|
United States Karate-do Kai - 2000 International Open Grand Championships (Peoria, Illinois, USA)
 Members of the European branch of the 'United States Karate-do Kai' recently visited Peoria, Illinois, where they had the opportunity to train at the honbu dojo and also participate in the annual Grand Nationals Tournament. This was an important trip, as it was the first time that many of the Executive Committee of the USKK (Europe) had been able to make the long journey to the USA as one group. Those included were Sensei Patrick Beaumont (European Director), Sensei Nick Burke (European Secretary) and Kancho John Lupton (Head of Jiu-Jutsu for USKK Europe).
The United States Karate-do Kai (USKK) was established in 1986, by Hanshi Phillip Koeppel, as a non-profit entity and has dojo throughout the United States and is now also represented in Europe. The purposes of the USKK are threefold; to promote world recognition of all member styles in a manner consistent with the spirit of karate-do, serve the membership by continually improving the quality of it's standards and to perform in a manner that warrants the highest degree of member confidence in it's integrity, humanity and fairness.
The European team consisted of 8 karate-ka from Ireland and 3 karate-ka from England (under Sensei Beaumont, 7th Dan) and also 14 Jiu-Jutsu-ka from Ireland (under Kancho John Lupton, 8th Dan). Another English member of the USKK, Bazil Godfrey, had travelled out to Peoria a few days earlier, and met with the group upon their arrival.
Having landed in the late afternoon of Tuesday 18th July, our training commenced on Thursday 20th at the USKK honbu dojo, with Hanshi Koeppel holding a dojo reception for the teams, lead by Patrick Beaumont (Chief Instructor - Shorin Ryu Karate Ireland & England) and John Lupton (Kancho - Jiu-Jutsu Ireland). Hanshi Koeppel guided the group through a variety of breathing and training kata, which included both 'Kapu Ho', a form once taught by Gokenki (the legendary Chinese white crane master who resided in Okinawa) and also 'Happoren'. During the course of the training, Hanshi Koeppel also presented black belts to newly graded Bredagh Moran and Barry Reynolds of Jiu-Jutsu Ireland. This was a great honour indeed.
Most of the week prior to the contests was taken up with other various training camps and meetings, culminating on a very historical note, with the European section being officially sanctioned and welcomed as part of the prestigious 'United States Karate-do Kai' organisation.
There was also plenty of time before the tournament for social activities and our American hosts certainly lived up to their reputation for hospitality and kindness. The JJI team were taken for firearms training during the week and amazed their instructors in the competent usage of handguns and rifles. Some of them had an opportunity to discharge the renowned AK47 (Kaleshnikoff) sub-machine gun and proved their worth with this extraordinary weapon. The participants received certificates of competency from the Martial Arts Training College.
On Friday 21st July the 11 karate-ka (most of whom practise the Matsubayashi style of Shorinryu karate) where fortunate enough to have the opportunity to take part in a seminar presented by Soke Takayoshi Nagamine (from Naha, Okinawa). Soke Nagamine is the current headmaster of the World Matsubayashi Shorinryu Karate Association, having succeeded his father, the late O'Sensei Shoshin Nagamine. The session was great fun, with Soke Nagamine covering general subjects such as tai-sabaki (body movement), and speed of evasion. Soke Nagamine has a wonderful sense of humour and proved this by concluding his seminar with some magic tricks, which included pushing ping-pong balls through his hands and 'karate chopping' bananas with their skins still on (I guess you had to be there!!).
 There were a number of training clinics held on Saturday 22nd and the five choices were Matsumura Seito (Hanshi Koeppel), Okinawan Goju-ryu (Sensei Keeney), Japanese Goju-ryu (Sensei Albear), Okinawan Shuri-ryu (Sensei Awad) or Matsubayashi-ryu (Sensei Yarnell, Sensei Shelton, Sensei Maccarrone). This last style is what the majority of us practise and so most of us chose to attended this one. When we arrived, however, we discovered that Soke Nagamine had decided to take the lesson instead of the three named Sensei, and so the dozen or so that had gathered were treated to a superb 2 hours of training from him. The kata 'Rohai' was studied in detail, and was accompanied by many historical stories and anecdotes.
