British Judo’s Kata programme continues to go from strength-to-strength as evidenced by this year’s National Championships held at Samurai Judo Club this past weekend.

With 44 entries across the competition from all four Home Nations, it exceeded the 33 entries from last year’s edition with performance levels continuing to improve which was reflected in the judges’ scores and remarks.

The Kata Commission took responsibility for organising the Competition and once again the GB Kata community stepped up to deliver a fantastic competition. Samurai Judo Club provided an excellent event that allowed the likes of Dave Horton-Jones, Duncan Kinnear, Vicky Cleevely, Sarah Newbury to run a smooth competition for all involved alongside support from the club volunteers.

Notable performances on the day included:

• A return to the Katame-no-kata No.1 spot for Paul Laverty and Alex Reid – An unprecedented 12 pairs contested for this title,
• Shizentai Judo Club who took home THREE national Kata titles,
• Bob and Ricky Cleevely taking the Kime-no-kata title for the ELEVENTH time;

One of the key priorities for the Kata Commission has been to increase the number of Ju-no-kata, which has paid dividends with an increase to seven entries this year.

The Chair of British Judo’s Kata Commission Llyr Jones was thrilled by the standard of the competition: “It is really heartening to see the everyday enthusiasm for kata being translated into high quality competitive kata performances by judoka from right across the UK.  This is a real testament to the hard work done by everyone over the year.  Well done to all kata competitors, coaches, and judges.”

British Judo Kata Lead Dave Horton-Jones echoed Llyr’s comments: “The level of participation was outstanding; we now have 6 judges with more trainee judges being mentored. The number of kata courses throughout the UK has continued to increase, stimulating greater interest in judoka. Some of these judoka have now progressed to becoming Kata Examiners.”

The following day, European Judo Union (EJU) Head Kata Commissioner Dr Slavisa Bradic (Brada) led an EJU Seminar focussing on three specific Kata, judging criteria and coaching Kata to children, please see separate report to follow. Brada had been at Walsall as part of the IJF Academy course where again Kata was a key element.

Click here for the full results

2024 National Kata Course

Once again, the National Course is to be held at Aldershot, hosted by the Southern Area, and led by Kodokan Instructor Yoshihiko Iura 8^th Dan on 23^rd and 24^th November 2024. This course is always well attended so if you are interested in kata at any level, or require kata certification for further promotion please book your place now.  This year the course will cover Koshiki-no-kata on the Saturday and Kime-no-kata on the Sunday.

Click here to book

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