Junior Open Championships North 2009
The 2009 Junior Open Championships North were held at the Richard Dunn Sports Centre in Bradford on the 25th April.
Despite a strong performance from the Wakefield club, particularly in the under 12 and under 14 age groups, they were unable to retain the overall team trophy being narrowly beaten by a strong Bradford team in the closest competition ever.
In the under 8s age group competition newcomers Robbie and Cameron made it through to all 3 finals and managed to walk away with a silver medal in the ninindori, along with seasoned competitor Xander Barraclough.
A strong under 12s team managed to walk away with 4 of the nine medals
The Wakefield Junior team showing off their haul of medals and trophies
and the under 12 team trophy. Jenny Willis (pictured right with her trophy) also managed to walk away with the best individual trophy for her effort, enthusiasm and sportsmanship throughout the day.
The under 14 age group was dominated by the Wakefield club who took Gold and Silver medal positions in all 3 events, leading them to the under 14 team trophy aswell.
Unfortunately the Wakefield club did not have any competitors in the under 16 age category although they did enter 2 teams into the Under 16 open kata.
Daniel Barker and Jordan Whiteley impressed the judges with a demonstration of the kneeling and standing sections of the Koryu Dai San, to make it into the final in 3rd place position.
Luke and Charlotte Fountain also just managed to make it to the final in 5th place position with a demonstration of the first 18 techniques of the Koryu Dai Yon.
After some addtional practice, Luke and Charlotte raised their game for the final to secure a bronze medal in the most competitive open kata for a long time. Danny and Jordan finished in 4th place.
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)
This is a remarkable achievement for all 4 competitors as they are all still under 13! Achieving these placings means that they have beaten competitors aged 14 and 15!
The bronze medal was presented to Luke and Charlotte (pictured left) by the Wakefield head coach, Adrian Tipling.
As usual the sportsmanship of all the competitors was exemplary throughout the day and a credit to all entrants and their team coaches.
Team captain Luke Fountain summed up the day by commenting "Considering Wakefield did not have competitors in all age groups, they did extremely well to finish the competition only 4 points behind Bradford. I think the whole team did really well and would like to congratulate them all."
The continued success of Wakefield remains a credit to the commitment of the coaching staff, whose dedication remains the driving force behind the teams performance.
The full results are listed below and a gallery of photographs of the team in action can be viewed by clicking on the following link (Junior Open Gallery).