Renshukan Tournament 2011

On 12 November, 2011, a squad from Zanshin Kinnegad travelled to the Renshukan (Ireland) U-18 tournament in the Midland Martial Arts Centre, Tullamore, Co. Offaly. The tournament was well-attended, with children and teenagers from Tullamore, Edenderry and Kinnegad dojos taking part. We started at 11.00 AM and finshed 5 hours later, after a busy day of sparring, individual kata and team kata.. We were delighted at the success of our Zanshin students, who won medals in 10 categories. As we have often said before, however, while it's nice to win medals, what we were really proud of was the spirit and discipline shown by all squad members - well done guys, we're VERY proud of all of you! Here is a photo taken at the beginning of the tournament - as you can see, it was well attended!

We were well-served with referees and officials on the day, with Senseis Liam Darcy, Gerry Walsh, Keith Walsh, Gerry McCarthy, Liam Gorman and Proinsias Ó Fearghail acting as referees, ably assisted by Zanshin senior members Fergus Fenlon and Peter Govan, who acted as scorekeepers and timekeepers. Thanks a million, gentlemen - it made all the difference! Thanks especially to Senseis Gerry McCarthy and Liam Gorman who made their purpose-built Martial Arts Centre available for the tournament, and to Sensei Darren Hand, who thoughtfully turned on the heat for us in the morning (we didn't need it as the day went on!) . Many thanks also to all the parents who drove our students to the venue and stayed to cheer us on - it's great to have that level of support. We all decamped to Burger King after the event, fot a well-deserved meal. Here is a photo of the Zanshin squad at the end of the tournament.

 Again, well done everyone! See you all on Monday for training! You can see more photos on our "Photos" page.