LaJust EBP used at Australian Youth Olympic Games Selections

LaJust Electronic Body Protectors were used at the recent Youth Olympic Games Selections, in Melbourne. Held at the Aqualink in Box Hill, the tournament was a small affair to select fighters in the age range of 15 and 16 years old to compete in Singapore YOG next year.

Western Australia was represented by 3 referees and fondly enough, only two fighters. The field of fighters were mostly Victorians, and to have 2 from WA out of 39 was okay. From memory, there were no fighters from Queensland.

Kennedy Blowfield’s division had 5 fighters, and being unseeded – Kennedy had to go through an elimination bout to enter the round-robin stage. Unfortunately, Kennedy’s first opponent (although also unseeded) appeared solidly built and almost a head taller than Kennedy. With the LaJust system, prior to each match, players must test out the system by kicking and scoring on the EBP with their feet; usually with 3 roundhouse kicks, 1 to the front and 1 to each flank. It was amazing how easily the point came up during the testing phase. During the middle of the match, it appeared to be a different affair on whether the EBP registers a point or not. Even with solid kicks, some accurate and some not, Kennedy walked away with fewer points and unable to enter the next phase of the selections. Better luck next time, Kennedy! (or should I say preparation?)

Teiha Gorton was the other WA representative. With only 3 in her division, she had a total of 2 fights and walked away with 2 wins to earn her Gold and a place with the YOG team. Congratulations and well done!
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2009 World Taekwondo Championships – Copenhagen, Denmark

The 2009 World Championships was held in the beautiful city of Copenhagen, Denmark during the Year of Sport celebrations in this peaceful country in the Scandik peninsular on the top end of Europe.  This would have been the biggest world championships held with more than 1,000 players assembling in this bi-annual event from 142 member countries.  This event followed the IOC annual congress that retained taekwondo as one of the 26 sports for the 2016 Olympics, which was awarded to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Kim Seng, ATA Peel region Master Instructor and 1st class International Referee was one of the selected referees to officate at this 18th edition of the World Championships.  85 International Referees were selected across the world to officiate at this important event.

The LaJust ebp’s (electronic body protectors) were used successfully at this event and results of the matches were more evenly spread.  However, officiating was still very much managed and controlled by the International Referees.  Follow the discussions and comments on this Referee forum. 

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Peel Region Grading – 5 April 2009

Spectators and participants alike sat through a longer than usual taekwondo grading this Sunday April 5, 2009. Scheduled start time was 13:00 hours in the afternoon and we all got in shortly after and the grading concluded just before 17:00 hours.

There were two students (one from Mandurah-Falcon and one from Coolbellup) going for their black belts. As expected, their grading was the longest and occupied a substantial amount of time. It provided a great opportunity for the lower ranks and new members to watch and observe the requirements to reach black belt standards.

Quite a number of graders succumbed to the pressure of it all and performed beneath their ability – forgetting steps in poomsae (patterns) here and there (remember the IQ article?), freezing up and uncertainty showing up in their faces at other times. That’s the beauty of having gradings. It creates a more anxious environment for the practitioner to PERFORM! Much like a heightened, escalated tension that may arise if an "incident" were ever to occur.

Hopefully, from watching some of the higher belts go through their motions, you can realise that reaching that goal (of getting your black belt) is not going to be a breeze. Sure, on paper, it appears to be straight-forward and simple, just not necessarily easy. 

Congratulations to those who received awards on the grading day:

Senior grading: Best – Olivia Cable (Mandurah-Falcon); Encouragement – Neb Meletovic (Rockingham) and Marcus Hegedus (Mandurah)

Junior grading: Best – Amira Ahmad Niza (Coolbellup); Encourgament – Finley Edgar (Mandruah)

Book prizes: Skip Sommerville (senior, Mandurah); Nicole Capener (junior, Halls Head) 

For those of you wanting to find out the results of your grading, you will need to wait and find out from your club instructor. Remember, if you have the Taekwondo Australia Grading Book, you can find out immediately after the grading if you had brought in and submitted the book to the examiner on the day. Remember it for next time.

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Padbury club makes a great start to 2009

Thank you and welcome back all.

I say thank you because I am astounded with the unprecedented attendance for the commencement of training this year. It is almost as though we have not had a break at all. Your enthusiasm for training will be matched by my passion for your development and growth in confidence. With the new equipment that we have bought, this year promises to be exciting. New equipment means better training opportunity and even new circuits.

Preparation for grading has already begun. The date for the first grading at Padbury club this year is 2^nd April. Remember that grading is conditional upon satisfactory attendance as well as performance. Check the February 2009 newsletter for your grading requirements.

Congratulations to Kennedy on his successful 2^nd Dan grading in December 2008. I am sure that many of the students are looking forward to learning from your experiences.

What is your favourite training routine? Let us know and we will try to incorporate it into more training sessions this year.

Finally, I trust 2009 will see a significant improvement in your skill and fitness levels. Lets all train hard and remember……..Believe and you will succeed.

Regards

Hubert

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ATA Peel region 2008 annual awards

The ATA Peel region looks back at a successful 2008 year with numerous success stories, in particular when capturing 7 National Champion titles at the 2008 Nationals held in Sydney (September).  This was significantly more than the haul from the 2007 Nationals (Adelaide, September).   The Peel region also won numerous 2008 state tiles.  see tournament results link:

The end of year 2008 ATA Peel region awards are:

Peel region best club:  Mandurah

Peel region most improved club:  Rockingham

Peel region best senior black belts:  Roy Khoh (Mandurah) & Jedi Calicdan (Mandurah)

Peel region best senior blue belt:  Elanie Schoeman (Rockingham)

Peel region best senior yellow belt:  Aneldi Shcoeman (Rockingham)

Peel region best junior black belt:  Miranda Seng (Mandurah)

Peel region best junior red belt:  Alice Warren (Mandurah)

Peel region best junior blue belt:  Muhammad Ahmad Niza (Coolbellup)

Peel region best junior yellow belt:  Zachary Platt (Halls Head)

The ATA Peel region now looks towards the 2009 year and aims to emulate the success of 2008 or even better the success of 2008.

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