TO SAY that the weekend of March 7-9 was a busy one for the Vale Karate Squad would be a huge under-statement.

One of the largest open competitions on the circuit in Wales, the WKA Traditional Open was held in Bridgend Recreation Centre.

Meanwhile Vale Karate was also represented at the prestigious "Legend Open" in Bath and further afield on the bigger stages of the Danish Open in Aarhus and the Golden League Dutch Open in Rotterdam.

The Vale's squad arrived at the WKA Traditional Open without their international class competitors, but those present were determined to shine.

The Vale's star of the day was 11-year-old Natasha Paton who won the Junior black and brown belt Under-12 Kata event just ahead of her team-mate Elliot Evans who took 2nd place.

She then went on to earn a second place in the Girls Under-16 Under 5ft 2in Kumite event despite giving away up to four years and several inches to her opponents.

Vale Karate has an absolute wealth of talent in the 8-11 year age range and this was again demonstrated in the boy's team event Under 11 years when the Vale A team of Rhys Davies, Elliot Evans and Scott Paramore took first place amid fierce competition from teams all over Wales and England.

The Vale dominate the kata events in traditional karate in Wales and as well as their junior triumph two Vale instructors claimed trophies in the adult events.

Alan Morgans, who had two days earlier taken part in one of the world's highest calibre tournaments, the Dutch Open, used that experience to good effect by winning here. In the semi-final he narrowly beat Andrew Kanias.

There was another trophy for the Vale won by Rachel Dixon in the Ladies Kyu Grade Kata.

The Legend Open, which was held in Bath, is sponsored by Legend Productions, who specialise in producing traditional Shotokan Karate videos. Last year Vale Karate dominated this event as they sent their full strength squad.

This year a young and inexperienced squad attended, composed entirely of Kyu Grade (non black belt) members.

However they showed their potential and the Vale stood out once again.

Darren Tyson won the male kyu-grade Kumite with team mate Bonny Buckle winning the Ladies kyu-grade event.

Bonny also earned a third place in the Ladies Kata while Tim Hawkins denied himself first place in the Men's kyu-grade Kata with a slight mistake, and had to settle for the runners-up spot.

Jessica Morgan, Jessica Prince and Nicole Tressider pulled off a clean sweep in the Girls Under-16 kyu grade Kumite, with Jessica Morgan also earning a trophy for third place alongside Lewis Green in the Under-16 kyu-grade Kata.

The Vale's final trophy of the day went to eight-year-old Leah Copeland who earned a second place in the Under-12 kyu grade Kata.

Vale Karate's most successful junior, ten-year-old Nick Hooper made the trip to Denmark to contest the Under-12 Kata event, and against opponents from all over Scandinavia, won his second international title to go alongside the Kobe Osaka World Cup he won last year.

The Vale's European Under-21 Silver medallist Billy Seagrim and Welsh Champion Gareth Reynolds travelled to Rotterdam to take part in the Dutch Open.

This is one of four Golden League international events held throughout the year, As well as being extremely prestigious, these events offer prize money to the winners of each category and as a result attract the world's top competitors.

Gareth was beaten by the German Champion and Billy, who fought well to beat a Senior international Swede 3-1, drew 1-1 against Italy's top heavyweight karate athlete only to suffer the agony of the judges' decision going against him.

Billy, although only 18, is Wales' only male entrant to the Senior European Karate Federation Championships being held in Bremen, Germany, in May and all at Vale Karate wish him well.