ISSUE 3 September 2015 VOLUME 9

A word from the

CHIEF INSTRUCTOR

Breaking striving for perfection

moderntkd.com

upcoming events

10th October

Social Night

@ Kallangur

17th October

Tournament Round 3

@ Murrumba Downs

6th - 8th November

All Rank Training Camp

@ Natural Bridge

21st November

All Rank Training

@ Redcliffe

5th December

Grading

@ Kallangur

Blanckensee (14) and Craig Hinckley (17), (all from the Kallangur class) showed us the sort of standard that makes us so very proud and earned their Black Belts. It was a great day for Brett‟s class to have not just one person achieve such a big milestone, but 4 at the same time. Well done boys and girl–your commitment to your training really showed and I was super impressed with all your performances (so much so that I got in and sparred them all to help make it a memora-ble day for them). The downside was that I man-aged to break a toe while sparring Boy-Mountain (Craig), which meant postponing my own grading for a number of months. Still, I can‟t imagine a nicer way to break a toe than working with new and enthusiastic students. In other news, the Burpengary Fighters Fitness Gym has closed its doors and been relocated to Ormeau. We held our final Black Belt training session there on the 28th of August and I made sure it was a session worth remembering with an extreme cardio and circuit workout. The class operating out of the gym has relocated, and I am very happy to say that the students have all joined in with the Murrumba Downs team, mak-ing it one big happy group. If you would like to join John and his class, the new time starts at 6.30 pm on Tuesday and Thursday nights. The up side of the gym‟s relocation is that the Ormeau class will now operate out of a new and improved centre. Troy‟s junior class now starts at 5pm Monday and Wednesdays. The even bigger news is that I will be joining forces with Troy to conduct the senior classes from 6.30 pm on those nights–I‟m back on the floor teaching regularly. The new venue is only slightly small-er than the previous location but this time the boxing ring is not going to be a feature, making for more usable floor space. With all the gym equipment and punching bags, it is going to be an even better layout and newer more polished centre, with many lessons learned from the pre-vious venture. The new address is 2 Peachey Rd, Ormeau Shopping Centre, above the IGA store. If you would like to come down and join us for a workout, don‟t be afraid to wander down the freeway. As most people will be aware, every year we

Let me begin by welcoming everyone to our latest edition of Breaking Ground–our quarterly newsletter featuring news, events and all the good stuff that‟s been going on around the clubs. To all our new members, a very warm welcome. We truly hope you enjoy what IMT has to offer you–know that you are amongst the best instructors and students in not only Queens-land, but Australia. You‟ll find that we are much more than a martial arts club, and are more like a big extended family. Firstly, let me congratulate our newest group of Black Belts to the fold! Back in late June we had 4 young members all successfully complete their biggest martial arts test to date. Amielle Humphries (11), Matthew Baker (12), Brandon

hold a social event for the club, and we are very excited to announce that we have booked Kru-ger Hall at Kallangur on the 10th of October for this family evening. This year‟s theme is “Music Legends Party”, so come dressed as your Rock King, Pop Princess or any favourite music in-spired dress-up costume. I have no doubt that Elvis will be in the building, Michael Jackson may make an appearance and if we are lucky Cher, Madonna and Britney may all join forces. Because…we will also have an impressive kara-oke set up complete with lights and multiple microphones, with close to a million songs to choose from (not kidding). So, start planning your costumes and rehearsing your favourite songs and be prepared to be The Voice (IMT Idol?) and see if we have any hidden talents in the club. Now–one very important thing to re-member about karaoke is no one cares how ‗good‘ or ‗bad‘ you sound, it‟s about getting up and giving it a go. However if you‟re truly not comfortable and prefer watching everyone else provide the entertainment, then that‟s per-fectly fine too. The event is free to attend, but it is full BYO everything–we ask that you bring a plate with something yummy to put on the ta-bles for everyone to enjoy. Bring your own drinks and cups, and a good attitude for the night. There will be a lot of „stars‟ performing on the night so think hard about what songs you know and are prepared to butcher. There will be prizes for best costume, best and worst voice, etc. on the night (they really are prizes worth winning) so put some effort in and let‟s all have a terrific night of singing and dancing together. The 3rd round of the IMT Tournament series is also on October 17th, hosted this time by the Murrumba Downs Club. The first two rounds have been very exciting, with all clubs sharing in the rankings. Banyo is currently leading the charge for the Club Trophy (this was previously dominated by Kallangur and Redcliffe). So good luck to Tony and his dedicated team–let‟s see if you can hold on for the win with Jason and Brett determined to spoil your party. I hope to see the same support for the competition at the final round as we saw in the first two, as this year has been a record number for the club with the se-

