End of Year Letter
| Senior Grading <Nov 11>
| Ipswich Kata Tournament 2011
| AKKA National Titles 2011
| Grading <Sep 11>
| Queensland State Titles 2011
| National Camp 11
| Grading <Mar 11>
2010 | 2009 | 2008
Thank you for such an exciting and rewarding year. The forward progression of all the students and the Dojo as a whole has been a pleasure to watch and be a part of. There is a great atmosphere in the club, one of co-operation, diligence and enthusiasm, and we hope it continues. We can only hope that you have enjoyed your training to date, and, like us are looking forward to attacking the New Year’s goals and aspirations with vigour.
This year has been a rewarding year for us, on a personal note, Sempai Katie getting back into the Lightweight category for the ‘Nationals’ after the birth of Ivy and excelling in her Nidan grading were two very gratifying and proud moments.
2011 also saw our largest group of Palm Beach students yet attend the National Camp, which I hope was enjoyed by all, and we can do the same next year.
We also had several students compete in the State Titles in both Full and Non Contact, another good representation for the Dojo. Unfortunately we were overseas for this event, but the team was managed well by the Dojo’s latest asset and instructor, Sempai Mel. Again, in the heat of battle some things do not go to plan, but needless to say, that you are all winners just for putting your hands up to compete.
A small but determined team of fighters went to Sydney for our ‘Nationals’ and again, results didn’t favour us and the whole trip was soured by an injury to Matt’s knee. Nethertheless, we will all use it as a learning curve and come back better next year.
There are several events planned for next year, which, we are hoping that you will immerse yourselves in and be a part of.
The resurrection of the Team Non Contact event will be brought about in 2012 and will be hosted by the Palm Beach Dojo. As this will be the first event we have staged, we want it to be the best, obviously. The logistics of holding such event, although small, need a dedicated band of volunteers (parents) to assist with jobs on the day, these will include the official table/s, door person, catering, first aid etc etc. So expect us to come knocking.
Our fundraising activities have really taken a back seat, and we would really like to kick that into gear again. 2012, being a World Titles year, we will be raising funds to assist out International fighters in the Branch. We also see no reason why we could not raise some funding for our own Dojo representatives that are willing to fly around the country. Lastly, we would also like to commit to raising some funds for a charity, a very worthwhile community event.
The 2012 calendar is available, and should be used to set your personal goals for the next year’s training. As always, check the web site for any additions or changes to the calendar.
Training will resume on Monday 16 January 2012 at 6pm.
We hope you all have a great Christmas break and wish you and yours a healthy and prosperous New Year. Sensei Phil and Sempai Katie OSU
Saturday November 19th was the date set for the second and last Senior Grading for 2011. This was a very important date for two young ladies of the Palm Beach Dojo, and also one etched in the mind of several other senior students from around Queensland. The Palm Beach ladies were; Sempai Katie Cox, who would be attempting her Nidan (2nd Dan) grading and Ekaterina Fedorova, who would be attempting her 3rd Kyu grading.
Fresh from a courageous effort at the Nationals, and utilising the fitness regimen adopted for that, Sempai Katie’s fitness was second to none as she focussed on the goal ahead, a prospective 5 hour Nidan grading. Complete with rigorous kihon, ido gecko, kata and self defence training, both ladies had prepared well. Ekaterina having to stay focussed since her cancelled grading in May.
The day’s trials commenced just before 1pm, in the heat of the day. As senior gradings have been structured to reflect the Japanese grading format, the day started off with a full one hour of fitness and stamina. This proved to be very testing in itself, but Sempai Katie skipped through it like a "Duracell bunny".
Following this, a short break then straight into Kihon, Ido Gecko ensued and the day flowed on. Whilst there were some tired students out there, the standard overall remained relatively high, as one would expect of a senior grading, with our Sempai Katie setting the standard throughout.
Everyone joined in with the "self-defence" part, even if they were not being marked on it, And after a few hours, the lower ranked students were starting to fulfil their technical component of the grading, and started to sit out in turn, in preparation for the sparring.
As in true Kyokushin style, once the technical side of the grading was complete, everyone prepared themselves for the arduous finale of the sparring. In the true spirit of Kyokushin, everyone attacked their sparring roles with the ferocity expected. After a short while, Sempai Josh Cooke suffered a kick to the knee and sat out for the rest of the sparring. All others battled through to complete their requirement, and like the lioness protecting her cubs, Sempai Katie was the last remaining warrior standing to finish the sparring.
