News
21st December 2011 - London Test Event.
(The Australian Team)
Mr. Rawlins, Sinead & Jasmine have returned from the London Olympic Test event, unfortunately with no luck for our girls but while there, Mr. Rawlins coached Cheyna Lang from Titan Taekwondo to a bronze medal win at this very prestigious event. Well done to the whole Australian Team. We know you gave it your best and we are all proud of you for getting this far.
(Mr. Rawlins with Cheyna)
22nd November 2011 - London-bound!
Congratulations and good luck to Sinead, Jasmine and Mr Rawlins, on once again been chosen by the Taekwondo National Sporting Organisation, STA, to represent Australia in London at the Olympic Test Event on the 3rd & 4th December. The London Olympic Test Event is a very prestigious event where only selected athletes were invited. Sinead will be competing in the female-49kg, Jasmine in the +67kg weight category and Mr Rawlins has been chosen to be Australia's Head of Team and Coach. Well done guys, and once again Team Rawlins will be flying the flag for Australia and WA.
12th November 2011 - Renae Perkins A Queensland Sportswoman of the Year Finalist!
Congratulations to Renae Perkins who has been selected as a finalist for Queensland Sportswoman of the Year. She is from the Rawlins Ferny Grove branch in Queensland and has already received the Rising Star Award, a $1500 scholarship, to promote further success. She is among other athletes from AFL, athletics, rowing, taekwondo, equestrian, cycling and ice skating to be nominated for the Queensland's top sporting award. The winner of Queensland Sportswoman of the Year will be announced on 21st November 2011.
2nd November 2011 - Nationals Video.
Enjoy the video by Jordan Prince-Wright for Day 1 of the Nationals.
23rd October 2011 - Nationals 2011.
2011 Nationals were a big success for both the club and it's new crop of up and coming fighters as the Academy goes through its rebuilding stage.
The National Championships were held this year in sunny Queensland and once again we took a team of relatively young and inexperienced fighters. The Academy is going through a rebuilding stage as most of our elite and better known fighters are having a year off for holidays, recover from injuries and just relax, doing normal stuff without the commitment of 6 days a week of hard tournament training. They will be still around the club assisting and training our new up and coming fighters but they will just not compete.
We had 20 athletes from WA plus 15 from our Queensland branch came together as one to compete at the 2011 Nationals in Queensland. We also had good support from our parents and it looks like a new generation of young and exciting martial art exponents will be produced soon from our academy to carry on our dominance at various championships around Australia.
(Our new and old supporters in full voice at the Nationals in Queensland and some of our new young guns)
It was good to see our 14-17 year old black belts as well as our other senior black belt take on more responsibility in the coaching and preparations' side of National competition, look after and just be with our junior fighters as they waited to be called up to compete. For everyone there, this was their first Nationals. It was good to see a sea of red T-Shirts supporting, cheering and helping out at the Nationals.
It was noticed by all the competitors and spectators from every state and, good and encouraging comments were said about our club. Our Team Rawlins didn't let us down (both the juniors & seniors) and we walked away at the end of the 2 days of competition with 18 gold medals, 7 silvers and 2 bronzes. A very fantastic effort from all.
There were some fantastic and gutsy fights put on by our members regardless of whether they won or lost, they did their best and did what was asked of them by their coaches. Those who watched were impressed. Even Mr Rawlins had a smile on his face as he walked around the stadium, coached and watched some of his new young guns explode on to the tournament circuit. The Championships were well run with a lot of international black belt competitors participating making this a truly high standard competition. Hopefully now that all the problems about who is recognized and who is not is finally resolved, we can have an even bigger Nationals Championship next year, which will be held in Queensland again.
After 2 days of Taekwondo competition and with Mr. Rawlins pleased with both the WA & QLD team performances, it was time to relax ,chill out and enjoy Queensland, with visits to all the theme parks and a few other attractions. The kids did their best to get the ''Boss'' to go on a few ride with them but without any luck, and when they finally got him to go on one you could hear the screaming back here in WA. It was a good time for the new kids to do some team bonding and to also let the new group of fighters see that Mr Rawlins is not as mean or scary as he seem (we think). Congratulations to Harry on setting a record on the number of times on the superman ride (10) and to Mic for braving the ride 3 times.Everyone had a fun and enjoyable time attending the Nationals and new friendships and team spirit was formed by both WA & QLD. Thanks to all coaches, trainers, camera people and supporters. It was great to have your company and your support. Enjoy the pictures.
(Harry getting up close with Bugs Bunny and some of the gang at Movie world)
12th October 2011 - Congratulations to Chris and Renae Perkins.
Congratulations to Chris & Renae Perkins on passing their 3rd Dan grading conducted in Queensland by Mr. Rawlins while he was over there for the STA Nationals.
6th October 2011 - Congratulations To All Who Graded.
Congratulations to all our member in WA who passed their respective belts grading on 27th August and especially to Cameron Hubbard, Brad Francis, Helen Donoghue & Ian Sims on passing their 5th Dan Black Belt. It is a truly remarkable achievement and something you can be proud of as we are of you.
