Archived News - July 2008

27th July 2008

Fundraising Success

Thank you and well done to all the branches and their members that helped in the chocolate fund raisers. We have raised over $6.500.00.

23rd July 2008

Young Guns Fighting Tough

Sunday 20th July saw many beginners from our centres try their skills in sparring at the 2nd Black Swan Taekwondo Inc Novice Championships which was held in Rockingham. The competition was ran to develop new students from all the Taekwondo clubs and academies around WA, regardless of their affiliations, to come together in a friendly atmosphere and expose their members to some WTF style competition.

Well done to the Black Swan Executive Committee on once again conducting a well ranevent and achieving what their motto says "Developing Taekwondo in WA". There were qualified referees present to conduct the matches and the MSL Electronic Scoring System made it easy for the parents and new comers to the Championships to understand the rules and how points were scored and recorded.

(Technical Director David Darling & Reggie Carson)

For many of the parents, spectators and ompetitors, this was the first time that they have been to a Taekwondo competition and from the looks on their faces and their comments as they were totally into it with cheering and applauding loudly, and some even asking when the next one was.

(Some of the juniors having fun cheering on the fellow team mates)

The coaches were also on hand and got right into the event by giving their students last minute advice on what to do and what not to do. It was a great day which everyone enjoyed with some of the novices putting on some exciting and entertaining matches. Even our own Mr Ian Sims who at 62yrs + had a go at the Championships. He was not only an inspiration to the novices but also the parents and spectators at the event and proved that age is no barrier when it comes to doing something you love doing.

He won his first match to the delight of the crowd and lost to Shane Page (ATA, Mandurah) in the finals. Our novice tournament fighters have gained a little more experience and can now prepare for the next big event on the 16th & 17th of August which will be the STA State Championships to be held at Hartfield Park Recreation Centre in Forrestfield on Saturday for the Technical side and at Altone Park Recreation Centre in Beechboro on Sunday for Sparring.

(That better be good advice Clinton & Chris are giving)

(Golden girls Jessie & Allie Waideman who both won gold at the Championships)

(Youngsters with their medals and a proud Mr Rawlins)

22nd July 2008

Korean Open Part 2

by Justin Blinman

After saying goodbye to our Malaysian friends at the airport, I was still on a high from passing my 3rd Dan black belt grading. As we waited for our team to arrive from Australia I anxious and excited and could hardly wait to fly out of Malaysia and head to Korea, "The home land of Taekwondo" and like the rest of the team (except for Mr Rawlins) this was my first visit to Korea.

Unlike our previous international trips where we have taken large teams, we decided it was time to take a small group of junior black belts that we are developing to the elite level. The team consisted of Mustafaa Olomi & his father Haris, Jacob White & his father Larry, Renae Perkins & her father Chris all from Queensland with the rest Chantelle Wallace, Emily O'Sullivan, Clare Francis, Garrick Blinman and Brandon Cooper all from WA. We did not know what to expect in Korea but were given lots of what to do's and what not to do's by Mr Rawlins.

After meeting the team in Malaysia, it was a long 7 hour flight to Korea, where we were meet by a welcoming committee at Incheon airport then it was a 3 hour drive by bus to Chung Cheong University. Participants from all the countries were staying in dormitories style accommodation at the university.

This is where I found out what a smart man our "boss" is as the dorm wasn't the best place to spend the next 7 nights in, which he knew. As a result, he had booked us into a 5 star hotel, the Ramarda Plaza, along with a few other smart instructors and their clubs. This place had its own cinemas, food hall, shopping centre, pool & fitness centre and well as 3 fancy restaurants and 2 bars (my kind of living).

(The Ramarda Plaza hotel our home for the next 7 days)

(At the foyer ready for dinner)

These Championships, 10th Anniversary of the World Taekwondo Festival & Korean Open will go down as a very prestigious and milestone event in Taekwondo history as this was the first time both the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) and the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) factions came together to compete under one roof, with the motto of "We are one thru Taekwondo''. With each federation competiting under their own rules and supplying their own officials and referees, it was good to see how the ITF competition ran, the scoring system and standard of their competitors. Personally I was not impressed.

The opening ceremony was a spectacular event with demonstrations from both the WTF & ITF groups, with each faction trying to outdo each other, it was like watching a battle royal but this one had boards and tiles flying everywhere. It was truly something to see that I will never forget as some of the feats during the demos that these guys did were truly incredible.

