Coleambally Kyokushin karate students have been keeping busy during the past month.
At the end of June, six students participated in the latest Riverina grading. Blake Goudie, Jordan McCalman, Joshua Hodgson, Byron Mark and Brendan Mark were all successful in progressing to the next rank.
Courtney White, in her first grading, so impressed Sensei Frank Cirillo that he graded her to ninth kyu (red belt, black tip), skipping the first rank of tenth kyu.
Congratulations to all these students.
Gradings are a real test of stamina, perseverance and skill, with success coming only after many hours of dedicated training.
On Sunday, July 26 the Riverina Kyokushin Karate Championships were held at the Yoogali Club in Griffith.
Four Coleambally students made the trek to participate.
Mikey Fenney, fighting for the first time, was in the seven years and under division.
He fought admirably, throwing a multitude of speedy punches at his more experienced opponent, who eventually took out the fight.
Jayden Brain, although experienced at tournament fighting, was a little apprehensive about his fight.
Having just turned 13 during the holidays, he had to move into the highly competitive, and often aggressive, 13- to 15-year-old division.
His apprehension grew momentarily when he realised his first round opponent was the only black belt in the division.
However, once the fight started you wouldn’t have known, as he stood toe-to-toe with his opponent for the duration of the fight.
Although he lost the fight, Jayden earned admirable comments from the knowledgeable crowd and really pushed his opponent, who went on to win the division.
Michelle Brain participated in the women’s open non-
contact division, opting out of the full contact this year with a grading just a couple of months away.
While fighting admirably, her much younger opponent was too fast and agile, putting her out in the first round.
One of the finds of the tournament was our own Courtney White.
Having trained for only six months and participating in her first tournament, Courtney offered to move up into the women’s intermediate division with yellow and green belts as there were no other novice women entered.
This meant all her opponents were seasoned fighters with several years experience.
Her first fight was against another Riverina fighter and was evenly matched as the two traded many punches and kicks.
Unfortunately, Courtney was surprised by a spinning back kick and her opponent’s heel caught her in the ribs, softening her up for the lower abdomen punch that followed. This put Courtney down for a second or two and her opponent was awarded a half point, ultimately winning her the fight.
With four women in the division, Courtney then got to fight for third place against a green belt (five ranks above her).
She went into the fight with a game plan to use low abdomen punches, mix up her front kicks and turning kicks and avoid the head kicks by moving forward and keeping her hands up.
She executed this perfectly, instantly closing the gap and throwing several punches that put her opponent off the mats.
She continually overpowered her opponent, forcing her from the mat several times.
As the fight went on, Courtney started to tire, allowing her opponent to slowly peg back the lead she had worked so hard for.
However, when the final bell rang she was awarded the fight and walked away with the third place trophy. A magnificent effort after just six months in the sport.
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