Junior National Championships 2009
The 2009 Junior National Championships were held at the Richard Dunn Sports Centre in Bradford on the 17th October 2009.
A small Wakefield team battled hard against stiff competition to achieve a very credible third place in the club championship against much bigger teams from Leeds and Bradford.
Despite best efforts in the under 8 category, no medals were acheived. However, despite not winning any medals in the under 10s Thomas Mallendar impressed the judges enough to walk away with the Under 10s Best Individual Award (pictured below).
Jenny Willis and Sean Mahoney performed well in the under 12 category winning gold medals in
The Wakefield Junior team showing off their haul of medals and trophies
both Kata and Tanto. This was enough to ensure they walked away with the under 12s team trophy.
The under 14s were dominated by Wakefield and Bradford but unfortunately Wakefield were narrowly beaten to the golds by a strong Bradford team. Luke Fountain and Brandon Murphy walked away with silver medals in the Kata and Tanto, and together with Morgan Murphy also attained the silver in the ninindori event.
Charlotte Fountain put in a brave effort with a broken toe to make it to the finals with her partner Morgan Murphy but unfortunately it was not enough to secure a medal.
Despite no official entrants in the under 16s age category, Wakefield managed to scoop a bronze medal in the open kata with an impressive Koryu Dai Yon performance by 13 year olds Luke Fountain and Brandon Murphy. This rounded off a fairly successful competition for the 11 strong Wakefield team.
With a few more entrants and a little bit more training, the possibility of regaining the club title at the next competition are real. Watch out Leeds and Bradford and well done to the entrants from all clubs!
[photo gallery to follow shortly]
The club is based at Lightwaves Leisure Centre in Wakefield. Further details can be obtained from either reception (tel no. 01924 302315) or Catherine Moran, Secretary (tel no. 01977 599128).
The club also trains at Freeston Leisure Centre, Favell Avenue, Normanton on a Monday evening (see Classes page for details)
