Jack Ward's First World Championships

When I found out that I had been selected for the 7th WIKF World Championships I couldn’t quite believe that I was going to the Worlds to fight other people from all around the world.

This meant that I had to step up my game and train a lot harder by not just training at Highbury Grove School twice a week but also training at Sensei Andy’s head Dojo twice a week where we do hard core training.

I had also been selected to do a demonstration in the opening ceremony where I was chosen for the main role fighting off another 4 people from our team and we also performed a Kata demonstration. This meant that we had to do a lot more training than normal. We also had WIKF squad training as well which was good as we got to train with other squad members from other clubs that we don’t normally see.

In between training I was also entered in to a couple of competitions one of them being the Nationals at Leicester where I was disqualified in my category for slipping off the mat too many times but then I went on to win the Gold Medal in the category above mine which was great as I was fighting fighters that were older than me.

After Leicester we also went to Walsall for the Central England Competition where we had a squad training session on the Saturday before the competition on the Sunday. I won the Gold Medal in my category and also won the Gold in another category where I was fighting brown and black belts. This was also good for my confidence leading up to the Worlds as I am currently a purple belt.

At least six months prior to the World Championships all of my spare time including weekends was dedicated to training.

DAY 1

The time had finally arrived and it was Thursday the start of my journey. We started with a squad training session where the atmosphere was amazing and we trained hard and we were ready and I really enjoyed that training session.  After the training session we had to go and register which meant we had to be weighed in and show our licences.  After this it was time to chill and get a good night’s sleep so I was ready for my Kumite fights in the morning.

DAY 2

In the morning we all made our way to the K2 where the competition was being held. I don’t normally get nervous but today I was.  I won my first fight and lost my second fight which I felt I should have won if it wasn’t for my nerves. This meant my next fight would get me the Bronze Medal if I won and I did with the help of Jay Kirton in my corner coaching me.