World Cup Report

June 2007

	The National Indoor Arena is a world-class venue

The fourth GKR World Cup was held in England on the 2^nd and 3^rd of June 2007. It was held in Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena, which was the same venue as the 2003 World Cup.

About 1600 competitors competed, which means that numbers were down about 300 since the last World Cup. However, considering that UK competitors had to pass a qualification event just to compete, the adjusted numbers were probably higher than last time. Disappointingly, a few of the big Australian names from the last cup, did not make it over to defend their titles. Perhaps they didn’t want to come all this way over just to hand the silverware over to an Englishman! J

There was a substantial contingent of competitors from Australia, and considerably lesser contingent from New Zealand and the USA. In fact, it appears that fewer Americans made it to England for this event than to Australia in 2005 – maybe our gorgeous weather put them off…

As it happened, the traditional England summer rain was uncharacteristically absent, and attendees enjoyed a couple of warm, sunny days that were ideal for making the leisurely stroll to the venue in the morning, and enjoying the street pubs and eateries afterwards.

1600 competitors makes for a really exciting march in!

The march in was the usually rousing affair, with pumping music (the same tune as the last world cup), and lots of cheering and dancing from competitors and spectators alike. Excitement was high, and it was touching to see our American friends with hands deferentially placed on their chests whilst their national anthem played. I was grateful that the organisers managed to find short versions of the Anthems because all ten dreary minutes of the UK anthem would really have killed everyone’s buzz! Something else I’m sure people were grateful for, was the fact that the pre-event speeches were kept relatively short. Everybody respects and is glad to see Shihan and Kancho, but before tournament is the time for excitement not talk!

The standard was generally very high

There were 21 rings, each of which was presided over by two regional managers and a team of referees and administrators. Organising and coordinating all of these people was a massive task, especially as ring staff were continuously leaving to compete in their own events, or to watch their families and students compete. Some rings were better organised than others, meaning that the smoothness of each event depended upon the ability of each ring coordinator to take charge and keep things moving. My ring seemed to run quite smoothly, although we ran out of staff on two occasions. I also heard numerous calls go out over the two days for additional staff. It surprises me that the referee and table staff assignments are not clearly established at the start of the day, so that shortages can be identified early. I understand why problems arise – particularly in the afternoons. Staff are tired, and that is also when the adult events are on. Furthermore, many of them are not shown much appreciation – in fact some are quite patronised and distinctly unappreciated by the managers, who seem to forget that they are dealing with voluntary staff. My ring was fine, but I know others were not…

Anyway, moving on to the events, the tournament took place over two days. The non-black belt events were on the first day, with the instructors and opens divisions on the second day. All of the demonstrations were also on the second day. Every single person I spoke to, found it completely incomprehensible that all the demos were put on the second day, when at least 75 percent of the children and their families had left. In fact, I find it very disappointing to see all the opens events left till the second day too. This is GKR karate at its very best and most inspiring, and I would love my students to see just how incredible our karate can be at that level. Perhaps at future events, they could put the first round of the opens and half of the demonstrations on the first day, and the remaining opens rounds and demonstrations on the second day.

Anyway, back to the events. They were all run on matted rings. Half of the rings were heavy-duty 60mm judo style mats rented from the NIA. These offered excellent padding for takedowns, but had a tendency to slip apart, resulting in numerous mishaps, and a few injuries, including one that knocked a male kata team out of the finals, when one team-member’s toenail was split between the mats. The other type of mats was the thin 20mm tatami-style kumite mats, which appeared to be loaned from the NAS. These appear to provide a better surface because they interlock, and are a bit thinner, so are easier to move on. In practice, they can get a bit slippery when competitors are sweaty, and they seemed to be sliding on the painted concrete surface of the arena, and a few kata competitors reported a feeling of instability on them. Also, because they are rubberised, your feet can get caught on them, and this can cause painful twists and other injuries. I don’t know what the ideal solution is, but it’s worth considering for the future. It’s frustrating to spend months practising kata on hard floors, only to feel like a beginner on the day because the matting feels so alien…

As I mentioned, the non-black belt divisions were held on the first day. Whilst the standard was generally high in all divisions, there was a massive range between the best and worst. Many people clearly didn’t have a snowball’s chance of coming away with a medal, but were just there for the experience, or perhaps on the off-chance that all their opponents suddenly dropped out! Others had obviously taken the event deadly serious, and the results of many, many long hours of practice shone through.

