After the previous year's experiences from the WUKO Karate World Championship in Spain, the four-person SKC karate team took part in the WUKO (World Union of Karate-Do Organizations) European Senior Karate Championship. This competition took place on 21-25th May 2008, in Liege (Belgium).
Taking into account the short distance between London and Liege, we decided to travel by car, the journey was supposed to take a couple of hours, but, unfortunately due to the workers striking on the French side, we were trapped on the ferry and 1.5 hours turned into an 8-hour ferry crossing. This delay resulted in a few hours delay in reaching the destination, which turned into unnecessary nerves and a race against time to make it to the technical briefing, without which we could not take part in the competition. We
reached our destination with a minute to spare.
The SKC team consisted of me being the coach and a competitor. The other team members were Kamil Hejmanowski, Konrad Kozubski and Andre Lmpitt. During the three days of which the competition lasted, around 300 karatekas from 18 European countries competed. The competition was held at a very high level in terms of sports, judging and organization. In the senior individual kumite category, after three victories in a row, I was second, winning the silver medal, losing the final after extra time by selection from the judges with the titled competitor from Romania, Florin Ionita. The competitor from Belgium, Franck Tosens, was third on the podium.
During the official opening of the European Karate Championships WUKO, a presentation of the new kumite competition for people with disabilities such as using a wheelchair to move took place. After the show of this competition was over, we all applauded standing.
Kamil, Konrad and Andre gathered valuable experience on which they could rely on winning medals in the future from watching the presentations. During this trip, we all understood that in order to achieve success at this level, we would have to train even harder.
After a few days of sporting struggles, we decided to travel to the German city of Aachen, which was only 30 minutes away from our hotel. In Aachen, we spent several hours in a hot water pool complex called "The Carolus Thermen". This complex offered eight indoor and outdoor pools with different temperatures with many different attractions, steam rooms and beautiful sun terraces. For each of us it was one of the highlighs of the trip.
Liege is a large city located in the eastern, French-speaking part of Belgium. Liege, the capital of Wallonia, comes from the reign of the Romans, who founded a settlement in this area, which they called Leodium. Throughout its centuries-long history, Liege has acquired a huge number of monuments, many of which have been preserved in perfect condition. The most visited places, which are also the main reasons as to why tourits visit the city, is the magnificent gothic cathedral and the richly decorated bishop's palace (The Palace of the Prince-Bishops).
Liege is one of the most important Belgian cities, located near the border with Germany. In the culinary world, it is famous for the salad that gave its name - salade liègeoise. 
Great Belgian waffles from Liege on yeast dough - Oh, if pnly you could smell these photos!!Do you know that…
1. Liege is also considered as a center of education. There have been 20,000 students to attend The University of Liege. It also has 24 schools, which house 42,000 pupils.
2. One of the largest Christmas markets in the country is conducted in Liege.
3. The nightlife of Liege is very famous in the world. It houses many pubs, which open until the late morning located at Le Carre.
4. In the past, Liege was one of the most important steel production centers in Europe.
5. The first coal mines in Europe were built near the city of Liege.
6. The oldest to date one-day cycling race Liege-Bastogne-Liege is held in Liege. The race was organized for the first time in 1892.
Questions for Sensei Jacek
1) How long did the competitions take? 2) Where you correctly trained for this competition? 3)Where you doing a diet to be correct for this competition? 4) How did you feel that you had won 2nd place?
Questions for Sensei Jacek Lipisnki:
1) Was the trip to all the pools after the competition rewarding enough?
2) What was it like, knowing there was a possibility of you not being able to enter the competition when you were rushing to get there and luckily arrived with 1 minute to spare?
3) Do you think that your height could affect your fights? If yes then would that effect be good or bad and why?
4) Would you go back and do something differently if you could?
Questions for Kamil Hejmanowski? 1) Although you didn’t win a medal in this competition, did you still enjoy the experience? 2) How have you improved from this competition?
Questions for Sensei Jacek:
Did it stress you out being delayed by the strike?
How did you feel seeing the new kumite for people with disabilities?
What were your responsibilities as a coach and competitor?
What was your favourite part of visiting Liege?
-Victoria S
Questions for any How did you feel when you only had a minute to spare? How did you feel during the competition while competing with 300 competitors After the competition how you feel? Question for Sensei Jacek How did you feel getting second place were you proud or did you fell like you could have done better?