During the world champs build up and tour I took many photos of team members. Here's a selection of some of the better portraits...
Saturday, 14 July 2007
Portraits from the World Champs
During the world champs build up and tour I took many photos of team members. Here's a selection of some of the better portraits...
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
DVD available of 1,600 of the best WC 2007 images
All of the 1,600 images published on this website during the world champs are now available on a DVD for only $10 + $5 p&p. Included is a DVD/TV slide show of 60 images plus high resolution copies of the 1,600 images that you can copy to your PC and/or select from for printing at a photo lab.
Order your own copy here...
Order your own copy here...
Sunday, 10 June 2007
Day 3: morning competition commentary (updated)
Better late than never... there was so much happening during this tournament that we've only been able to put together a full report of the first half of day 3 now that we are home again in NZ.
Day 3 was a loooong day, they started the action bang on 8.30am and finished shortly after 10.30pm – we arrived back at the hostel past 11pm.
Sparring:
Mark Hanna vs Canada – junior male hyper-weight sparring:
The match is moments from starting and Mark is ready to bow in to the ring, but there is no sign of the Canadian. It looks as though they are ready to disqualify him but eventually he appears. He quickly realises he is late and hastily puts on all his gear (including dropping his pants to put on his groin guard) beside the ring.
Round one starts – The bigger Canadian quickly dominates, Mark is pushed out of the ring several times. The Canadian likes to charge in with his hands, he manages to get a couple of points landing solid punches and the referee fouls him for excessive contact. Mark scores a few body turning kicks but the bigger Canadian continues to barge through these and push him out of the ring. Round 2 is much the same and the Canadian is once again fouled for excessive contact. End of round 2, Mark has a couple of minus points due to getting warned for leaving the ring – but the Canadian has two deductions also from excessive contact.
Loss.
Photos of Mark...
Ross Black vs Spain – junior male hyper-weight sparring:
Ross starts strong by landing some solid side kicks, quickly establishing control over the ring. The Spaniard walks into more sidekicks as the match goes on. A strong performance by Ross.
Win
Ross Black vs USA – junior male hyper-weight sparring:
Again Ross starts strong and starts to control his opponent well with his strong side kick. The USA fighter is strong and manages to push through a couple of times and lands some good points of his own. Ross backs off a little and the American takes advantages and charges Ross out of the ring. Round 2 – Ross comes back stronger in the second round; the match seems to be fairly even.
Loss. USA goes on to meet the Pole in the final, wins a silver medal.
Photos of Ross...
Johs van Pierce vs Australia – junior male hyper-weight sparring:
The Australian starts off confidant and is good with his legs, he pops out turning kicks at different heights off his lead leg a lot, Johs shrugs off his kicks and pops out straight punches to the face. The Aussie’s confidence level immediately drops and he is on the back foot for the rest of the fight. Johs continues to score clean, straight punches as he pushes past the Australian’s kicks, contact escalates and Johs gets two fouls from excessive contact. Bout ends.
Win
Johs van Pierce vs Romania – junior male hyper-weight sparring:
Didn’t see much off this fight but it looks like Johs is dominating – again managing to fluster his opponent by pushing through his kicks and scoring with clean punches to the head and body.
Win
Johs van Pierce vs Poland – junior male hyper-weight sparring:
The Pole is big, he’s quick for his size too. Johs spends the match on the outside of the ring, he finds it difficult to stop the Pole when he charges in because he always leads with a kick and rolls into punches as he gets into range. A good fight from both sides.
Loss – Pole goes on to win gold.
Photos of Johs...
Kane vs Australia – senior male light-weight sparring:
Kane fought this guy a couple of years back at the Ocianias and lost – so is a little nervous going in. The fight starts off pretty slow but towards the end of round one it begins to get scrappy – both scoring points but Kane’s are clearer. Round 2 – both fighters go at it the entire round, without a break, no bouncing, no time outs – just sparring, kick for kick, punch for punch. Both are tired towards the end, but Kane manages to capitalise – he throws the clearer kicks and punches and is working well using angles.