By Peter Cameron

5th Degree Black Belt

Chief Instructor

Founder of IMT in Australia

kallangur .............. 2

social night ........... 3

deception bay ........ 3

bribie ...................... 4

master the art ....... 4

black belts ............ 5

burpengary/murrumba .. 6

banyo ..................... 6

tournament............ 7

redcliffe ................ 8

ormeau ................... 8

tournament results 9

Kallangur By Eliot Wilson

2nd Degree Black Belt

cond round getting 90+ student involved. This combined with all the supporters from the fami-lies and friends to make it a tremendous day with a great atmosphere of camaraderie between the classes and its many members. I want to thank all those that have helped make these days as successful as they are, from the parents help-ing with the canteens, the black belts and senior grades helping get the equipment onto the floor and the protective gear onto the competitors, all the judges, timekeepers and referees. Thank you all for helping make the days go smoothly. As you may have heard, I recently had the op-portunity to visit Japan for nearly two weeks. We stayed in Tokyo for close to a week, and managed to master their subway rail system, allowing us to see so much of the city and its offerings like Tokyo DisneySea, Sega‟s Joypolis (a multi-level Sega gaming heaven), visited the graves of the 47 Ronin (made famous by the Samurai‟s dedication to their master, even when facing death), the Akihabara electronics district

(wow), Fuji-Q Highland Amusement Park (intense rides, and the steepest coaster in the world– all at the base of Mt Fuji) just to name a few highlights. We travelled on the superfast bullet trains to Kyoto where we rode pushbikes to the Arashiyama‟s Bamboo Grove (I could picture the ninjas flying from branch to branch–just stunning) then we set off to Hiroshima, the city that was the first ever to be destroyed by an atomic bomb 70 years ago. We visited the me-morial and museum showing what had hap-pened to the city and country, displaying the brutal destruction and devastation the bomb caused on an amazing city and its people. This was very confronting, as last year we visited the American National Atomic Testing Museum in Nevada where the bomb was glorified for stop-ping the war, saving thousands of lives, and Americans were the heroes:–two very different (and conflicting) versions of the same story. I pray that these weapons are never used again under any circumstances. Overall however, I loved the trip, from the food, the scenery, the country, but especially the people. They had a very welcoming and friendly demeanour–Japan is a society that is concerned about community as opposed to personal needs, and it‟s very re-

freshing. We could really learn a lot from this country and its culture, if you ever get the chance to go, do it. You will love it for sure. Lastly I would like to mention the final All Rank Training camp for the year is to be held at The Log Cabin at the Natural Bridge in the Hin-terland of the Gold Coast on the 6th of Novem-ber. We have held two Black Belt Camps there so far and we have fallen in love with the loca-tion and facilities. We have a limited number of beds available so get your forms into your in-structor quickly to secure your place at this camp. This is a self-catering camp; you will need to bring all your own food and sleeping equipment for the two nights. We start on the Friday night with a training session at 6.30 pm, then eat, sleep, train and repeat till Sunday mid-day. If you have never been to one of our camps, you will enjoy yourself a lot and learn more in two days than you will in a month of training-ask anyone that has been to one and I‟m sure they will tell you how good these weekends are. After I attended my first camp, (as a green belt) it helped cement my commitment to Tae Kwon Do for the rest of my life. I hope to see you all there. That‟s all for now–so remember to Train Hard, Kick High and Keep Striving for Perfection.

A word from the CHIEF INSTRUCTOR

news sparring, by the midpoint I was physically exhausted and because I hadn't focused on my breathing, I suddenly found myself vertically impaired. Once I awoke, I had two options, either forfeit my grading or find the strength

to go on. And that‟s exactly what I did, forfeit my grading. No, just kidding; I chose the latter op-tion, took a few deep breaths and 20 minutes later, I had fin-ished. Breathing isn‟t just about making your technique sharper or making you hit harder. Breathing can be the key to

overcoming the seemingly impossible dangers in front of you, the way of finding that inner mental strength that everyone has. So take a deep breath.

together, making what you do a solid tech-nique. If you properly time your breathing with the extension of your technique, with continued training you‟ll see a level of strength you never knew you had.

