Bangor Castle Leisure Centre was kicking on Saturday!

Almost seventy students aged between four and forty something from the Mizukara karate clubs in Ards and Bangor took part in a fantastic display of sparring and kata.

Fifteen categories of events were hotly contested and trophies were presented by guests of honour Mr Joe Willis and Mr Andy Brashaw. Students were cheered on by over one hundred spectators.

Event prizes were supplied by 'Trophies by Design', Newtownards and action photography was by Fast Image.

The top students of the day were Keeley Martin and Rachel Fleming who both claimed double gold for their respective categories of sparing and kata/self defence.

The morning commenced with the Little Ninjas self-defence, four to five year olds doing escape moves that really worked. This was followed by the kata events, always a nervous time for the youngest students trying to remember over twenty moves in a kata. However everyone did really well and many katas were of a great standard, particular the intermediate and senior kata with International and Irish title holders all showing off their quality.

Once the sparring began emotions quickly rose, with competitors being cheered on by their supporting families and friends. As anticipated, it was always going to be tough to separate the top two club performers over the last year, Rachael Fleming and Lauren Shields, in the Junior girls sparring. It was by far the most exciting fight of the day, eventually going to Rachael by four scores to three. Another classic was in the Intermediate Boys Sparring final between Dean Miller and Adam Green, Dean eventually triumphing to take gold.

After the sparring was over the hall rang out with chants of sensei, sensei, in a demand for a demonstration of team kata. Current European team kata bronze medallists Kevin Sam Lewis and David Brashaw did not disappoint, giving a quality demonstration of Wanshu kata. The crowd were delighted.

Other outstanding finals were between Craig Brashaw Sam Stevenson, Jordan McCartney & Ryan Dunn and Lucy Oldfield and Yasmin Stevenson.

Guests of honour Joe Willis and Andy Brashaw commented respectively "This is a terrific event. Everyone loves it." and "This event was superb. It has grown over the years and just gets better and better. Well done to all who helped make it such a success."

The perpetual awards from this year's Display Day were as follows:

Student of the Year, - Rachael Fleming
Hardest Trier, The Willis Cup- David Jackson
Spirit Award, The James Griffin Memorial Shield- Jessica Palmer
Top Competitor- Lauren Shields

Coach Kevin Lewis added, "This was a brilliant Display Day. We would like to thank all of the parents who helped with the organising and for supporting the students. Our karate clubs are all about Fun, Mutual Respect, Fairness and Developing Confidence for everyone, young and adult.

Our next event for students if the long awaited Ian Cuthbert Course on 11 June. This will be followed by a grading for those selected. As ever our clubs will run through the summer, except the first three weeks in July." Mizukara Karate Clubs (Carnalea, at the Methodist Centre; Scrabo, at Ards LC; Castle, at Bangor Castle LC; Rathmore PS, Victoria PS Bangor Academy) are supporters of 'inclusive play', 'fairness' and 'playing the long game'.