Arriving at Brisbane Airport on Wednesday September 30, on a flight that is paid for by the National Governing Body is always a good feeling. Knowing that one of the perks of being an official is the possibility that the flights and accommodation are paid for, is fantastic!
Funny that, because all the (3) people I sat next to on my flghts (one to Sydney and then to Brisbane) were all on business trips too. So really, none of us paid our own way.
There was a plan beforehand, to possibly hire a vehicle for our West Australian official’s use. There were quite a few of us this year. Raffaele DiRenzo, Richard Huynh, Aleisha Vincent and Roy Khoh from ATA-WA. Additionally, M. Rajendran and Jenny Crutchet from ODK in WA; and Harry Kim from SWTA.
Unfortunately, the decision was to just catch taxis and cabs everywhere instead. It was difficult because we all arrived in Brisbane at different times and days. Despite being only about 20 minutes away from the airport, the cab-fare was just over $50.
Luckily, the place we were accommodated at – Carindale Hotel – was actually part of a shopping complex, no surprise it was called Carindale Shopping Centre. So getting extra food and accessories was only about a 200m walk away. Too bad we didn’t get much time to do any shopping.
Well do we have a fine story to tell from the 2009 Taekwondo Australia Nationals held recently during October 2009 in Brisbane.
Skip Sommerville, ATA Mandurah, as a young fledgling 52 year old – well he is not that young in age but still young in health, heart condition and still fine in physical fitness and prowess. Skip had been training hard for his poomsae and sparring competitions after the state tournament. Still nursing a shoulder injury and some hammy soreness, he perservered. He had been watching the nationals entries and was getting rather disappointed when at the final close of entries, there were no opponent for him in his entered division, the blue belt 50+ heavyweight division – he was the only entry. There was one other entry in the blue belt heavyweight category but this was in the lower age group category – the 41-50 age group (who was also unmatched).
Undeterred, he was asking if he could be paired off with Steven Bult from Queensland so he could have at least a fight, even though Skip would be slightly dis-advantaged being the older aged player. He searched high and low at the venue on the Saturday coloured belt comps day, and he found his likely opponent, and we also found Steven’s coach. That was where we began the negotiations so both players, at least could have a match fight. After much discussions, both Skip and Steven convinced the tournament organisers to give them a match play fight. So this was set.
But since this is to be a match play fight, there needed to be a prize, and Steven’s coach suggested the prize to be a pretty, tall, slim blonde. Incidentally Skip’s partner is pretty, tall, slim and blonde. So now Steven had to offer something to add to the prize, and since he was a pig farmer, we suggested that he offered his farm up. We thought that was fair – the farm and the blonde. The prize was winner take all, ie. the farm and the pretty, tall and slim blonde. The match is now definitely on, and the prize offered were "accepted" by both players.
The adrenalin was churning and burning. As the coach, Kim suggested to Skip that he better win, so he could then offer the farm up to Monika (his partner) as the prize for a wife. If he lost, Skip would be in big trouble – but Skip was very confident. All set, and ready to go. We were set on the sidelines waiting for the match, and you could see both players really psyching up for the match, when suddenly both players had second thoughts about the prizes they are offering for the winner to take all. Well no matter, both agreed to play their best and the best man to win. Determined as they were, the match was quite even in terms of the points being scored. The final score was 5 points to Skip and 4 points to Steve. Skip WINS. Yes, if the prize was still available, Skip would have won the farm and keep his blonde partner. In the end we are convinced the motivation that Skip had to win was really his thoughts of "The farmer wants a wife". Monika is now still waiting for the farm.
You can view Skip’s fight (the 1st round) on this video clip. note: you can actually see Skip, even though at 52 years of age, is quite light on his feet as he pranced around the court stalking his opponent and finally winning the match.
I brought my video camera to tape our members at the 2009 Australian Taekwondo Nationals held at the Sleemans Sports Centre in Brisbane, Queensland. I was the primary videographer, of course, and because of this – not all members were recorded and not all footages were taken by me. Here is my favourite:
In order of performances, here is a list to all the youtube clips I’ve uploaded containing our ATA members:
I provide a short highlight video footage for the students going for black belt on April 5, 2009.
Since hosting the video file on this website can be slow – I have chosen to place the video onto youtube
I am still figuring out the best format to upload the video in. I also want to get an HD format up too, but my video camera only does 720×576 pixels, which is not HD. So I uploaded a "fake" HD format resolution of 960×720 pixels (upscaled of course) and the file to download ended up being over 118MB from youtube.
In the end, I uploaded a 720×576 file that was around 56MB to upload to youtube. Although, when you watch it, the "normal" quality is a 18.2MB download while the "Higher" quality (the HQ icon) is 18.6MB. So, if it plays smoothly – watch the HQ version.
The Capener family acrobatic troupe, performing as Cameo Rascale nails another great performance at the Grand Final of Australia’s Got Talent 2009. Their performance was sharp and crisp and demonstrated a multitude of skills and techniques that mesmerized the audience and judges. I have watched all their shows in this AGT series and each time they rotated their star showing, in the end all 4 are equally as good and each with their own specialty skill sets. They have flexibility, balance, strength, timing, showmanship, flair, poise and great co-ordination and rhythm – all great attributes for taekwondo.
Red Symons said "It is a privilege to see the skills are not lost and are being passed down from the parents down to the children". Tom Burlinson thought they were like the Incredibles (superhero family) and that they that did a wonderful performance despite the injury to Steve (the father and anchor of the troupe) before the show. Danii Minogue chipped in commenting what an amazing performance and great to see tricks that was nail biting and thought the acting and presentation was fantastic. Grant Denyer, the host of the show thought the family did a dynamic job. The ending of the act was exciting and nail biting when Gayle (all curled up) slid down Steve (standing up) but stopped just short of hitting the floor.
I think the family showed great determination and I know they spent hours and hours in practice honing their skills and their act to top their last act. Said Steve "I thought we would have great difficulty to top the semi-final act, but we were glad this one came off". Nicole recently did her grading 10 days previously and she performed her bend back flexibility after the grading to the delight of the members at the grading.
There were 8 acts in this Grand Final and if you enjoy their act, I encourage you to vote for them by calling the following number 1902 55 33 33 or SMS "Cameo" on 199 77 77 2. Either method will do. Make sure you do it before the deadline of 12 noon on Saturday 18th April 2009. The result will be broadcast on Wednesday 22nd April – don’t miss it! Just to prove to you how good they are, here is a link to their act. Click here and have another look-see.
