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

by Anthony Scott

This European kendo championships was notable for being the first one in many years without Great Britain having Honda Sensei there as its coach, although I’m sure we could all feel his spirit watching over the team at all times! It was also the first time in about ten years that an OAP such as myself had not been in the team. Brian was also absent (apparently contemplating his navel in some Thai monastery), so there was a great deal of anticipation to see how this young new team would perform. They did not disappoint.

The men’s team, in fighting order, consisted of Andy, Barry/Max, Mark, Will and the larger than life Gibbo. I was fascinated to see how Andy, Mark and Will had developed in the five months that I had been away from squad since they had all shown great potential and were improving all the time, but had been a little inconsistent in their performances at major competitions.

The two other teams in our pool were Italy and Macedonia. We fought Italy first and beat them, causing quite a stir among the other watching teams and onlookers in the process. We were never in any real danger of losing and by the time it got to taisho’s fight to decide the outcome, the win was pretty much in the bag given the kind of form Gibbo was in! Gibbo duly won, scoring two kotes to Filippi’s single men. We then fought Macedonia who only had four team members. This meant that Gibbo had no opponent to fight – much to his chagrin! We beat Macedonia easily with Andy, Mark and Will all winning their fights 2-0. This meant that we came top of our pool and would fight Sweden in the first round of the knock-out competition.

Both Sweden and ourselves were the only two European teams to make it as far as the quarter-finals at the World Kendo Championships in Taiwan last December, so there was much excitement as to which of us would come out on top. The shiai was incredibly exciting and the outcome difficult to call as each fight progressed, but the again the team performed incredibly well to enable Gibbo as taisho to decide the outcome. There were a few anxious moments but again Gibbo did not disappoint and saw the team safely through to the quarter-finals. Here we fought Serbia who had improved tremendously since the last time I saw them fight and had surprised everyone by winning some of their fights against France in the pools stage of the competition. Two of their fighters were very good but we were stronger in depth and defeated them relatively easily. This meant that we had now made it through to the semi-finals, a feat which we had not managed to achieve for the previous ten years that I had been in the squad. At last!

Our opponent in the semi-finals was Spain. They had won the previous European Kendo Championships by defeating France in the final and surprise, surprise – all three Castro brothers were again in the team so we knew that the fight would be a hard one. The spirit and commitment our team showed was tremendous but I think it was just the experience of the three Castro brothers which decided the outcome in their favour because, on a technical level, they were no better than us. Although the score board suggested a relatively easy win for Spain and Gibbo, for the first time, did not have an opportunity to decide the outcome, each shiai was in fact very exciting and closely fought. So Spain progressed to the final to do battle against France, who had beaten Germany in their semi-final, while we came away with a well deserved bronze medal. France then proceeded to beat Germany relatively easily in the final.

Coming third was a fantastic achievement and demonstrates that all the support given to the squad by the BKA and all the effort and self-sacrifice put into training the team by Honda Sensei has finally paid off. Success does not happen overnight and it has taken us a few years to arrive at this point where we can now hold our own against and shortly, I am sure, even better the top teams in Europe such as France, Germany and Spain. The success of the team at these championships was partly due to the greater strength in depth that we now have. The youngsters, such as Andy and Mark, and the greatly improved Will are now winning on a consistent basis. This means that taisho in this current team pretty much always has the chance to decide the outcome of the match, whereas before this was not often the case. And when one has a taisho such as Gibbo, then a successful outcome is usually assured!

Andy, with his great fighting spirit and improved variety of techniques, has developed into a natural senpo. Mark, with his calm temperament, is developing into a natural chuken and had a fantastic competition. In fact, I don’t believe he lost once in all of his team fights. Will has also improved in leaps and bounds and now has great do and kote-men cuts to go with his kote cuts. His powerful kiai is also great for team spirit and no doubt fires up Gibbo for his fight as taisho. Well, what can one say of Gibbo as taisho? One just expects him to win now, no matter who the opponent is! Barry and Max interchanged as ji-ho during the competition. Although Barry lost most of his fights, his spirit was tremendous and he did a great job of passing the “baton” on to chuken (something which Honda Sensei kept drilling in to us as being extremely important) and also surprised us with a wonderful do cut. Where did that come from we all wondered! However, I think Barry needs to calm down a little bit while maintaining this spirit, since this would enable him to see opportunities for scoring better. Max also made an appearance as ji-ho but this was his first European Kendo Championships and his nerves obviously affected him since he performed well below what we all know he is capable of. However, this was precisely the reason why he was brought along and I’m sure he will soon be an important member of the team and will be so for many years to come.

All team members also fought in the individual men’s competition. It started off well with everyone making it out of their pools and into the knock-out stage of the competition. This is something which I think only happened on one other occasion while I was in the team and again demonstrates our new-found strength in depth. Max, despite being up all night with gut-rot, was in great form! He scored some lovely men cuts and showed us what he really is capable of when his nerves don’t get to him. Will (with his most ardent supporter – his wife! - cheering him on and offering sound advice at every turn) got thorough to the last 32 scoring with some great men-kaeshi- do and kote-men cuts. He unfortunately likes to draw-out his fights into marathon affairs and I think it was only tiredness which saw him defeated by someone he could easily have beaten. Mark should have progressed further but lost concentration at exactly the wrong moment – something which he did not do all through the team competition!

Gibbo was in dazzling form, winning his early fights in a matter of seconds. I think he scored the best point of the competition – a lovely tobi-men cut- during his victory over France’s Soulas who has previously won the individual competition. Gibbo also scored some great kote cuts to win his next fight against the eldest Castro brother and proceed into the last 16. He was easily in control of this fight against a French man as well, but unfortunately had a rather dodgy men cut scored against him (it was pretty obvious that the shinai hit the side of his head!) and that was that. It was a great shame as Gibbo was in great form and he would have made the final far more exciting than it turned out to be. He was, however, awarded a fighting spirit prize which I guess made up for the disappointment a little bit.

One of the semi-finals was notable for France’s Sicart beating Ulmer in literally 20 seconds. Sicart attacked twice and scored twice. Wonderful! The final was between Sicart and another French man (Yonnet I think was his name!) and, as is usually the case with finals between two people of the same country, was a pretty dull affair. Sicart won in the end and deservedly so since his form had been incredible throughout the championships.

There were the usual dan examinations after the championships and Great Britain had some notable successes. One was Paul who was awarded 7th dan – a fantastic achievement so many congratulations to him! In addition, Gary O’Donnell was awarded his 6th dan and Will’s wife (Mrs Wright – I am too scared of her to spell her Korean name incorrectly!) was awarded her 5th dan. I understand she made ippon with a tsuki cut at least once, so I’m sure her poor opponent did not know what had hit him!

Thus, if one takes the championships results and the dan examination results together, it was a wonderful weekend for British kendo. The latter, I believe, has never looked better. I believe this is due to the ever increasing professional manner in which the BKA conducts its affairs and in particular to the investment in time and resources it has made in the British squad. Honda Sensei was greatly responsible for improving the technical standard not only of squad members but also of kendo-ka throughout the UK. It was just a shame that he was not in Lisbon to see the fruits of all his labour and witness at first hand the extent to which all his hard work has finally paid off. It was a bit embarrassing as I was down in the programme as coach, so everyone kept coming up to me and congratulating me on the success of the British team. But don’t worry Sotaro - I kept saying that I had nothing to do with it and that it was all due to Honda Sensei’s coaching over the past few years!

I hope that the success of the team at these championships encourages even more people to turn up to squad training and that we can build on this to bring home even a silver or gold medal at the next championships!