Lichfield Wado Ryu Karate Club

Grading time! Good luck those grading today!

Bit late with this one…but well done to our small squad who represented the club at The UAK competition last weekend in Burntwood!
Well done to Maia, Beata and Liz who competed in tough categories for kata. More valuable experience gained. Congratulations to Liz for achieving a Gold medal in ladies 18 and above 10th to 4th kyu kata.
Tough kumite matches for our sparring competitors this time, with Maia now stepping up against seasoned black belt competition, but she held her own and we are all proud to support her. Beata came close in her round but was narrowly defeated, still a great effort though!
And for our first timers Riley and James, fantastic effort in their kumite category against either higher grades or more experienced competitors. But they got well and truly stuck in and we are all proud of them for having the nerve to get up there and have a go!
And thank you to Jo who gave up her Sunday morning to step in and help out with the judging at short notice. Valuable experience for her which she quite enjoyed!

That’s a wrap! What a year for the club! The first new Shodan under our instruction, competition success, plenty of new members joining the ranks and great progression for students.

Huge congratulations to our 2025 Student of the Year Luke! Very very well deserved. Luke trains very hard and diligently, always stays focused, helps others, has fantastic technique and has bags of potential! Keep up the good work Luke!

The year finished with some silly Christmas games including 3 legged sparring, horseback sparring, break roll races, blind fold kata, piggy back kata, dodge ball, sensei says, murder basketball and musical statues with kata!

Thank you to everyone for my wonderful hamper and for making the club so special! Thank you to the Dan grades who are always willing to lend a hand teaching and helping, I couldn’t do it without you!

Have a great Christmas and see you in the New Year!

For a little side gig our competition side doesn’t do too badly! With gradings so close I can’t say we put much prep time towards this one. But that didn’t stop them! Well done team!
Gold for Liz for vets intermediate individual kata
Silver for Maia for ladies 15-17 yrs advanced kata
Silver for Liz and Chris for over 18s pairs kata
Well done Chris and Hayden for some great performances in your individual categories too and Hayden for stepping up and representing the club for the first time.

For us competitions are a bit of fun, something different and a bit of a social event for the club too! A very small competition this time but still good experience!

Well done all!

Huge congratulations to our new 9th kyu red belts and 7th kyu orange belts who graded on Monday. The first grading can be one of the most nerve wracking! And it’s now a big step up in training for the oranges!
Well done everyone and keep pushing!

Proud to award Jo her certificate this week! Now the start of a new ladder to climb as she evolves her karate beyond the fundamentals she has learnt so far.

Hopefully this is inspiration for the junior grades in the club.

https://youtu.be/fkyP6ruAHgE?si=K3ukyMpDEmqgCVSH

Congratulations to our new Shodan Joanne! After 6 years of training it culminated in a very tough three and half hour grading. A very special day for the club, our first Dan grade under my instruction and the help and efforts of our other instructors Hoi, Steve and Ryan. Through dedication and perseverance Jo has grown up chasing this dream and today has fought through the most challenging time, mentally and physically, and endured her final hurdle to achieve her belt. Well done Jo!

Well done to those who achieved their next belt last weekend! Some really good performances by a talented bunch. All of a sudden there are a lot of senior grades in the club and an exciting future ahead for them as they work towards the dan grades.

Congratulations to our 3 new yellows; Matt, Liz and Ant. 4 new blues; Luke, Emi, Liz and Chris. 5 new browns; Laurie, Will, Maia, Beata and Al. And our 4 new brown-whites; Huey, Charlie, Vic and Iain.

Time to focus on those training for their first Dan now! Watch this space.

It’s grading time! Marking sheets ready to go! Good luck to our senior grades tomorrow and junior grades on Monday! 👊

Great evening out bowling with the club last weekend! Congratulations to David who was the overall winner!