St. Christopher’s Catholic primary School in Codsall is celebrating after one of their former pupils became Wadokai World Champion at the All Nations Championships held in Leicester recently.  Cassie Taylor, age 12, beat Italy 4 flags to 1 in the final of the under 14 Kata section to be crowned World Champion.  Her run of success continued at the competition when she won a silver medal in the under 14,  -35kg kumite competition, narrowly losing to Scotand in the final minute.

Cassie was introduced to karate four years ago at an afterschool club organised by Mr.Wilkinson, head of PE at the school, and run by Sensei Stennett Harvey, chief instructor at Ikon Martial arts and fitness centre, Wolverhampton.  Mr. Wilkinson has continued to follow Cassie’s progress and said, “All her hard work and talent is paying off. I am incredibly proud of her!”

Sensei Stennett Harvey, who still runs the afterschool club at St. Christopher’s, as well as his own club in Bushbury, was there to witness Cassie’s success. Altogether, 14 athletes from his club represented Wadokai England at the All Nations championships, bringing home 3 individual gold medals, 1 team gold,  3 silver and 2 bronze medals. He said he was happy with the performance of all of his athletes. They competed in the true spirit of Karate with respect and determination. They all performed to the very best of their ability and he is very proud of each and every one of them.

Cassie is the reigning double European champion after winning gold in kata and kumite in Sardinia last year.  She will be aiming to repeat this success at the FEW championships later this year in Dublin. Cassie said, “I am just so grateful that the school offered this club as I wouldn’t have even considered this sport. I am also thankful to my coach for all his encouragement and for nurturing my talent so intuitively.”