The Australian team may have been small, but it took a disproportionate number of medals home. We can only hope that they have to pay excess baggage! Grrr.

It seems painfully apparent that by and large, the Aussies and New Zealanders train differently to the UK students. Their katas are just so fast and snappy, and they are so relaxed and sharp with their kumite. Obviously, this is a massive generalisation, but it’s blindingly apparent that there is a totally different philosophy to karate in Australia to the UK. I believe here that we have developed an excessive devotion to rigid power and technical form, whereas down under they understand that relaxation, speed and sharpness are far more effective generators of power than brute strength. I can’t help but wonder if it’s because there is so much more experience down there, and not just because Australia has been going twice as long as the UK… There were many exceptions, particularly in the younger age groups, but by-and-large, it was not the powerhouses who won, but the fast, beautiful-looking technicians. I’ll be providing lots of videos to show the contrast, so watch this space…

With so many competitors, some divisions were divided between up to four rings. When there were four rings, the top two competitors on each ring, progressed to the final. When there were only two or three rings, the top three competitors moved into the final. This meant that some competitors had to win five or even six fights to earn a gold, so they could rightly feel very proud about their success. Administrating this many rings was quite a task, and whilst I’m always the first to mention any shortcomings, from my perspective, the admins did a pretty darned good job of working out what was going on, and who should be where. In fact, a number of rings even finished early on the first day – a fact that I imagine many competitors appreciated.

If there was one thing about which we could not be so happy, it was the quality of the refereeing. Many of the referees were excellent, and so far as I saw, all of them were impartial, but damn, many of them were bad!

My own Sensei, Jason Smith, said “There were two occasions which happened to hinge whether my team would have a chance to compete for gold or silver, that the referee didn't go my way, even though I knew my opponent didn't strike a scoring position. However as a referee myself, I know how hard it is to make those split-second decisions , and I have no complaints.” I have incredible admiration and respect for his example, but I really do not in the slightest bit agree with him. How long are we going to keep on using the excuse that refereeing is hard so it’s okay to be bad at it? If it’s hard, then surely we should all train more until we become good at it?

	An experienced referee, hopefully doing a great job

The emphasis in GKR is always to bring more referees onto the program, rather than to increase the competence of the existing ones. Actual supervised refereeing on a referee course is so brief (most level 4s don’t get to ref in the classroom for 10 minutes total from level 0 to 4), that it’s no wonder they are not all that they could be. At least, we get to do lots of in-tournament refereeing, and I appreciate the guidance that I have been given by Sensei Joe when he has watched me ref. However, the supposed pinnacle of refereeing at most tournaments is the regional instructors. Ironically, these guys get to practice their refereeing the least out of anyone. At the courses, they are administrators and supervisors – if they even attend. At regional tournaments, the same applies – or they may be called upon to referee the shorter, higher divisions. And then, at the World Cup, these guys are held up as the pinnacle of good refereeing. It just doesn’t make sense.

I have three major complaints – front kicks, recognising scoring techniques, and contact:

Why is it so exceptionally difficult to get front kicks recognised by referees? I saw dozens, upon dozens of great front kicks disregarded by the referees, and it is so frustrating to have one of the major tools in your arsenal deemed as not good enough, and it completely skews the competition in favour of punchers and round kickers. In the seven years since I joined GKR, this has always been a problem, but I would have hoped that at a world cup event at least, most of the refs would know what they were looking for. Which brings me to the whole issue of recognising scoring techniques, period. I lost track of the number of times that referees stopped the fight and said “No score, too scrappy” because both fighters were simultaneously using punching combinations. What the ref actually means is, “Too much going on, I can’t work out who scored the first point”. That’s a refereeing shortfall, not a flaw in the competitors’ techniques. There are just too many occasions when the referee blamed the competitors’ technique, on his (the ref’s) inability to recognise a good technique.

