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What a wonderful 2003
Karate in North Down has never been greater thanks to Carnalea Wado Kai.
The students of Carnalea got the year off to a flying start in March at the North West Open where medals were picked up across the boards by Kevin Murdock, Sean Pol Murdock, Glen Willis, Peter Eves and Nico Espana.
In April, in Bangor Leisure Centre, Sam Lewis was awarded a very well deserved first dan black belt from Prof. Tatsuo Suzuki. This was closely followed by more success at the North East of Ireland Open where Michael Wallace lifted an individual bronze and a silver in the International team event. At the same event David Brashaw picked up the senior kata gold.
On 10 May the Annual Basho was once again hotly contested by over 80 competitors. Student of the year was awarded to Kealin Murdock in recognition of her European silver medal and a special shield to recognise 'spirit' was presented to Peter Eves by James Griffin.
June was the month when instructor, David Brashaw became the first person from Great Britain and Ireland to be crowned WKC World Champion. This achievement has since been recognised by both the mayors of North Down and the Ards Borough. The club would like to say a big thank you for this recognition.
On 1 July the club broke away from WIKF and became members of the Ulster Karate Council. This new direction was taken so club members would have opportunities to represent Northern Ireland on the world stage, appear on television, qualify as referees and coaches and really take all areas of their karate to higher levels. Since then, both Kevin Murdock and Michael Wallace have fought international matches for Northern Ireland, Kevin Lewis and David Brashaw have completed their Coaching NI Award in Coaching Studies, David has appeared on BBC, UTV, and Eurosport and Sam Lewis has received an award for being a top Northern Ireland karate coach.
The September grading saw Michael Wallace and John Brown being awarded their first kyu black belt and Christopher Lindsay becoming the youngest ever club student to earn a brown belt.
In the Ulster Championships in October, the club came away with eleven medals. The pick of these went being new Ulster champions, Victoria Lindsay and Kurtis Kane. Students from the club also enjoyed a super course with top traditional Shotokan instructor, Kawasoe Sensei at North Down College.
The club hosted its first Open Day in November where many of the students friends and families enjoyed watching and learning about the children's progress. The club also hosted the Northern Ireland World Junior Squad selection event at Ards Leisure Centre and were over the moon when Kevin and Kealin Murdock were awarded students of the day by Jeff Hillis (NI squad coach).
December kicked off with David being honoured in the UTV Studios by Coaching NI and was rounded off as always, with a Christmas Party for the juniors.
All in all it has been another unbelievable year for the club.
Classes have just commenced again for this year and already pencilled for February are the North West Open for children and the Belfast International. The second event is already expecting attendance from current World Champions; Italy, also Germany, Wales, Republic of Ireland, Scotland and England.
The coaches at Carnalea woud like to wish all the students and their families a very happy New Year.
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