a word from the chief instructor

Hello again and welcome to you all. 2011 is off and running, with lots planned to keep everyone busy and motivated. The calendar has been finalised and all our venues booked for what promises to be another big year in training. We have again our three round tourna-ment series, all rank training camp and weekend sessions, black belt training nights and a social event night. All mapped out in this year’s Calendar of Events (available on the net or from your instructor).

But first up, the big news is about our new club. We have opened a new class up in Murrumba Downs, operating out of the Living Faith Sports Hall on Brays Road on a Tuesday and Thursday at 7 pm. This hall is just amazing. It is large and new, with a rubber type coat-ing on the surface of the floor. Act-ing as my” Assistant Instructor” at this club will be Mr Peter Voer-manek from the Kallangur club. We opened on the 15th of March and already have 6 students, of which I would like to thank-you already for helping us make a positive start to this newest of clubs. The class will hopefully complement the Kallangur club with opposite training night now available for beginners. It is also an opportunity for me to get myself back into a regular teaching role and a chance to teach other black belts how to help in class and become an instructor themselves. Our first round of the Tournament series will be held at this venue on the 7th of May, so you will all get the chance to come and see why I am so excited by this Hall. Rules for this hall require that we are either bare foot or white rubber shoe only allowed on the floor, no boots or heals please.

Important Upcoming Dates: 9th April - All Rank Training @ Bald

Hills

7th May - Tournament Rnd 1 @ Murrumba Downs

4th June - All Rank Training @ Kallangur

18th June - Grading @ Kallangur

30th July - Tournament Rnd 2

Speaking of Tournaments, not only do we have our Three Round Series, but we also have a group of members representing us on the national level by competing in some larger open events against other clubs and styles of Martial Arts. The tournaments are with NAS and AMAC and both have their Na-tional Titles to be held in Queen-sland later in the year. Leading the way with this is Jason Parker who is offering extra sessions to any inter-ested parties wanting to compete. I would highly recommend these sessions if you are even a little in-terested in trying something a bit different. Good luck to all of you competing under our club name.

The weekend just past 11th-13th of March was our annual Black Belt Camp, this time held at a new loca-tion near Uki in NSW. The place was called Midginbil Hill and we trained in a barn. Sounds very country, well it was that, with kan-garoo’s and wallabies everywhere. The grounds where excellent, com-plete with pool for a well earned after training recovery dip. We all had cabins with bathrooms and showers in each room. We had many hours of training over the course of the three days, including knife defence, ground defence, ad-vanced joint locks and the now traditional one hour of high inten-sity sparring. Our host for the weekend, Tony from the ” Hill”, happens to train with another Tae Kwon Do group in NSW as do his two sons. Tony was welcomed over to watch some of our work-out and was blown away by the high standard he saw. Thanks for making us feel so welcome Tony, see you next year.

In November this year sees us

going back up north to Mapleton for our all rank training camp, this is one of the best camps you will ever attend. Ask you instructor about this weekend and he will tell you all sorts of great stories about this camp. We have been using these grounds now for about 10 years and I still look forward to staying and training there. It is a fully catered camp with all foods provided as part of the package so no need to cook when you’re tired, and the food is always good, fresh and healthy (A favourite of Brett and Jason is the Nachos). The grounds are large with lakes, pools, tennis, basket ball courts ropes courses etc all at our disposal. There will be lots for great training set aside for everybody to partake in. Try to plan ahead and make sure you can be there on the 18th-20th of November. More details will be made available as we get closer to the date.

Throughout this year, we have all rank training sessions set down on one Saturday most months. These are run to enable all students to train together with people from a different club, learn from different instructors and focus on areas we don’t have time to concentrate at class with. These can be of great benefit to all students that attend, and I urge you all to make that extra effort to make it along.

I hope you all enjoy this coming year’s events, try to stay focused on your goals. Train hard, kick high and keep striving for perfection.

