Referee News
EKF Referee Training Course And Exam
The English Karate Federation held a Kata & Kumite Officials training course. After the success of the last course, the course combined both Kata & Kumite training. The course was taken by WKF Karate Referee Terry Pottage assisted by World Kata & Kumite Judge Nariman Jeddi. Also in attendance was England’s newest international official Tony Dent who recently qualified as a European Kata Judge.
For the first time on an English Referee course, the presentation was given on a big screen using a powerpoint format just as they do at European and World Referee courses. Terry started the course by going through the current W.K.F. competition rules covering both Kata & Kumite and explaining the finer points in great detail. After the theory training, it was examination time. 10 Candidates who are attempting a new qualification or renewing their current qualification attempted the theory exam with a minimum pass mark of 80% for Kumite Judge, 90% for Kata Judge and 90% for Kumite Referee. Also, for the first time since the formation of the EKF, 3 candidates also took the new national table officials exam.
The theory examinations were followed by practical training on the tatami with Terry and all officials going through the various Referee commands and signals. With the absence of our younger volunteers who normally come along for sparring, everyone then changed into their Karate Gi’s with the experienced Referee’s & Judges taking their turn to do some sparring and the new candidates and candidates up for promotion officiating under the watchful eye of Terry and Nariman.
It was then time for some Kata. The class was split into 2 groups for training on the Shitei Kata for W.K.F. competition. Terry Pottage – 7th Dan took half of the group through the Shito Ryu version of Sienchin and Nariman Jeddi – 7th Dan took the other half of the group through the Goju Ryu version of Seipai. Candidates who wish to attempt a Kata Judge qualification must perform one Shitei Kata from their own style and then one Shitei Kata from one of the other 3 styles. With 2 candidates up for Kata assessment, it was then time for the 40 candidates who attended the course to move aside whilst the assessments took place. First up was Tony Perry from Hanko Ryu who performed Shito-Ryu Bassai Dai as his own Shitei Kata and then Goju-Ryu Seipai as his selected Kata from another style in front of World Kata Judges Terry and Nariman along with the added pressure of the other 40 officials watching. Second up was Reece Taylor, also from Hanko Ryu who preformed Shito-Ryu Sienchin as his own Shitei Kata and Goju Ryu Seipai as his selected Kata from another style. After selected questions on the Bunkai of all Kata performed, Tony Perry was awarded National Kata Judge ‘B’ and Reece Taylor became the first candidate ever to receive the new Junior Kata Judge qualification.
With 40 candidates in attendance, 10 of whom took Kumite Examinations, 3 took Table Officials Examinations and 2 successful Kata Judge assessments, the course again proved to be a very successful day. Written examination are as follows:
Renewals all passed
New Provisional Qualifications
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Kata
Table Officials (Provisional)
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The successful candidates will take practical assessments at the forthcoming BKF championships in Sheffield next weekend.
Finally, a big thank you must go to Tony Utting of Aquila Karate for arranging the venue.
EKF Kumite / Kata Officials Course / Exams announced
Forest Town Colliery Welfare, Clipstone Rd West, Forest Town, Mansfield NG19 0EE - 31st August 2008
See the Courses Section for more details 
English Referee success in Slovenia
At the European Regional Championships, held in Maribor, Slovenia, last weekend, the European Referees course was held prior to Saturdays Championships, our officials were a credit to the EKF and achieved some fantastic results.
The course began on Thursday evening with the presentation of the theory followed on Friday morning with the theory examinations for Kata and Kumite, after a short break all the candidates for Kata had to change into Gis and were given 90 minutes training on the Kata Seishan, Sienchin, Jion and Sepai by Referee Commission members , with Terry Pottage taking over 40 of the highest graded officials in Europe through Shito Ryu Sienchin which was thoroughly enjoyed. This is the first time for many years that this system of Referees Kata training has been held and was received extremely well. This was then followed by the candidates all having to perform a Kata from their own style and one from another style, after completion they were then questioned on the Kata in relation to Bunkai and the Kihon of the style. The final part of the examination was dependant on their performance at the Championships I am happy to report that we had 100% success with the following results.