Win
Kane vs Columbia – senior male light-weight sparring:
Didn’t catch this fight. I hear Kane dominated both rounds.
Win
Kane vs Argentina – senior male light-weight sparring:
Quarterfinals; Kane’s opponent is the light weight junior world champion from last year’s world champs in Honduras. Both fighters start off slow – both waiting for a chance to counter attack. Kane throws a couple of side kicks, the Argentinean moves around the kicks. Kane tries again and the Argentinean jumps in lands some punches, and lightning quick, he’s out again. The same thing happens a couple more times but Kane adapts and lands some punches of his own. Round 2 is better for Kane, he lands some clear points with hands and feet – he manages to keep his agile opponent away effectively with pushing kicks and side kicks.
Loss
Photos of Kane...
Cori-Jean Topia vs Argentina – junior female heavy-weight sparring:
Cori dominates both rounds, the Argentinean is good, very strong. Both manage to snap each others heads back with strong punches on more than one occasion. Cori scores well with her longer legs.
Win
Cori-Jean Topia vs Poland – junior female heavy-weight sparring:
Quarterfinals; this fight is similar to Cori’s previous match against Argentina. Cori dominates with her legs and both have strong hands. Cori gets a few warnings for falling over when she gets in close range. Cori looks like she’s ahead.
Loss
Sam Couling vs Argentina – junior female micro-weight sparring:
Sam is up against the vice-world champion from Argentina. Both competitors start strong, Sam pumps out some nice side kicks and scores well with her hands – the Argentinean works the ring well. Both rounds look close.
Loss
Photos of Sam...
Courtney Meleisea vs Poland – junior female middle-weight sparring:
The Pole is the reigning European champion for this weight class and is very experienced. Courtney struggles in the first round as the Pole is very quick at getting in and out and moving around the ring, the Pole gets a few surprises as she walks into some massive punches from Courtney. Courtney manages to come back in the second round – both are fighting hard and Courtney collects a couple of head kicks when she stays in for too long. Courtney still manages to connect with stronger punches and body kicks. A close match against a very good fighter.
Loss
Photos of Courtney...
Mark Trotter vs Canada – senior male micro-weight sparring:
The entire stadium surrounds the ring, the roar is deafening! The kiwis do a haka for Mark as the two fighters bow in. The first round is intense – both fighters try to fake out an attack from the other, Mark launches a couple of quick turning kicks but the Canadian dodges, Mark comes close but the Canadian lands a clean side kick. Mark now has to play ‘catch up’. The Canadian knows this and waits and waits for his counter attack. Mark throws some lightning turning kicks, downward kicks and reverse turning kicks – but the Canadian picks his moments well and places clear side kicks in the gaps. Round 2 is better for Mark, he lands some clear points of his own and it’s amazing to watch. The stadium is shaking from the crowd.
Loss – the Canadian is the reigning world cup champion Maxime Bujold – it’s a pity the two had to meet in the first round as they were arguably the best two fighters in the division – could have easily been a final. Canadian goes on to win gold.
Photos of Mark...
Christine Topia vs Canada – junior female middle-weight sparring:
The Canadian is fast, Christine manages to cut her off well though and scores with her long arms and legs effectively.
Win
Christine Topia vs Germany – junior female middle-weight sparring:
Both fighters clash legs a lot when they try to move in. Christine scores well with her turning kick on her way out. She dominates with her hands and takes advantage of her height advantage. Really close round.
Draw
Round three is much the same as the first two rounds, Christine looks as though she is slightly ahead on points by the end, but again – it’ll be close.
Draw
Sudden death. This round goes for about 5 minutes. Both start slow – not wanting to give anything away. A couple of short flurries follow but the referee doesn’t want to go to the flags just yet. After about three minutes the referee still hasn’t stopped the match. The German comes in with a sidekick, Christine moves to the side and scores with a jab – finally the referee stops the match – 2 flags for Christine – match continues. Another couple of scoring flurries go unnoticed by the referee and towards the end the match had become regular free sparring. After a long round, the German is awarded three flags.