Peter Cameron

5th Degree Black Belt

Chief Instructor

Bribie Bulletin 2

Mastering The Art 2

Black Belt Camp 3

Redcliffe Review 3

AMAC Wrap Up 4

Training Tips 5

Kallangur News 5

Banyo Breakers 5

Inside this issue: Training Tip Corner A lot of us could afford to use our hands more when we spar. Use the combinations taught at green belt level and combine them with combos you pick up in basics and general training.

Start using them in your set sparring and then work them into your free sparring. Punches are fast, effective and tricky to defend against when performed well. B

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Volume 5, Issue 1

March 2011

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Striving For Perfection

Page 2 BREAKING GROUND

This year has gotten off to a great start at Bribie with all students eagerly returning to training after a long break. The ma-jority of our senior students are now engaged in university studies, yet are doing their best to maintain some form of training when their lectures and traveling times allow. Mike, now solo instructor at Bribie, continues to gradually increase his energy and strength after successful and such toxic chemotherapy treatment and I hope to be able to be present (even via Skype) for the long-awaited day he attempts his second degree black belt. It will be a proud moment, to say the least. The junior ranks are growing steadily with everyone training hard and focusing on their goals. We warmly welcome our new juniors, Heath, Mitchell and Harry to our closely-knit club. Our club has now introduced a ‘transition’ training session for those students (mostly young teens) who are now beyond training with the little ones but not quite ready to train as intensively with the ‘big guys’. This session has also assisted some students who would not otherwise be able to train due to other sporting commit-ments. Progress into the senior sessions will be according to individual readiness. Some of our seniors such as Mitchell and Connor have been extremely helpful with the young ones, and I would like to personally thank them for their commitment and efforts.

After a false start last year, this will be my final blurb as co-instructor at the Bribie Island club. Leaving for Nepal mid-April to train teachers in the Everest region before coming home in July briefly to pack to move to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for at least 2 years at an international school, I now finally and hang up my black belt. Taekwondo and IMT will be in blood for-ever, though.

A relatively late starter with IMT, it has been a life-changing experience. Strongly encouraged by my original instructor, Pe-ter Walters, to get up and give it a go (instead of marking homework whilst Mike trained), it changed so many aspects of my life and my growth as a person, and even as a teacher. Mike and I became the first mother and son to achieve our black belts at the same grading and it was a truly proud moment. I had not even entertained the goal of achieving this rank, let alone becoming an instructor. A chronic shoulder problem has prevented me from even contemplating a 3rd Dan promotion but I finally hang up my belt knowing that I did my best and could give any intending assailant a decent serve of the skills that I have learnt over the years. My association with every member of our organization will be treasured always and I especially wish to extend my heartfelt thanks to Peter Cameron, Mick Towns, Jason and Brett, Tony Robinson, Joe and Rob, and all the other instructors and black belts who have been so very supportive throughout this 16 year journey. IMT has been akin to family and I have been blessed to have known and trained with these people.

In closing, I wish to extend my heartfelt wishes that everyone under the caring and encouraging wings of our amazing IMT, especially my treasured Bribie club members, continue to strive to achieve their potential as a martial artist and as a human being in this ever-changing and demanding world. I hope to catch up with you all should my return visit dates coincide with IMT Gradings or Tournaments. Should you travel through Vietnam, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Mike will give you the contact details. Thank you all for being a part of this unique journey.

Lee

Step Up Kick your rear foot touches your forward foot.

There are numerous benefits from performing this different type of step. It generates more speed than a standard forward leg kick and is also more powerful due to the extra mo-mentum generated from the step up. This momentum gives the step up kick as much power as a standard rear leg kick while being much faster making it easier to beat your opponents guard while still being just as devastating. Whilst there is less momentum and power in a step up kick compared to a step kick; the step kick allows for more control making it easier to change the direction of the kick in

order to follow your opponent.

Step Up Kicks are also extremely deceptive due to their ability to allow forward leg kicks to be exe-cuted at rear leg range. This is a

great way to bridge the gap with your opponent without telegraphing and make an excellent start to any combi-nation. With the ability to add speed, power and decep-

tion to all your kicks the Step Up is an important tool to master.