What a great day for Kyokushin Karate to see all these warriors working tirelessly with "firm, unshaking spirits" in pursuit of "the true meaning of the Martial Way" and "fulfilling the true meaning of the Kyokushin Way".
| Nidan | Katie Cox (Palm Beach) Josh Cooke (Nerang) |
|---|---|
| 1st Kyu | Chris Gale (Ormeau) Melanee Barclay (Townsville) Amber Moore (Ipswich) |
| 3rd Kyu | Ekaterina Fedorova (Palm Beach) Daniel Buckley (Ipswich) Russell Couper (Townsville) |
After the stress of the National Titles, and with the impending Senior Grading looming fast in November for some, it was time to enjoy a competition with slightly less at stake. Or so it seemed to some students before the Ipswich Kata Tournament in early November. It is not until you realise that you are the only person on the floor and all eyes are on your performance, that the stress kicks in and remembering something you have done hundreds of times suddenly becomes difficult.
The Ipswich Kata event was well attended by students from the Dojo’s within the southern corner of Queensland. Ipswich, Palm Beach, Nerang and Ormeau dojo’s were all well represented on the day, and it was refreshing to see new and old students alike coming together to pit their skill against eachother.
The tournament itself was run along the lines of fighting, whereby two competitors are pitted against eachother and the winner, by 3 judge’s decisions, moves onto the next round. This proved successful and kept the action flowing throughout the day.
There was an even distribution of trophies across all students, with most finishing the day happy with their performance.
This was a successful day, and one I am sure will be a regular inclusion in our calendar of events in the future.
October saw a small but determined team of fighters head south from the Palm Beach Dojo to Sydney to compete in the AKKA National Titles, held at the NSW University Sports and Aquatic Centre.
On the Saturday, Noah Hughes, who had been training well in preparation, fought in the Non Contact 10-13 years Boys event, but unfortunately drew one of the best fighters of the day, third place, for his first round fight. This was a narrow decision, unfortunately going the wrong way for Noah.
Sunday, and the Full Contact, saw the return to the mat of Sempai Katie Cox after having her baby. After training once again like a demon during the lead up, she weighed in successfully into the Lightweight Female Open Division. This did potentially match her up against another of our Instructors, Sempai Mel Huggins.
This did not eventuate though, with both girls losing out on Referee’s decisions in their first round fights, after both fighting courageously.
Krzysztof Mika, our oldest competitor at 50, fought in the Male Open Lightweight Division. His preparation training regimen would have been hard to achieve for a man half his age and saw him supremely fit for the tournament. However, his age and small stature saw him on the back foot for most of his first fight and saw him lose out on the flags.
Our last competitor of the day was Matt Roser, in the Novice Heavyweight. Once again, he had been again training hard in preparation and was hoping for good things to happen. In his first fight, he was just starting to get the better of his opponent until a desperate wayward low kick caught him on the knee, and unfortunately dislocated Matt’s kneecap. His opponent was disqualified, but Matt was unfortunately unable to continue.
We went to the Nationals this year well prepared, but came away without a win.
Once again, this is part of the martial journey for all. The journey encompasses; the bravery to enter, the determination in training to prepare, the mental strength to deal with the nerves and stress in the lead up and the courage to fight on the day. So to say we came away without a win is not true and all are stronger and more focussed to improve for next year.
This was a fairly large grading, with approximately 30 students involved, due to the June grading being missed with Sensei Phil and Sempai Katie being overseas.
With the rest of the Dojo in attendance and training along, it made for a very sweaty and noisy night. This is the type of night that gets remembered and loved by all that train in Kyokushin Karate. Red sweaty faces, loud spirited kiai, enthusiasm, willingness to please and to train harder than the person next to you, effort, oh and more sweat! These are all the key ingredients of a good training session and they were there in abundance.
As this was a grading, one had to also concentrate on the finer aspects of skill and technique, as marking was being done.
Every student was marked in accordance with their own progression and performance. Some students are lucky enough to be natural athletes and karateka and always perform at a high standard. For others, this is not the case, so improvement on their previous standard is their main goal. The effort required to do both remains constant and is a very important aspect of training.
