5 years have passed since our last visit to Dundee, Scotland where the 7th WUKF World Karate Championships were held. We have happy memories from our last trip to Dundee where we won 2 x Gold Medals, 1 x Silver Medal and 1 x Bronze Medal. Therefore we arrived in Dundee feeling optimistic, and in the hopes of repeating our previous achievements.
The 11th WUKF World Karate Championships were held in Dundee, Scotland from the 13th-16th July 2023, with over 1800 competitors from 31 countries. The competition was held over 10 tatamis. Two clubs represented SKC: Eagle Institute, with coach Kamil Hejmanowski and Sport Karate Coalition, with myself as the coach. During the 4 days of the competiton we competed in only individual categories coming home with 2 x Gold Medals and 3 x Bronze Medals. 
On Tuesday late evening we got into the car and after 9 hours of driving, in the early hours of Wednesday we arrived in Dundee. The day before the competition is usually always the same: document check, weight and height check and then a quick return to the hotel for a meal, a walk, some rest and a motivational speech. 
On the next day, Thursday, Ula and Ania competed in their individual Shobu Sanbon Kumite categroies. The ladies categories were held during the early afternoon, meaning the ladies had ample time to have a proper warm up. Ania Piotrowska (Sport Karate Coalition) won a bronze medal in Individual Masters Shobu Sanbon Kumite +60kgs. Ania was so close to winning her fights to get into the final with a multi medalist athlete from England, who ended up winning the category. A few minutes later our athlete Urszula Gryniewicz (Sport Karate Coalition) repeated the same achievement as Ania winning a bronze medal in Individual Masters Shobu Sanbon Kumite -60kgs. After the ladies categories we had a few moments to relax and to sight see. 
On Friday two more medals were won by Piotr and myself. Our categories were originally meant to be held on Thursday morning, but due to the high number of athletes our categories were moved to Friday morning. On Thursday evening I received further information that my category had been once again moved, this time from the morning to evening. In the end my category was held 3 hours before the planned start time. These time changes were definitely a new kind of experience for me. This was a huge competition, so these time changes could have happened to anyone. Piotr Urban (Eagle Institute) in Individual Masters Shobu Sanbon Kumite +75kgs category and myself competed at very similar times. Piotr won a bronze medal. This is a huge success as this was the first World Championships that Piotr participated in. In my Individual Masters Shobu Ippon Category I won against 3 athletes, earninbg myself a Gold Medal.
I attribute my success to my mental preparations. Mental readiness is half the success of an athlete, it helps with concentration of coach points, increases motivation and helps with concentration of what is actually important in the given moment.
On the last day of the competition Mia Hejmanowska (Eagle Institute) won a gold medal in individual Kumite Shobu Nihon 8 years and under. This is a great achievement for Mia as it was her first time competeing at the WUKF World Karate Championships.Summary:
In this season we had a lot of opportunities to participate in a variety of sporting events, to end the season we competed in Dundee which had a successful outcome. We gained a lot of experience through this competition, having a huge positive impact on our next competitions. Some of the athletes that competed under us as SKC were very close to medal positions; this is the beauty of our sport, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. A huge thank you to Tamara Lipinska who is responsible entirely for all our media and social media. The Sport Karate Coalition team was made up of 4 individuals; myself who was competing and had the role of the coach, Ula an athlete, Ania an athlete and Tamara who was in charge of our media. We had a lot of opportunities to spend time together in a form of relaxation as well as in the form of our passion of karate. The next WUKF World Karate Championships will take place in Mexico next year. It’s now time to spend some time relaxing during the summer, before we begin the busy season ahead. Stay tuned. 
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