By Joseph and Robert Sandona

A variety of kicks neglected by many people is the awesome arse-nal of the Step Up Kick. Almost any kick can be put on the end of a step up; some examples are front kick, side kick, turning kick, hook kick and crescent kick. The first thing to point out about a Step Up Kick is that it is NOT a Step Kick (i.e. Step Side Kick). With a Step Kick your rear foot steps behind your forward foot. Whereas with a

MASTERING THE ART

“It generates more speed than a

standard forward leg kick and is

also more powerful...”

Step Up Kick Step Kick

VOLUME 5, ISSUE 1 Page 3

On Saturday, we awoke nice and early for a stretch-ing session and an abdomi-nal session (which I felt Monday!). Saturday con-tinued with 2 on 1 sparring and double tech-niques to combat this. However we are Black Belts, so 2 on 1 is not hard enough, so for a challenge we did 3 on 1… well they did while I watched.

After a self-defence session we learnt 12 different choke positions to utilise during ground work. Then to test these skills we completed a grappling session. Saturday wrapped up with our now traditional 1 hour continuous spar-ring session – so at your next grad-ing when you are puffing after 3 x 2 min-utes spars, think about how you'd feel after 1 hour of continuous sparring! Saturday was wrapped up with a swim and a session

on training and teaching techniques. This was a theme throughout the weekend to help some of us aspiring Instructors to teach more effectively and pass on the important lessons we received at the camp.

Sunday commenced early again with a stretching session to try and ease out the sore muscles we had from Saturday. After breakfast we spent a good 2 hours on our knife defence, learning new defences and takedowns thanks to the input from Brenton. We then fin-ished the day with a patterns session. Due to the hard work, numerous injuries were received, so by Sunday lunchtime we were all packed up and ready to head home.

For those new students that have never attended a camp, have a look to see the things we will be doing at the all rank camp in November.

Have a look at the Facebook page for extra photos.

John Barron

With the closure of Mt Glorious a new location at Uki was decided for this years Black Belt camp. After battling our way through the dreaded Friday afternoon traf-fic, we arrived at the camp location. A nice spot in northern New South Wales, nestled amongst trees at the base of Mt Warning near the Tweed River.

Although the numbers were small, those that attended worked hard and were re-warded with new skills and knowledge to try on the black belts that piked. Also the benefit of the small numbers meant that we virtually had a cabin each – Plus the cabins all had their own shower (so no shower queues – sweet!!).

Unfortunately through injury I was forced to sit on the side-lines for most of the weekend as a spectator. Friday night was used to focus on set sparring, as well as a session on footwork and combina-tions. Some of those footwork drills were as confusing for the attacker as they were for the defender, but when they were per-formed correctly, they really opened up the defender.

Well the beginning of a new year is hear, and it’s time to set some new goals, and start training hard towards achieving them. It may be something like achieving your next belt, or perfecting a new kick. Whatever your goal, just remember that your Instructor is more than happy to give you all the help you require in achieving your goals. Turn up early to class to fit in some extra practice, speak to your Instructor after class has finished to go through how you did in training and get some more advice on ways to improve further.

All instructors are more than happy to hand out extra training tips and advice to those who ask for something specific, so never be afraid to put your hand up when your Instructor asks “Does anyone have any questions?” We want you to ask, we want you to be thinking, we want you to improve. Who knows, your question may not just help you out, but the entire class!

At IMT, we pride ourselves in training all of our students to their full potential, both in a physical capacity and in a mental one. There is nothing more dan-gerous than a martials artist who has a well trained mind!

This year at the Redcliffe club should be a good one, it’s time to focus on promoting the class and getting some fresh faces to join our ranks, a big wel-come to Martin and Sam who have joined IMT this year, I hope you both enjoy your training with us. We should have a good progression from our junior ranks this year, all thing going well, by the end of the year we should have most of the current students at brown tip or black tip! Of course, that means next year should be another Black-Belt-A-Thon!

