The WSKF South African National Development Championships was held this past weekend in Vanderbijlpark. This biennial event is a highlight on our calendar and has, once again, proven to be a huge success!

The development championships caters for members of all belt levels under the age of 21. This year’s event had WSKF members entered from all over South Africa, and even as far as Namibia!

The principles and standards of WSKF karate was clearly present as competitors competed in kata, basic kumite and free fighting. We are proud of each of our members and are happy to see that the medals were evenly presented across all dojos – highlighting the high level of standardization across all dojos.

A special congratulations to the following trophy winners:

– WSKF Best Tournament Spirit : Team Namibia lead by Leandro Sitler Sensei
– WSKF Best Female Competitor : Ulani Erasmus
– WSKF Best Male Competitor : Duncan Rogowski

The tournament ran smoothly and on time. It’s success was a result of so many members working together, including the table officials, judges, referees, instructors, first aid staff, kitchen staff, organizers, parents, and, most importantly, the children!

Thank you to all involved!

On Saturday, 17^th September 2016, WSKF South Africa once again hosted a very successful Development Tournament in Vanderbijlpark.

More than 240 karateka between the ages of 5 and 21 took part in this event and presented a high level of competition in front of a full stadium of spectators. Teams from the various WSKF dojos in Gauteng and North West Province competed.

The tournament included kata, kumite and team kata divisions as well as a nunchaku demonstration and a kumite demonstration.

Sensei Mike Dukas expressed his thanks to the various instructors for the many hours they put in to train the karateka for this event. He also stated that he is very proud of every member who participated. He felt proud of the good manners, discipline and great spirit displayed by competitors and officials alike. “This is what karate is about”

This championship is held every two years to encourage young karateka to enter their first tournament and to give the more experienced karateka a chance to compete against other dojos.  It also gives referees and judges an opportunity to improve their judging skills.  It is also the start of the preparations for the more experienced WSKF members who will be representing WSKF South Africa at the World WSKF Karate Championships in Tokyo, Japan in August next year.

We look forward to more interaction between karateka of the various WSKF dojos in the future.

WSKF South Africa hosted a very successful Development Karate Championship in Vanderbijlpark on Saturday 20th September 2014.

   
Sensei Mike Dukas (Chief Instructor WSKF South Africa) explained that the main purpose of this tournament is to develop young karate students to compete in Shotokan Tournament, and at the same time to strive to learn the etiquette for tournaments. The tournament also gives young judges and referees the opportunity of judging and in this way to upgrade their skills.

Spectators were entertained by demonstrations of Team Kata, Kumite and use of Nunchaku.

Brandon Shepherd won the trophy for the “best male competitor of the day”.

Caitlin Pillay won the trophy for the “best female competitor of the day”.

Congratulations to these two exceptional karateka, as well as congratulations to all medal winners.

Best spirit awards were won by Kaylee van der Sandt (under 10) and Lebohang Motshweneng (under 14)

Judges and Referees were also acknowledged with Gary Van Jaarsveld awarded “Best judge of the day” and Andrio Lombaard “Best referee of the day)