What a fantastic weekend! Eight members of the Grimsby Strike Team travelled to Cardiff to represent Team GBR at the World Martial Arts Games 2011.
On Friday 19th August the eight fighters joined the rest of Team GBR at the National Indoor Athletics Centre at the University of Cardiff for the opening ceremony. As the teams walked in supporting their flags it became apparent just how big this competition was going to be, with competitors from England, Ireland, Wales, Germany, New Zealand, Canada, USA, Mexico, Italy and Portugal. None of the Strike team was fighting that day so coach john Tomlinson took the fighters off for a gruelling training session.
Saturday, the first day of fighting arrived. Ethan Noton, Daniel Balch, Evan Balch (sponsored by the Indian Kitchen Restaurant) and Kevin Benson were the only Grimsby Strike Team members to be fighting in light continuous. Ethan and Evan both fought in the 9yrs and under category. Ethan tried his best against a thick set opponent but unfortunately lost to the Welsh boy in the first round. Evan won his first two fights and soon found himself stepping onto the mat in the final. He had been using strong punches and had made good use of his long legs scoring many head kicks! After some dubious scoring by the judges it was a silver medal for Evan which he was most impressed with!
Next up was Kevin Benson; Kevin easily won his place in the semi-final. This was a hard fight. His opponent stood head and shoulders above him. After just 10seconds Kev’s opponent got his first warning for heavy contact. Kev battled hard kicking his way in, using his punches than getting out. The second round started and this time 15 seconds in Kev’s opponent got a 2nd warning for heavy contact. This hadn’t fazed Kev and he kept on going. Then his opponent threw an illegal kick to Kev’s throat. The referee never issued a warning! With just 10 seconds to go Kev took a very hard roundhouse kick to the side of his head. The contact was so hard it knocked Kev out. Again no warning was issued, as this would have meant disqualification for Kev’s Welsh opponent. Kev got up and carried on to finish the fight. Not surprisingly the win went to the Welshman. Three Welsh referees on the mat again.
Daniel was last to fight out of the Grimsby Strike Team on the Saturday. His techniques were good, he kept his distance and he looked like he was demonstrating how to fight light continuous. Again Daniel breezed his way into the semi-final, and then it happened again. He was up against a Welsh boy and there was three Welsh referees on the mat. Daniel fought extremely well using good clean techniques. He went in with a front kick then followed with two or three punches then moved out. This wasn’t good enough to secure the win and so Daniel had to be satisfied with a bronze medal.
By the end of Saturday team GBR had mixed emotions. Some fighters had come away with medals but many coaches felt that there had been some very biased decisions towards the Welsh. Sunday came and before the points fighting started all the referees were called for a meeting. From this point they split the referees so that there was more than one nationality refereeing on one mat!
First to fight out of the Grimsby Strike Team was Evan Balch in the 8 and 9 yr old advanced category. Evan stepped onto the mat to fight yesterday’s winner of his light continuous category. Evan kept attacking his opponent with good head kicks which frustrated the opposition resulting in him storming off the mat and throwing his gloves in. He was disqualified from fighting for the rest of the day and Evan won 9-3.
Ethan Noton was also in this category. He started out well using the jabbing sidekick followed by a back fist reverse punch. Ethan easily won his fight over his opponent with his unique talent of speed and timing! Both Evan and Ethan kept on fighting well and eventually ended up meeting each other in the final. It was a great fight but Ethan won the gold leaving Evan with another silver medal. Ethan was the first of the Grimsby Strike Team to be crowned World Champion at the World Martial Arts Games 2011.
Joe Axcell was next to represent the Grimsby Strike Team and Team GBR in the boys 10 and 11 year old advanced category. Joe won the semi-final 6-2 dodging a spinning back kick along the way with his speed also scoring some very nice blitz techniques! The final was a showdown with an American boy who wanted Joe to attack but it never came as he used his wits to bide his time and Joe managed to win 1-0. Joe was the 2nd member of the Grimsby Strike Team to take the gold medal.
Luke Tomlinson fought in the boy’s 12-14 years novice category. He soon found himself in the semi-final. Luke breezed his way through this winning 7-0 by attacking his opponent non stop. The final went to extra time. At the end of extra time it was still a draw and so went to sudden death. The pressure was on and the nerves were kicking in but Luke pulled it off scoring the winning point with a very nicely timed reverse punch. Another gold medal for the Grimsby Strike Team.
Daniel Balch stepped onto the mat in the boys 12-14 years advanced category. His first fight was very close with 3 seconds to go the score was 5-5. Daniel scored with a dummy sidekick followed by a reverse punch. Daniels semi-final only lasted 35 seconds. He was winning 2-0 when his opponent hurt his ankle and had to pull out. The final was a white wash for Daniel, he won it 5-0. Another gold for the Grimsby Strike Team.
Along came James Wallwork in the men’s novice category. The first round proved to be the most difficult for James. He only just won 7-6. His semi-final went well, James made good use of his long legs and went on to win 16-6. The final was close at the end of time it was 16-16. It then went to extra time, both fighters managed to score 2 more points each making it 18-18. This meant only one thing, Sudden death! James had to be first, the fighting began and James lifted his leg to score an amazing head kick taking the score to 20-18 and the gold medal!
Pressure was now on for coach John Tomlinson. Each of his students who had fought in semi-contact had won either silver or gold. John soon found himself in the semi-final of the men’s black belts. John took a good lead from the start. He was fast and great to watch. He skimmed the top of his opponent’s head with a spinning kick but followed it straight up with a back fist. The final two points in the round was when John went in with a jabbing sidekick then raised his leg for a sidekick to his opponents face. This took the score to 12-2 and the fight finished as John had 10 clear points. The final was much the same with the fight ending early because John had 10 clear points on his opponent. Another gold medal for the Grimsby Strike Team.
Joe Axcell and Ethan Noton entered into the team event alongside some other members of Team GBR. The team that had Joe in got to fourth place whilst the team Ethan was in won the teams section taking home another gold medal for Team GBR.
All in all it was an excellent weekend for the members of the Grimsby Strike Team and for their supporters who had travelled with them. The team came home with six World Champions (7 gold medals), Ethan, Joe, Daniel, Luke, James and John. Evan won two silver medals, Daniel also won a bronze and Kevin came fourth.
Well done to everyone. Great effort and what an experience for the youngsters not only representing your club but also your country. You should all be very rpoud even the old boys (Johnboy)!!!!