Improvement in skill and technique is one focus, however, other attributes, such as co-ordination, awareness, space relations, diligence etc are all vital components of karate as a whole.
Once again, a barbecue and refreshments were well earned by all. The results and certificates had to wait though, as the jury had to decide on the final outcome.
| 5th Kyu | Jason Read Asher Webber Noah Hughes |
|---|---|
| 6th Kyu | Glenn Limkin Jasper Limkin |
| 7th Kyu | River Abel Hamish Webber Braith Gausden Harry Tas |
| 8th Kyu | Toby Guard Locki Abel |
| 9th Kyu | Matt Roser Jack Cheffers Dirck Tas Nathan Lindsay Aaron Lindsay |
| 10th Kyu | David Doogan Mackenzie Muir |
June saw the Qld State Full and Non Contact Titles held, and once again it was held in the function room at the Hinterlander Hotel, Nerang.
Unfortunately, Sensei Phil and Sempai Katie had family commitments, and had to travel to the U.K. over this period, so they were unable to coach, manage and encourage the students that had worked hard in the lead up to this event.
They did however have a great deputy, with Sempai Mel Huggins stepping into the role. Along with providing first aid coverage with her skills as an ex Ambulance Officer, and actually fighting in both Non and full Contact fights herself, this made for a very busy day for Mel. This was not the ideal situation, and we will definitely endeavour to see it does not repeat itself, but was handled well by Mel on the day. She also put up spirited efforts on the mat, but the weight of all the other hats made it hard for her to concentrate on her own performance.
One of our junior war-horses, Hamish Webber displayed his resilience in both Full and Non-Contact categories of the Male 10-12 years, coming away with a second trophy in the Non-Contact.
Toby Guard also provided a good display to come third in the Non Contact.
Another couple of our promising juniors, Asher Webber and Noah Hughes unfortunately lost their first round fights.
Peter Best also put in a good effort against some larger opponents on the day, coming away with a third place trophy in the Full Contact Male 13-15 years.
One of our newest students, Matt Roser, was brave enough to enter the Novice Full Contact division after only one month of training. He is big and strong and like all white belts, what he lacks in technique at the moment, he makes up for in keenness. After winning his first fight by Ippon, he somehow managed to fight the same opponent in the second round. This enabled his opponent to stay away from Matt’s strengths and to work to his own for a well earned win. Matt ended up with a very creditable third place trophy and a good insight into knockdown contact.
Our only other fighter of the day was Matt Fraser, who did himself and the Dojo proud in competing in the ……………
Once again, all the fighters did their very best on the day and made us all proud to witness their bravery and determination to succeed. If this is the one life lesson they have learnt from Kyokushin Karate, then we can say it has been successful. All the fighters are winners for putting their name down to compete in the first place.
We are in the fortunate position geographically of having the National Camp in our own backyard, literally, as it is held up at the Tallebudgera Fitness Camp every year.
We are very happy and proud to say that the Palm Beach Dojo was represented well this year, with 18 students attending.
They were amply rewarded with Kancho Matsushima being the guest of honour at this year’s camp. Having Kancho attend always makes for a full up camp, and this was no exception. Over 130 students from all over Australia attended.
The instruction at this camp is second to none, with out national Association’s senior instructors always ready to impart their well earned knowledge and inspiration. Combined with the accessibility to Kancho for all grades, this made for another very interesting and valuable learning experience for all.
There were lots of positive comments from students after the Camp, with the insistence on returning next year.
The friendships and experiences gained from events such as this, is what makes your martial journey unique and rewarding, and is to be highly recommended to all.
The first grading of 2011 saw a fairly large contingent of students attempting their respective next hurdles. It was refreshing to see intermediate students rising to the challenge of last year and training hard into the New Year for this grading.
As expected, the effort and technique was of the quality needed as everyone rose to the challenge realising that Kyokushin Karate belts are hard to come by, but well worth the effort.
After the results and certificates were handed out, everyone still had enough energy to recount their war stories over a barbecue and refreshments.
If this is to be the standard set for the year, We will be looking for some big things from the students for the rest of the year.
| 5th Kyu | Peter Best Jenette Burn |
|---|---|
| 7th Kyu | Glenn Limkin Peter Burn Jasper Limkin |
| 8th Kyu | Hamish Webber Matt Fraser Millie Limkin |
| 10th Kyu | Jayden Choi |