We focus on breathing in class, but you never truly understand the importance of something until you realise how much you rely on it. Before the start of this year, I underwent my second degree black belt grading. It was during the final 20 minutes in the sparring that I realised how important my breath was to me. There I was, mindlessly inhaling through a mouth full of braces and a bulky mouthguard, which I had previously only worn for short periods. I had never con-sidered how much it restricted my airflow. Having felt a million dollars at the start of my

Something in the Air

What is Bruce Lee's favourite drink? Wa-taaahhh! Believe it or not, proper breathing can be more than a martial arts sound effect. Often overlooked, breathing has, in retrospect, been one of the most important aspects of my mar-tial arts journey. One of the key points of breathing is how it improves your technique. Every time you take a quick, sharp breath, you are tensing your body. This is you compacting your muscles

“Breathing can be the

key to overcoming

the seemingly impos-

sible dangers…”

SOCIAL NIGHT

By Jason Pascoe

2nd Degree Black Belt

bolstered the black belt ranks again. Hope to see you at the Grading, train hard

and keep your hands up.

Hello from Deception Bay. First of all, from all the students from the Deception Bay class, we hope Mel has a speedy recovery from her recent operation. Congratulations to the students from De-ception Bay who took part in the last round of the tournament, they were so excited about their first tournament experience (for most of our students). It has put us within

striking distance. It was certainly an excit-ing day with so many competitors. The feed back from my students was very positive and I am expecting another good showing at the next one, but we have to get through a grading first. All students have been training hard for this grading and I know they will do well. Congratulations to the students who passed their Black Belt Grading, it was very good display of control and technique and it has

Deception Bay buzz

This years social night will be on the 10th of October at Kruger Hall from 6:00pm We will be hosting a fancy dress party with the theme being:

“Music Legends” So come dressed as your favourite pop or rock star from yesterday or today, and enjoy a fun evening with friends and family outside of the training hall. It will be a BYO drinks, and we ask that you bring a plate of something delicious to share with everyone. Oh… and don‟t forget to bring your best singing voice and dance moves, as there will be a full karaoke system for us to sing and dance to. So get ready to have a blast, as your favourite songs become unrecognisa-ble and the only way to fix it, is to get on stage and show us how it‟s really done! Or you may want to shun the spotlight completely and keep your hidden talents confined to the car or shower. It‟s ok, at the end of the day, as long as no-one tries to sing “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston, we should all get out of there alive! There will be a stack of great prizes on offer too! So get your best cos-tume together and lets have a great night of singing and dancing!

IMTKD regularly sends out emails to all students providing up-date on training and social events. These emails are important in case of last minute changes to venues due to weather events. If you are not getting emails it may be for any of the below reasons:-

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If you are not receiving the emails from the club mail address (admin@modernkd.com) then let your instructor know or send an email to the club address together with the student name and the cub they train with.

Are you getting emails from IMTKD?? SO

YOUNG… SO HILARIOUSLY YOUNG

By Lee Griffith

2nd Degree Black Belt

standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy.‖ – Arthur Ashe

Greetings from the Bribie gang. It‟s been a relatively quiet term of training with the usual training focus, with the recent tourna-ment to spark the competitive juices amongst our students. .Whilst students can be hesitant or reticent about participating in a tournament, being gently nudged out of the comfort zone and just do your best on the floor, be it with sparring or patterns, can really help with growth as a martial artist. In an age where many children expect an award for even the most simplest of tasks or achieve-ments, learning to front up to a tournament, do-ing your best, and leaving for home at the end of the day‟s competition, with head held high (regardless of whether there‟s a trophy in the hand or medallion around the neck), is the real cause for celebration and acknowledge-ment. Winning a place is the cherry on top, but „winning‟ or „losing' should not define you as a martial artist. What I instil in my students is humility and accepting „defeat‟ with grace and acceptance. Life‟s not about winning, but just doing your very best and learning from the trials and mistakes that make learning and life all the more interesting.