18th September 2011 - State Championship 2011: A New Referee's Point of View Part 2.
By Reggie Carson
(Disclaimer: This is from my point of view and does not necessary reflect the other referees' opinions)
As a computer operator, you need to be awake and attentive to stop/start time for start/continuation of the match, injuries and penalties while keeping an eye out for the referee and judges. As mentioned before, all systems are different. We had to learn on the spot on how to operate the Daedo system. As an experienced operator for the TK Pulse system, it was not hard but it did take a while to get used to it. Where are your eyes suppose to be when operating the system? On the referee or the display screen? It’s both. You need to look at the referee and, keep an eye out on the score, penalties and time. Not an easy task to do when the action is fast paced but luckily we had very few of those matches.
(Me refereeing a match at the States)
The most interesting role is referee and, also in my opinion, one of the hardest to do. First of all, as a referee, you are in the spotlight. You need to control the match. Whatever happens, you’ll get the brunt from the coaches and spectators. All the new referees were nervous and excited for their first fights. We judged at least 6 matches first before refereeing two matches then rotate off the ring to do other duties or rest. It’s a good thing that the coaches didn’t give us much grief as they knew that they were on the beginner’s ring. As first time referees and humans, we will make mistakes. I am no different even though I’ve watched many fights and know some of the rules before the seminar but still make my fair share of mistakes. As referees, we need to keep our eyes out on many things. We need to have eyes on both fighters from head to waist, scores, time, coaches, listen to calls and signals from the judges or the computer desk. As a fighter, I found it hard to listen to instructions from the coaches when you have the head guard on and it’s even harder as a referee when you have use four of your senses to keep track of everything. In addition, we need to keep moving with the fighter, keeping the distance between us and the fighters within an arm’s length so we can stop the match quickly but not too close to get hit from the kicks. It is also harder when you have height differences between the fighters and yourself.
(Spectator view vs a referee view. Spot the differences)
It is hard to remember the rules and all their technicality especially with my adrenaline pumping. Another thing is to remember the commands in Korean! How scary is that? In my first match I refereed, I asked myself a lot of questions and didn’t have that confidence to call the penalties. My confidence was growing after a quick consultation with Jenny before the second match but there wasn’t much to call since the fighters were pretty good.
When repositioning with the fighters, we will miss some of the shots, accidental or not, because we can’t see it from our angle even though as spectators, you saw it very clearly. Referees need to position themselves such that we can stop the match quickly, give the judges a good view, keep an eye on the score and time, and try not to have our backs to the computer desk. Example of calling a kyong-go; call kal-yeo to stop the match, shigan (timeout), hong or chung kyong-go, explain to the fighters especially if they are junior colour belts, then to resume the bout, kye-sok. Confused and having headaches yet? Guess what? Referees have to remember the rules and their technicalities, Korean terminology, reposition with the fighters, keep eyes and ears out for scores, penalties, instructions from judges, coaches or computer desk, focus on the fight, and the many different procedures to stop the fight for injuries and non-injuries. Keeping fit is definitely essential. PHEW! By the way, referees can’t add points even though they know that the points have been scored.
(Differences between club matches and international matches)
The main thing to remember is that referees enforce the rules in the ring. It’s not their job to teach the rules to the fighters and coaches during the fight. It’s the coach’s job to teach the rules to the fighters during training. So if you see a kyong-go, ask the coach why. If they don’t know, then coaches need to go back to the rule book and find out.
(Hong son! Chong son!)
While judging when the electronic chest guards were in use, I heard spectators commenting on the points not coming up even though there were loud sounds from the impacts. So here’s a crash course on electronic chest guards and how points are scored. Here’s the thing about electronic chest guards. They have sensors in them. The feet socks have sensors in them. 1) There needs to be enough contact between the sensors in the sock and the chest guard to register and 2) the kick has to be hard enough for the point to come up. Each weight division has a minimum force impact that needs to be registered to score a point. The heavier the weight division, the higher the minimum force impact. So if the kick hits an arm guard and the sound is good, the point WILL NOT score. Look on YouTube on how the electronic chest guards work and do some homework first before complaining.
Still not convinced that refereeing and judging are difficult? Try it at one of our smaller club novice tournaments and until you get on the mat or press the buttons, it’s very easy to criticise judges and referees for doing a poor job. I know I was stress and pressured but despite that, the more matches I referee, the better I will get although may not be 100% error free. Lastly, thanks to the coaches who understood that we were new and being patient while we were doing our job.
(The "wise one" referee on the left, and the "newbie" referee on the right)
7th September 2011 - State Championship 2011: A New Referee's Point of View Part 1.
By Reggie Carson
(Disclaimer: This is from my point of view and does not necessary reflect the other referees' opinions)
(Can you tell which is the beginner's ring?)
This year’s state championship was smaller than previous year. Majority of the seniors from the different clubs including ours didn’t fight due to other commitments. We sent a team mainly consisting of juniors and new exponents who had their first taste of competition at the state level.
