Chesham club went to Guildford yesterday to take part in the BUTF British tournament. Held for the first time at the Surrey sports park, a fantastic new venue for us.
The day started off with the presentation of certificates to newly qualified instructors, 2 of whom are Chesham students; 2nd dan Dave Shakespeare, and newly promoted to 3rd dan, Craig Childress, who then went up to collect his certificate and new belt.
Coloured belts then took to the floor for their competition. Results for Chesham's juniors were a bit sparse but not to worry as valuable experience is gained. However, Joe Furmanski and Calum Eggleton, both yellow tags, in their first big tournament, did very well. Calum silver and Joe bronze in the same pattern division, and then Joe got a silver in sparring. Nathan Pascall got a bronze in patterns in a very big green belt group, and his little brother Neilon got a gold in the flying side kick destruction.
In the adult division Sheldon Childress had a great day, gold in patterns and destruction and bronze in sparring. This meant he won the 'overall coloured belt male champion' title after combining results from the last BUTF tournament.
Chesham's black belts however had a brilliant day! Juniors Max Whitley and Lewis Swallow repeated their results from the last meeting; 2 golds for Max, 2 silvers for Lewis. Some great sparring.
And to be honest a surprise result from Max with his training regime been on hold due to knee problems from an ice-skating injury and from growth spurts! Amazing what determination can do. He also gets the 2nd overall title for Chesham, being the BUTF junior black belt champion.
Craig Childress took part in the senior bb patterns after having only 2 weeks to learn the new compulsory pattern, and he came away with a bronze. Team mate Dave Shakespeare, not to be outdone in any way, went and smashed his way to a gold in the hand destruction event.
Other bb pattern results were Jordan Heywood with a bronze.
But the finale was the adult male sparring. Jordan, George Hanchant and Luke Mitterhuber all in the same division and all fought so hard. Great for the spectators. Eventually another Chesham final between George and Luke. Luke, already with his bleeding nose plugged up from the previous round, wasn't going to let that stop him. George, all fired up as ever, wasn't backing down. Just before the finish George took a blow to his eye causing a nasty cut that had the medics stop the fight, so Luke took gold. Handshakes and hugs after from 2 great sportsmen.