Our club, small as it is, is a very closely knit one and we readily celebrate everyone‟s achieve-ments - large or small. In saying that, we wish everyone a successful final term of training for the year. Stay focused, intent and committed towards achieving the goals you and your instructor have set for you. Very best wishes from the Bribie lot. Here‟s some interesting quotes, one of which I hope will resonate with you and be a mantra to live by….to train by: ―Make sure your worst enemy doesn‘t live between your own two ears.‖ – Laird Hamilton ―I‘ve learned that something constructive comes from every defeat.‖ – Tom Landry ―Continuous effort — not strength or intelli-gence — is the key to unlocking our poten-tial.‖ – Liane Cardes ―You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest

Greetings from Bracken Ridge, The Bald Hills club has now officially been training as Bracken Ridge for the last two months and it has been an excit-ing time for the club as it has seen many new students through the doors in recent weeks. A number of younger students from Norris Road State School eagerly joined and have already started to excel in their training. The new students are thor-oughly enjoying themselves, inviting their friends and regularly asking about the next lesson before the current lesson

demo performed by the current students and instructors, everyone got involved, learnt some kicks and even had a hit on the pads. It was a really fun night and we look forward to training with our new students for many years to come and hope they enjoy their journey in Tae Kwon Do. Thank you to all the parents and students who put in a tremendous effort in running Round 2 of the IMT Tournament series and assisting in fundraising. It was a great success and the club raised enough mon-ey to buy our own flooring and some new strike shields.

is even finished. A big thank you to Mi-chael Loeken and Gordon Edmonds who have started learning how to assist in teaching. They have shown great enthusi-asm and even received praise by other students parents for their great work and patience with the younger students. Learning to teach also helps students im-prove their own skills as it requires them to develop and even greater understand-ing of everything they're doing in order to clearly explain rather than just do. We recently held an Open Night to pro-mote the opening of the Bracken Ridge club. It was a great success with many prospective students coming along to learn what Tae Kwon Do is all about and experience it first hand. After an exciting

By Joseph Sandona

3rd Degree Black Belt

Mastering the art

Bribie bulletin

GET TO KNOW YOUR BLACK BELTS

Lee Griffith

How old were you when you started TKD?: 37

How long have you been doing TKD?: 21 years (now do the Maths)

What age did you attain the rank of black belt?: 40

Why did you start TKD?: Because my son's instructor told me to leave the Homework

marking at home and get a uniform on. I haven't looked back.

Why are you still doing TKD?: 1) because I love it, even though I'm getting old and decrepit; (2) because if I didn't I'd probably be playing lawn bowls with the oldies instead; (3) to keep me off the streets and out of trouble; (4) to take charge of my own safety just in case I get attacked by an old bowler; (5) so the kids (and teach-ers) at school are in awe of me (only kidding) and (6) because Peter Cameron and 'the others' won't let me retire.

Have you ever had any ―bumps‖ in your TKD journey?: just the usual big ticket injuries (bad shoulder, bad knee), but not TKD related; leaving to live overseas and missing everyone like crazy; sparring my inner self - do I call it quits and perhaps, due to ongoing knee issues, not be able to advance in rank and have to bow to John or Tony? ;) At the moment the 'young' and determined me is ahead in points.

Which part of TKD did you struggle with the most along the way & why?: The above plus coming to terms that I'm not built to fly high with amazing kicks, nor fast enough to dodge some of the kicks from our esteemed leader (and a couple of others, who will remain nameless). I can still pack a punch and hit where it counts.

What do you enjoy most about TKD?: Everything, but particu-larly the family that IMT is. I can't imagine not being a part of this amazing organisation, especially during the roughest time in my son's life (and mine). Having the confidence to be able to protect myself and those I love and care most about should there be any-one game enough to attack me. The other thing I enjoy greatly is to see the great and positive change in my students and students from other clubs - the increased confidence, resilience and deter-mination. Life skills!!!!! I love instructing and helping those of my vintage get as much from TKD as I did/do.

What is your occupation?: Senior Teacher /Head of Curriculum at Bounty Boulevard State School, North Lakes.

Apart from TKD, what do you like to do in your spare time?: I'd like to relax and spend more time in nature, but school work takes a lot of my spare time. Yeah, the work-life balance is shot, but it's my passion....this most important job in the world.

What other sports have you done in your life?: Softball, hockey, fencing, netball, water-skiing - hence my bad shoulder (well, at least not helped by a naughty bulldozer of a school student).

Tell us one thing we probably don‘t know about you: One thing? Hmmm, I can't stop at one. I'm a non-violent Buddhist who does TKD but I wouldn't kill an ant. Yes, you can do TKD but be non violent! I know this is news to many, but I have a habit of targeting the groin when attacking. I'm an empath! I'll stop short of feeling your pain when I hit you though

Anything else you‘d like to share? Please let me retire!!! ;)

Tony Robinson

How old were you when you started TKD?: 39

How long have you been doing TKD?: 14 years

What age did you attain the rank of black belt?: 42

Why did you start TKD?: Got interested after watching my son Luke train.

