Day 3 - World Championships 2022

Day 3, the last day before all the official business off the World Championships begin with registration on day 5.

The day started off unexpectedly with Alex complaining of significant ear pain that started just after arriving. Which meant a trip to Walgreens and then the urgent care centre to get to the bottom of it. Fortunately it turned out not to be an infection and all was sorted out eventually. 5 hrs later, Alex was back to his normal self, pain free.

Whilst Alex was at the doctors the rest of the team proceeded with their training plan, again at Gentle Art Dojo, with Shelly taking them through their paces with some Kumite drills. The aim of the session to get them more focused is on the competition, visualising what it will be like to compete at a World Championships.

We finished the session with kata.

We’ve been absolutely blown away by the kindness of the team at Gentle Arts Dojo, who opened their dojo to complete strangers with complete trust. Thank you again team Gentle Art Dojo!

Post training the team chose Chick-a-fila for lunch. After a quick lunch everyone was again keen to get back to the pool.

After a good cool down and some pool games it was time again to get the legs moving with a short afternoon fitness and Kumite drill session, in true karate team on tour fashion - in the hotel car park!

3 Days in its normal for the effects of the humidity, heat and time away from parents and home comforts to affect the team. A few of the team clearly are feeling the distance from home. As a coach I’m so grateful to have with us on the trip an amazing group of parents who have stepped up and gone above to make sure everyone is ok and enjoying themselves. Thank you to The Mahalli’, The Dents and Szczepanski’s for always looking out for those travelling without parents.

There is a lot of excitement amongst the team in anticipation of registration, and the chance to possibly get their first glimpse of the competition venue. A quick survey of the level of nerves yesterday, 3 of the team were not feeling (or not admitting) to feeling nervous yet. The butterflies are bound to start, when seeing the venue, making all the hard work and talk of the competition over the last few months, a reality!

Check out the pictures on Facebook.