by Meaghan Kelly
The end of June-start of July was a big month for Warrington
Taekwondo. On 26 June the South Island champs were held at the
Caledonian and attended by clubs from all over the island, including
Warrington. Seven Warrington members competed, Natasha Abbott and
Imogen Corbett in the poomsae (a demonstration of a set series of
moves) competition, while Eric Ko, Meaghan Kelly, and Scott, Bruno and
Lucan Willis all competed in sparring.
Natasha and Imogen competed extremely well in their first tournament.
The experience they gained will be extremely valuable in the future
(for all the future tournaments we want them to attend).
Lucan fought an even-looking fight against a higher ranked opponent
who eventually came out the winner, however once again a great effort.
Bruno also fought a higher-ranked opponent and the result did not go
his way, despite the fact that he fought probably his best fight to
date, showing his tournament experience has paid off and he has
clearly put in a lot of work.
Scott was narrowly defeated in his match, again against a
higher-ranked fighter from Christchurch; a result which could have
gone either way easily. A good fight to watch, but also a good
learning experience.
Eric brought home our only gold, fighting a friend from Green Island
club. This didn't prevent him from winning the fight by a ridiculous
margin of around 30 points. Yay Eric! Eric's fights are particularly
good to watch as the feeling of not being on the receiving end is so
relaxing.
My own fight was a little nerve wracking as everyone who heard who my
opponent was seemed to be implying that they would come to my funeral.
I did conclusively lose, by a similar margin to that Eric won by, (I
think actually more) but managed to hang onto life adequately. I am
privileged to be matched with some very high-ranking fighters due to
the lack of female competitors. Verina Wihongi, my opponent, attended
the Athens Olympics in 2004.
I would also like to thank the other Warrington instructors who attend
and coached; Paul Foley, Tim Bain and Jesse Bain. Thanks also to the
parents who got up in the dark and cold to get your children there and
those supported them.
The other big event recently was the grading at Port Chalmers. Four
members of Warrington were examined and all passed creditably. Imogen
and Lucan were graded from yellow belt green tabs to green belt in a
tougher than expected grading. They put in a lot of effort and had
knew their stuff well-a thoroughly deserved pass.
Scott and Bruno were graded from red belt to red belt black tab, one
grade below black belt. As a result their grading was exceedingly
demanding and extremely long. After a hairy start, mainly due to
(justifiable) nerves, things improved. It was a difficult grading to
watch, especially as both Scott and Bruno had to fight 20 consecutive
fights against black belt opponents when they were already exhausted
from the rest of the grading. After this they then had to break 5
boards.(one at a time luckily). They showed amazing determination and
resilience to never once give up in the face of very daunting odds and
horribly bruised knuckles. They deserve to be very proud of
themselves! We are proud of them.
Congratulations to everyone who graded and thanks to all the
supporters for waiting a very long time, transporting people and as
always, supporting Warrington tkd. Also thanks to the Instuctors for
the time and effort they put in to extra training sessions and their
commitment to the students all the time. To those who are going to
grade in November- train hard-its not far away!
If you are interested, come along and try a training session with us
at Warrington Memorial Hall. Mondays and Wednesdays 6- 7.30pm. All
ages and abilities - fitness, fun, skills, self defence. First month
free.
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