The competition was also a learning experience for new referees who have attended a joint OTU-STA Referee/Coaching Seminar a couple of weeks before the States. I’ve done some centre refereeing back in 2007 for the charity Lighthouse tournament in Albany but back then, I didn’t know what I was doing. I’ve corner judged in our club and previous state tournaments before. The States was the first tournament after the referee seminar that the new referees, including Helen Donoghue, Mark Pinkerton and I from our Academy, were putting our new skills to practice.
What is the difference between a corner judge and centre referee? A corner judge scores the points and, the centre referee controls the match, giving penalties and checking the welfare of the fighter. These terms are shortened to judges for corner judges and referees for centre referees in this report.
We’ve seen the videos and watched the fights live which looks easy to referee. We’ve criticised the referees and said that points were missed, penalties not seen and think we, as spectators, can do a better job of refereeing the matches. However, refereeing at the States has taught me that it is a very hard skill to master. Maybe that’s why the minimum requirement to be a centre referee is a 1st Dan black belt instead of colour belts and non-practitioners.
There were two rings running, one with the experienced referees, including Ian Sims, Bradley Francis and Tony Capriotti, and new corner judges who didn’t want to referee, and the other which I was on, consisted of new referees. We had Jenny Crutchett, an experienced international referee, show us the ropes and provided advice to improve ourselves. In my ring, which I have dubbed the “beginner’s ring” because all the referees and judges were beginners, we had four roles that we had to perform. We had to judge, referee, record the results of the matches and operate the computer system.
(Beginner's ring on the left and expert ring on the right)
Each of those roles is different. As a judge, our main role is to press the buttons and score the points. Sounds easy? BUT… there is a but, we need to be able to see the point scored with the correct technique from our corner and judge the impact. When we can’t see the kick contact the chest guard, we can’t assume that the point has been scored even though we heard the sound. That sound could be a kick hitting the arm guards. Correct technique means ankle bone down hitting the coloured parts of the chest guard. Spectators’ point of view is usually watching the fights between the two back corner judges. The judge’s point of view is depending on the corner he/she is watching from. So, the end story is, the contact of the kick on the chest guard needs to be seen and impact is heard or seen. You need the judges to see the point to be able to score it and buttons pressed within a second. If there is a mistake, like points not coming up or points accidentally come up for the wrong player, then it is the judges’ job to call the referee and correct the mistake. We can only do that if we can keep an eye on the scores while watching the fight. Not an easy task at all.
(See the difference between the judges postions in a 3-judge set up?)
(Is that a point to blue? From this angle no. From the position of the two judges facing the desk, no because they can't clearly see the foot on the pad from their positions. What about the third judge facing us? Maybe if he can see the foot on the pad but at the end, it shouldn't be a point because you need two judges to see to score the point)
Another obstacle that judges have to overcome is the scoring system itself. There are many variables in, yes, pressing the buttons. The Daedo TK-Strike controller is like a fighter plane joystick; trigger at the back and a button on the top for the head shots. As it was the first time most of us have used it, it took a while to get used to it. The TK Pulse system that we usually use for club tournaments is different with two buttons on the same panel and we have to move our thumbs to press for the points. Some buttons, depending on the manufacturer, can be very sticky which means we have to press harder or very sensitive, where we have to just “tap”. The thumb is also another factor. Like your legs, you have dominant and non-dominant thumbs. Without going into too many details, the thumb does play an important role when pressing a couple of buttons. How hard is that?!
The easiest role is recording the results of the matches where all you need to do is put a cross for the losers and put a circle on the winners on the draw. Not much to it really.
Stay tuned for Part 2 about the other two roles.
23rd August 2011 - Importance of Grading.
Grading is not just a test for a student so that the Chief Instructor can assess, but also a means by which a student can assess themselves. Any student will realise the pressure involved when participating in grading. Your performance will show you just how well your body adapts to these kinds of pressures. A student must never take a grading for granted, but instead must realise that a grading is a privilege – not a right.
When students are participating in a grading, many members forget the key elements which must be demonstrated to the examiner:
- You must show a good understanding of your patterns. Blocks, kicks and punches must be executed in a well balanced manner with a strong, accurate impact. Techniques which show low impact, poor balance and no power would receive a low score.
- Before executing a technique, whether blocking or striking, you must be sure to have your target focussed clearly in your mind. Blocking or striking wildly will result in lack of power and timing.
- When you are executing a “one step sparring” technique it must be done with power and accuracy. When using your hand, the block must be strong and the strike must be straight, strong and accurate. When using a kick, it must be strong and accurate with a good sense of balance displayed.
- When free sparring, you must demonstrate your knowledge of kicks learnt in class – not as a single kick, but your own combination of different kicks. The ability to use the proper kick is also important. The target you are focused on may not be open to every kick therefore you must determine which kick would be most effective. Your ability to time your blocks and strikes are also important, as rushing in causes clashing and clashing is not an effective way to fight.
Whenever grading it is important to remember that the person who is fastest is not always the best. It is the person who is calm and controlled, that triumphs over speed.
GOOD LUCK AT YOUR NEXT GRADING!