Sport

BACHELOR OF DEADLY ARTS

By Theo Rowley ⋅ April 12, 2008 ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

When thinking of sports that university may offer nowadays, what comes to mind? Football? Rugby? Ultimate Frisbee? That may have been the case some years ago (apart from, probably, the latter) but now things are different.

At the recent Christie Cup, University of Liverpool had 14 team representatives from different sports, including trampolining, fencing and golf.
However, one area where UoL does lack is in martial arts. Granted, it’s not a sport with the same prestige as say, football but the ancient art does have a big following.

Two shining examples of this mantra are the intricate Aikido and the world-recognised karate. Both have a dedicated following within the University and teach skills which are difficult to master but very beneficial for body and mind.

Respective club captains are keen to quell the stigma surrounding their sports, insisting that they teach to further the individual, not to harm. “The sport is semi-contact when we compete, so you make contact to score a point but not actually harming anyone” says karate club captain, Chloe Blagg.

Aikido club captain Krit Sitathani reiterates this. “Techniques can be dangerous if not understood but when taught it has an emphasis on being harmonious and unifying.”

As mentioned, competitions can be sporadic, especially for Aikido; Sitathani thinks this is because they “impose arbitrary rules and contradict the purpose of learning Aikido” but regardless, his teams still successful.

“Five of our main members gained outstanding grades and we have exceptional performers”, Krit declares. “Kara Harney trains hard every session and is a definite mention”.

The story is a bit different for karate. “We’ve had a lot of success this year. At the KUGB student championships, we got bronze in mixed team kata and silver in women’s team kumite” Chloe gushes. “We also got gold at BUSA in women’s intermediate kata. Iram Haq and Hayley Webb always gain podium places.”

This success is a definite highlight for the karate team but does come with slight disappointment. “Numbers have been down this year” states Chloe. “A lot don’t come back after Christmas, which is a real shame.”

“We get interest from freshers who watch Steven Seagal, who I’m not a huge fan of, but we always welcome new interest” admits Krit.

As for the future, it’s looking positive. “A few Dan-grade sessions would be good”, says Sitathani. Whilst Blagg admits “Focus training would be good but I’ve a great feeling for future competitions.” This is an outlook which is difficult to deny.