Loss
Photos of Christine...
Alisa Parker vs Germany – junior female middle-weight sparring:
The German is good, her older sister is the vice-world champion. Alisa puts up a huge fight – the action is very fast, and both are hitting hard. Both rounds seem pretty even.
Loss
Day 3 was a loooong day, they started the action bang on 8.30am and finished shortly after 10.30pm – we arrived back at the hostel past 11pm.
Sparring:
Mark Hanna vs Canada – junior male hyper-weight sparring:
The match is moments from starting and Mark is ready to bow in to the ring, but there is no sign of the Canadian. It looks as though they are ready to disqualify him but eventually he appears. He quickly realises he is late and hastily puts on all his gear (including dropping his pants to put on his groin guard) beside the ring.
Round one starts – The bigger Canadian quickly dominates, Mark is pushed out of the ring several times. The Canadian likes to charge in with his hands, he manages to get a couple of points landing solid punches and the referee fouls him for excessive contact. Mark scores a few body turning kicks but the bigger Canadian continues to barge through these and push him out of the ring. Round 2 is much the same and the Canadian is once again fouled for excessive contact. End of round 2, Mark has a couple of minus points due to getting warned for leaving the ring – but the Canadian has two deductions also from excessive contact.
Loss.
Photos of Mark...
Ross Black vs Spain – junior male hyper-weight sparring:
Ross starts strong by landing some solid side kicks, quickly establishing control over the ring. The Spaniard walks into more sidekicks as the match goes on. A strong performance by Ross.
Win
Ross Black vs USA – junior male hyper-weight sparring:
Again Ross starts strong and starts to control his opponent well with his strong side kick. The USA fighter is strong and manages to push through a couple of times and lands some good points of his own. Ross backs off a little and the American takes advantages and charges Ross out of the ring. Round 2 – Ross comes back stronger in the second round; the match seems to be fairly even.
Loss. USA goes on to meet the Pole in the final, wins a silver medal.
Photos of Ross...
Johs van Pierce vs Australia – junior male hyper-weight sparring:
The Australian starts off confidant and is good with his legs, he pops out turning kicks at different heights off his lead leg a lot, Johs shrugs off his kicks and pops out straight punches to the face. The Aussie’s confidence level immediately drops and he is on the back foot for the rest of the fight. Johs continues to score clean, straight punches as he pushes past the Australian’s kicks, contact escalates and Johs gets two fouls from excessive contact. Bout ends.
Win
Johs van Pierce vs Romania – junior male hyper-weight sparring:
Didn’t see much off this fight but it looks like Johs is dominating – again managing to fluster his opponent by pushing through his kicks and scoring with clean punches to the head and body.
Win
Johs van Pierce vs Poland – junior male hyper-weight sparring:
The Pole is big, he’s quick for his size too. Johs spends the match on the outside of the ring, he finds it difficult to stop the Pole when he charges in because he always leads with a kick and rolls into punches as he gets into range. A good fight from both sides.
Loss – Pole goes on to win gold.
Photos of Johs...
Kane vs Australia – senior male light-weight sparring:
Kane fought this guy a couple of years back at the Ocianias and lost – so is a little nervous going in. The fight starts off pretty slow but towards the end of round one it begins to get scrappy – both scoring points but Kane’s are clearer. Round 2 – both fighters go at it the entire round, without a break, no bouncing, no time outs – just sparring, kick for kick, punch for punch. Both are tired towards the end, but Kane manages to capitalise – he throws the clearer kicks and punches and is working well using angles.
Win
Kane vs Columbia – senior male light-weight sparring:
Didn’t catch this fight. I hear Kane dominated both rounds.
