We took a large squad to the |Bristol Open. There were many new faces fighting and we entered the light con and Points divisions.

So many fights took place On Saturday the light con and team fights were on. Cat and Szymon fought well in their first tournaments and got to the semi finals. The Browns were in the tag teams but were unable to progress farther than the quarter finals. George joined with Callum from the Falcons and they fought as the Wessex warriors In the semi final they met the American team and after a hard fought bout it went to extra time. The Warriors narrowly lost and had to settle for third.

Kat and Mitch fought in the Ladies vets and advanced gaining bronse medals in both.

Next day saw the points fighting. 
Charlotte got a silver  and  Maggie Robbie and Rossi got Bronzes. Alex was the fighter of teh day reaching teh final of the beginners under 10s aection where  he had a great fight with a far more experienced fighter. It was all even till the last 10 seconds when he gave away a point and  got Silver

Jasmine and \Belle also fought in the pee wees section, With Jas getting silver

There were no intermediate sections in teh adults, so most of our middle grades fought in the advanced sections to gain experience. Nicolle gave a great account of herself and as a green belt against a world champion she fought well and was happy, but not expected to win.

Win of the Day was Rory who along with Andy E and Mark W fought in the vets sections. Mak had a tough fight and Andy ganed a good 3rd. Rory fought through to the final winning a close bout against teh world champ on the way. In the final he remained composed and ran away the victor. Brisol open champion. 
George also had some great bouts against very tough opponents  He fought to the semi final  with a wonderful sudden death score. \In teh final he was against a very good itaian kicker and was fatigued by all the fighting. Near the end of the last round he took a head kick and had to chase which left him too much to do Bronze for George. Another notable fight was Adanm who, although he lost showed great timing strenght and improvement and was unlucky not to progress further.

Well done team 

Well done John Ayres for getting his Purple belt in light con discipline.
He had to perform all of the past grading techniques plus new ones. and rounds on bags and pads and many rounds of sparring to achieve this result Congratulations

The day was gold!!! 
Excellent fighting from everybody!
Results

Paige 1st
Maggie 1st
Charlotte 1st and 3rd
Katrina 1st and 2nd
George T 2nd
Ellis 4th
Robbie 4th
Jamie 4th
Rossi 4th
Jake out ( but scored lots of points) 
Rory 1st
Andrew E 3rd
Rob 1st
Neil 3rd

BKO members competed in three tournaments this weekend. Flanders. (See below) Chessington and Peterborough.

Harry fought in the advanced light con section at Chessington and won gold. Liam moved up to the adults light con as well and gained a silver.

Adam fought at the Peterborough open and won the open weight section and got a silver in his weight category.

Well done guys, great results. 

next tournament is this weekend. Cimac Dorking open.

We took a team in the battle bus to the Flanders open in Antwerp, Belgium. This is one of the best and hardest tournaments to win. No lower grades or intermediates. Just one section for each weight division and it brings the best out from Europe and beyond. Yet it is still a small tournament.
We travelled by ferry on the Friday and arrived at the venue to weigh in. All the people running the event  are very friendly and accommodating and the organisation is excellent. We then took off to the hotel. checked in and went out for something to eat.
Saturday was the kids and open weight section. George fought a tough German opponent and hit him with some great straight body shouts, but the refs refused to see them and he ended up chasing the fight and narrowly losing.
Robbie came out against a heavy Russian opponent, but couldn't get his attacking head on today.
Paige found out that we entered her in the Musical Forms!!! I thought  she should have a go and I could yodel on the side!

Paige then entered her two other sections and dominated with her strong kicks and powerful punching she won through several rounds to the evening finals. She the joined a some other British girls for the team event and won through to the final again. 

Charlotte showed great improvement and is building on the experience gained from the World championships. She is fighting the bigger opponents much better now and controlling the bout. She too was in the evening final.

Charlottes second section saw her once again fight the bigger opponent well and not receive the points that she scored. It is so frustrating when this happens. We look at the videos after and can see the shots that are missed, but ther is not much you can do at the time.

