Last Saturday approximately seventy karate competitors from North Down and Ards boroughs came together for the annual Fun Day at Carnalea Karate Club. 
Guest of honour this year was Mr Joe Willis who donates a prize annually.  The event prizes were supplied by ‘Trophies by Design’, Newtownards. 

Superstar of the day had to be Ryan Bennett from Donaghadee who was the only competitor to do the double; winning gold in both of his kata and kumite (sparring) events. His recent technical improvements were very evident in winning the the kata event, however he was pushed right to the end in the sparring final by the much improved Ryan Jackson.

As always the rest of the action was non stop and very exciting.  Notably the Junior Boys Sparring final between Dean Miller and Jamie Stewart could only be described as intense. The all action, high kicking, fast punching Veterans' final between Neil Bailie and Susan Conroy was one that caused many to hold their breath.
Newcomer Jack Cardy showed his determination winning the final of the Super Boys Sparring and Rhiannon Wells narrowly defeated her team-kata buddy Sarah Shields in the semi-final of the Junior Girls Sparring. Rhiannon had gone ahead early in the fight with a superb gykazuki, and had to work immensely hard to stop Sarah from levelling the match.

In the Senior Boys sparring, the same two met as in last year's final, Sam Stevenson and Alex Martin. This year however the tables were turned as Sam won out by a split decision.
The kata events were often close, the best ones being the Intermediate category with Sarah Brashaw coming out on top against Levi Kane and Alex Martin and the Senior Kata, were world silver medallist Glen Bailie proved he is still a fantastic talent, beat European Senior kata qualifier Sam Lewis and world finalist Neil Bailie.

The special awards from this year’s Fun Day were as follows:

Student of the Year, – Rhiannon Wells  
Hardest Trier, The Willis Cup – Tony French
Spirit Award, The James Griffin Memorial Shield – Dean Miller

Carnalea Karate Club is a supporter of ‘inclusive play’, ‘fairness’ and ‘playing the long game’. Coach David Brashaw explained,  “We had a fantastic day as always and would like to thank the parents for all of their support.
Our club is all about fun, mutual respect, fairness and developing confidence in young people. It was more than evident today that this is working very well for the children of this club.”
As ever the club in Carnalea Methodist Centre will run through most of the summer months.

Carnalea Karate Club is a supporter of ‘inclusive play’, ‘fairness’ and ‘playing the long game’. Coach David Brashaw explained, “When I was young this type of safe event environment was simply not available in Northern Ireland. Here at Carnalea we strive to provide every opportunity for children through modern coaching techniques. We are also happy to work with adults and families who wish to develop confidence through a sport, or the traditional side of karate if preferred.”