B.K.A. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2004

Oldham Sports Centre

7 th November 2004

 

Thanks as always to the table helpers, referees and judges that make all tournaments tick and contribute enormously to the success of the day.

 

This was a return to Oldham after a few years at Blackpool, we all enjoyed the competitions at Blackpool but each time we returned I could see the mats becoming more and more tattered, unsafe and with no intention in the short term of replacing them we had no option but to relocate. I couldn’t believe the difficulty in finding a venue that has two of our basic requirements – decent mats and tiered seating but the search will go on and we’ll see where we end up next year.

 

This ( we think ) was our last tournament being run under the BKA Traditional Rules, based on the old WUKO system. In 2005 we will be hopefully joining the rest of the karate fraternity and employing the WKF style tournament rules. This will depend a great deal on people turning up for forthcoming referee courses which we will be running in the New Year. I have always had a problem with the official rules of the day, as they quite clearly are designed for top flight tournaments with dan grade competitors in mind and with an abundance of qualified table judges, referees and kata judges on hand. It has always been difficult to run a more regional type competition with the vast majority of competitors falling into the kyu grade category and with a limited amount of trained officials to help; I’m sure I’m not alone?.

 

The tournament itself was a great success with not many injuries and a good deal of joy, disappointment, success and failure. To those that won, congratulations. To those that didn’t congratulations for having the guts to enter and hopefully gaining valuable experience and confidence to go on and try again.

 

Many thanks to the following:

Mark D’Arcy, Dave Young, Brian Bentham, Orang Ranjbar, Robert Thomas, Derek Willoughby, Kenneth Tsai, Phil Woods, Sam Stewart, Diane Vincent, Harry Vernon and all the people that help on the day. Apologies if there are any omissions.