After all the round fighting had finished we settled down for the finals which  were in a great setting with spotlights and entry music etc. Charlotte was up first and fought a great bout once again. The points going either way for two rounds. With a few seconds to go Charlotte hit her opponent with a round kick in the face which would have sealed the deal, but the refs missed it. In the dying seconds she scored a body shot as her opponent scored and the refs favoured the other girl so Charlotte had top settle for silver this time.

Kat was fighting in the ladies -75 light continuous. Kat is in the British team for the European championships next mont fighting in the Ladies vets section. here she was aginst teh younger ladies and was not expecting to win, but get some valuable practice in. She gave a great account of herself against a strong and fast opponent. Kat never flinched and hit some nice straight shots and combinations. She lost the bout, but she got some great exoerince and has raised her confidence for the Euros.

Killian fought in his section as well and made it to the semis. He was showing some great kicking and blitzing skills in the prvious rounds and it was an even fight in the semi finals, but he was looking away when throwing punches and that dropped his accuracy level. Eventually he lost, but got a bronze.

Paige came up against a very strong German girl  and world champion in her first final. The first round saw the points going back and forth and it was even at the bell. In the second round Paige seemed to freeze and allowed her opponent to score some body shots and move ahead. Paige found it difficult to  recover and eventually lost the bout.
In her second final it was a similar story. Paige was strong and dominating at first and then let her opponent move ahead to win.  This was unusual for her as she normally fights like a tiger for the whole fight.The finals were high pressure in front of everyone and she has picked up great experience and not forgetting 2 silvers against the toughest opponents.

Next was the team finals and paige once again came out to face strong opponents. this time she focused for the whole bout and gave a great fight. Her team was always chasing the points and at the end they were once again in the silver spot.
After the presentations the day finished about 11pm and we all trudged wearily back to the hotel.

Next day was the adults sections George was up first against Stefan. He fougt a good fight, but once again the refs were not scoring the body punch. I stopped the fight to ask them if they were scoring that technique today? They said yes and the next moment they scored George's punch! Sometimes refs seem to be geared to score only certain moves?? george pulled the fight back from 5-0 to 5-5, But in the end he lost by a point .

Rory was in the semi final of the  mens -75kg vets. At first he got caught by a kick and a punch from his opponent, but when he settled down he got the measure of him and was controlling the leg and scoring reverse punches. Near the end of the bout he did his usual thing of scoring a head kick to draw himself one point behind. In the final seconds he was desperately trying to get that extra point but it was not to be and so Bronze for Rory. His opponent went on to win the final easily and we discovered that he was a 4th dan and world champion, which made Rory the Purple belt feel much better.

George's final fight was in the -74kg category and here he did not rais ehis game against an opponent that he should have beaten comfortably. The fight game requres you to have everything working well in a  bout, especially at this top level. When you are off your game you just have to chalk it up to experience and move on, which George knows how to do. 

Annais was up in the ladies section and another close bout. When she attacks and does not hesitate after the leading kick Annais scores, But sometimes that hesitation allowed her opponent in and she lost by a point here.

I was up in te mens vets +75kg finals next against the world champion in the 2nd to last bout of the whole weekend at 8.30pm. It was a long wait and after 2 years out and an serious leg operation I did not know what to expect.  |I got out there and made all the mistakes that I have a go at all our other fighters for making. :) I lost the bout by quite a few points, but once again. I felt  I was not getting the points that I scored. I was pleased with some aspects of the fight and some need attention, but my fitness was ok and I gained a silver for the team.

Following the presentations we went into Antwerp and found a bar that sell 300+ beers. After drinking that dry we had the Belgian version of a Kebab and then went back to the hotel.
During the trip home on Monday we stopped off in Bruges for some sight seeing, shopping and waffles. 

