News

19th June 2010

Albany Grading

Monday 31st May saw the Albany club put through their paces by Mr Rawlins, when more than 30 members attempted their gradings and hopefully did enough to pass. The members also witnessed Instructors Paul Cooper and Daryll Williams pass their 2nd Dan grading. The students were also there to say goodbye and wish good luck to fellow members from the Albany club who were competiting in their first international in New Zealand.

(Albany member going for their grading)

(Paul breaking 2 boards)

(Albany representatives for New Zealand)

8th June 2010

New Zealand Trip

by Reggie Carson

Everyone arrived at the airport bright and ready to get some business done in New Zealand. This trip was very different for a couple of reasons. Firstly none of our regular seasoned fighters like Jess, Sinead and Jason were with us. Secondly, Mr. Rawlins and Justin were also not here. So this team consisted mainly of new fighters who were travelling and competing out of Australia for the first time.

Faizal was the most eager of us lot when he arrived at the airport at 3pm to check in when our flight departed at 7.40pm! The group was split up in the plane because it was a full flight and once on the plane, everyone was amazed with the personal in-flight entertainment and got straight to it. Yes, every chair had their own screen and we could select movies, music and games that were on offer. Most of us couldn’t sleep on the plane so by the time we adjusted to New Zealand time, we were awake for over 24hrs!

(Callan and Nikita still could take a 20 mins nap between Auckland and Tauranga)

Callan was one of the lucky ones who could just sleep non-stop despite all the noise and activity around him. He and Nakita even managed to nap on the 30 mins flight between Auckland and Tauranga. Callan had an amazing ability to keep sleeping when the plane landed! We hung around the airport for awhile aka 1hr+ for our rides to our accommodation. Master Kesi O’Neil was a life saver! And a fellow named Phillip, a pure Moari, gave a shock to David and Gloria who were the last ones to be picked up at the airport as he had a traditional tattoo explaining the story of his life on his face which gave him a scary look but looks can be deceiving. He is a very friendly bloke and he was the bodyguard assigned by Master Kesi to look after us.

(WA members with tour guide Phil)

Once we arrived at our accommodation, the first thing most of us did was explore the shops around us and to get some supplies (good people chose fruits and naughty people went for chocolates and junk food. You can guess which group I fit in). We had a quick team meeting to decide what to do for the rest of the day and read the riot act to the whole group as for most of the troops, this was their first trip overseas. Kristy was the boss on this trip as she is the most senior belt. Meanwhile in Queensland, our Queensland members were still stuck at home due to flight delays.

In the evening, Master Kesi invited us to visit his ‘headquarters’, as he put it, and we were met with a haka performed by Team KO. We also met the Samoan team who was invited by Master Kesi. The Samoans put on a great performance but we replied with a very weak Oi Oi Oi probably due to jetlag. Apparently, the Samoan royalty will be here for the tournament as a princess is part of the team.

(Group photo of the Australian, Samoan and Team KO teams)

Day 2 started with the Queensland guys finally arrived at 5.30am after a series of flight delays and cancellation (about 24hrs of waiting and travelling!) while the rest of us were sleeping. We trained lightly mid morning and went to Mt. Maunganui. Haris trusted me with the mini bus keys which was a good choice because we got there and back safe and sound while the Queensland guys were catching up on their sleep. Unfortunately Kristy didn’t agree.

(Beautiful Mt. Maunganui)

We walked around the base of the mountain for about 2hrs and the excitement of the walk was Faizal trying to catch a couple of ladies (sheep) but instead he chased them away. What a shame! Gloria, Zandelee, Callan, my mum and I, led the pack and finished the walk first. By the time the others finished it, we were bored and hungry. Super hungry especially me (yea yea I love my food so sue me :p). After the walk we went to get some chow and ate by the beach. We saw a couple of people parachute from the top of the mountain to the beach.

(Faisal trying to catch a couple of ladies)

After a long walk, we did some light training with the Queensland guys and we became a whole Rawlins team. Kristy and Haris, our most seasoned travellers on this trip, gave everyone a pep talk. We seriously need a new chant.

Day 1 of competition saw the poomsae competitors and the colour belt fighters taking centre stage. We started the medal tally with Courtney getting a bronze in her division and yours truly getting a gold in my division which consisted of a 4th Dan and 2nd Dan. Hayley was unfortunate not to get a medal as she was very nervous in her first poomsae competition.

