| The 2008
South Island Regional Tournament was held on 10-11 May
2008 in Blenheim and was an exciting weekend of competition
between the Schools in the South Island to determine
which school was the Best Overall School in Taekwon-Do
competition for 2008!
As the tournament was held in Blenheim, it meant a
long trip on Friday for those from Christchurch and
Dunedin. (Road trips are an excellent opportunity to
socialise, however). It was held in the brand new conference
centre – a nice facility that had just enough
room to run the competition in.
After form up on the Saturday morning Day One comprised
of individual events, starting with Patterns. Needless
to say, Ring Three was rather busy with its 20 green
belt Patterns competitors! Rings One and Two made their
way through the remaining divisions. A good handful
of participants either forgot the moves or had neglected
to learn some of their patterns altogether… There
was a certain 4th Dan who made a rather glaring mistake
during a coloured belt pattern!
After the conclusion of patterns competition came Sparring,
Power breaking and Specialty. As usual there were plenty
of interesting bouts for the spectators to enjoy. There
was some club rivalry and the competitors received lots
of support from their fellow club members. One of the
awesome things about TKD here on the mainland, however,
is the spirit that the region shares – everybody
knows everybody else and we all encourage one another.
The technicolour medals were handed out after each final
again this year, making the whole process very efficient
and leaving only one individual final over on Sunday.
Saturday evening saw everybody squash into the Springlands
Tavern for a buffet dinner, a quiz and a lot of socialising.
Day Two consisted of all team events and the final
presentations. Everyone gathered to watch as the club
teams practised or frantically worked out their patterns
up to the last minute (Riccarton!). After Patterns came
Specialty – the resulting tie in Male Team for
bronze between Riccarton and Red/Mau led to a thrilling
mid-air kick play-off between Mr Gareth Hopkins and
Mr Shane Eade. The ribbons were moved further and further
apart until Mr Hopkins ultimately faltered and Mr Eade
took the medal for his team.
In Sparring, a bit of luck and some great tactics saw
the Riccarton Female team’s Gup students defeat
the Black Belts from the Dun/Ota/Red team to take out
the gold medal. The Male Team Sparring attracted its
usual enthusiastic audience as the boys battled it out
in the ring for club prestige. Power Breaking was completed
as the other two rings were packed up. Several of the
teams were mixed due to lack of Black Belts attending
from certain clubs; and despite doing well they unfortunately
could not be included in the overall results for team
competition.
The final results were tallied up with Riccarton taking
home Best Club for the second consecutive year and also
being awarded Best Male and Best Female Team. Finally
it was time to pack everything up, say goodbye and head
home. Many thanks to Mr Rana Moanaroa, Mrs Lorraine
Eade, Mrs Penny Davies, Mr Kris Herbison, the officials,
team managers, and participants for making this year’s
Regional Championship such a successful event.
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