Following a very successful Coach Certification programme held by the Traditional Karate Federation of Malta supported by the Kunsill Malti ghall-iSport, Robert Micallef, President of the federation, announced the first ever Karate League to be held in Malta.
Micallef, flanked by other officers of the federation including silver medallist in the 2001 European Championships, Iden Azzopardi and gold medallist Omar Azzopardi, said that he was proud to announce the league.
The officers have been working on the idea for some months now, since the model is not used elsewhere. He said it was possible in Malta due to the size of the country. Mr Micallef explained that usually, karate championships take the form of a mass gathering over a few number of days, and it is common to find the direct elimination system where athletes are eliminated as soon as they suffer the first defeat. The local federation has been experimenting with different models so as to find a model that best suits the qualities of the local environment.
The final touches of the procedures that will adopted, were finalised during the Coach Certificate programme that was held over four days with two highly respected masters in the global scene, Mr Masao Kawasoe, who is member of the Technical Board of the ITKF, presided by Mr Hidetaka Nishiyama, and by Mr Tasuke Watanabe, also member of the Technical Board.
Mr Watanabe was the only person listed in the Guinness Book of Records for winning the 1972 World Championships with the highest number of ippon scores. These two high calibre instructors were brought over by the Educational and Technical Institute of Karate (www.InstituteofKarate.com) which was also responsible for the design of the Coach Certification Programme for the local Federation.
The course addressed the different facets of competition including Kata, Kumite, Fukugo and Embu. Mr Kawasoe who is one of the most respected technicians went into great lengths at dissecting the scoring requirement of an attacking technique. Mr Kawasoe explained that without the proper grounding in body dynamics and body timing, a technique cannot be of scoring quality.
The ability to score is an intersection of the scientific or physical side of a proper technique and the art of feeling and reacting to opportunities during sparring. The scientific facet requires a proper understanding and unending practice of the scoring technique of choice ensuring it has the right impetus, use of limbs and free-movement of joints, percussion and strong supportive stance on finish. Mr Kawasoe went into the complex engineering of the anatomy of the human body, demonstrating effectiveness and efficiency through body shifting and being aware of where the centre of gravity of a person is, and where it should be to execute the highest percussion in karate punches and kicks.
Mr Watanabe who is a very talented fighter with Samurai lineage is a person who constantly lives and breathes the Japanese martial arts. He is renowned for his very focussed and penetrating attitude, controlling any opponent with his confidence. His specialisation is in kumite (sparring) and Embu (free demonstration of fighting skills under specific rules of competition). His relaxed mode of combat, casually shrugging off attempts of the opponent and his explosive take-off, are almost inimitable. He went into breathing technique at the different micro-events happening during combat. This, he explained is essential to gain control over adversary and to react with zero lag. Mr Watanabe described this as the art side of karate. Blending the two with untiring practice will complete an athlete.
During the course, the two Japanese visiting lecturers went into the elements of judging, emphasising that a judge has to practice diligently both the scientific facet of technique as well as the art side.
Otherwise, since in karate it is not possible to make contact without risking serious injury, and therefore competitions are non-contact, the judge has a lot of responsibility in judging. Without proper practice, the judge will be unable to feel the expression of the competitors and award points accordingly.
Both Mr Kawasoe and Mr Watanabe applauded the initiative of the Traditional Karate Federation of Malta for designing the league model of competition saying that the league offers more opportunity to the athletes to compete on every weekend whilst at the same time reduces the administrative and organisational requirements normally needed to organise mass gathering and direct elimination competition over a weekend.
The federation is currently accepting registration of athletes for the league due to kick start in November.