The National Championships Report
Holly Eades, 4 gup
Riccarton Taekwon-Do
Photos taken by Mr William Lee (more photos here)
The 2007 ITFNZ National Championships were hosted by Counties
Manukau and held at ASB Stadium in Auckland on the weekend
of 22 & 23 September 2007. After months of preparation
and fundraising the South Island team of 34 travelled to Auckland
on the Friday beforehand. After collecting our rental vans
at the airport we headed to our accommodation in the central
city. There was some confusion as we later made our way to
the venue as it seemed that the lead navigator of the Thrifty
van convoy had not been blessed with the best of navigation
skills! Weigh-in was uneventful for most of the team; only
two competitors had to try and sweat off those extra grams.
Members of the South Island Team
After an early night and an early start on Saturday morning
we arrived at the stadium (by a somewhat more direct route
than on Friday…). Day One was pretty much comprised
of only black belt events. Mrs Lorraine Eade and Mrs Helen
Kettings won gold in sparring. There were some gup sparring
events in the afternoon, in which the team had some success.
Hayden Booth won his division as did Mr Chun-Hong Yoon. Mr
Yoon’s sparring effort was really inspiring and deserves
special mention. His first bout was against an opponent who
was about 195cm tall (about 20cm taller than Mr Yoon) and
was very action packed, and it wound up being a draw, and
so he had to go another round to clinch the win. Immediately
after his semi-final Mr Yoon had to compete again in the finals
bout against his opponent who had had a rest while Mr Yoon
was competing in his semi-final match. Incredibly, this match
also went to a third round after another draw; Mr Yoon dug
deep and won what was his sixth consecutive round of sparring
to take out the gold!
Mr Yoon wins gold!
The Awards Dinner was held at the venue along with some
of the dan patterns and sparring finals; with Mr Campbell
Gold won his sparring final. Unfortunately there was a long
and hungry wait for dinner as our tables ended up being served
last. South Island nominees for the Annual Awards were Miss
Helen Caley (Gup Student of the Year) and Mr David Oliver
(Instructor of the Year).
Mr Gold competing against Dr Snelling at the finals dinner.
Sunday saw the gup events played out. Mr Yoon had yet more
success in winning his patterns division. Consequently he
was first equal for best yellow belt of the tournament. Gold
medals were also won in sparring by Messrs Hamish Duncan,
Luke Jackson, Hayden Booth, Paul Blackburn, Ruifa Huang and
Miss Nicole Woods. Mr Jackson had two good bouts in which
he took advantage of all of the side piercing kick drills
we had done in training. Mr Duncan also won his match by a
good margin. Mr Jessie Fennessy’s match had to be restarted
after the first round when officials discovered that both
competitors were wearing red ribbons!
At the end of the tournament the Blenhiem crew began their
drive to Taupo where they were staying the night on the way
to Wellington to catch the Ferry, and the remaining members
made our way the backpackers. The last van was somewhat delayed
due to the fact Mr Herbison had left the van keys in the media
room. After dinner in the city some of the team hung out together
till late socialising and discussing the tournament, the team
figjam awards and other interesting things.
On Monday the Blenheim group drove down to Wellington while
the rest of the team flew into Christchurch with the Dunedin
and Alexandra members driving the rest of the way home. On
behalf of the team I would like to give a big thank-you to
the tournament organisers and officials, and our the funding
groups & sponsors of our team as well as those who helped
with fundraising; and last but certainly not least to our
team managers and coaches.
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