Link to Craig Olivers Photo's here

The Fuji Mae ITFNZ National Tournament 2009 was hosted by South Island region this year, located in the garden city. Students from all over New Zealand made there way to this location to participate in this very important annual tournament. Saturday 26th of September form up was at 9am. It was abundantly clear that everybody was mentally ready far before this time, when the competitors began physically preparing themselves for the challenges that lay ahead of them over the next 48 hours.

After the successful form up we were issued instructions on the first events of the tournament. First up, one of the more traditional of all Taekwon Do events, patterns, namely the black belts. The quality of patterns were flawless and left a lot of people with their jaws dropped. Following the patterns we saw junior black belts taking to the sky with special technique and female sparring with plenty of promising talent while competitors traded blows.

Meanwhile when ever a student could compete in the power display they were to report and destroy. By lunch time on the first day a few spirits had be crushed as their dream was over but general moral was still extremely high. The lunch time performance consisted of traditional Korean drumming. A sophisticated display of rhythm and art. Perfect to ignite the war drums in the souls of every competitor. The first act was a solo act performed by Gwiok Kim, this was followed by seven young people that were very professional as was displayed when one of the drummers sticks broke and the recovery was as smooth as a silk river. Masterful!

After lunch our very own young Luke Jackson had a massive result, after a less than satisfactory result at last years national champs, he was finally successful and in a true David and Goliath fight, Luke was the first competitor to win the South Island a gold. Over the course of the weekend he was joined by Christchurch’s Rennae Hopkins, Sophie Hadjis, Jamie Townsend and Mason Lithgow as well as Blenheim’s William Arbuckle-Hill and Dunedin’s Janas Babarich-Stevenson who all collected gold medals for the South Island Team.

Prearranged sparring was the next event that followed on from lunch though, everyone held their breath and you could hear a pin drop as the various teams displayed polished techniques in a choreographed fight scene.

Following shortly after were the team events, firstly the team patterns show-down which consists of teams performing a set pattern synchronised with a series of staggers and different formations. Very complicated stuff to make it look good which every team impressively pulled off. Auckland North men's and women's team both took home best team patterns. Following this the South Islands women's team battle their way though the Midlands ladies in team sparring to the finals but were stopped in their tracks by loosing to Central Districts and finishing up with the silver medal. The end of the first day finished around 5pm and everyone went back to their various places of residence to refresh for the award ceremony.

Saturday Nights meal and entertainment was perfect and some very prestigious awards to some very deserving people. These awards included best overall gup student, dan student, club, and instructor that have displayed extreme dedication to ITFNZ. There were also 3 awards handed out to 3 adults that have given 25 years of their life to ITFNZ and 15 years of them with outstanding service.

The second day was kicked off with all the gup patterns, a display of students progression through this beautiful art. While these patterns were being performed, the adult black belts were participating in the fancy special technique, people got to witness 3 time world special technique champion Mr Carl Van Roon do his thing. This event was closely followed up by team black belt power, which was truly awesome to behold as the teams smashed their way through countless boards in the quest for the gold medal.

After all the events had been completed we formed up and speeches were made, there awards for best overall belts were handed out followed by the closing of the tournament. A special thanks needs to be had for Mr Kris Herbison, Miss Helen Caley, and Miss Angela Barltrop for all the hours , sweat and tears they put into this tournament, without them it would not be possible. Thank you to everyone else who was behind the scenes, the sponsers, families, supporters, Christchurch City Council, QEII Stadium, and finally all the competitors, you all do us proud!

By Jamie Townsend 7th gup - Riccarton Club

South Island Competitor Results

South Island Women's Team - 3rd Overall - Lorraine Eade, Joey Eade, Helen Caley, Ana Rakonjac, Andrea Greenwood & Angela Barltrop

Gold Medals:

William Arbuckle-Hill - Intermediate Boys 1-4 gup Hyperweight Sparring
Rennae Hopkins - Junior Girls 1-4 gup Middleweight Sparring
Luke Jackson - Intermediate Boys 1-4 gup Middleweight Sparring
Jamie Townsend - Men's 5/8 gup Heavyweight Sparring
Sophie Hadjis - Junior Girls 5-8 gup Hyperweight Sparring
Mason Lithgow - Intermediate Boys 5-8 gup Heavyweight Sparring
Jahnas Barbarich-Stevenson - Peewee Girls 5-8 gup Lightweight Sparring

Silver Medals:

South Island Women's Team - Team Sparring
South Island Women's Team - Team Power Test
Rennae Hopkins - Female Red Belt Patterns Junior
Jamie Townsend - Male Yellow Belt Patterns Senior
Samuel Soper - Men's Black Belt Hyperweight Sparring
Helen Caley - Women's Black Belt Middleweight Sparring
Hamish Duncan - Junior Boys Black Belt Hyperweight Plus Sparring
Matthew Patterson - Peewee Boys 4th gup and over under 35kg sparring
Craig Oliver - Men's 1-4 gup Middleweight Sparring
Gena Salmon - Women's 1-4 gup Hyperweight Sparring
Natalie Read - Women's 1-4 gup Lightweight Sparring
Christopher Gilroy - Junior Boys 1-4 gup Middleweight Sparring
Nicole Woods - Junior Girls 1-4 gup Hyperweight Sparring
Briar Topp - Intermediate Girls 1-4 gup Middleweight Sparring
Kelly Wheeler - Women's 5-8 gup Middleweight Sparring
Eliza Elkington - Junior Girls 5-8 gup Hyperweight Plus Sparring
Jayde Cohen - Intermediate Boys 5-8 gup Hyperweight Sparring
Andrew Hadjis - Intermediate Boys 5-8 gup Lightweight Sparring

Bronze Medals

South Island Women's Team - Team Patterns
South Island Men's Team - Team Special Technique
Kris Herbison - Male 4th dan + patterns
Michael Davies - Male 1st dan patterns - equal
Nigel Patterson - Male 1st dan patterns - equal
Hayden Booth - Male Red Belt patterns
Mana Williams Eade - Male Red Belt patterns junior - equal
Luke Jackson - Male Red Belt Patterns junior - equal
Kelly Wheeler - Female Yellow Belt Patterns adult
Nigel Patterson - Men's Black Belt Heavyweight Sparring
Andrea Greenwood - Women's Black Belt Heavyweight Sparring
Ana Rakonjac - Women's Black Belt Lightweight Sparring
Tomonori Shibata - Men's 1-4 gup middleweight sparring
Hayden Booth - Men's 1-4 gup Heavyweight sparring
Andrew Ching - Intermediate Boys 1-4 Gup Heavyweight Sparring
Mana Williams Eade - Intermediate Boys 1-4 gup Middleweight Sparring
Joshua Patterson - Intermediate Boys 1-4 gup Lightweight Sparring
Sooji Clarkson - Women's 5-8 Gup Heavyweight Sparring
Christopher Bates - Intermediate Boys 5-8 gup Lightweight sparring
Kris Herbison - Men's Black Belt Power Test