Zanshin Portarlington Tournament

On Saturday, 17th November Zanshin Karate-Do Midlands organised our first ever tournament in our Portarlington dojo. As well as being our first tournament, the event commemorated 4 years of Zanshin Karate-Do Midlands, which began in November 2008. The lion's share of the organising was done by Zanshin Portarlington instructors Sensei Keith Walsh and Sensei Paul Thackaberry. The tournament was really well attended, with students present from the Zanshin clubs in Portarlington and Kinnegad, the Irish Shotokan Academy, the Edenderry Shotokan Academy, the Wicklow Karate Organisation, Ballybay Karate Club and many more. The tournament was run under WKF rules and we would like to publically acknowledge the role of Sensei Stephen Hughes and his colleagues from the Irish Karate Federation Commission who provided referees and judges for the day. Here are some pictures of the stars of the day....the competitors.

Zanshin Portarlington Tournament on PhotoPeach



It never matters to us whether people come away with a medal or not - what is important to us is that the young karateka taking part demonstrate good karate and have a good time. We felt that the standard was excellent, and that all students taking part were a real credit to themselves and to their instructors.
During the interval, Guro Donal Connaughton, one of the highest-ranked Filipino Martial Arts instructors in the country demonstrated the lethal art of Llanera Eskrima to the spectators. Guro Donal was ably assisted by our own Sensei Liam Darcy, who demonstrated his own skill in the Filipino art by performing the form "Solo Mano Uno". Here is a video of the demonstration...

portarlington tournament 045 from Proinsias Ó Fearghail on Vimeo.
A great day was had by all, and we hope that all our students learned that we have to improve our standard - especially in kata - to be able to match some of the brilliant competitors who took part. The Zanshin clubs (thankfully!) did well, bringing home our fair share of medals. Again, thanks so much to everyone for making the day a great way to commemorate our four years of training!
As a final note, we were especially pleased to see the return of our own Sensei Gerry Walsh, who has been recovering from a serious illness. Sensei Gerry spent seven hours yesterday judging the events - it was great to see him back!