Why are you still doing TKD?: The enjoyment of passing on what I have learned and am still learning. The IMT family. Thought hasn‟t entered my head not to.

Have you ever had any ―bumps‖ in your TKD journey?: Only the odd injury and a stupid heart problem.

Which part of TKD did you struggle with the most along the way & why?: Not being able to train with the class due to illness or injury. The realization that it gets harder, but no less enjoyable, as you get older. That due to Uni commitments, Luke was unable to keep training with me and my younger son, Troy didn‟t share the same passion as it was something I really enjoyed doing together.

What do you enjoy most about TKD?: The idea that in some small way I may have helped someone else to achieve results they probably never thought they could or helped pre-vent them from becoming a statistic of violence. That and the strong friendships I have forged over the years.

What is your occupation?: Painter

Apart from TKD, what do you like to do in your spare time?: Spare time, what is that? Be with Family and friends

What other sports have you done in your life?: Rugby league, rugby union, tennis, cricket and touch football to name a few competitive ones. Social ones – you name it.

Tell us one thing we probably don‘t know about you: I follow Souths Sydney Rabittohs.

Anything else you‘d like to share?: My gratitude to all the members of IMT for allowing my family to be a part of such a wonderful and dedicated group and the tremendous support that Lyn, the boys and myself have received over more than a decade. Especially during the times I spent in hospital. Oh and I have decided I am not going to get any older.

Continuing in this issue of IMT‟s Breaking Ground Newsletter, is a new section called “Get to know your Black Belts”. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was completely scared and intimidated by the black belts, and at times to the point of being afraid to approach them. I‟m sure I wasn‟t the first to feel this way, and I won‟t be the last. So I thought it might be a good idea for all the black belts to put down on paper a few key points about themselves, to show that black belts are just like everyone else......that they all started at the bottom, I'm sure had some type of struggles along the way, and they also have a life outside TKD. The same questions have been asked of all black belts, and I‟ve been entertained and inspired by their responses. As you will see, all of the black belts took up TKD at varying ages, all have different strengths and weaknesses, but they all have a love for it that runs deeper than just a sport. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy getting to know your black belts a little better….. Kathy Pascoe 1st Degree Black Belt

I am sorry to say but this will be the last edition of “From Burpengary to Murrumba Downs”. Due to the closing of Fights Fitness and the low numbers, I have decided to close Burpengary and focus on the Murrumba class. It is sad as Burpengary (formerly Narangba) was the first time I started and ran a club. It was a lot of hard work at the start and it went very well hitting a maximum of 18 students at one stage. The good side of the closing of the class is the students from Burpengary have all decided to continue at Murrumba, plus I am not in such a rush to get from one class to the other. The down side is I am at home more and that mean more time with Max…. sigh. I must admit as a parent it is odd how he listens to me in uniform but not at home – maybe I will have to start

it is the first of many. Unfortunate-ly Gabbie, who was on track to attempt her blue belt, will not be grading today – she managed to break her wrist on a rip-stick!! Hopefully she will be fully recovered for the 3rd tournament. Speaking of the tournament, Mur-rumba has started planning for the 3rd and final tournament for 2015. Hopefully we can put on a wide variety of delicious food for the day.

wearing my uniform at home? So I would like to put to all the students out there a contest. I need a new name for this arti-cle. You can email your suggestions to murrum-ba@modernkd.com and I will have a prize for the best entry. Murrumba has recently welcomed some new students to the class who will hopefully join permanently. If we keep increasing numbers we will almost be ½ the size of Banyo J A special thanks to Matthew Baker who has been helping a lot at Murrumba which has been very support-ive as Max has been on a lot of school trips re-cently. Murrumba has 6 students attempting their first grading today so all the best to the Bennett Fam-ily (Stephen, Mairi, Jayden & Kyle) and Esha & Charvee. I am sure you will all do great and it I just like everything we did I class and hopefully