A couple of Shihan's awesome kata demonstrators

And onto the last one. The big one. The single thing that causes more controversy and disgust than any other tournament issue. Contact. Why, of why, is it so extraordinarily difficult for the powers that be to set a level of contact or non-contact, and for the referees to stick to it? It doesn’t seem to be rocket science, but I was staggered by the level of inconsistency over the weekend.

In the female veterans 6-4^th kyu division, the eventual winner hit and hurt an opponent in EVERY SINGLE FIGHT! She put two women on the floor. Knocked one competitor out cold - albeit briefly, left numerous opponents crying, yet she was still permitted to continue to take the medal! I’m not criticising her kumite in the slightest. She fought tenaciously and well, and was very intimidating. But I am absolutely criticising the referee who failed to penalise her repeated contacts with heavy penalties. Perhaps the woman could have fought and won without contact, but she had no need to make the adjustment as she was penalised lightly, if at all.

It concerns me to say this, but I have to say, this came from the very top. The single most watched fight was the final of the men’s opens between Anthony Ryan and Lachlan Carr which was refereed by Shihan and judged by Sensei Gavin Samin. Anthony repeatedly struck Lachlan hard enough to be heard right across the hall. Shihan warned him, and on one occasion, awarded a half-point penalty to Lachlan, but on two or three other occasions, simply stopped the fight and gave no score, despite clearly being aware of the contact. The implication clearly seemed to be that Anthony was losing the point that he would otherwise have scored without the contact. I don’t know whether this was done because Shihan didn’t want to see the fight lost due to penalty points, or because he was afraid of the message it would send to everyone that GKR’s most excellent martial artist is unable to control his contact, but the actual message ended up being, “No contact at GKR tournaments is something that we only pay lip service to.”

An unrelated picture, in case you are bored...

I’m quite happy to fight light or medium contact, and I’m slightly less happy to fight non-contact, but whatever GKR decides must be consistent, and evenly applied in every division, and every grade. If GKR sends out a message that good martial artists are permitted contact, then it can hardly be surprised when people aspire to that behaviour and emulate what they see. It simply cannot be one rule for black belts and another for everyone else.

Far too many referees and senior referees refused to stick to the rules of contact that have been clearly and unequivocally defined by Sensei Gavin Samin, and as long as contact is penalised according to the mood and values of the ref, rather than by the rulebook, competitors will quite rightly feel cheated when they can be (and frequently were) smashed to the floor in one ring, yet penalised for breathing heavily in another…

Sensei Gavin has gone to considerable lengths this year to redefine or clarify acceptable contact. GKR is non-contact, therefore, acceptable contact is virtually zero. Penalties for head contact are far stricter than ever before, and that seems good, so why do so many regional managers and zone directors particularly, feel the need to add their own interpretation to head contact, in order to allow people to get away with it? It’s so clear that they are disregarding the example this sets to the other competitors.

Anyway, moving back off the pulpit and returning to the World Cup for a moment, it was clear that almost everyone had stepped up their game for the kumite. People who perhaps are not normally the fiercest, put on their most determined game heads and gave it their best shot. Nobody wanted to go home without a medal unless they’d given it their all. It was really great to see that the even the youngest kids, in the lowest graded divisions, were so full of spirit.

When it came to the kata there was something of a divide. There were clearly a few UK competitors who had treated this just like any other tournament. Perhaps because it was local to some, they hadn’t put in the long hours that were needed. Then there were the serious competitors. I have to say, that by and large, there is still a divide between the Aussies/New Zealanders and the UK people. This is not so apparent in the slower, more graceful Goju katas (which, incidentally, were by far in the minority in terms of scores). In fact, it seemed to me that the Aussies and Kiwis tended to favour the Shotokan katas at every level, and it was clear to see why. Those guys perform those katas very explosively, managing to stay both relaxed, whilst being powerful at the same time. I’ve long argued that we are over-formal and too rigid in the way that we learn and practice kata in the UK. This is the third World Cup I’ve attended, and the chasm between the Aussies and us, is just as wide as it ever was after all these years.

