21st European Kendo Championships – Lisbon, April 2007 (Ladies Report)

by Geraldina Mattsson

The EKC kicked off with the ladies team competition following some interesting choice of music (“In the Navy”) from the local live band. Representing the GB team were Karen, Alice, Kim, Frankie and myself, in that order.

GB was first up against formidable Poland. Senpo Karen began her match with full spirit, never yielding a point until the last moment when her opponent scored a kote and then a men. Next on was Alice, who showed equal spirit, but her opponent, who reached quarter-finals in the individuals matches, scored two points to claim victory. Kim’s turn next. Despite being the youngest in the team, Kim is a veteran competitor and a solid chuken, securing 2 men cuts against her opponent in the blink of an eye. Frankie, another veteran, made some good attempts against her opponent, showing positive spirit and good kiai, but her opponent managed to score a kote. Keeping her composure, Frankie kept a keen eye on every opportunity, twice successfully carrying out a “Xena maneuver” (and war cry to match) sending her opponent flying out of jogai, and ending the match with hikiwake. Finally it was my turn, and I secured a hikiwake. The team recognized that we could have done better; clearly, everyone (apart from Kim) needed to improve on the “slow-starter” syndrome.

The team faced Sweden in the second round. Although our first two fencers both lost two points in their matches to opponents who were known for their fast footwork (especially Sweden’s jiho, Komaki), the team in general felt less tense and more focused on creating and spotting opportunities, thanks to Kazuyo’s advice. Kim’s opponent scored a men cut within the first minute or so. Kim repaid the gesture with a men cut. During the final moments of her match, however, her opponent scored another men. Frankie also secured one men cut for our team. My opponent managed to score a kote first, but I finished her off with a men and then a kote.

The team learnt some important lessons from the team matches. We recognized that we do not get second chances at competitions and we must work out ways at an individual level to “switch-on” for our first match. We also learnt that maintaining our concentration is extremely important, especially in long matches, and not to let any opportunity go to waste. There was a consensus within the team that we were at times too generous with our opponents and we agreed to improve on this at an individual level as part of our routine during normal practice.

In the individuals’ matches the next day, Alice, Kim and Frankie all reached the first knockout round. Well done!

Each pool comprised of 3 people and the two with the highest scores would proceed to the knockouts.

Karen sparred against a Polish and a Czech opponent in her pool. Karen showed positive spirit, and kept the pressure on her opponent, but unfortunately lost by two kotes. In her second pools match, Karen was visibly more relaxed but her spirit was unrelenting. She eventually scored a men cut on her opponent; however, her opponent won the match with a men and a kote.

I faced France’s Descloquement in my first match, who landed a dubious men cut on my ear within seconds after rising from sonkyo, which surprisingly got scored. Although I kept my opponent at bay for the rest of the match, I was too exhausted to score any points due to lack of mental and physical preparation before my match (long wait). This is something I need to work on. The second pools match against Sweden’s Westersson was another disaster, who won the match with a men cut.

Alice lost by two mens in her first pools match, but this only fueled her fighting spirit and I was very impressed that she did not let her previous match upset her. She eventually won her second pools match with a kote and a men while her opponent scored one do cut. In the knockouts, Alice continued to put up a good fight until her German opponent, Kumph, won the match with a do and a kote. Kumph was beaten in the knockouts by this year’s ladies’ champion, Kiraly of Hungary.

Despite being ill and at the same time paranoid that some calamity was going to befall on herself and on everyone else, Kim managed to tie with her opponent in the pools after both scored one point each (men for Kim, kote for her opponent). Kim then went on to secure the highest points in her pool after scoring a men cut in her second match against her Finnish opponent. However, she lost in the knockouts to Poland’s Maj, who won with a single kote cut. Maj lost in the knockouts to Germany’s Kumph.

Frankie breezed through her pool with two kote points in her first match and a hikiwake in her second match before losing two men cuts in the knockouts to Germany’s Goldin. Goldin, however, had to work hard to score those mens.

All in all, the team did well together in our first major competition. More importantly, each of us took stock of the lessons we learnt and we aim to improve ourselves in the coming months. Many thanks to Kazuyo for her guidance and support throughout.