What is The Malta Karate Federation doing, trying to achieve and what does it offer? How is the MOC assisting the MKF?

The Malta Karate Federation’s calendar of events is strategically designed to build towards a peak in its activity at the end of every year, this in line with the most important Competition in the world of Karate namely the World Karate Federation Championships.

Although competitions are definitely not the sole aim of the development of Karate in Malta, when it comes to the younger members within the Federation, this carries a lot of weight and between the ages of 16 and 25, Competitions tend to have a higher focus.

Karate however, is an Art which can be practiced by many, not just competing athletes who generally fall within a very specific age bracket. The scope of the Federation is to supervise the overall development of Karate in Malta. This starts at very tender ages, where most clubs welcome children aged 6 and over.

At these early stages, the programme our qualified instructors follow is naturally very light with little emphasis on Karate technique, but more so on the development of so many general athletic skills (speed, balance, timing etc) which they will need later on for the development of their Karate.

As these children become pre-athletes (10-15), they are introduced to an important aspect of Karate namely Kumite (sparring). Up till the age of 15 no physical contact whatsoever is allowed and our rules are extremely stern to ensure that this safety measure is strictly adhered to.

Even when it comes to Kadets (16-17), Juniors (18-20) and Seniors (20+), the World Karate Federation, which is the world’s largest Karate governing body, is very strict on the rules applied to ensure that a great degree of control is exercised.

These strict regulations thus result in Karate being possibly one of the safest martial arts being practiced. Between the ages of 16-25 the main focus is naturally Competition.

Through our affiliation with the WKF, the MKF is thus directly affiliated to the Malta Olympic Committee. The latter has a grant scheme specifically in place to assist MKF athletes to compete in these recognised overseas competitions. Unfortunately our exposure to foreign competitions is limited by the funds required to participate in such competitions.

As a Federation our target is to participate in at least two or three of these competitions annually to gain as much exposure as possible.

As athletes grow out of the competition era, there are a multitude of avenues which a Karateka can follow, and the focus here tends to be a bit more based on self defence applications, maintaining general good health through such exercise, instruction of lower graded students, etc. Training here tends to become very mature and high level, with greater emphasis on power and application.

The federation has seven clubs affiliated to it spread all over Malta, namely B’kara, Fgura, Naxxar, Mgarr, Mtarfa Paola and Pembroke. Our Calendar of events can be followed on www.maltakarate.com

Anybody requiring any further information can contact the Federation on Telephone 2123 2455, 2157 7769, Mob 7942 4396 or email [email protected] What is The Malta Karate Federation doing, trying to achieve and what does it offer? How is the MOC assisting the MKF?

The Malta Karate Federation’s calendar of events is strategically designed to build towards a peak in its activity at the end of every year, this in line with the most important Competition in the world of Karate namely the World Karate Federation Championships.

Although competitions are definitely not the sole aim of the development of Karate in Malta, when it comes to the younger members within the Federation, this carries a lot of weight and between the ages of 16 and 25, Competitions tend to have a higher focus.

Karate however, is an Art which can be practiced by many, not just competing athletes who generally fall within a very specific age bracket. The scope of the Federation is to supervise the overall development of Karate in Malta. This starts at very tender ages, where most clubs welcome children aged 6 and over.

At these early stages, the programme our qualified instructors follow is naturally very light with little emphasis on Karate technique, but more so on the development of so many general athletic skills (speed, balance, timing etc) which they will need later on for the development of their Karate.

As these children become pre-athletes (10-15), they are introduced to an important aspect of Karate namely Kumite (sparring). Up till the age of 15 no physical contact whatsoever is allowed and our rules are extremely stern to ensure that this safety measure is strictly adhered to.

Even when it comes to Kadets (16-17), Juniors (18-20) and Seniors (20+), the World Karate Federation, which is the world’s largest Karate governing body, is very strict on the rules applied to ensure that a great degree of control is exercised.

These strict regulations thus result in Karate being possibly one of the safest martial arts being practiced. Between the ages of 16-25 the main focus is naturally Competition.

Through our affiliation with the WKF, the MKF is thus directly affiliated to the Malta Olympic Committee. The latter has a grant scheme specifically in place to assist MKF athletes to compete in these recognised overseas competitions. Unfortunately our exposure to foreign competitions is limited by the funds required to participate in such competitions.

As a Federation our target is to participate in at least two or three of these competitions annually to gain as much exposure as possible.

As athletes grow out of the competition era, there are a multitude of avenues which a Karateka can follow, and the focus here tends to be a bit more based on self defence applications, maintaining general good health through such exercise, instruction of lower graded students, etc. Training here tends to become very mature and high level, with greater emphasis on power and application.

The federation has seven clubs affiliated to it spread all over Malta, namely B’kara, Fgura, Naxxar, Mgarr, Mtarfa Paola and Pembroke. Our Calendar of events can be followed on www.maltakarate.com

Anybody requiring any further information can contact the Federation on Telephone 2123 2455, 2157 7769, Mob 7942 4396 or email [email protected]