Returning to the refereeing again, it seems that some RMs were not aware of, and clearly hadn’t read and understood Sensei Gavin’s pre-tournament briefing, which stated “judge the kata on its merit and on the performance of the competitor, not on your perception of how the kata should be done”. It annoyed greatly me to hear one regional manager tell a finalist in the Instructor division that he had marked his Karurunfa down for making the first technique look like a block. It’s bad enough that the man was ignoring Sensei Gavin’s brief, but to penalise the competitor for bunkai interpretation was outrageous! It was particularly infuriating when he was the only one to penalise the performer, and his score was 5 full points different from the other two, costing the man first place in my opinion. Sadly, there are a number of managers, particularly the more experienced ones, who seem to think that briefings and manuals and guidelines are for the junior managers and other “little people”, not them. I see it time and time again; all ego and no understanding; and if you respectfully say, “Excuse me Sensei, but didn’t Sensei Gavin say such-and-such”, they get angry and start being rude and defensive. Sadly, because they are not supervised whilst refereeing, or they change their behaviour when a senior ref is near, it’s very hard to fix.

Returning to katas, it seems really clear that in the opens division, some katas are in vogue, with a disproportionate number of competitors gravitating towards them. Kanku Sho was certainly the most popular kata in the male events. Its combination of speed, drama, and power make it an obvious choice. It’s a pity though, that in the men’ divisions, we seem to be moving ever more towards a simplistic Shotokan, speed and power interpretation of kata, rather than also valuing the finesse and technique the Goju katas. Seisan is a Goju kata, and it was popular amongst the females. Although it has many open-handed techniques, in many ways, it too, is very Shoto-esque, in contrast to katas like Seiunchin and Sepai.

Sensei Gavin "introducing" Sensei Andy to the floor

As I’ve already mentioned, all the demonstrations were on the second day. This was a tremendous pity because it meant that half of the competitors and spectators never got to watch anything but competition. I think that this year’s demos were the best ever. The ones at the last World Cup in Sydney were beautiful and exciting, and the simultaneous bunkai demonstration was terrific, but there was just too much going on at once to take in.

This year, there were four main demos. The first was by Sensei Gavin Samin who is currently living in the UK. With his team of UK managers and zone directors, he demonstrated how GKR’s basic techniques could be used to defend in self-defence situations. The funny thing was, apart from the initial block or strike, many of his techniques were pure ju jitsu. There’s nothing wrong with that – the lines between karate and ju jitsu are not as clear-cut as some instructors would have you believe, and our katas are full of locks and takedowns. However, it was interesting to see Sensei Gavin doing lots of throws.

The next demo was a board breaking demo by Sensei Tyrone Powers from America. Now, personally, I’m not a big fan of breaking. We don’t do any conditioning, and it’s not part of our syllabus. Furthermore boards don’t hit back. Nevertheless, as breaking demos go, this was a pretty good one. He started by breaking boards held all around him, using just an array of hand techniques. Then he went on and broke more using just his feet. I was particularly impressed by the quality of his side kick, and his axe kick (which of course, is not part of the basic syllabus) ;)

	Sensei Tyrone getting medieval on some boards

The third demo was by Shihan, and it was a demonstration of kata bunkai. To his left, Bassai Dai was demonstrated by a senior student.  It was an unbelievably good Bassai Dai, and on its own was inspiring enough. However, after every few moves, he stopped and Shihan performed a bunkai with one or two partners. It was really interesting to see that GKR seems to have clarified bunkais for all the questionable bits of the kata, and I wonder if this is now the official bunkai?