Win
Kane vs Argentina – senior male light-weight sparring:
Quarterfinals; Kane’s opponent is the light weight junior world champion from last year’s world champs in Honduras. Both fighters start off slow – both waiting for a chance to counter attack. Kane throws a couple of side kicks, the Argentinean moves around the kicks. Kane tries again and the Argentinean jumps in lands some punches, and lightning quick, he’s out again. The same thing happens a couple more times but Kane adapts and lands some punches of his own. Round 2 is better for Kane, he lands some clear points with hands and feet – he manages to keep his agile opponent away effectively with pushing kicks and side kicks.
Loss
Photos of Kane...
Cori-Jean Topia vs Argentina – junior female heavy-weight sparring:
Cori dominates both rounds, the Argentinean is good, very strong. Both manage to snap each others heads back with strong punches on more than one occasion. Cori scores well with her longer legs.
Win
Cori-Jean Topia vs Poland – junior female heavy-weight sparring:
Quarterfinals; this fight is similar to Cori’s previous match against Argentina. Cori dominates with her legs and both have strong hands. Cori gets a few warnings for falling over when she gets in close range. Cori looks like she’s ahead.
Loss
Sam Couling vs Argentina – junior female micro-weight sparring:
Sam is up against the vice-world champion from Argentina. Both competitors start strong, Sam pumps out some nice side kicks and scores well with her hands – the Argentinean works the ring well. Both rounds look close.
Loss
Photos of Sam...
Courtney Meleisea vs Poland – junior female middle-weight sparring:
The Pole is the reigning European champion for this weight class and is very experienced. Courtney struggles in the first round as the Pole is very quick at getting in and out and moving around the ring, the Pole gets a few surprises as she walks into some massive punches from Courtney. Courtney manages to come back in the second round – both are fighting hard and Courtney collects a couple of head kicks when she stays in for too long. Courtney still manages to connect with stronger punches and body kicks. A close match against a very good fighter.
Loss
Photos of Courtney...
Mark Trotter vs Canada – senior male micro-weight sparring:
The entire stadium surrounds the ring, the roar is deafening! The kiwis do a haka for Mark as the two fighters bow in. The first round is intense – both fighters try to fake out an attack from the other, Mark launches a couple of quick turning kicks but the Canadian dodges, Mark comes close but the Canadian lands a clean side kick. Mark now has to play ‘catch up’. The Canadian knows this and waits and waits for his counter attack. Mark throws some lightning turning kicks, downward kicks and reverse turning kicks – but the Canadian picks his moments well and places clear side kicks in the gaps. Round 2 is better for Mark, he lands some clear points of his own and it’s amazing to watch. The stadium is shaking from the crowd.
Loss – the Canadian is the reigning world cup champion Maxime Bujold – it’s a pity the two had to meet in the first round as they were arguably the best two fighters in the division – could have easily been a final. Canadian goes on to win gold.
Photos of Mark...
Christine Topia vs Canada – junior female middle-weight sparring:
The Canadian is fast, Christine manages to cut her off well though and scores with her long arms and legs effectively.
Win
Christine Topia vs Germany – junior female middle-weight sparring:
Both fighters clash legs a lot when they try to move in. Christine scores well with her turning kick on her way out. She dominates with her hands and takes advantage of her height advantage. Really close round.
Draw
Round three is much the same as the first two rounds, Christine looks as though she is slightly ahead on points by the end, but again – it’ll be close.
Draw
Sudden death. This round goes for about 5 minutes. Both start slow – not wanting to give anything away. A couple of short flurries follow but the referee doesn’t want to go to the flags just yet. After about three minutes the referee still hasn’t stopped the match. The German comes in with a sidekick, Christine moves to the side and scores with a jab – finally the referee stops the match – 2 flags for Christine – match continues. Another couple of scoring flurries go unnoticed by the referee and towards the end the match had become regular free sparring. After a long round, the German is awarded three flags.
Loss
Photos of Christine...
