The day also included competitions from the Judo and Karate clubs in Margate, and as such the children had a fair bit of waiting around, until it was their turn to compete. The waiting in itself was quite nerve racking but coupled with the fact that it was their first competition added to the pressure. Much to my amazement, and that of the other judges the students from Gowa Ryu were exceptional, taking Four Gold, Six Silver and Two Bronze medals in total. The children's demonstration of Kata was particularly good and Ian DUNN 5th Dan commented on several occasions at how good they were.

Our children were by far the best behaved and were a credit to their parents and the club alike. I would like to thank the parents for bringing the kids along, I know that Margate is not the easiest place to get to and things went on for a bit longer than forecast, so thank you for your patience and support throughout the day. The competition had the following categories; Kata, Tanto Randori (freeplay against a knife attacker) and Ninindori (defence against multiple attackers). These were in turn split into ability levels, with Gold, Silver and Bronze medals available for grade levels of white to yellow belt, orange to green belt and blue to brown belt. There is also a further divide with Boys and Girls sections in each category. Each of these categories were very close run with 0.1 of a mark separating first and second positions in many of the competitions. And the winners are… Boys section In the Blue to Brown belt category Daniel and Thomas Dempster took Gold in the Tanto and Silver in the Kata In the White to Yellow belt category Callum O'Connor took silver medals in the Tanto and Kata sections. Girls section In the White to Yellow belt category, Molly Gibson and Charlotte Finch took Gold in Kata and Bronze in Tanto and Emma Bohill and Kelly Dempster took silver medals in the Kata section. Needless to say the day was a resounding success and we have been invited back for their next competition, which will take place in the summer 2005. Charlotte has already asked me when the next competition will be. In short I do not know at this time, but this kind of event is clearly what the kids enjoy so I shall look around the other BAA Aikido clubs for junior events that we can take part in and with a bit of luck we may be able to host our own event some time next year. I would also like to congratulate Emma who took the Student of the Month award for November. Her hard work, attention to detail and graceful execution of technique made her a clear winner this month.