Shihan, showing the bunkai to Bassai Dai

After the Bassai Dai bunkai, Shihan also performed a bunkai for Sepai. This time, there were two performers, and Shihan performed two different bunkai for each move. I wonder if this was a deliberate move to open people’s minds to the fact that there may be multiple bunkai to our kata?

After the slow performances, Shihan executed each of his bunkai fast and realistically, and I was extremely impressed by the man’s control, even when doing the most dangerous of moves.

Kancho performing Nikante, which is not yet part of the GKR syllabus, so no, you can't enter it Jake B-S!

Finishing off the demos, Kancho performed his second kata, Nikante, as he did at the last World Cup. He briefly introduced it, but I would have found it fascinating to hear why he created it in the first place. His performance was much sharper, faster, and more assured than when he performed it for us last time (and at the UK 10^th anniversary), so it’s good to see that he’s still practising… J

On the second day of competition, we saw all of the team events, as well as the instructors and opens divisions. It was of course, the highest standard of karate, and even to be competing amongst such illustrious peers was a real buzz.

There were less rings running, but some events seemed to be spread over more rings than usual to expedite proceedings. This seemed to lead to some confusion in working out the draws. It was a pity that certain events, such as the female team, almost seemed to be relegated to inconsequentiality, and were stuck over in the corner far from everyone, running almost like an afterthought, whilst the male team and instructor finals took all the attention. I realise female karate may be less aggressive and powerful than male karate, but with 40 percent of our students being female, perhaps it ought to be valued more highly?

When it came to the opens finals, most rings were closed and the events were held simultaneously on just two rings. The kata divisions all had eight finalists, and all but the men’s kumite finals had four finalists. The men’s had six finalists, leading to an ABC for first place.

	Ben Cunningham giving Kancho a quick tickle, when he thinks no-one is looking... Coochy coochy coo!

It was a pity that the male and female finals were run side by side, because it was impossible to concentrate on two rings simultaneously, especially if you were positioned off to one side. However, time was getting on, and I understand the need to bring things to a close.

It was terrific to see the presence of a few UK competitors in the finals, particularly in the junior events, and I’d like to single out Harvey Tan for particular praise. In spite of being the smallest person in his kumite group, he emerged victorious, with an excellent demonstration of control and speed.

When it came to the adult kumite finals, there was a distinctly different flavour between men’s and women’s divisions. Although the women circled, their kumite seemed more linear. They tended to use combinations to move in closer, and for the most part, kept it very simple. It was nice to see Caroline Smith using her front kick effectively, although as usual, the referee (in this case Shihan) refused to score a front kick. Caroline also used a front-kick fake on a number of times. Hayley was much lighter on her feet, and it was her ability to close distance, whilst punching that won it for her. Interestingly, just like her brother, most of her punches were body level. Whether this was because there was a bigger opening there, or to avoid the risk of picking up contact penalties is impossible to tell.

Harvey Tan did the UK proud in the junior kumite finals

	And John Ddungo did just as well in junior kata

The guys were much more mobile, and could often be seen running at full pace around the ring. In the final between Lachlan Carr and Anthony Ryan, Anthony unleashed a dazzling tour-de-force of techniques, using a wide variety. It’s clear that in addition to head-height round and hook kicks, he’s added a scorching-fast body-level round kick to his arsenal. His student Lachlan, relied more upon the breath-taking speed of his reverse-punch counter, his super-fast alternating punch combos, and the confidence of his movement and blocking. It was particularly interesting to see the dynamic in this final, because Anthony, who was nursing a back injury, appeared to be the aggressor for the most part, stalking Lachlan around the ring. Anthony is usually more cautious, so he clearly felt that he had the skills and experience to take the fight to Lachlan. Sometimes over-confidence can cost dearly, and his imperfect control cost him points. Whilst I felt that he had dominance throughout the fight, he eventually lost. Interestingly, Anthony seemed to be at his best as the time was ticking down and a sense of urgency entered his fighting. I found it completely inscrutable to see why he was denied some points, particularly on one occasion when he swept Lachlan to the floor and then followed with a great punch and was awarded nothing. Watch the footage and make up your own mind.

