We had a busy month with regular training taking place on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays along with a fundraising Bag Pack, competing in the Piltown Open Championships in Clonmel and Squad training with JKS Ireland. Our fundraising Bag Pack took place in Dunne’s/JCs in Swords. The purpose of the fundraiser was to raise funds for our students who are going to Japan in July to compete in the JKS World Karate Championships. We had two teams who volunteered for this fundraiser, and they spent Friday evening and all-day Saturday packing groceries for the customers of Dunne’s/JCs. We would like to thank the customers who supported us so magnificently in this fund raiser as we raised over €2000 for our students going to Japan. We hosted JKS Ireland Squad training in Applewood Community Centre this month. Our focus is getting our students ready to compete on the world stage at the World Championships and we covered Kihon, Kata and Kumite as well pushing hard on our general fitness levels. We travelled to Clonmel to compete in the annual Piltown Open Karate Championships. It was a long day as this is an extremely popular competition, but our Squad did very well taking home a number of prizes on the day. Danny, Lola, and Sophia each took third place in Kata while Sophia also took home third place in her kumite section. This is great preparation for the World Championships and our next competition is in early July, a week before we travel. We hosted JKS Ireland Brown & Black Belt training, as well as JKS Ireland Squad training in preparation for the World Championships. Finally, Ava Kane was presented with her Shodan (1 st Black Belt) Diploma and Darragh O’Sullivan was presented with his Nidan (2nd Black Belt) Diploma this month. Our Club is always looking for new members (Children, Young People & Adults). Contact Dermot on 087-8073885 for details on how to join our club. You can also contact us on Facebook: JKS Swords Karate Club or on Instagram: @jks_swords_karate_club