By John Barron

2nd Degree Black Belt

Murrumba Downs From Burpengary to

By Tony Robinson

2nd Degree Black Belt

I had a student ask me the other day, “why is that black belt practicing white belt patterns?” The answer I gave her was “you can never practice something too much.” Now remember our club motto - “Striving for Perfection” The reason he was doing them was he knew that it can always be better. Your instructor would have no doubt told you that you don‟t really know your pat-tern till you‟ve done it at least a thousand times. Even once you have reached that figure, it can still always be im-proved upon. And that is just patterns. Who can hon-estly say they have all their self-defence

tice everything as often as you can just so we can spend the time talking about it to take up 5 minutes in class. It is because we know that even after many, many years of practice, even everything we do could always be a little bit better. This same philosophy applies to every-thing in life. The more effort you put in to a task, the better the result. Now go and do your pattern once more.

moves perfect? Not just really good, but so perfect that if you were attacked on the street, it would be just a normal instinct to per-form 5 or 6 different techniques to es-cape this attack, counter and walk away without a scratch? Wouldn‟t you be better off spending a little more time

practicing than becoming a statistic? You don‟t have to be at TKD to practice any of this. I am sure someone at home would gladly grab you by the throat or come at you with a knife so you

could practice. Or is that just in my household???? So what I am getting at here is, as in-structors, we don‟t just tell you to prac-

“The answer I gave her was “you can never prac-tice something too much.” Now remember our club motto - “Striving for Per-fection”

Banyo breakers

Tournament Round 2

Following a record number of 70+ competitors in May at the first round of our tournaments, a new record was set at round 2 in July, hosted by our Bracken Ridge club at Norris Road State School, with a whopping 90+ competitors. What and incredible achievement to have so many students taking part, and this shows the strength and growth within IMTKD. The large number of students participating, made for a very long day, and with Jason & Brett away for the day, Jacinta (Jaz) Forbes volunteered to learn the ropes, and did a wonderful job of making last minute changes, and helping make the day run smoothly. Coming in to round 2, reigning champions Redcliffe had some ground to make up on underdogs Banyo, being 7 points behind them after the first tournament. But Banyo were going to put up a fight, once again fielding the largest number of students for the day at 23. Although with competitors representing all 9 clubs, there was no knowing which way the points would go for the day. As usual, the day started off strongly with the patterns section of competition. With the divisions ranging in numbers from 8 to 18 competitors, competition was fierce, and one little error could mean the difference between taking home a medal or not. With nerves running wild, the junior division kicked off the day and gave it their best. In Division 1 (10-7 Junior), Davina Robertson ended up taking out first, followed by Yasmin Sandler in second, and Angelean Blakey in third. There was a high level of focus and determi-nation displayed across all divisions, with many of the divisions being extremely close. Along with a few other closely contested divisions, black belt division saw first & second placing's being reversed from tournament 1, and will see the two Jacinta‟s (Forbes & Manly) fighting it out for grand champion at the last tournament for the year. Team demonstrations were up next, and although there was only 4 teams taking part, they were exciting to watch. All teams put in a good effort, and it was evident they had spent a lot of time working their routines out. Team demonstrations were taken out by Mi-chael, Marco, Lucie, Madeleine & Mariah from the home team of Bracken Ridge. It would, however, be great to see more teams in the demonstrations at the next tournament. Let‟s try for at least 1 team from each club! During the lunch break, apart from indulging in the wonderful lunch and snacks put on by Joe and his team from Bracken Ridge, everyone seemed to be talking about the “fight” going on between John and Brandon. For those that know John & Brandon, they would all know that this was just horseplay, but with pride at stake, neither of them were going to give in. For some of the younger new students on the other hand, they believed them to be having a real fight. For those that were concerned, please rest assured, this was not the case, and it was all in good fun & friendship. After lunch, it was time to get physical and get in to some sparring. With the Black Belt division kicking off the afternoon, there was a high level of competitiveness in the rings. Black Belt senior female division saw a tie breaker in the final between Kathy Pascoe & Jaz Forbes, but experience (& stamina) won out, seeing Jaz take home the gold medal, Kathy in 2nd, and Leana Johnson in 3rd. Black Belt senior male division showed an incredible display of athleticism and physicality, but after a few intense rounds, the final be-tween Troy and Eliot saw Eliot Wilson taking out the win, after Troy Johnson had to withdraw due to injury after suffering a split lip in his previous spar with Brandon Kahl. It was then time to move into all the other divisions for sparring, and the level throughout the lower divisions was a pleasure to watch. The control and technique of the juniors moving through the ranks was highly commendable, not to mention the sportsman-ship in seeing all the students thank each other after each of their spars. The other sparring divisions were taken out by Lauchlan Rogers, Davina Robertson, Devdan Ramaswamy, Ebony Eayrs, Christian Bickerstaff, Gabby Spiller, Carter Pascoe, Daniel Lee, Sam Mowatt, Aaron Van Garderen, Zhane Fisher, & Nicholas Mintzas. As always, all tournament results can be seen on our website. All said and done, I know all instructors couldn‟t have been prouder of their students and the effort they put in at the tournament. At the end of the day, Banyo came out on top with 40 points, which puts them in a fantastic position leading the table with 76 points, followed by Redcliffe on 56 points, and Kallangur on 33 points going into the final tournament. All indications point to a new name being engraved on the perpetual trophy for 2015, but there is still the final tournament on 17 October at Murrumba Downs, for a final

