| The Regional Tournament
was during Saturday and Sunday the 6th and 7th of May
at St Hilda's College on Cobden Street in the central
ctiy. Read the article on the tournament below.
Mrs Kettings also arranged for the tournament to have
media coverage includeing the Otago Daily Times and
Dunedin's Channel
9. Check out the news story here...
(2.34MB)
Major Results were:
Best Club - Dunedin (second year running)
Best Men's Team - Otago University (fifth year running)
Best Women's Team - Dunedin
Tenets Award - Mana Eade, Redwoodtown
Best Overall Black Belt - Natasha Kettings, Dunedin
(second year running)
Best Overall Red Belt - Alex Sims, Dunedin
Best Overall Blue Belt - Eliza Sims, Dunedin
Best Overall Green Belt - Sina Walker, Threshold
Best Overall Yellow Belt - Petr Lebl, Dunedin
Best Overall White Belt - Timothy Medlicott, Threshold
(Full
resutls available here)
Best Overall Belts, Natasha Kettings, Alex Sims,
Eliza Sims, Petr Lebl and Timothy Medlicott.
As 2006 flew by it was once again time for the annual
South Island regional tournament, held over the weekend
of May 6-7. The venue this year was Dunedin and was
held in the St Hilda’s gymnasium, proving to be
an ideal venue with plenty of space. With over eighty
competitors it was poised to be an exciting and full
on tournament. With many coloured belts, including a
new club from Alexandra all levels of competition had
a variety of competitors, including a new 4th Dan and
several 3rd Dan’s. Helen Kettings and Dean Jenkins
of the Dunedin Taekwon-Do club organized this year’s
tournament jointly. Set up began as usual on the Friday
evening with a good turnout and after some deliberation
the mats were put down and the venue was set.
Competition began at 8am on Saturday forming up in
clubs, and soon the eighty plus keen entrants were into
the pattern divisions. With two rings running a smooth
and full on display of technique and balance ensued.
With many divisions having ties again and again, it
was clear that the skill levels were evenly matched
and made judging a tough job. A highlight was most definitely
the third and fourth Dan pattern division, after many
ties and some complex patterns it was finally won by
Richard Lavin of Otago University club. With the pattern
divisions complete it was time to start the biggest
of the four disciplines- sparring. Almost all eighty
competitors were entered in some kind of sparring using
ITF divisions.
As the afternoon progressed onlookers were treated
to a display of technique, speed and pain, all the essential
elements for a good sparring round! Highlights included
the black belt divisions with many current and past
national representatives, setting an excellent example
for the coloured belt divisions. As earlier rounds were
completed and the day drew to a close some of the team
specialty techniques were performed to make Sunday’s
proceedings a little smoother. Not all that easy to
throw your leg 2.2 meters into the air after a day sparring
and cheering. Day one drew to a close at approx 5pm.
Saturday evening consisted of the annual meal of the
tournament which this year had nearly a full turnout.
This opportunity was used to give out some of the medals
of the completed divisions and some good photo ops,
also a chance for competitors to suss out the next days
competition.
Sunday morning arrived all too quickly and the business
end of the weekend was under way…. Finals. As
soon as everyone was sorted the day got underway with
the sparring finals. Each division had their fair share
of action and a good turnout of supporters was welcomed.
Again a highlight was the black belt division especially
the hyper/heavyweight final between Campbell Gold and
Shane Eade. After a display of technique and some of
the fastest sparring the South Island has seen in a
while Mr. Gold emerged the victor… this time.
As lunchtime came and went the afternoon contained one
of the more popular events, team sparring and power.
As usual the team sparring proved to be exciting as
junior and senior grades are mixed to pit their skills
against each other, after some intense and entertaining
sparring rounds these finals too drew near. Male team
sparring was a final between Otago University and Dunedin
Taekwon-do club, both teams sporting a variety of experienced
and renowned sparring competitors. After some thrills
and spills both in the air and on the ground Otago University
took the win. The female division had a similar outcome
with Otago University also taking a win.
Power test for both individuals and team then followed.
With the regions new polar boards being used for the
very first time, many breaks proved elusive for even
seasoned practitioners. Grant Evans won the male individual
power test, second year in a row, with new fourth Dan
Kris Herbison a close second, one point behind. Helen
Kettings won the female division, also for the second
year running, closely followed by Amanda Cleland of
Otago University. As the power drew to a close the last
of the draws were settled with the specialty divisions
and some extreme flexibility was shown.
With the tournament drawing to a close the medals were
given out and the best individuals and teams were announced.
Dunedin Taekwon-Do Club managed to take out best club,
for the second year in a row, assisted by the entire
clubs’ attitude of everyone in the club entering
everything and giving it their best, and always helping
with the officiating. The best male team was won by
Otago University, for the fifth year running, and best
female team by Dunedin. With the day over it was agreed
that another successful Regional tournament was complete
and many had long drives ahead. After a quick clean
up everyone had departed by 4pm. Next step… winning
nationals.
Alex Sims, 2nd Gup
Dunedin Club
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