Sensei Nick Burke chose to attend Hanshi Koeppel's clinic, as this was for karate-ka who study the 'Matsumura Seito Shorinryu' style of karate. Sensei Burke is the only person to teach this little known style in Ireland, and is also the European Vice President of the International Martial Games Commission. The IMGC was inaugurated at a meeting last September in Buenos Aires and has a worldwide membership of approximately 27 million. After the clinic he commented on how much he had enjoyed working out with Hanshi Koeppel again.
At the formal banquet on Saturday night (22nd July) Mr Lupton was the proud winner of an extraordinary and expensive 'Katana' (Japanese Sword), which was presented to him by Soke Takayoshi Nagamine. This honour was gratefully received by Mr Lupton who acknowledged this in a short speech.
The dinner, which was attended by more than 300 guests, was the highlight of the week and several speeches included the warmest of welcomes for the Irish and English contingents present.
 The 16th annual Grand National Tournament was held on Sunday 23rd July, and attracted hundreds of competitors from all over the United States. The karate team from Europe excelled themselves, however, resulting in 1st place in the team kata (Simon Murphy, Mark Gallacher, Adrian Rowen), 2nd place in the female black belt kata (Sally Woolston), 3rd place in the men's heavyweight black belt kumite (Simon Murphy) and 4th place in the men's black belt kata (Mark Gallacher).
Further features during the day included a demonstration bout of 'total' fighting between the Irish Jiu-Jutsu team and one from the USA. While a number of the Irish team sustained relatively minor injuries in obeying the rules completely, they won the hearts of the people and there were as many Americans cheering for the Irish as there were cheering for the Americans! The result on the day was a draw between the two teams and many accolades and invitations were thrust upon the Irish following the competitions. Shihan Ken Byrne (6th Dan), who was the team captain fought valiantly against the most experienced fighter in the USKK, Mr Eugene Talbot (captain for the US team) and gave an excellent account of himself. The other fighters were Justin Gough (4th Dan), Breffni Gaffney (2nd Dan), Ultan Lacey (1st Dan) and Barry Reynolds (1st Dan).
The fighting spirit of the Irish so impressed the crowd and senior martial artists that, later that evening, Soke Nagamine himself endorsed all the 'Jiu-Jutsu Ireland' licences in recognition of their extraordinary performances and wished each member his warmest congratulations for the standards of fighting and sportsmanship.
Later in the day a spectaculor demonstration was given by the Jiu-Jutsu team (consisting of Robert Adrian (3rd Dan), Marcia Weldon (3rd Dan), Geoff O'Toole (3rd Dan), Frank Duffy (2nd Dan), Bredagh Moran (1st Dan), Siobhan Wolf (2nd KyuDan) and John Cowap (2nd KyuDan), in addition to the members of the fighting team as mentioned previously).
Everyone was tired but happy at the end of it all. The rest of the trip was taken up with sight seeing and social activities of the more 'Irish' kind as they indulged themselves in various visits to hostelries in the area, where they made even more friends. I would say that Jimmy's Irish House is still recovering from their visit!
The stage is now set for a large seminar/training camp and competitions to be hosted by the European branch of the USKK next March (16-18 March 2001) where it is anticipated that a large contingent of Americans, British and other European countries will travel to Ireland to participate.
Finally, 'well done' to the following people on their promotions and awards that were achieved over the weekend:
Bredagh Moran - Ireland 1st Dan (Jiu-Jutsu)
Barry Reynolds - Ireland 1st Dan (Jiu-Jutsu)
Jenny O'Connor - Ireland 1st Dan (Matsubayashi-ryu)
Seamus Beaumont - Ireland 2nd Dan (Matsubayashi-ryu)
Anthony Roden - Ireland 2nd Dan (Matsubayashi-ryu)
Sally Woolston - England 2nd Dan (Matsubayashi-ryu)
Steve Woolston - England 2nd Dan (Matsubayashi-ryu)
Simon Murphy - Ireland 'Bushido Society' Award
Anyone who wishes to find out more about the United States Karate-do Kai (Europe) can contact the European Director, Sensei Patrick Beamont on patrick.beaumont@uskke.org. Further details regarding Hanshi Phillip Koeppel and the American branch of the United States Karate-do Kai can be found on the United States Karate-do website at www.uskk.org.
|
