Weekend of Elite Karate

Tikara Karate Club who deliver weekly lessons at Waltham Forest Forest Feel Good Centre put on a weekend of elite karate. On Saturday 26th September there was a 6-hours of seminar master classes with one of the best coaches in the world, Ukrainian National Team Captain and 2023 European Champion, Valerii Chobotar which was attended by 150 athletes from 5 countries. There were two time slots for under 14s as the most popular age group then two trainings for cadets and higher age groups. 

Following the masterclass Waltham Forest Feel Good Centre opened its doors on Sunday 27th September for the official London Open, an English Karate Federation recognised event. This saw 330 athletes and 26 clubs take part. Karate competitors came from 8 countries; England, Poland, Ukraine, France, Norway, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Spain.  
 
The host club Tikara Karate are very successful across Europe and took full home advantage by entering a lot of talented karate kids into the events. Head coach Viacheslav  Kalmutskyi was happy as he shared that "We’ve placed 1st place overall all clubs with 28 golds, 30 silver and 47 bronze medals" no surprise why as that is over 100 medals! The elite competitors at the club are supported by GLL Sport Foundation, the UK's largest independent athlete support programme. 
 
Community Sport Manager, Daniel Bank said "it was fantastic to see a prestigious event at Waltham Forest Feel Good Centre. It is not always possible to organise competitions of this scale as we have weekly block bookers and lots of members who want to use the sport hall or studios. The centre team were able to accommodate and look at the impact with around 500 athletes taking part from 8 different countries across the weekend and potentially many more who were inspired by what they saw" 
 
Whilst it may not all be about the glory the media hype generated should inspire more youngsters to try the sport. For context the creative promotional video by SMM Content Production was viewed by 11,700 people. If you are interested in trying martial arts but Waltham Forest Feel Good Centre isn't your local Better centre ask your nearest facility which clubs are available, for example, there is Leyton Karate Club at Score Leisure Centre and Kenshukai Karate Club at Walthamstow Leisure Centre.