Stand-up Wrestling & Grappling Competition

Sil Lum Kune held its first internal stand up wresting and grappling competition on sun 19th Feb 2006, the doors were open to the general public at 12pm with the venue being held at the village hall in Wolvey. Competitors came from near and far with Shaun Gains the chief instructor from Alnwick Newcastle bringing down a good contingency from his mixed martial arts clubs.
   

 Upon arrival all participants were weighed and their records logged into the computer, this was to ensure the competition was fair as the age categories varied from as young as 6yrs old up to the older veterans taking part.
    There was seven different weight categories for the juniors up to the age of 17yrs old and three for the adults.
   

Before the competition started chief instructor for the association Paul Burkinshaw addressed the audience and thanked everyone for the tremendous turn out, to which had now swelled to capacity with standing places only available before demonstrating the scoring system for stand up wrestling, a contestant could score 1 to 3 points depending on what execution had been thrown and for the grappling emphasized that juniors could not use choke locks to submit there contestant into tapping out.
    Each match had two referees overseeing each fight for safety reasons with the head table consisting of a time keeper and a person keeping score on flip cards so that the audience could keep count on who was winning.
  

  Many times the noise was so loud from the audience encouraging people competing that the referee was struggling to hear the timekeeper shout time, as everyone was so enthralled in the action-taking place.
    As in many competitions injuries and knocks are inevitable even after all the safety precautions have been catered for even with the use of good quality floor mats, gladly no one was seriously hurt except for some peoples pride as many a girl was victorious in both events over boys as most categories was mixed to the shear quantity of people taking part.
    The completion proved to be a great success with a high level of good techniques shown combined with intelligent and physical activities like a game of chess trying to outwit there opponent. Trophies were awarded to the winner and second place of each category.
    The feedback was very positive after the event with people commentating on a good friendly atmosphere fought in a safe environment with plenty of supervision taking place in a fair and impartial manner. Gemma and Sue stated “it’s nice to see the little ones getting stuck in” and Dawn said “that it was good to see so many girls participating”. Overall it was a very enjoyable day had by many with us all looking forward to the next event. The final thought goes to all the boys and girls who participated in the competition who all said, “It was wicked”.