was fantastic and all the young team performed exceptionally well. Many of them just missing out on Bronze places even after winning 3 rounds.
We returned home with 7 medals
2 Gold, 1 Silver and 4 Bronze
Wado Kai European Cup
The Wado European Cup is the biggest event in our Style of karate. This year the Scottish Karate Federation took their development squad and a few of the elite squad members. The young kids done Scotland extremely proud.
We returned home with 1 European Wado Champion – Tom Laing and two European Wado Bronze medallists, Eddie McStay and Zsa Zsa Kerr Bennie.
Our two youngest members Reece Bonar and Noah Dalziel both missed out in Bronzes medals by 1 point. Reece went on to enter into another category (Kata) and again missed out in Bronze by 1 point again. What a great achievement for our two youngest.
Rebekah Bonar and Xavie Kerr-Bennie were put out the competition the round before the bronze medal matches so again both of them had performed very well.
The development squad done so well the Scottish Karate Federation are looking to take them to two international championships next year.
Local Competitions
I have only given the run down on some of our larger or international competition achievements. However we also have local competitions every week almost and all our students from the age of 4 get to compete in these competitions. They are all doing fantastic and have great role models to look up to.
Thank you for everything you do for our club you make all of the above possible for our kids and their parents.
– WKC Instructors & Students