challenge from the other 8 clubs. Can Banyo hold on or will they be pipped at the post? We‟ll have to wait and see…….

By Jason Parker

4th Degree Black Belt

I have been sharing some training tips in the recent

newsletters, but before I go again, I would like to

mention how pleased I am with the Redcliffe class at

the moment. Everyone is training hard

and doing very well.

When practicing your self defence, you

always want to keep all of your options

open to you. At a grading, we want to

see you perform certain things to assess

your progression and understanding of

technique and its application. But if

you ever find yourself in a situation which requires

you to act in defence, you have a lot more going on

than you do in class. It doesn‟t matter how hard we

push you, you are not experiencing true fear or getting

Practice running away sometimes. It is always

an option once you have released a hold and

struck your attacker strongly.

Practice near a wall or corner. Limited options

for movement can affect your release. Maybe

the only escape is „through‟ the attacker.

Practice in the dark or (for advanced students)

with your eyes closed. Start using your other

senses like touch and hearing to aid you.

Be ready to improvise. We train with control

and respect, but you need to be ready to break the

„rules‟ and do what is necessary for your own

protection.

Practice, practice, practice and when you are done,

practice some more. But the best defence is not hav-

ing to defend in the first place. Be aware of your

surroundings and the people around you, if it doesn‟t

feel right, or you don‟t feel safe, leave before anything

happens.

a big adrenaline rush. These can drastically affect

your body‟s responses, both natural and trained. Your

environment can also be a help or hindrance.

So what kind of training can we aim to do to help us in

these situations? Well, depending on your experience

level, chances are, you‟re already doing it without

realising. Is starts with simplicity, building upon your

body‟s natural responses and working from there.

Your training will help you a lot, but

only if you keep doing it. The old

saying “Use it or lose it” is very

appropriate for self defence.

There is always so much to learn

with self defence, sometimes small

things that we teach, may not be

focused on heavily all of the time. But that doesn‟t

mean its not important. Here are some small things

that you should do to help you keep on top of your self

defence skills.

“It doesn’t matter how

hard we push you, you

are not experiencing

true fear or getting a big

adrenaline rush.”

Redcliffe review

Ormeau By Troy Johnson

2nd Degree Black Belt report To wrap things up, our class is coming along nicely, with a nice variety of both seniors and juniors. We as a club look forward to taking out more wins at the tournament and gaining a large variety of coloured belts in our class. Keep training hard and keep your hands up!

offering better facilities and more opportunities. Our current class will be moving into the prem-ises as soon as it is open, so anyone looking for more training is welcome to come be a part of it. As you will have already read in the Chief In-structors news, I have managed to twist his arm. He will now be teaching a seniors class at Fighters Fitness on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6.30pm-8.00pm. I will still be running a class as well, for juniors, on the same nights from 5.30pm-6.30pm. So anyone wishing to come take advantage of this, please do, you are more than welcome at the centre. As today is progressing, many Ormeau students are grading, and I wish them all the best. They have worked hard to get to where they are, and I have the utmost confidence they will display this today. Good luck to Leam, Elizabeth, Am-ber, Devon, Lachlan, Blayne, Michael and Warwick, you will be absolutely fine.

September? SEPTEMBER?! Where has the year gone?! Well anyway, welcome to another update from the Ormeau club. I would like to start by welcoming our new student, Warwick, to the club. I wish you all the best with your journey through martial arts and hope you catch the training bug like many of us have. Well a little bit of bad news to commence, un-fortunately, I have had no choice but to close the doors at Fighters Fitness Burpengary... Our last session held here was a great way to end the journey at Burpengary, with IMT, of course. However in greater news, we are opening our next location at Ormeau, above the local IGA. These premises will prove to be a better fit,