At the KUGB Special Dan Course held on 3rd October in Egham, Daryn Hobden was promoted to 3rd Dan by the grading panel consisting of Sensei Andy Sherry 8th Dan and Sensei Bob Poynton 7th Dan.  This was an excellent result for Daryn and is testament to his hard work over a number of years.  As well as his Karate ability, Daryn is also a talented web designer and was in fact the person who built this very LKA website! 

Cancun, Mexico, was host to the 10th WSKA World Championships held over the weekend of 26th and 27th September 2009.  The event is held every two years with the last one having been held in Bydgoszcz, Poland. 

Three LKA members were part of the KUGB England Team that made the journey to Mexico to compete.  Ashley Scott, David Wright and Ryan Tucker all have experience of this level of competition having competed at a number of European and World Championships over the last few years. 

David Wright came home with two medals, both gained in Team events.  He was part of the Junior Team Kata that gained a Silver medal position and also the Junior Team Kumite that took Bronze.  David also narrowly missed a medal in the Junior Male Kata where he took 5th place.  An excellent showing by a talented all-round Karate-ka. 

Ryan Tucker was also part of the Junior Team that took Bronze medal.  Ryan added to this with an individual Bronze in the Junior Kumite event, a position he also achieved in the Cadet division two years ago in Bydgoszcz.  Ryan was also asked to be reserve for the Senior Team that took Gold medal position in the Team Kumite event.  Quite an achievement for a 19 Year old!

Here are a selection of pictures from the new Dojo, which will open with the Sensei Sherry Course on Wednesday 2nd September. 

The LKA had probably our best ever showing at the 34th Shotokan Cup in Chesterfield.  We took four Gold medals, six Silver and three Bronze.

Leading the way this time round was Zoe Starr who narrowly missed out on being the Grand Champion in the Junior Female categories where she won the Kata and came second in Kumite.   This was the third event on the trot that Zoe has placed second in Junior Female Kumite, an excellent showing of consistency.  Maybe she can go one better at the Northern Regions next month in Leeds.

The new LKA, full-time Hombu Dojo opened on Wednesday 2nd September 2009 with a course held by KUGB Chief Instructor Andy Sherry 8th Dan.  The course had been sold out a couple of weeks in advance and the atmosphere was electric with 59 LKA karate-ka in attendance.

32 LKA competitors took part in the KUGB's National Youth Championships at Chesterfield.  On a hot summers day, the stuffy hall was quite a challenge for competitors, referees and spectators alike.  With two of our best Junior competitors absent, Ryan Tucker through injury and Mel Finlay being in Kenya doing her Charity work, it was left to the others to fly the LKA flag.  We were very happy with the way they stepped up to the required standard.

On Thursday 18th June 2009, the LKA played host to Sensei Yutaka Koike 5th Dan JKS.  This was the second time Sensei has visited us and the course was sold out weeks in advance with 50 students in attendance.

The LKA had a very successful day at the 43rd KUGB National Championships held at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.  With a Squad of 30 competing, we took 11 different medal positions.  James Brown looked very confident in winning the Boys 5' -5'5'' Kumite event and is showing great promise.  There was also an all-LKA final in the Male Junior Kumite 18-20 Years event, where Ryan Tucker outpunched David Wright to add yet another title to his impressive collection.  A superb effort by both young men.

A party of 13 LKA Karateka led by Sensei's Heald and Price have just returned from Tokyo after a 2 week trip to Japan where they were able to train with some of the World's leading instructors.  A trip to Japan is, for most, a once in a lifetime event so we tried very hard to get the balance right between training and sightseeing. 

At the KUGB Special Dan Course held at Chesterfield on Saturday 18th April, the LKA gained two new Sandans.  Juliet Finlay and Ashley Scott both performed excellently and were graded to 3rd Dan by the panel consisting of KUGB Chief Instructor Andy Sherry 8th Dan and Sensei Bob Poynton 7th Dan.  All at the LKA would like to congratulate both on this excellent achievement and we hope they inspire others to break the comfort barrier and seek to improve further.

The LKA was host to a 2 hour special course with former WKF Lightweight Champion Paul Newby at the Boston Spa Dojo.  Paul put the 46 strong class though various drills to develop footwork, lightness of movement and the ability to hit without telegraphing an attack to the opponent. 