(Demo & Opening Ceremony)

After all the demos and opening ceremony it was time to go to work and win some medals. We had Garrick, Brandon, Chantelle and Jacob up first against some very good countries so we knew we had to settle their nerves and get them focused. They did their best and won a few fights, with Garrick doing his best to win 3 matches and then losing to the eventual winner. Chantelle as usual giving her all and at the end of day we had to settle with 2 Bronze medals. Chantelle & Garrick, well done guys. We knew the competition was going to be hard, as this was one of the premium championships in the Asian regions and that's just the way we want it "To be the best you must bet the best".

(Garrick and Chantelle receiving bronze. They were not happy but we were proud of them)

Day 2 and we had Emily, Clare, Renae and Mustafaa all fighting today. The draw was once again a tough one but our junior lifted and prepared themselves with the help of their teammates. We as coaches had to calm Haris down a little bit as he was getting very excited and nervous as his son Musty was first fight up against Russia but no problems as Mustafaa took the Russian out easily.

Then we had to calm Chris (Renae's dad) down as well as this was Renae's first international experience and fight but with some good coaching and advice both player and dad relaxed resulting in Renae winning her first International fight against Kazakhstan and advanced to the next round. Emily had her usual worries and tears won against England and advanced to the next round.

Teammate Clare however did not have it her way and lost to Malaysia in what we and other countries all thought she should have won. Tthe scores were not coming up but that's the nature of the game "You win some you lose some". This was Clare's first loss at any competition and it was a good test of her character to see how she would take it. She was not happy but like a true champion she accepted the decision it and got on with it.

(Mr Rawlins aka Charlie is relaxing with his new angels, the old ones Laura, Jess, Sinead and Sarah were not there this time)

At the end of day 2 we walked away with 2 golds and 1 silver, a much better result and something all our juniors can be proud of. They came to a top level competition in the home land of Taekwondo and left with a lot more experience as well as the knowledge of what to do to take them to the next level.

(Emily, Mustafaa and Renae all receiving their rewards on the winners podium)

The championships were conducted over 5 days with lots of activities planned after the day's events by the organising committee and did their best to cater for everyone's needs. We got to see the sight of Korea and taste the cuisine (not to my liking) and visited the famous Kukkiwon. They made good business when we bought uniforms, shoes, bags and etc from them. Overall we had a good time there.

We took a group of juniors, promising athletes, over there to see what our standard was like compared to the rest of the world and came back with good results. Our juniors proved that they are as good as the rest of the world when it comes to mixing it with the best. Myself along with Mr Rawlins are glad to be back in Australia.

(Our Juniors after proving themselves on the world Taekwondo stage)

(These pictures are from the World Taekwondo Festival & Korea Classic Open website. Thanks to Mark Pinkerton in Rockingham for the heads up)

9th July 2008

Albany Club Recognised For State Achievements

(From Albany & Great Southern Weekender, Vol. 16, No. 25, pg 77)

Malaysia Grading/Seminar & Korean Open Part One

(Our Malaysian sister club in action)

June 25th once again saw Mr Rawlins fly out of Australia to Malaysia to conduct seminars/gradings with his associate clubs in Malaysia along with his assistant coach Mr Justin Blinman, who this time was not only assisting Mr Rawlins over there but was also sitting for his 3rd Dan black belt.

We in Australia are very lucky to have nice matted gym and full time centres to train in. However at our sister clubs in Malaysia the students train on tile or concrete floor or out in the open, and yet the numbers are strong in each club (100+ members). The smiles, excitement, eagerness and sparkle on the students faces are a delight to see that they really enjoy their taekwondo.

(Members going through their paces)

(No matted or carpet floor and yet no complaints from the students)

(Members going through basic drills)

All the students were eager to impress Mr Rawlins and put on a great display for him. All credit to their head instructor Mr Ravi Raman who has them all well trained, disciplined and fine tuned.

Mr Raman is another head instructor who is passoniate about taekwondo and truly enjoys teaching his members and along with his assistant instructors have the best intrest for their students at heart. It was a great honour to be there and conduct the seminar/grading at his club. Congratulations and well done to everyone that attended and YES Justin passed his 3rd Dan (according to Mr Rawlins the heat and humidity seemed to have helped in his performance). After the seminar many questions were asked about Australia with the funniest question being "do Australian children ride kangaroos to school?" to which Mr Rawlins answered yes. Good one sir.

(Yellow belts with Mr Blinman, Mr Raman and Mr Rawlins)

(Green belts - equivalent to Australia's Yellow 3 and Blue 1)

(Blue belts, red belts and black belts)

Overall it was a great 5 days of training, catching up with friends and enjoying the hospitally of the Malaysian culture and it's people. Many thanks to Mr C. K. Karan and Mr Ravi Raman for treating us as family and we look forward to returning real soon. Now it's off to Korea, as we meet our junior black belts students at the airport and prepare them for the Korean Open.

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