Five Gold, Six Silver and Four Bronze, was the final result for the Mayo Martial Arts team from White Tiger Martial Arts and Moy Valley Freestyle at the MAI Junior Open in Sligo.  The event which took place on the 7th of February was one of the largest to date with over 350 entries on the day for what is fast becoming the premier Junior Championships on the Martial Arts calendar.

First up on the day was Aoife Rabbette, aged 8 from White Tiger Ballyheane and Rosie Wright aged 7 from White Tiger Belcarra in their Kata division.   Both girls performed excellent renditions of Fukyugata Ni from the Shorin-ryu syllabus, but with over 20 participants in their division it was going to be a tough challenge.

Despite a very high score of 21.3, Rosie didn't get into the medals this time, but Aoife earned a score of 25.2 for her performance, returning with the silver medal in what was the first competition both girls have attended.

Darren Fernandes an 8-year-old from White Tiger Belcarra, Renee Roach aged 11 from White Tiger Castlebar and Amy Vahey also age 11 from White Tiger Ballyheane were up next in their Kata division, with Darren performing Pinan Shodan and both Renee and Amy performing Pinan Yondan.  For Darren and Renee the scores just didn't come through from the judges, despite fine performances from both while for Amy it was the third place slot and the bronze medal.

In the older age categories, brothers Mikie and Christopher Walsh from Castlebar Karate club both performed Pinan Shodan, but unfortunately it wasn't to be for them this time, while Finbar Thompson, Laura McAndrew and Kenneth Granahan made it Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively for Moy Valley with their performances of Bassai-Dai.

Orla Corcoran from Moy Valley meanwhile took Bronze in her Kata division with an excellent performance of Heian Shodan.  She faired even better in her Light Contact division where in the finals she matched her opponent point for point most of the way through, but towards the end, her opponent took a lead with a fast and well placed head kick.   Orla continued to trade with her at middle distance, but the two point margin remained through to the end of time and Orla had to settle for silver.

When the Kata divisions finished it was straight into the fighting disciplines.   The first fighting medal of the day went to Dylan Ruane from the White Tiger Castlebar.  Dylan fought several tough Light Contact matches before being beaten in the finals by an opponent from Armagh.  Dylan fought a clever final against an opponent with a far greater reach, avoiding initial Kicks before coming in close to work at short range and covering to escape.  However, the points his opponent took on Dylan's entry and exit were just too much for Dylan to equalise and he had to settle for the silver.

Tomas Zuev, also of White Tiger Castlebar had a similar situation, in his Light Contact finals, but it the opposite decision.  Despite being only 9 years old, Tomas fought a very skilful final fight, catching his opponent with body kicks before coming in with middle range punches and exiting before his opponent could reply.  The match ended with a unanimous decision in favour of Tomas and the first Gold medal of the day for White Tiger.

Josh Hennigan from Moy Valley worked off the angles well to fight his way through to the semi-finals of his points fighting division.  Counter-punching with excellent timing on the left and right angles brought him through, but a momentary lack of concentration gave his Sligo opponent the lead in the Semi Finals bout and while Josh equalised several times over the remainder of the match, he just couldn't get that one point he needed.  He left the competition with a hard earned bronze.

Christopher Walsh fought his Light Contact match with great style, demonstrating a good mix of punches and kicks against his more experienced opponent from Tyrone.  In the end though, the Tyrone boy's experience showed and Christopher lost out in the decision.  A very tough match for Christopher for whom this was the first intermediate level match, having just stepped up from Novice.

Using perfectly straight punches and well timed kicks Christopher's brother Mikie boxed his way through to the finals of his division.  Coming out against a Dubliner in the finals, Mikie stuck to his plan, covering well behind a tight guard and trying to work his way in to exploit openings in the Dubliners defence. In the end though his opponent was just a bit sharper in his punches and Mikie finished up with the silver medal.

Back in action in her Light Contact division, Amy Vahey took on a very strong girl from Cookstown in her final match.  Despite an early scare when her opponent unleashed a flurry of punches, Amy covered up, remained calm and began to pick her targets using an excellent side kick to keep her opponent out at distance, closing occasionally to score with her own punches.  This was a very fast paced match with both girls going for it but in the end; Amy took the 3 to 0 decision over her opponent.

Renee Roach and Amy were back on the mats in their points fighting division.  Moving up in this event from Intermediate to Advanced, they faced the challenge of several Irish Team members.  Despite giving it everything, it wasn't to be this time for either Renee or Amy, but they showed great skill and determination in the matches, leaving everyone assured that the move up to advanced was the right one, and that they hold great promise in points fighting for the future.

Laura McAndrew from Moy Valley was up next, with a tough Light Contact division; Laura fought her way through to the finals before facing off against her Monaghan based opponent.  Determined to succeed, Laura pushing through her opponents guard, using powerful straight kicks and following up with rapid fire punch combinations.   Victory was secured for the North Mayo girl by unanimous judge's decision.

The last two competitors from Mayo were Mairead Duggan from the White Tiger Castlebar, who fought very well using a long straight side kick to hold her opponents at bay, before faking the side kick and striking with her backfist.  Her Mayo counterpart Orla Corcoran from Moy Valley came through to the finals by a similar route, using fast, accurate kicks, combined with excellent counter punching.  Orla is a tough girl and the match could have gone to either, but today it was Mairead who emerged victorious after two tough rounds of fast action points fighting.

Martin O'Malley said that he was ‘very proud of all those who competed, especially those who were competing for the first time or stepping up into a more advanced category.  It takes a lot of courage to go out and compete and even more so when you have never been there before, or when you're stepping up and accepting the challenge of a tougher division'.   Martin went on to say that ‘despite the young age of all these competitors, they were respectful towards their opponents and they shook hands whether they won or lost.   The medals were an excellent result and I'm delighted with them, but I'm even more delighted with the way they behaved throughout the day, the way they represented themselves, their parents and their club'.

Meanwhile Harry Thompson felt that ‘taking part in combat sports at any level is tough, but these young people faced that challenge and overcame it.   I'm really proud of them and how they performed, and I think it demonstrates the great wealth of talent that there is among Martial Artists here in County Mayo'.

For the White Tiger Karate club, the next event is a seminar on the 21st of February based on the Shorin-ryu Naihanchi Kata series.  Naihanchi are three of the oldest Kata in Karate and form the basis of many styles.   The seminar will look at the technical performance and the application of the movement of all three.

Meanwhile for Moy Valley, the next major event is the East Coast Sanshou Open on the 28th of February in Dublin.  The Moy Valley Sanshou team will travel to represent the West at this major full contact open event while they will host their own West Coast Open on the 2nd of May.

The next competitive challenge for White Tiger Martial Arts is the Irish Open International on the 6th and 7th of March in the City West Hotel where Damien Gormley will travel with the adults Points Fighting team.  The Irish Open attracts over 2,500 competitors every year and is one of the biggest competitions in the world.