On Friday 15th Jan 2016 we held our Annual Awards Party at the Poppleton Community Centre. With around 100 attendees it was a fantastic evening with great feedback from everyone who attended.

Back by popular demand was Alan Leach and his high tech Speedquiz (www.speedquizzing.com) which as always was great fun with a whole load of challenging questions for young and old alike (and plenty of opportunity for our resident teacher parents to "clarify" a few of the answers....!!!).

After the first two rounds of quizzing we took a break for an awesome buffet prepared by Sarah and Maria, with added extras from some of our parents - many thanks to everyone who contributed.

After the grub we had another two rounds of tightly fought Q&A before the winning team, headed up by our very own Andy Coatesworth emerged victorious. Of more importance however was the intense competition between a group of Dads against their better halves. It was nip and tuck throughout but in the end the Mums (Janis, Jude and Sarah) emerged on top - we never expected anything less, (better luck next year Steve, John and Alex...!).

After the quiz we had our Annual Awards. As a club we had a fantastic year and the Instructors wanted to recognise this through the award of a number of certificates and merit awards (ippon of the year, most memorable moment etc) as well as some more dubious awards (most injury prone, best hair and so on...).

Finally we got down to the serious awards which were:

Most Improved Junior - Tarik Semic

Most Improved Senior - Suzanne Greening

Competitor of the Year - Connor Dunckley

Bushido Award Kyu Grades - Grace Kerr

Bushido Award Dan Grades - Attila Rejto

Karateka of the Year - Sam Blundell

Congratulations to all of our award winners and many thanks to all of our members and especially their families and friends who provide incredible support throughout the year. We're looking forward to a successful 2016 and hope to see you all at next year's Awards Party.  

On Sunday 20th December 2015 we welcomed back Sensei John Holdsworth 6th Dan KUGB and Sensei Julie Nicholson 6th Dan for our end of year grading and training. In the morning there was a special training class for our Dan Grades and 1st Kyus which concentrated on the Dan Grading Syllabus including detailed execution and application of the advanced Dan Grade Kata Meikyo.

After lunch there was a training class for our Kyu Grades before the afternoon's grading began. We are delighted that the following karateka achieved their next grades:

9th Kyu - Matthew Bunter, Lisa Hutchinson, Paul Mellish, Carolina Odell

8th Kyu - Sophie Didier, Eliza Hutchinson, Chandler Walsh

7th Kyu - Clementine Ensor, Nakeisha Espina, Ibraheem Hadrami, Carlos Odell, Caroline Poels

6th Kyu - Idris Hadrami, Joe Heslop, Chris Power, Amina Semic, John Sharpe

5th Kyu - Oliver Arnold, Daniel Crabtree, Linda Dawson, Finley Ensor, Suzanne Greening, Sharon Harrison, Lucy Heslop, Henry Leites, Tarik Semic, Arthus Sharpe, Mia Spall

4th Kyu - Toby Holliday, Isabelle Marron, Esme Sharpe

3rd Kyu - Grace Kerr, Jocelin Leites, Maia Leites, Rachel Poels

1st Kyu - Charlie Hutchinson

Congratulations to everyone who graded. Sensei Holdsworth also commented on the great attitude of all our members and the quality of the karate on display.

As ever we are hugely gratefull to both Senseis for their time and their exceptional coaching for both the senior and junior classes. We look forward to their next visit (which hopefully will be a bit sooner than Christmas 2016!).

Today we welcomed back Sensei Garry Harford 8th Dan KUGB to York Elite. Sensei Harford started the day with an inspirational class for Dan Grades and 1st Kyus. The 2 hour morning class was challenging and full of technical detail working on all aspects of karate - kihon, kata and kumite with a masterclass on Meikyo for Dan Grades and Bassai Dai for 1st Kyus thrown in for good measure.

After a short break, Sensei Harford then took a training class for our Kyu Grade students before grading 29 of our students. Sensei Harford commented on how pleased he was with the improvement in a number of students and in particular the general attitude and focus in both training and grading.

Thanks from all at York Elite to Sensei Harford for a great day and congratulations to the following karate-ka for passing their grading:

9^th Kyu - Sadie Heslop; Willem Sadler; Chandler Walsh;

8^th Kyu - Nakeisha Espina; Carlos Odell; Tommy Power;

7^th Kyu - Joe Heslop; Chris Power; Amina Semic; John Sharpe;

6^th Kyu - Suzanne Greening; Oliver Arnold; Daniel Crabtree; Linda Dawson; Sharon Harrison; Lucy Heslop; Tarik Semic; Arthur Sharpe; Mia Spall;

5^th Kyu - Aaron Clements; Isabelle Marron; Esme Sharpe;

4^th Kyu - Grace Kerr; Maia Leites;

3^rd Kyu - Isla Cordes;

2^nd Kyu - Nathaniel Clements; Cai Jackson;

1^st Kyu - John Dawson and Mark Grayson.

Training and Grading with Sensei Brennan 14th June 2015

On Sunday 14th June 2015 we had a special training class for senior grades followed by grading for Kyu Grades with Sensei Frank Brennan 8th Dan KUGB. It was a great day all round and we're very grateful to Sensei Brennan for his time and the level of teaching. The Senior Class in particular was very intense working on form, technique, speed and power and everyone who attended commented on the excellence of the class.

Congratulation to everyone who graded in the kyu grade examinations: Eliza Hutchinson, Nakeisha Espina, Siena Mark, Chris Power, John Sharpe, Tommy Power, Carlos Odell, Jenny Fell, Amina Semic, Daniel Crabtree, Suzanne Greening, Lucy Heslop, Arthur Sharpe, Mia Spall, Oliver Arnold, Linda Dawson, Sharon Harrison, Tarik Semic, Finley Ensor, Isabelle Marron, Esme Sharpe, Henry Leites, Maia Leites, Toby Holliday, Aasiyah Surve, Grace Kerr, Jocelin Leites, Charlie Hutchinson, Sophie Fowler, and Mark Grayson.

We look forward to welcoming Sensei Brennan back to the dojo soon.