The LKA had a small group of students compete at the all styles BUSA Championships at Sheffield over the middle weekend of March.  It was a very successful weekend with all 3 entrants gaining medals.  As the event was held under WKF rules, which unfortunately we very rarely get the chance to compete under, this made their achievements very impressive. 

Natasha Balyckyi was the most succussful bringing home a Gold medal for her efforts in the Female Under 67KG category.  Nick Smith took a Silver in the Male Kata and David Wright took Bronze in the Male Under 67KG event.

Well done to all 3 for their excellent results.

On Sunday 15th March 2009, Sensei's Heald and Price travelled to Nottingham to train on a course hosted by the JKS.  Instruction was given by Sensei Masao Kagawa 8th Dan, former World Champion and present Coach to the JKF Team in Japan.  This is the All-Styles team that competes in WKF tournaments. 

The LKA took a sizeable Squad along to compete at the 40th North West Open held at the Howe Bridge Sports Centre in Atherton on the 14th March.  The entry for the event seemed much larger this year and the atmosphere was very good, enhanced by the crowd being so close to the competition area, something sadly lacking in most events these days.  It is hugely impressive that this event has run for 40 years and we would like to extend our congratulations to Sensei Higgins on this.

All 15 LKA Squad members took part in the KUGB Grand Slam at Chesterfield.  There was a higher than usual entry with teams from both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in addition to the usual England, Scotland and Wales.

We are very pleased to announce that three LKA members have been selected to represent the KUGB England Team at the forthcoming WSKA World Championships to be held in Cancun, Mexico in September.

We are pleased to announce that the LKA has secured a sponsorship deal with the National Blood Authority.  Creating a link with such a reputable national brand is clearly something that we can all be proud of and is in recognition of the LKA's image as one of the leading Karate Clubs in the country.

The LKA had a sensational weekend at the KUGB National Squad Selections held at the Liverpool Red Triangle club over the weekend of Sat 31st Jan and Sunday 1st Feb.  In total we had 15 competitors selected for the KUGB Squad, an unprecedented number and is a result that all at the LKA can be proud of.  It has often been our dream to be the Premier Club in the KUGB and with 15 Squad members, the clear level of talent in depth shows we are taking things in the right direction.

We would like to thank all those selected for their efforts and hope that 2009 brings further success both domestically and internationally.  Those selected were:

Senior Squad:  Natasha Balyckyi, Ashley Scott and Joe Hart

Junior Squad:  David Wright, Zoe Starr, Nick Smith, Jordon Probst, Ryan Tucker, Mel Finlay, Andrew Lister, Tom Little, Stephen Brown, Emma Nunn, Josie Fishkin and Andrew Cryer.

On Saturday 17th January 2009, 35 LKA Karateka completed a mammoth 12 hour training session to raise money for Mel Finlay and Joe Hart's Charity Work trip to Kenya this coming summer.

The first LKA Christmas Part and Awards Evening was held at Harrogate High School on Saturday 14th December. There was over 100 people in attendance with three very special guests in the form of WKF World Karate Champions Rory Daniels and Paul Newby together with World Cycling Champion Anthony Gill.

The World Champion's Cyclists Jersey and an England Karate Team T-Shirt were auctioned off having been kindly donated by the Guests. Dave Bulmer won both, together with a private lesson with Paul Newby at his Olympik Dream Gym. Dave caused much ammusement to everyone by continuing to bid against himself after all other bidders had withdrawn!

Nine awards were made in total with notably Ryan Tucker taking the 'Player's Player' award and Nick Midgley receiving the 'Lifetime Achievement' award in recognition of his 30 years training.

There was also the unveiling of the new LKA promotional DVD which went down very well with the crowd. The whole evening went very well and made a profit of £750 which will be used towards the Japan trip in April of 2009.

The annual European Shotokan Karate Association Championships were held in Crawley over the weekend of 22nd amp; 23rd November 2008. The LKA had 6 members competing for the KUGB England Team, two of whom were making International Debuts.

The LKA had an excellent day at the JKS Open held in Nottingham on 8th November. We took only our adults Squad along with 2 children. Our entry was based around practicing for Kumite with only one of our competitors entering Kata. It was a very successful day with us winning all but two of the events we entered.

The LKA was proud to host one of the pioneers of British Karate, Sensei Andy Sherry 8th Dan, for a special 2 hour training course on the evening of Thursday 23rd October.

Sensei Sherry was the first Black Belt in the UK and has been training for 50 years! Even at the age of 65, his flexibility, speed and power are inspirational. This is all due to his rigorous regular training regime, which he sticks to even to this day.