Other things to get excited about, is the news that the Tournament are going “On The Road”, with the series being shared by Banyo, Redcliffe and the new Murrumba Downs club! Exciting stuff. With last year being the success it was, we are looking to build on that success and encourage those students who are interested to try their luck at some All Styles Tournaments. I have been competing in these tournaments for the best part of 6 years, and I have seen many of our members to very well in these tournaments, so speak to you Instructor, or even give me a call about it, we would be more than happy to help you achieve success in these tournaments.

The Black Belts recently attended the Black Belt Camp in NSW (see above for more details) and we had a really good time. I hope to return next year, be-cause it really was a great place to train. Hopefully next year we will have a lot of new faces join us, so if your grading for Black Belt this year, good luck and train hard. For those of you who aren’t quite Black Belts yet, never fear, we’ve got you covered with the All Rank Camp at Mapleton in November. This is a fantastic camp, you will have a great time, so make plans now to get along.

Well I’d better go now before I fill the entire newsletter with my ramblings, what can I say, I love my Tae Kwon Do!

Train Hard and Kick High! Jason

4th Degree Black Belt

Page 4 BREAKING GROUND

What’s better to do on a rainy Sunday morning then take a drive to the AMAC tournament Round 1 at Shailer Park on Brisbane’s Southside? That’s what 20 or so IMT members and their family’s did on the 20th March, we were joined by at least 150 other competitors from other martial arts schools around Queensland, including competi-tors from Gladstone and Townsville.

For some of the students competing in their first tournament outside of IMT, it would prove to be a successful day regardless of the results. As it turned out it was a long but very successful day for all involved with IMT.

In the morning the junior divisions started the day off with Zac and Brandon Kahl from the Kallangur club first to take the floor – both competing in the Points and Freestyle Sparring. Zac (6th Grade) placed 2nd in his points sparring division and Brandon (7th grade) also placed 2nd, but in the freestyle sparring division. Both competed strongly and showed fan-tastic control as well as exciting combinations.

Next on the floor was Luke Robison from Banyo and Hugh Water-man from Redcliffe both competing in the Points and Freestyle sparring. Luke picked up 1st place in the points sparring and placed 2nd in the freestyle sparring. Hugh (who looked like a gi-

ant compared to his opponents) placed 4th in points sparring and 2nd in freestyle sparring. They both showed a high level

of discipline and control over themselves and their opponents.

Much later in the afternoon the Senior Divisions started with Cassie Suther-land from Redcliffe competing in the Black Belt Women’s Freestyle and Points Contact Divisions. Cassie fought well and finished 2nd in both of these

events. Jason (Redcliffe), Brett (Kallangur), Joseph (Bald Hills), and Michael Loeken (Bald Hills) all followed competing in the Points, Freestyle and Contact Points sparring. Unfortu-nately for Michael being a 16 year old brown belt he had to compete against 1) - the adults and 2) - the black belts. This proved to a tough task having to compete against

such an experienced field – he showed great heart and true spirit and we’re positive he will get excellent results in the near future.

For Jason, Brett and Joseph they drew the largest crowds to any ring on the day, with our dynamic kicking and sparring styles drawing ooh’s and aah’s from all of the spectators and other competitors, with our supreme kicking ability continually outclassing our opponents and entertaining the crowd.

For Joseph, he pulled off back to back upsets, defeating both Jason and Brett in the points sparring division on his way to take 1st place. Top class effort and well deserved. Jason finished in 3rd place.

There was no stopping Jason, Brett and Joe in the freestyle sparring. Finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively, it was a totally dominant performance from them. This dominance continued into the contact points division. Luke and Michael sparred with good intensity and learnt a lot about what it takes to win in this form of sparring. But again the speed, strength and excitement of the sparring from “The Big 3” was too much for the other competitors with Jason fin-ishing 1st, Brett in 3rd and Joe in 4th place.

A great day had by all and it was another successful outing for the Institute of Modern Tae Kwon Do. A big thanks also to the IMT members who just came to watch and cheer us on, it was very much appreciated!

We hope to see other club members get involved in the other upcoming Events – remember the Australian Titles for AMAC are being held in Queensland this year – Want a shot at being an Australian Champion? – Then get involved – See your club instructor for more details.

