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UK Open Championships, Dudley
Since the turn of the New Year, our kumite training schedule has been focused on improving fitness, stamina, speed and tenacity whilst maintaining the technical skills developed last year. A lot of emphasis has also been placed on advanced kicking techniques.
I have been inspired by the work rate and attitude ofthe squad and was really pleased to see the hard work pay off in our first competition of 2009 at Dudley.
For 12 competitors pick up 12 medals is an achievement in itself but it was the manner that this was done that pleased me the most. Every athlete looked a class above their opponents (even those who unlucky enough not to win a medal) and it was great to see the techniques we has been working on put into practice.
Carla Burkitt,
(18) of Lewsey Farm, Luton and current England No1 under 21 light-weight wins a bronze medal at the Cadet, Junior and U21 European Championships held at the Coubertin Stadium, Paris France this weekend
On Sunday 1st February ‘09 Carla Burkitt won a bronze medal at the 36th Cadet, Junior and U21 European Championships held at the Coubertin Stadium, Paris France. Forty-five countries were represented with over 800 entries making it the biggest championships ever.
Carla has gone from strength to strength after winning a bronze medal last year’s Commonwealth Karate Championships in Scotland and is now establishing herself on the European circuit currently racked number three in Europe. Carla help England to a credible seventh place on the medal table over all being one of six medal winners on her European debut.
England coach Greg Francis stated “It was an excellent performance from Carla and she was a pleasure to coach”. Club coach Willie Thomas, himself a former World Champion says, “Carla has harnessed the very essence of commitment, hard work and loyalty. She has persevered through injury and disappointment, peaks and troughs’, encompassing all what it means to be an elite athlete. I’m very proud of her”
.Carla is a completely self-funded athlete and (although the World Karate Federation has been short listed, it awaits a decision for the inclusion to the Olympic Games in October 2009) she is not eligible for UK sport funding. Carla works extremely hard at the elite- performance academy at Oakland’s college both physically and academically and plans to attend Middlesex University in September to study ‘Sports Injury and rehabilitation’.
Now Carla has her sights firmly placed on the Commonwealth Karate Championships (Mumbai, India) and the World Karate Championships (Rabat, Morocco) later on this year where once again will be a medal hopeful for her Country. Anybody wishing to sponsor Carla in her endeavours can contact Willie Thomas now on 07590 513 003