The 40 strong class of predominantly brown and black belts were taken through some basic punching drills followed by many different Kumite drills, including multiple elbow counters to different attacks.

The session finished with Kata for the last half hour with the class being split into groups dependent on grade with each group practicing a different Kata under Sensei's tuition.

We would like to thank Sensei Sherry for his input and we look forward to hosting such a session again in the future.

On home ground in Leeds, the LKA had an excellent day at the Northern Regional Championships. Our Ladies led the way with 3 of the 4 finalists in the Female Kumite event. Ashley Scott beat team-mate Mel Finlay in the Semi Final before beating England team-mate Caroline McGrath from Ronin in the final.

The Shotokan Cup once again proved to be a very high quality event with KUGB Squad members trying to impress before European Championships selections are made.

Jordon Probst once again showed his all round ability taking medals in both the Boys Kata and Kumite events. The Boys Kumite Under 5' event proved to be our most successful with 3 of the final 4 positions. Well done to all that took part and we hope for an even better showing in 3 weeks time at the Northern Regional Championships on home ground in Leeds.

Our full list of medal winners was:

Junior Male Kata	2nd	David Wright
Boys Kata	2nd	Jordon Probst
Boys Kumite Under 5'	2nd	Henry Deane
Junior Male Kata	3rd	Ryan Tucker
Boys Kumite Over 5'5''	3rd	Stephen Brown
Boys Kumite 5'-5'5''	3rd	Jordon Probst
Girls Kumite Over 5'3''	3rd	Josie Fishkin
Boys Kumite Under 5'	3rd	Hayden Steele
Boys Kumite Under 5'	3rd	James Brown

The full list of our 27 competitors was:

David Wright, Zoe Starr, Jordon Probst, Ryan Tucker, Mel Finlay, Ashley Sott, Daryn Hobden, Joe Hart, Tom Little, James Hill, Stephen Brown, James Brown, Holly Dickinson, Emma Nunn, Mark Hardy, Josie Fishkin, Oliver Deane, Dan Martin, Henry Deane, Ronan Cain, Woody Nunn, Abi Chapman, Hayden Steele, Andrew Cryer, Tom Mitchell, Stuart Batt amp; Jonathan Hill.

The LKA held it's Fundaising Races night on Saturday 13th September at New Park Primary School in Harrogate. The evening was a superb success and a fantastic night was enjoyed by all.

We would like to say a big thank you to all the following who put so much effort into organising the event and making sure it ran smoothly on the evening. Claire Lister, Rachel Martin, Ashley Scott, Andrea Bowden, Jayne Brown, Deborah Pearce, Matt St John, Matt Martin amp; Aidy Sharples.

We would also like to thank all our friends from Low Fell Karate Club who made the journey down from Newcastle to support us.

In total we raised just over £2,200 to go towards the cost of the flights to Japan next year.

We had a number of competitors competing for the KUGB England Squad at the Grand Slam event in Chesterfield. KUGB Squad members from England, Scotland, Wales amp; Ireland were competing in both individual and team events.

Ashley Scott, Joe Hart and David Wright had the most success with individual placings. Ashley took 3rd place in Female Kumite and 4th place in Female Kata, David Wright took 3rd place in Male Kata and 3rd place in the Junior Male Kumite 18-20yrs, a fine all round showing from both these competitors. Joe Hart had his best showing yet taking 3rd place in Male Kumite, beating England International competitors Liam O'Grady and JJ Bruce on the way. A fine showing which hopefully Joe can carry forward to the remaining events of the year.

Ryan Tucker and Mel Finlay both fought in respective Team Kumite events for their age, winning the events in each case.

Our full list of 9 competitors was:

David Wright, Zoe Starr, Jordon Probst, Ryan Tucker, Mel Finlay, Ashley Scott, Joe Hart, Tom Little amp; Emma Nunn.

The LKA is pleased to announce that it is in the process of organising a club trip to Tokyo in April 2009 to train at the Hombu Dojo of the JKS. We would like to thank Sensei Scott Langley for his help in making this trip possible.

The LKA had a very succussful day at the KUGB National youth Championships held at Chesterfield. A total of 4 Gold medals were taken, along with 3 silver and 2 Bronze.

A group of 22 LKA Karateka have just returned from a weekend course held in Dublin. The 3 day course was taught by Sensei Nick Heald 6th Dan KUGB, Sensei Matt Price 5th Dan KUGB and Sensei Scott Langley 5th Dan JKS.

