River of Knowledge - International Chito-Ryu Karate-do Federation ...

By Sensei Adam Higgins2009 Gold Coast CupThe 2 nd Annual Gold Coast Cup was held on Sunday 16 August with 53 competitorsrepresenting the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast dojos.This year’s event saw theintroduction of beginners divisions inkata and kumite for White – Greenbelts. These extra divisions wereadded as a means of encouragingmore people to experiencetournament karate for the first time.This concept proved very popularwith a number of karateka takingadvantage of the opportunity to trythe tournament without the extrapressure of having to competeagainst senior belts.The kata events started the day, andit was very pleasing to see that thestandard is continuing to improveacross all divisions. The beginnersdivisions were especially pleasingwith some competitors putting outnotice that they will be a force to bereckoned with in future years as theyprogress in to the senior divisions.Gold Coast karateka, AlexanderPriala got the day off to a good startwith a focused performance ofSeiken no Migi Hidari that saw himwin the gold medal for the Juniorkata 8yrs and under. In the JuniorKata White-Green 8-11yrs GiovanniStanghi (Gold Coast) was the standout performer, with the silver medalgoing to Cherish Leituvae (GoldCoast). Cherish has shown a verykeen attitude and dedication to hertraining since commencing karateearlier this year and is sure tocontinue to improve as she gainsmore experience.behind the scenes at the SunshineCoast Tournament and was also agreat assistance at the Gold Coasttournament helping out with tableofficiating. It is great to see her outon the other side of the table!The team kata was well representedwith many families and friends takingthe opportunity to perform together.In the White – Purple belt division theGold Coast’s “Monasa Chicks”(Monica Lester, Nadia Stanghi, andSabrina Stanghi) showed thebenefits of the extra training they hadbeen doing together to take the gold.The Brown & Black Belt team katawas also strong with the SunshineCoast team of Rhys Woodhouse,Helen O’Grady and Jim Moeheadputting in a very strong performanceof Seisan to win the gold medal.The demonstrations of Chito-Ryu Boby the Gold Coast, followed bythrowing techniques by ShihanPhillips and the Sunshine Coastteam was well received by thespectators, wetting their appetite forthe exciting kumite divisions.The beginners divisions for kumiteprovided lots of excitement as manyof the competitors were tryingtournaments for the first time. Thebenefits of the dedicated classes fortournament preparation at both theGold Coast and Sunshine Coastdojo’s were evident by the standardof performances in all divisions.There were some very strongdivisions with hard fought matchesneeded to decide the winner. In theBoys White-Green 10-13yrs divisionthe Sunshine Coast’s GeorgeBritchford was the standoutperformer winning his matches withsome strong techniques. A bit morekiai’s and George will be one towatch out for at the National Titles. Inthe beginners Womens division LisiLagilkoliko (Gold Coast) showed herability to learn quickly in winning thedivision. This was Lisi’s firsttournament and she went on tocompete in the open and teamkumite divisions improving everytime with a string of victories overhigher ranked opponents. Allperformers in the beginner’s kumitedivisions are sure to have benefitedIn the advanced kata Tamika DeJongh from the Sunshine Coast dojocompleted the first stage of winningthe Junior Tournament Champion bytaking out the Blue-Purple Belt12-15yrs kata division. In the SeniorBrown-Black belt division RhysWoodhouse (Sunshine Coast) wonthe Gold medal with a very solidperformance of Sochin. It is pleasingto see the Brown-Black Belt divisioncontinuing to grow as Chito-Ryu inQueensland matures. A specialmention goes to Deb Woodhousewho stepped up to compete for thefirst time. Deb does a lot of workDavid Strazzari (SC) vs James O'Grady (SC)River of Knowledge – Spring 2009 10