The World United Martial Arts (WUMA) British Championships took place in Worcester, England on the 23rd of August 2009. The event attracts all styles of martial arts under one roof to compete for the British title, all competing against each other, all in harmony.

Having entered many W.U.M.A events previously in the past, Master Richard Hopkins (Deadly to his friends) still runs an outstanding event where everyone is treated with respect and fairness. No bad refereeing, no bias and there is always a great atmosphere.

Master Kirkwood and his National Squad did exceptionally well, they competed in traditional Jnr and Snr Korean patterns, Team Patterns, Jnr and Snr Point sparring, as well as the Continuous sparring. The strong squad of 13 comprised of Black Belts and students who had no previous experience at a WUMA event. For those novices it was a major learning curve and gave them a great deal of knowledge and experience in entering a mixed martial art event.

The day kicked off the all the individual pattern divisions and team events. Our first novices up on the floor within the Junior division was Scott Ritchie, Megan Lyon, Jenna Ventura and Ryan Ventura. These young students had to compete against the more advanced students within the Korean section. Although this was their first time at a WUMA event they did an exceptional job and showed great courage by stepping onto the floor.

The Korean Junior pattern section saw a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place being awarded to A.I.M.A.A Scotland. Miss Kara Gough took the Gold, and saw her squad team partners Tammy Sutherland take 2nd, whilst Lauren Mulaghton took a 3rd place!  The next division was the adult patterns, this had some ITF and TAGB participants within it. Although first on the floor Mr John Kirkwood took 1st place with his pattern "Moon Moo", followed by Kirsty Gough who took 2nd place. Miss Lisa Aitken and Caroline Ventura just missed out on the medals this time, but had executed their patterns perfectly and with power. 

From the individual event we moved onto the Team events in which Team A.I.M.A.A won their division. Team members Kirsty Gough, Tammy Sutherland and Kara Gough where ecstatic when they took Gold in this division.

From the patterns we quickly moved onto the Junior point sparring. All the children's divisions as usual are broken down by novice (- 2yrs experience) and advance (+ 2 years experience) plus their height. In the smallest divisions the children are mixed, so boys and girls fight each other. In these divisions we had little Megan Lyon, Jenna Ventura, Christie and Rachel Mulaghton compete. Some hard fights were fought, and in some divisions our students ended up fighting each other in final bouts. Rachel and Christie also fought in the continuous divisions and ended up battling it out in the final against each other. The girls were phenomenal and little Rachel just piped her sister to the post for Gold and the Title!

We also had novice Scott Ritchie take to the floor and had some serious fights in his division. Some of the boys were much older, however Scott held his own and fought hard and well in his division, making it into the final.  The final bout saw some fast and furious techniques being thrown by his opponent, but Scott held fast and came back with some serious hand techniques. However he was piped to the post by time, and lost out by 1 point, taking the silver in his division.  Mr Kirkwood his Instructor was immensely proud of Scott, as was Master Kirkwood. Scott has only fought once before in the A.I.M.A.A Nationals, and as a young fighter had shown a lot of courage and excellent techniques within his fight. Scott is now training hard for the next A.I.M.A.A Scotland event in October.

In the junior divisions we had Tammy Sutherland and Kara Gough compete in the points and continuous divisions, both girls did an outstanding job. Young Tammy Sutherland had fought long and hard to get into the continuous sparring final, however received a serious nose blow! which resulted in her being told that she could not go on by the medical staff. Tammy was awarded her silver for her fight. Master Kirkwood was very proud of both girls as they had some serious contenders on the mats to compete with. We also saw young Lauren Mulaghton compete in points and continuous divisions. In both sections she did an outstanding job and won a Silver and Bronze.

Adults within the squad who competed was A.I.M.A.A Team Captain Mr John Kirkwood, Lisa Aitken and Kirsty Gough. Mr Kirkwood fought in the men's -75kg points division and won Gold and the British Title, in his division, whilst on the other mat we had Lisa Aitken compete. Lisa had a serious contender and again just missed out on valuable points in the last few seconds of the bout. Lisa's final resulted in her taking Silver in this division, much to the delight of the squad.

It was nearing the end of the day when we saw Kirsty Gough and Ryan Kirkwood take to her areas. Both students had some serious bouts, and Kirsty came up against a full contact fighter in her final. Although Kirsty executed some excellent techniques, she was outshone by the kicking abilities of her opponent. This fight was exceptional and had everyone watching. Kirsty was commended by WUMA Instructors for her determination and will power to go the distance with this fighter and for taking the Silver. On the other area, Ryan Kirkwood was put out in his first fight in his points division, and took to the floor for the open weight division. Although he had managed to win his fight he got beaten in his second bout and was not placed in the finals.

As the event came to its end the squad left the tournament on a high! They had a well earned rest as well as some fun in the glorious sunshine outside the venue, to the delight of the young students, who enjoyed having a grass fight with Master Kirkwood!

Master Kirkwood and Mr Kirkwood would like to commend the squad on their success! Although we had some members who did not win at the event, we would like to mention that young Ryan Ventura and Caroline Ventura are a credit to A.I.M.A.A. This was your second event ever and you did and exceptional job in your divisions. It take a lots of courage and self belief to enter a mixed martial art event, and we commend you on your fortitude in taking part. We would also like to thank the parents and friends who accompanied the squad to this event. As usual we had a very eventful and fruitful weekend, as well as lots of fun...well Done everyone!

CLICK HERE for the WUMA British Open 2009 Gallery

W.U.M.A BRITISH CHAMPIONS 2009 & SQUAD WINNERS