The LKA had another day packed with success at the KUGB's number one event of the year, held once again at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

Ryan Tucker was the star of the day, taking 2 Gold and 1 Bronze medal and then being awarded the trophy for Best Overall Junior Competitor.

Matt Price again took part in the Seni Fighting Arts Exhibition held at the Excel Arena, London. Seni is the world’s largest Martial Arts expo attracting the finest Martial Artists from around the world. Over 25,000 visitors came to the exhibition, which attracted such dignitaries as the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Wladimir Klitschko and the UFC World Heaveyweight Champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira.

At the KUGB Special Dan Course held at Chesterfield on Saturday 19th April the LKA had two new Dan Grade promotions. A panel consisting of Sensei Andy Sherry 8th Dan and Sensei Bob Poynton 7th Dan graded Richard Zealand to 3rd Dan and Nick Heald to 6th Dan.

The LKA Kids competition was held at the Boston Spa Dojo on Sunday 13th April, with 33 entrants competing in both Kata and Kumite events. The event was used to help select the LKA Team for the upcoming KUGB National Championships to be held in Birmingham in May.

There were a number of good performances but the man of the moment was Andrew Lister who was crowned Best Overall Competitor taking 1st place in Kata and 2nd place in Boys Kumite 13-15 years. Well done Andrew, an excellent performance!

All 10 of the LKA's KUGB England Squad members took part in the Grand Slam event held in Chesterfield on 23rd February. There were some outstanding performances with both Ashley Scott and Ryan Tucker winning their respective Kumite events. Ashley punched her way to the Senior Female Kumite title, beating along the way Zoe Campbell, the former WSKA World Champion. Ryan won the Junior Kumite 18-20yrs event, his first time in this category, having only turned 18 towards the end of 2007.

David Wright and Natasha Balyckyi both showed their all round ability by placing in both Kata and Kumite events. Emma Nunn took a creditable 2nd place in the Junior Female Kumite event behind experienced International Holly Sterling.

The LKA had an excellent weekend at the KUGB National Squad Selections which were held at the Red Triangle Dojo in Liverpool over the weekend of 26th amp; 27th January 2008. All of the competitors that we sent there were selected and we hope that during 2008 they will do both themselves and the LKA proud. So, many congratulations to the following people:

Senior squad; Ashley Scott

Junior squad: David Wright, Zoe Starr, Natasha Balyckyi, Ryan Tucker, Melissa Finlay, Joe Hart, Tom Little amp; Emma Nunn.

3 Leeds Karate Academy members took part in the 2008 BUSA Championships held in Sheffield over the weekend of 15th amp; 16th March 2008. David Wright was representing Leeds University and took 3rd place in the Mens Under 65k Kumite event.

The LKA had an excellent contingent of 5 competitors represent the KUGB England Team at the ESKA Eurpoean Championships held in Porto, Portugal during the last weekend in November.

On home soil in Leeds, the LKA had a record number of competitors entered in this years KUGB Northern Regional Championships. 61 competitors took part, with many excellent performances. We took 4 Gold medals, 7 Silver and 7 Bronze, marking a bit improvement on the Shotokan Cup in September.

Ryan Tucker was up to his usual standard, taking the Junior Kumite 16 amp; 17 years title in fine style with a full Ippon victory in the final. He also beat LKA team-mate Tom Little in a close fought semi-final. Ryan also took 2nd place in the Senior Male Kata event.

Jordon Probst produced a fine performance of Kanku Sho to take the Childrens Kata title. Winning their first medals for the LKA were both Stuart Batt and Ethan Parsons. Stuart performed very well to take the 10 amp; 11 Years Kumite title whilst Ethan beat team-mate Ronan Cain to take the Ippon Kumite title.

Ashley Scott was the most prolific medal winner of the day winning 4 in total. She took Silver medal position in both the Female Kata and Kumite events and also Silver medal in Female Team Kumite and Bronze in Adult Team Kata. A very tiring but impressive days work.

Well done to all the LKA competitors but particularly the following medalists.