It was a great weekend and  we had some good bouts and won some bling, but of coures we want golds and we could have had 5  this weekend. That's fighting for ya. Flanders is a great tournament with awesome organisation and a friendly attitude. I think the reffing was a litte below par this year though.
We will be back next year.

Well done team.

Well done to Charlotte, Liam and Killian who all competed in the WAKO Junior world championships in Venice Italy this week. There has been lots of preparation  and effort put in by these students in order to give their all at this, their first World Championships. 

Charlotte had a tough draw, facing the most experienced fighter of the group and also fighting above her regular weight.  She came out a bit nervous first of all but pulled the fight back to 6 points each in the second. Unfortunately in the last few seconds she got caught with a head kick and  had to concede the fight. Great experience for her and she will come back stronger next time.

Liam is from Thame kickboxing club but trains regularly with BKO in the light con Discipline. He has shown great improvements in the last couple of months and this showed in his epic first round fight with an Italian. In the quarter finals he met a strong German and although the fight was close he was edged out and lost. Another world champion in the making here. Well done Liam.

Killian Fights for the French team and comes over to the UK to train and grade with BKO at regular intervals. He fought in the points section and was moved around severalt times before he found out which fighter hes was drawn against. He easily out fought his first opponent  and moved to the quarter finals. Once again  he was unlucky to win this bout, but has learnt a lot form this experience. GO BKO FRANCE!!
WAKO world championships are the pinnacle of the points fighting. Competing at this level is the hardest and most demanding of any tournament. The experienced gained by fighters sets them up for  improvement and better results in their domestic leagues and for their future world and European championship bids. 
I am certain that we will see these three fighters  Gain the championship in the not too distant future.

Look out for them !

Well done everyone who competed and helped today in a manic BKO kids tournament! Some great fighting from everyone including the Ninjas :)
Loved it.
Final one for the year is in December.

Results

-150
1st Robbie. 2nd Rossi. 3rd Maggie. Princeley. 4th. Ellis. Jamie.
-120
1st Belle. 2nd Jasmine. 3rd Josh. 4th Sophia.
+150 1st Joe. 2nd Ellis. 3rd Chillie.
-130
1st Jake. 2nd Luke. 3rd Bob. 4th Callum, Katrina.
Ninjas.
1st. Jack. 2nd Dexter. 3rd. Jamie Lee. 4th Aislyn. Ollie

.   

We took a group of first timers and mat timers to the Southern area grand slam today. This is the smallest tournament we do, but it is local and is good for beginners  and those who need  to shake off the rust after summer hols.

Fighter of the day for me was Jake who changed tactics and had to come back to win after taking some hard hits. Great spirit. Also well done to Todd who has only been training a couple of months and gained a silver in a close final. Chris and Matt shared the honours in only their second tournament and first time at light con. It was good to see Russell jeff back after a short 15 years lay off!
Well done also to Rory and Belle who got the Grand championship trophies.
Results:
Jasmine 1st
Jake 1st
Robbie 1st
Rory 1st
Chris 1st
Cat 1st
Matt 1st
Todd 2nd
Belle 2nd
Rossi 2nd
Russell 2nd
Ellis 2nd
Maggie 3rd
Chris 3rd
Rory Grand champion
Belle grand Champion.
Katrina fought well today but was unlucky not to place.
Well done all. :)

Well done everyone who came to the quiz night.  £955.80 was raised to send Charlotte to the world championships!!!

This from Belinda.

A huge thank you to everyone who came along and supported our quiz night, we hope you really enjoyed yourselves. We are just checking stock but hope to give you an update on the amount raised soon. Thank you once again to Sharon Louise Ally for your help and support and also to Nicky for putting the quiz together. Thanks also to Ron our quiz master for the evening and Harriet for her fabulous face painting. Our thanks also to all the companies and individuals for their donations, we are really humbled by your generosity.

Ladies class starts again on 19th September after the summer break.
Ladies only classes on Wednesday 10-11am. 
Any age or ability. Beginners to advanced. 
Get fit, join a great sport, defend yourself, have fun, meet new people.
Message for more details