For more photos, visit our Facebook page. There is a link on www.moderntkd.com in the photos page.

ROUND 1 - 20th March 2011

Being the first edition of the Kallangur News for 2011, I would like to welcome all of the new students who have joined us for 2011. A big welcome back to all the other students to another exciting and challenging year of training.

2011 is shaping up to be a big year indeed with a lot of our students working hard towards grading promotions into higher grades (Blue belt and beyond), with these promotions you will see a big changes in the training and requirements for gradings – the big focus on self defence, advanced techniques and fitness work. We also have Eliot and Max (and soon maybe Aleisha) who will be working tirelessly towards Black Belt promotion sometime this year. For the lower grades looking up to these three it will be an eye opening experience to see the effort that needs to be put in for such a large event.

With the first Tournament coming up in May I would like to see all of the eager students who competed last year to get involved again and more importantly the students who have not been a tournament to get involved for fun and exciting day. Everyone who participated last year had a big hand in helping the Kallangur Club retain the perpetual trophy for 2010. Given the closeness of the last 2 rounds I think we will have our hands full trying to win this again in 2011 so please get behind these tournaments and help Kallangur become CHAMPIONS yet again.

Don’t forget if you would like to participate in some of the “All Styles” tournaments please ask your instructor for more information.

Also don’t forget to come and check out our new FACEBOOK page, we have been posting videos and photos for your enjoyment, if you have any photos, videos or words to share please do, and don’t forget to “Like” the FACEBOOK page so you can see the updates and reminders as they come to hand.

Train Hard

Brett

With the recent success at the AMAC All Styles Tournament, hopefully some more of you are interested in competing at AMAC or NAS in the future. Remember, both of these tournament circuits have their National Titles in QLD this year.

When training for these events, you want to build upon your existing skills to make yourself faster and quicker to react. Train your kicks for speed by seeing how many kicks you can do in a certain amount of time. There are two drills to work on for this, first, every time you kick, your foot must touch the floor before you can kick again. Focus on pulling you kickback quickly and “bouncing” it off the floor. Secondly, keep your leg in the air and maintain your balance whilst doing your kicks. As a reference you want to aim to do twice as many kicks in as many seconds. E.g. 20 kicks in 10 seconds. You can do these drills facing your opponent or onto a focus mitt.

By developing this speed, your forward leg kicks will become harder to block and it will enable you to easily score points, especially when you use them as a double kick. Now this is the area where you want to become an expert. A lot of styles have a lot of difficulty reading and defending double kicks. At IMT we pride ourselves on control and balance and it is these two things you must have to be a good double kicker. Practice different combinations of kicks, E.g. Hook/Turning, Side/Hook, Front/Turning etc. The combinations are endless, and always practice for speed.

Finally, you want to be a good with punching, especially on the counter attack. Punches are fast and effective in scoring points. You should always try and follow a kicking combination with a fast straight punch combination. Focus hard on these areas and you will develop a strong style from which to grow.

VOLUME 5, ISSUE 1 Page 5

Hopefully everyone had a great Christmas break and is now back into some hard training.

Here at Banyo we are lucky to have five new white belts start this year. They are Stacey, Travis, Kaylem, Connor and Molly. A big wel-come to the IMT family to this five and to everyone else who has joined at the other clubs.

These warmer days are great for training as it doesn’t take so long to warm up and get the blood flowing and our muscles stretched and ready for a work out.

Stretching is a really important part of what we do as martial artists and it is a good idea to try and get to class 10-15 minutes early to stretch and warm up as this can take up a lot of our learning time. It is also the best time of year to be stretching when you get home after class as we don’t cool down as quick as we do in the winter months. If you can manage 15 minutes before and the same again when you get home, you will be kicking to the head in no time.

We also sweat more, which is good as we get rid of a lot of nasties out of our system. But that also means we need to make our water intake higher, so make sure you always have a big bottle of room tempera-ture water and a old towel at class.

Hope to catch up with you all on grading day

Tony

New Banyo students, eager and ready to learn!