(Khaleed in blue)

The fighters started the day really well with no losses until a very unlucky Mousa got caught in the last few seconds in sudden death. Sudden death only happened after a hard felt argument by coach Haris for a head shot which was not scored because the guy ducked even though he was counted, after 3 rounds. Mousa was unlucky not to have more points go his way even though there were clear shots and they were not scored. He was not the only fighter whose points didn’t score. Almost everyone had points not scored especially clear head shots that weren’t counted. Part of the game. The most unlucky fighter was Justin where he lost by 0.5 points! Yes you read it right. Apparently they include the negative half points from the final score here in New Zealand. Callan and Khaleed had an outstanding tournament winning all their fights by good winning margins. Dominic also done very well winning his only fight. On the other hand, Zek was lucky to win after an interesting performance which included -2 or -3 points for being silly. The senior of the day Lawry, fought fantastically against an older fighter and won easily.

Of the girls, Zandelee and Nikita met in the finals of their division. Nikita had 2 other fights before the final while Zandelee won her first fight and went straight to the final. Either way, both girls did superbly well and Nikita had the upper hand, winning easily over Zandelee. Zalaihka, from QLD, won her first 2 fights before withdrawing from illness. She had the biggest winning margin for Day 1.

Everyone had done the club proud on day 1 and the rest of the fighters will do their best on day 2.

Full results from day 1.
Reggie – Poomsae Gold
Courtney – Poomsae Silver
Zalaikha – 1st fight won 35-0, final won 3-2, 3rd fight withdrawn due to illness (Bronze)
Khaleed – 1st fight won 25-5, final won 22-0 (Gold)
Mousa – 1st fight won by forfeit after 2nd round, final lost in sudden death (Silver)
Nikita – 1st fight won 5-0, final won 4-3, final won 17-3 (Gold)
Zandelee – 1st fight 5-4, final lost 3-17 (Silver)
Justin – 1st fight 7-4, final lost by half point 7.5-8 (Silver)
Dominic – 1st fight win 7-2, final win walkover (Gold)
Callan – 1st fight win 5-3, 2nd fight, 20-9, final 5-2 (Gold)
Zek – final won 2-1 (Gold)
Lawry – final won 7-4 (Gold)

The second day of the competition was as eventful as the first. Plenty of near misses and misses. Jacob was one of standout fighters of the day where he won all his fights. He suffered a right ankle injury in the first fight and finished strongly in his final fight. Musty also won all his fights. He started slow but finished the fights with a vengeance after a few points weren’t scored and the referee didn’t see a punch to the face. First timer Courtney was fantastic finishing off her opponents. Her second fight gave her a scare but she remained calm and finished it off wonderfully. Comeback fighter Paul who is in his thirties, won his fight after 1 domestic competition and 3 years of lay off with a knee injury. He was very rusty but he survived a tough opponent. Kristy was nervous as hell and was relieved when Paul finished his fight. This is want you can achieve if you do the hard work and focus on what you want. Faisal was up against a very experienced black belt but he did well to stand up and stay on his feet even though he lost, missing out on a medal. Young Johanna who was very nervous missed out on the gold because of poor scoring. She would have won her fight if a couple of head shots were scored. Jo did superbly well with plenty of head shots but they weren’t counted. Hayley also won her first fight and lost the final fight but did a beautiful job with scoring wonderful shots.

During lunch, we were entertained by performances and demonstrations from the Samoans and Team KO. If you don’t believe that a person can break coconuts with his knife hand, then look no further than Master Kesi who demonstrated that the impossible is possible.

(The Samoans performing their war dance)

(Master Kesi showing how to break coconuts with your bare hands)

Well, I would have the full results from Day 2 if I haven’t left my new phone which has all the results and some pictures at the venue.

(All our competitors)

Rawlins Taekwondo Australia also took home the Best Supporting team together with Team KO, which Haris will gladly take the trophy home because Mr. Rawlins has too many trophies. Musty took home the Best Junior Male fighter trophy.

Almost everyone came home with at least a medal. So, a big congratulations to all the competitors and coaches, Kristy, Haris and Paul. A tremendous thank you to Steve, our local tour guide/manager and the parents, Larry, David, Gloria, Tim and my mum Oi Yee, for looking after us with the good food and great supporters. Also a big thank you to Master Kesi for inviting us and to our driver/bodyguard Phil for the loan of his car and his friendship.

Final medal tally: 11 gold, 6 silver, 1 bronze.

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???)

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

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.