It was competition galore for the Letterkenny Shotokan Karate Club over the weekend in Birmingham.
Attending the 2024 Great Britain Open Karate International Championship, the Letterkenny club was represented by a small squad of Noah Callaghan, Teresa Gallagher and Gerard Foley.
Taking place over two days, it was wall to wall karate with over 2000 entries from as far as Uzbekistan to teams from across Europe. With multiple world champions competing, the standard was extremely high.
As expected with so many martial artists gathered in one place, the atmosphere was fairly electric with nerves and anticipation.
Competing across the full range of events, including kata (demonstration of technique), kobudo (weapons) and kumite (fighting), the LSKC team put their best foot forward.
It was Gerard’s second time to compete in the championship but, unlike last year, there was unfortunately no wins this time. As sensei Christopher O’ Donnell said, “you can only get better by going up against higher graded opponents”, just one lesson amongst many taken home.
For Noah Gallagher it was his first time competing internationally, a big deal for any 13 year old. It takes a lot of courage to travel to another country and jump in at the deep end, and Noah had it to spare. Travelling over with his mother, Margaret, it was certainly a trip to remember. Also going up against higher ranked competition, Noah made a great show of himself in kumite fighting. There were some sharp hits exchanged on the day, but unluckily it wasn’t to be for him this time. “What you don’t get in medals, you gain in experience” said sensei John Wilkie, “you can only come back better for the next time”.
It wasn’t all just experience though, as Teresa Gallagher proved. Also her first time in international competition, she competed in kumite against former world champions and in team events with Gerard, but it was in the individual kata that Teresa really shone through. The lowest ranked competitor in her group, Teresa eventually found herself in a tie breaker for bronze position. Putting in a great performance of the kata “heian sandan”, she clinched it to take home a big victory for herself and the team.
All in all, it was an action packed weekend for every karate competitor involved. Injuries, disappointments, successes, tears of both pain and joy; all to be seen, heard and felt in the Birmingham University sports arena, “a sensory overload!” as Teresa put it.
It’s back to training for the Letterkenny Shotokan Karate Club once again in the community centre because, as John Wilkie always says, “everything begins in the dojo”.
Teresa Gallagher medals as Letterkenny Shotokan Karate Club compete in Britain was last modified: July 2nd, 2024 by