1st May 2010

Fantastic Grading

It was a good turnout of members for the first grading of the year held at Alexander Heights. White, yellow, blue and red belts attempted to pass their respected belt level to show Mr. Rawlins and the rest of the instructors that they haven't gone rusty or lazy during the Christmas and New Year break.

The technique, standard and level of the members haven't drop and it was an excellent grading for all, with a few even pulling the difficult task of double grading. It just shows that if you are focused and determined with the best instructors the Academy has to offer, you can achieve anything you want for this year in Taekwondo.

(Members watching in awe, as red belts are put through their paces)

We have a big year planned for all our members this year and we will be looking at developing our juniors and novice fighters, as well as our and poomsae exponents. Last year we had 9 of our members represent Australia (the true Australian Team) and our club at international level competitions.

However it was all in sparring events. This year we hope to have some of our members in the Australian poomsae team as well, which will truly cement us as the premier Taekwondo club in both sparring & poomsae in Australia. Currently, we only hold the title of best sparring club in Australia.

(Some of our future champions)

And with the help of our top instructors and the huge support we have from our members, parents and friends, we can certainly achieve this and we must do it before Mr. Rawlins gets any more greyer and starts looking like Mr. Sims (only joking).

(Our always supporting parents and friends)

(Who is starting to go grey???)

Renae Sponsored by Mooto

Congratulations to Rawlins Queensland fighter Renae Perkins, one of only 2 Taekwondo atheletes, for getting a full sponsorships from Mooto Australia & New Zealand, supplier of fantastic and comfortable Taekwondo wear. Let's hope Mooto can sponsor one of our WA fighters next.

15th April 2010

Rawlins Junior Stars in Hollywood

All pictures in this report belong to their respective copyright owners.

(The Australian team at the Junior World Champs. Courtesy of Renae Perkins)

The competition was strong and an eye opener for our Junior fighters as the best juniors from all across the World were assembled in Mexico to test their skills and mental toughness against each other, and to see who had the bragging rights to say that they are number one in the World.

We started of day one with Emily and Renae both winning their first fights which was a fantastic effort as every fight was a tough one. The next match however did not go to well for Renae even though she was in front by 2 points near the end of the 3rd round. She lost focus and the girl from Norway got a head kick in and it was all over for her. Renae will learn from this as this was the one that got away. Judging by the poolof fighters, she could have medaled in this division.

(Renae exchanging gifts with one of her opponents. Picture from http://www.tkdmexico2010.com)

(Uh oh... Here comes trouble...)

Emily's second fight was also a close one as she was up against a girl from Turkey, one of the top countries. The girl was also experienced competitor. Emily stuck to her game plan and after a close fight, beat her and advanced to the next round. Her next fight was against Korea and we all knew Emily had to fight her best to beat the Korean but at the end of the match the Korean girl was just that much better than her and won the match. We all thought the Korean Girl would go on and win this division, however in the finals, it was Korea versus China. The Chinese girl was a giant, whose skill level was way above the Korean's, and ended up winning the Gold. Check out the height different in the photo below of Emily and Chinese girl. It was a good performance by both Renae & Emily on day one.

(Emily with the Chinese girl. Courtsey of Emily O'Sullivan)

Day 2 & 3 were not a good one as both Nadine & Clare were up against 2 girls form Croatia, both European Champions. Anyway we went there to compete against the best, so we gave it our best, however the end results were not too good. Even though Nadine was aggressive and listening to Mr. Rawlins, she walked into a well planned turning kick to the nose ,causing it to bleed. The referee started the count and Nadine shocked and confused did not have her hands up by the count of 8, so was counted out. The Croatian girl went in and won the bronze medal.

Clare leading up to these comps was looking very good at training and in her preparation towards these championships, however drawing the top fighter in this division was a bummer. We were hoping to get some other country first so we could calm her nerves down but it didn't happen. Clare's nerve got the better of her in the fight and she basically froze out there, which resulted in the Croatian girls controlling and winning the match. This girl went on and won the division.

