This year our Qld Chito-Ryu Karate tournament circuit is bigger than ever, culminating with the national championships to be held on the Gold Coast later this year.  But to kick off the competition season we are proud to announce the first tournament for the year to be held Saturday 5th March 2011.  With the recent expansion of the maroochydore dojo, we now have adequate space to run the tournament in the dojo.

If you have never competed before this is the perfect opportunity now with new divisions and events for beginners of all ages.  And of course we also have divisions for our more seasoned competitors too.

Download you entry form here, or get a copy of the form at the dojo.

For our local members who are thinking of competiting, we will be running a few pre-tournament clinics to help educate new competitors in the rules of competition and give them a better idea of what to expect on the day of competition.  Pre tournament clinics will be run at Sunshine Coast Karate’s Maroochydore dojo on Friday 18th Feb & Friday 4th March.  For more information, please speak to instructors.

Individual Kata – Divisions are broken up by age and rank so you will be able to compete against other people your own level.  In this event, you will perform a kata (preset pattern of techniques) and you will be judged on a variety of criteria, including: form, technique and application.  In order to make it more comfortable for beginner competitors competing for the first time, they will have the opportunity to have a more senior member perform the kata beside them.  Depending upon the number of competitors in the divisions, the top competitors may need to perform up to 3 kata as they progress through the rounds.

Team Kata – Divisions are broken up by rank.  In this event, teams of 3 people perform a kata all together.  Performances are judged in much the same way as individual kata except performances are also judged on the level of sincronicity.

Bunkai Demonstration Event – In this event, teams of 2 people perform a series of self defence applications.  This is an event for more senior competitors, purple belt and above.  In this event, both competitors must take the role of both attacker and defender, performing approximately 5 self defence applications each.

Karate Triathlon – Kumite Skills – This is a new event we are introducing this year for beginners as en entry level event to help develop the skills and confidence to compete in kumite (sparring) down the track.  Last year we started to introduce a similar event for younger competitors but this event will be open to all ages with divisions broken up into various age categories and there will be a few adjustments to format of the event.  As the name suggests this will be a 3 part event, with: line drills, bag work & partner tag matches.  Unlike kumite, this is a non-contact event aimed to help competitors develop confidence and skills in a fun format.

Individual Kumite (Sparring) – Divisions are broken up by age and rank so you will be able to compete against other people your own level.  In this event, you will compete head to head against your opponents. Unlike many other styles of Karate, in Chito-Ryu we practice bogu kumite, which is a form of controlled contact sparring with protective body and head gear.  By utilising protective equipment, competitors can practice in a more realistic format encouraging competitors to test their skills and build a strong spirit while remaining safe and free from serious injury which is common in other competition formats.

If you’re interested here are a few kumite highlights for previous Chito-Ryu World Championships from some of our Aussie representatives.