- Billy Brennan Kata Judge A
- Vince Parker Kata Judge A
- Brian Noble Kata Judge B
- Tony Dent Kata Judge B
This means that both Billy and Vince now have the highest qualifications in both Kata and Kumite at European level along with Nariman Jeddi and Terry Pottage.
From L-R Alan White, Dave Robinson, Tony Dent, Vince Parker, Terry Pottage, Billy Brennan, Brian Noble Ivor
Thomas, Terry Robins and Steve Coupland.
The final part of Kumite examination was conducted at the Championships once again all of our candidates performed very well unfortunately two of our candidates were unsuccessful on this occasion and didn’t reach the required percentage. The following are the examination results from the event.
- Ivor Thomas Judge A
- Steve Coupland Judge A Retained
- Terry Robins Judge A Retained
- Dave Robinson and Alan White unfortunately did not reach the required pass mark.
Out of the four finals of this event English officials were used in three of them again another recognition of the esteem our officials are held in also Billy Brennan was also appointed as assistant Tatami Chief for this event, a fantastic recognition.
A final comment is that once again every one of these officials were prepared to put their hands in their pockets and pay to attend this event without any form of sponsorship or funding so if anyone out there wants to help these dedicated officials with financial support then please let us know.
European Karate Federation - Referee Commission
The EKF Referee Commissions' elections took place on May 1st at 7pm in the Sokos Hotel Viru. The 110 referees present voted for 3 members of the EKF RC who will stay in office until 2012 (4 year term). The election procedure by secret ballot lasted for 1 hour and the results were as follows:
- Terry Pottage (England) re-elected
- Robert Hamara (Norway)
- Giuseppe Zaccaro (Italy)
The entire procedure was supervised by Mr. G. Nordahl, EKF 'A' Vice-President.
Referee & Judges Promotions
On Sunday 6th April at the EKF National Championships in Sheffield, the following officials gained new qualifications due to their excellent performances throughout the two day championships.
Kumite
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Kata
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The qualifications were awarded by EKF Chief Referee Terry Pottage assisted by Doug James, following recommendations from the Tatami Chiefs after assessments throughout the championships.
EKF Kata & Kumite Referee's Course
On Sunday 10th February, 2008 the first EKF/Kata & Kumite Referee Course took place at the Cheslyn Hay Leisure Centre in Cannock, West Midlands. Changing from the normal routine of either Kata or Kumite, this was a combined course taken by EKF Chief Referee Terry Pottage.
Terry started the course by going through the current W.K.F. competition rules in great detail covering both Kata and Kumite explaining the finer points clearly. After the theory training, it was examination time. Candidates who are attempting a new qualification or renewing their current qualification must attempt a theory exam with a minimum pass mark of 80% for Kumite Judge, 90% for Kata Judge and 90% for Kumite Referee.
The theory exam was the followed by practical training on the tatami. Everyone changed into their Karate Gi for practical training on the Shitei Kata for W.K.F. competition. Terry Pottage - 7th Dan took the entire group through the Shito Ryu version of Bassai Dai followed by Doug James - 7th Dan taking the group through the Wado Ryu version of Seishan and finally Nariman Jeddi - 7th Dan took the group through the Goju Ryu version of Saifa. Candidates who wish to attempt a Kata Judge qualification must perform one Shitei Kata from their own style and then one Shitei Kata from one of the other 3 styles. The group then split into three groups depending on which of the 3 Shitei Kata they wished to concentrate on.
The final part of the course meant a final change back into Referee uniform for some practical Kumite Judging. With the help of 5 W.K.F. qualified officials and 2 European Officials, all candidates were given the opportunity of practical training thanks to a couple of volunteers from a local Karate club who came along to do some sparring and aid with the course.
With over 40 officials in attendance, the future of EKF looks very good indeed. The next course will be taking place at the same venue on Sunday 30th March, 2008