Junior Kumite 16 amp; 17 Years	1st	Ryan Tucker
Childrens Kata	1st	Jordon Probst
Boys Kumite 10 amp; 11 Years	1st	Stuart Batt
Ippon Kumite	1st	Ethan Parsons
Female Team Kumite	2nd	Natasha Balyckyi, Ashley Scott, Mel Finlay amp; Emma Nunn
Female Kumite	2nd	Ashley Scott
Female Kata	2nd	Ashley Scott
Male Kata	2nd	Ryan Tucker
Boys Kumite 5'-5'5''	2nd	Joe Finlay
Boys Kumite Under 5'	2nd	Woody Nunn
Ippon Kumite	2nd	Ronan Cain
Adult Team Kata	3rd	Zoe Starr, Natasha Balyckyi amp; Ashley Scott
Junior Kumite 16 amp; 17 Years	3rd	Tom Little
Boys Kumite 5'-5'5''	3rd	Luke Withington
Boys Kumite Under 5'	3rd	Jed Dickinson
Boys Kumite 10 amp; 11 Years	3rd	Hayden Steele
Ippon Kumite	3rd	Oliver Deane
Childrens Kata 9th-4th Kyu	3rd	Frazer Chan

The fill list of competitors was:

Richard Zealand, Zoe Starr, Natasha Balyckyi, Jordon Probst, Raja Rathore, Ryan Tucker, Mel Finlay, Ashley Scott, Daryn Hobden, Joe Finlay, Andrew Lister, Elliott Parsons, Joe Hart, Tom Little, Toby Pedley, James Hill, Alex Farrell, Stephen Brown, Luke Withington, James Brown, Steve Cuddy, Steve Outhwaite, Danny Lumb, Holly Dickinson, Emma Nunn, Helen Searle, Nathan McQueen, Harry Cuddy, Josie Fishkin, Andrew Cryer, Stephen Bending, Pat Atkinson, Woody Nunn, Callum Mackintosh, Jade Nevin, Ben Outhwaite, Jed Dickinson, Ethan Parsons, Daniel Martin, Ronan Cain, Patrick Cryer, Henry Deane, Oliver Deane, Jack Firth, Lucy Nunn, Jack Bruce, Elliott Hollander, Hayden Steele, Stuart Batt, Michael McCartney, Taaj Sian, Chris Walters, Tom Mitchell, Frazer Chan, Robert Chan, Stephen Chan, Tyrell Walwyn, Jacob Reed, Rosie Smith, Joseph Kilvington amp; Ellie Hardman.

April 2007 was the first time that the LKA Squad has gone away for warm weather training ahead of the KUGB Nationals in May.

How do you measure a club's success? If the answer is in number of Dan Grade Promotions combined with competition success, then 2006 will be a difficult one for the LKA to better!

Many congratulations to Brian and Andrew Lister who both passed 2nd dan gradings at Queensferry on 28th May 2007. Also to Nathan McQueen who passed 1st Dan at the same event.

The LKA had a small team of 6 competitors take part in the annual KUGB Students event at Chesterfield. Despite the small number, they were successful with each one coming home with a medal.

Mel Finlay, Team Captain for the day, led by example taking 2 Gold and a Bronze medal. She beat team-mate Emma Nunn in the Female Kumite final and led the Female Team to a fine victory over Liverpool University in the Final. To round this off she took 3rd place in Kata with Sochin.

Female Black Belt Kumite	1st	Mel Finlay
Female Team Kumite	1st	Mel Finlay, Emma Nunn amp; Helen Searle
Female Black Belt Kumite	2nd	Emma Nunn
Female Black Belt Kata	3rd	Mel Finlay
Male Team Kumite	3rd	Alexis Antoniou, Tom Little amp; Neil Taylor

The full list of competitors was Mel Finlay, Tom Little, Neil Taylor, Emma Nunn, Helen Searle amp; Alexis Antoniou.

2007 was a fantastic year for Harrogate Shotokan. 2007 saw the club as part of the LKA team take the National men’s and ladies team events in the KUGB National Championships along with many National Titles. Sensei Price brought a World and European title back to the club. Along with many impressive grading results.

This was recognised by the Harrogate and District Sports Council on Thursday 29^th November at the Annual Sports Awards.

Harrogate Shotokan received the award for Harrogate and District Sports Team of the Year. Accompanying Sensei Price at the awards were Zoë Starr (who managed to win the raffle) Nick Midgley and Lyndsay McEwan.

It is an excellent achievement for the club to win this prestigious award, which normally goes to one of Harrogate’s football or cricket teams. The Chairman of the Sports Council Lynne Garne had been to watch some of the sessions including both sessions on a Tuesdays and the kids Friday sessions and was amazed by the discipline and levels of skill she observed.