Angela Farmer, Hayley Carr and caroline Smith (l-r)

I’m not a big lover of the ABC rule because it presumes that because competitor A can beat competitor B, if B can beat C, then A would also have beaten C. This is not true because different competitors’ fighting styles make a big difference. However on this occasion, it worked out fairly, because everyone got to fight everyone.

Lachlan started by defeating Ashley Fleming. He then beat Anthony Ryan too. Anthony then beat Ashley for the silver.

I’m certain that we haven’t seen the last of Anthony Ryan, because not only did he still look unbelievably good; he was clearly significantly better than at the last world cup in 2005. He’s such an inspiration. I had opined to a couple of people before the tournament that I  felt Anthony’s kumite was linear and unimaginative, but I could not possibly have been proven more wrong. I was truly in awe of the man’s inspirational talent. Anthony has been three times GKR world Champion, so it was an incredible achievement for Lachlan to beat him. The achievement was all the more fantastic when you consider that Lachlan had just won the kata finals as well.

In fact, it was a day that will doubtless go down in history for the Carr family. All three members won double golds: 13 year old Issabelle won in the 8^th and 7^th kyu division, 21 year old Hayley won the female opens, and of course, 19 year old Lachlan took the male opens. I remember talking to these guys in 2003 when Lachlan had just won the colts. He talked to me about his intense training schedule, and it’s clear that he hasn’t gone easy on himself since then. The whole family is a real inspiration, and they show what is possible with hard work and good coaching.

	Ashley Fleming, Lachlan Carr and Anthony Ryan (l-r)

The tournament finished around about 7.30pm on the second day, and was followed by a number of parties and celebratory meals. Overall, it seems to have been well organised and well run. It was great that Sensei Gavin tried to give the officials half an hour of private shopping time at the merchandise stands before the doors opened. It’s a nice way to show appreciation for their services, which for the most part, were voluntary. It was just a pity that the credit card machines weren’t working, and the shop actually didn’t start selling until five minutes before the main doors opened. Nice idea though...

I heard a few people moaning about the quality and price of the merchandise, but I thought it was great gear at a reasonable price, given the limited audience and window of opportunity to sell it.

As always, my biggest bone of contention is the refereeing, and I wonder when GKR is going to hold itself to a higher standard and provide meaningful training to our referees, instead of what they currently receive, which is virtually nothing. I for one, would be happy to run referee coaching courses a few times a year if they are short of staff.

I’d like to pay particular recognition to people such as Sensei Damien and the other crowd-control staff who spent two days standing at doors and in corridors making sure people only went where they should be. They probably had the most thankless task on the day, and they deserve full appreciation. I’d also like to thank the first aid staff, whom I felt were kept too busy over the event. I’d also like to recognise all of the non-RM officials, without whom, the event could not have taken place. There were between 100 and 200 unpaid officials there, who volunteered their time to run the rings. Many of them did not get to do the glamorous jobs like refereeing, but rather got stuck scoring or time-keeping all day. Be sure to shake an official’s hand when you get back to your dojos…

When I see events like the Shoto world cup, attended by less than 500 competitors, then you see the size of our tournament, it makes you realise what a huge club we really are. It was terrific to meet up with our colleagues from Australia, New Zealand, and America, as well as getting the chance to hook up with friends from other parts of Britain. This community spirit is what gives me a warm fuzzy feeling with GKR, and that’s just one more reason why the world cup was really special.

Congratulations to all who competed, whether you won a medal or not!

Picturesque Birmingham was a great location for the event, but let's hope it comes to London one day...

Five things that could be improved at the next world cup

1. Better trained referees. Don’t assume that because someone is an RM that they have a clue how to organise a table or referee – many don’t

2. Absolutely consistent application of contact rules

3. Spread the demos and opens over both days

4. Don't let non-competitors buy team jackets

5. No level 1 refs scoring kata or reffing at world (or national) events

Click here to read a competitor's perspective

Click here for the Open division results

Click here to download videos