Day 4 saw us get yet another bad draw, as Paul's first fight was against the current world champion from Korea. How unlucky can you get anyway? Paul fought courageously and threw everything that he could at him including the kitchen sink, but the Korean had an answer for everything and went on not only to beat Paul but every one else in his division comfortably, to claim his second World Championship. Paul would have had to be the stand out fighter at the Championships.

Overall the juniors from our club did the best they could at these World Championships, with some needing to work on certain areas. they also learnt a lot by just watching and taking notes. They all now know what it take to be the best in the World and what it takes to win a Gold medal at these Championships.

The wealth of knowledge learnt by both Mr. Rawlins and our juniors by just being at the World Championships watching the ways different countries and their athletes prepare and train can only benefit our whole academy and will make us better, wiser and lot more experience for such future events.

Whilst at these World Championships, Mr. Rawlins also coached Courtney Sinclair from Victoria and Kyle Parmley from Queensland to the second round of these Championships, but once again could not get to the medal round of the comp. He ended up coaching 7 of the 17 Australian representatives at the JWC.

At the end of the World Junior Championships our Rawlins team members headed to Los Angeles, USA, for 5 days of well earned R & R.

(Who is this cool looking fella? Courtesy of Renae Perkins)

We are sorry that we don't have many photos to show you but Mr. Rawlins's camera got stolen in LA, along with thr 689 pictures taken of the competition and of LA in the camera's memory stick.

(Bye bye camera. Courtesy of Clare Francis)

The memories will now only be in our heads, but you can check out some of our photos on Facebook.

7th April 2010

South West Games

By Sharon Jones

(Poomsae medalists at the South West Games)

On the 28th March, students took part in the South West Games held in Bunbury.

The day started well with a flurry of medals from the Rockingham students who competed in patterns. Well done to Jamie Strickland, Reece Driver and Benjamin Odlin who bought home Gold. We also won another 7 silver and bronze places. The biggest surprise, however, was Mr Rawlins actually being the first one there bright and early in the morning to support the patterns team!!!

As the day continued, on went the fighters. Out of a total of 22 sparring divisions, Rawlins took home gold in 17, as well as a further 7 silver and bronze places. All those who entered fought well. Stand out figts for the day were gold medalists Alyssa Kinkaid from Beechboro, in the U14 girls blue belt division, Johanna Hall from Albany in the U18 girls red belt division, and Elyse Rowe from Rockingham in the girls U18 Red belt division. Well done girls!!

As the day came close to an end, and everyone was starting to get tired – true to form, Jason Rocca could see it was time to wrap things up for the day. With a quick jump and spin at the end of the first round – it was all over for another victim with a knockout.

Congratulations to all those who entered. Once again Rawlins students stood out from the crowd in standard, etiquette and sportsmanship.

Clean Sweep For Rawlins At The QLD Open 2010

Rawlins fighters did a great job on Saturday and Sunday as we cleaned up at the Qld open. The weekend started on Saturday with Cedric Luyt and Cheri Luyt winning gold for poomsae and on Sunday while 2 of our fighters where uncontested the rest of the team made up for them in numbers.

Out of the 10 fighters that fought on Sunday they won in total 12 gold medals - it was not easy but our fighters stood up for the challenge and fought hard and with determination.

In total we won 14 gold medals - for better than 100% Success - particularly pleasing was the fact that we did not lose any fights on the day.

The winners are: Mustafaa Olomi, Jahan Olomi, Renea Perkins, Zita Dore, Dominic Bielicki, Abdullah Houadchia, Zekria Sayed, Cedric Luyt, Cheri Luyt, Zulaikha Deen (missing from photo).

Courtney Pomerenke and Khaaled Olomi both won Gold medals in 2 weight divisions. Between them they contested 7 fights and this earned them fighters of the tournament status.

Well done Guys train hard for the next Challenge which is our own clubtTournament in 4 weeks time - Rawlins Open on the 18th of April 2010.

Uncontested fighters were Jacob White and Mousaab Houadchia.

Also a big thanks to all the parents and supporters who came out to the Entertainment Centre and cheered their lungs out all day for the team.

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