Athletes' Path To The English Karate Federation (EKF) National A Squad Elite 2010

EKF Elite Training Path 2010

All athletes wishing to obtain access to the England National A squad must advance through the above system.

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Stage 1: Grass root and Club level tournaments

From the diagram above stage 1 obviously relates to those students competing at grass root and club level. These students compete at local tournaments and in general are of varied age, grade and levels.

Stage 2: Regional Kumite Classes

  1. Any athlete with a minimum grade of Brown belt can attended these classes, providing that they are of a standard whereby they can cope with the training.
  2. Any athlete wishing to attend these classes must provide either written or verbal communication from their own instructor to the ‘Gateway Coach’ to ensure that the athlete has had permission to attend the classes.
  3. Athletes wishing to try out for admittance to the England A squad must attend a minimum of 5 regional Kumite classes before being eligible to train and select on the England Open Squad Training and Selections.
  4. The Kumite Training Tracking forms in addition to EKF licence will be used as proof on the day of selections and training to ensure that athletes are complying with the new rules.
  5. From January 2010 there will only be 2 England Open Squad Training (February and September). All other sessions regarding the England Squad will be closed sessions.
  6. As the coaches of the regional Kumite classes are considered the gateway to the national Squad, the coaches running these classes will now be known as the “Gateway Coaches” and as such they alone are responsible for running these classes.

Stage 3: EKF Regional Squads and England Open Squad Training and Selections

  1. The EKF Regional Squads provide an excellent opportunity for athletes wishing to represent their country a platform for them to gain international competition experience which is vital in the development of our athletes.
  2. Once again the path way to these sessions begins through the regional Kumite classes. Although any athlete may train at any regional Kumite class they want, the athlete may only represent the region that they permanently reside within.
  3. E.g. some athletes may live in the South but reside at university in the North; in this case the athlete will represent the Southern Region Squad.
  4. As previously the region will be Northern, Midlands and Southern Regions, each region will have one coach in charge, and if the coach wishes they may have an assistant to help them facilitate the role.
  5. All Regional coaches will liaise with the National Coach via the Regional Teams coordinator; this will ensure that there is consistency with regards to training and athlete preparation throughout the whole system, and in addition improve communication.
  6. The EKF England Open Squad training and selections as mentioned previously will only take place twice per year. This is the only opportunity for any athlete wishing to gain access on to the National A squad to prove themselves worthy, if successful the athlete will be invited to become a full member of the England National A Squad.
  7. As these sessions may indeed be the first time that some athletes, coaches and their parents may have experienced with the national squad, on these occasions the training sessions and selections will be open for viewing within the dojo for the instructors and parents providing that they respect the fact that they are in a Dojo and their cooperation with regards to silence is observed.
  8. Any questions the parents may have with regards to the athletes should be addressed through the athletes coach and as such the instructor can then broach the question with the national or assistant coaches once the sessions are finished.
  9. The training and selections for these open sessions will be conducted by the National Coach and the assistant national coaches.

Stage 4: EKF England National A Squad

  1. Ideally each category within the A squad should have a minimum of 2 persons in each category, but only a maximum of 4 person within each category.
  2. In future all athletes selecting for major championships will have to make the grade for the A squad and thus from this only athletes who are members of this squad can represent their country at major championships such as the European and World Championships.
  3. For the athletes that have been selected on to the EKF England Karate A Squad, there training will be of a much more specific nature with regards to fighting strategies and tactics, more Intense training sessions and from the athletes an increased level of commitment to training and the national squad.
  4. Athletes that make up the A squad will be subjected to a review of their position on the squad every year, or at times upon where the admittance of a new member of the squad is introduced in to a category that already has 4 athletes within. However in exceptional circumstances wild cards and flexibility within the rules can be made.
  5. All A squad Athletes are expected to attend all training sessions regardless of whether they are selecting or not. As such Any athlete that fails to attended 2 training session back to back and not provide either prior notice or a valid reason as to why they cannot attend will be removed from the A squad list and as such will have to wait for an England open squad training session to regain access to the A squad. (I hear you saying, what is a valid reason?) The coach will decide!
  6. Considerations such as fitness, attendance, and results at domestic and international tournaments will all be reviewed and monitored.
  7. All athletes should ensure that their training dairies are kept up to date. Training diaries will be reviewed on a regular basis and all aspects of the athletes training should be noted in these diaries and be ready to be inspected at any moment’s notice.
  8. In addition all athletes on the squad will have specific tasks and home work for them to perform and drills to work on specific to them.
  9. Athletes on the A squad will also have general rules and guide lines to follow, all of which will be made available to them on being admitted on to the A squad.
  10. In addition Athletes who are current members of the England A squad will be recognised by the Yellow jersey which must be worn by all members of the squad when attending any kind of EKF Squad training.
  11. England A squad athletes living more than 1.5 hours away from their nearest Regional Kumite class need only attend training at these classes once per month, all other athletes living closer than 1.5 hours away to these classes need to train a minimum of two sessions per month.
  12. All England A squad sessions will be closed sessions, i.e. unless an instructor or parent is invited to perform a service during the training sessions or help with selections, no instructor or parent will be allowed to view the sessions from the dojo floor.
  13. If there is a balcony or another way in which the parents and instructors may view the session this is fine.

Stage 5: ‘A’ SQUAD ELITE

The ultimate goal is to have as many of these athletes as possible. These athletes are our champions, and as result they should be treated different from the rest. I believe special dispensations should be made for them. I propose for example:

  1. These athletes should be used to head up any EKF promotional and media advertising events where possible.
  2. I would like to appeal to tournament organisers; these athletes entrance to any tournament within the UK should be free of charge. Athletes of this calibre fighting up and down the country enhance the prestige and level of a tournament and as such should not be charge entry, and in fact these athletes could be used as a marketing tool for the tournament organiser.
  3. Much more help needs to be given to these athletes with regards to grant application and funding from various local governing bodies other than that of Sport England, of which I know there is so much out there such as the OCS young person sports award etc. If anyone knows how to help in this way or have any ideas please spread the word.

Finance:

National Squad

Further to the above as from January 2010 the fees for training and selecting on the national squad will be as follows:

Regional Squads

Further to the above as from January 2010 the fees for training and selecting on the Regional squad will be as follows:

Wayne Otto OBE
England National Karate Coach

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