Alisa Parker vs Germany – junior female middle-weight sparring:
The German is good, her older sister is the vice-world champion. Alisa puts up a huge fight – the action is very fast, and both are hitting hard. Both rounds seem pretty even.
Loss
Thursday, 7 June 2007
Wednesday, 6 June 2007
Day 4 commentary completed
At last we've had time to compile our notes and complete a detailed commentary on Day 4.
Read more about Day 4...
Read more about Day 4...
Tuesday, 5 June 2007
The NZ Umpires at the Champs - Master McPhail
The world champs served as both a learning experience and reassurance for our 5 umpires.
I had the opportunity to be trained in the new German electronic point scoring system in both patterns and sparring. This was set up in the centre ring where I spent the entire 4 days. It was easy to use and its speed meant we usually gained an hour & a half on other rings each day.
I had the opportunity to be trained in the new German electronic point scoring system in both patterns and sparring. This was set up in the centre ring where I spent the entire 4 days. It was easy to use and its speed meant we usually gained an hour & a half on other rings each day.
Our ring council also judged pre-arranged free sparring which was new for all of us.
Master Davidson was assigned as jury president in a ring that had patterns, sparring and team events. For him it was a mixture of learning experience and guidance to the other umpires in his ring over the course of the tournament.
Mr Darren Ward bravely volunteered (or did I volunteer him?) for the special techniques & power ring. Always controversial, it is a sure way to become unpopular with the athletes!
Mr Ward called it "an eye opener" and learned a tremendous amount - great for ITFNZ. I heard good reports on his knowledge and execution of the rules and I understand he was a valuable asset to the ring council. They also worked non stop the entire time.
Mr Eccles worked as a jury assistant to Master Shena Sutherland from Scotland. He also was given time in the centre during team sparring which was challenging. (ask Mr Eccles what you do if both competitors knock each other out at the same time!). He handled himself well and clocked up some valuable world champs center ref experience.
The only disapointment for us was that Mr Banicevich spent his time as a corner judge so therefore did not pick up many new skills. Despite repeated requests for time as centre referee it was not granted by his jury president. Frustrating - as this needs to be done in order to bring new world class referees through. Of course though, in his usual form, he made up for any lack of jumping around in the centre ring by partying all night long last night! As I type this on the plane he is now sound asleep slumped over some poor passenger 3 rows back. :-)
All in all a great world champs for us as umpires. Highlight for me was seeing our amazing team perform out of their skin from my chair on centre stage. I didnt see as much of the team as I would have liked... But seeing Cori Jean beat Germany, Luke & Mark thrill the entire stadium, and Luke achieve his dream of world champion in power was...very emotional.
Thanks to all the NZ team, coaches, staff and supporters... We are very proud of you all.
Master Paul McPhail
Day 4 commentary (updated)
Junior male team sparring: New Zealand vs Brazil
NZ loses the coin toss and must put in the first competitor - we send in Johs to test the water. Brazil puts in their best sparrer to match. This guy was amazing to watch and lightning quick! Johs went in with an appropriate game plan; try not to get hit and win on warnings. Unfortunately the Brazilian was too quick, he landed a beautiful reverse turning kick plus a number of clear back kicks on Johs.
Loss - NZL 0 BRZ 1
Next it's Brazil's 'put-up' - they choose a small, agile fighter and NZ reacts by sending in Brad. Brad sparred the perfect round against this fighter, he used his longer reach to his advantage and countered the Brazilians attacks beautifully with jumping punches and dodging kicks.
Win - NZL 1 BRZ 1
After a win from Brad, New Zealand attempts to take the momentum from the previous match and strike again for another win, NZ sends up Jeremy. The round started well with Jeremy scoring with a head kick, the brazilian became frustrated as Jeremy scored with another high turning kick a bit later and collected a wild hook from the Brazilian, the contact level escilated as the match went on and the referee is strict, both competitors had 2 minus points by the end for excessive contact. Jeremy scores a 3 point downward kick as the bell rings for the end of the match.
Win - NZL 2 BRZ 1
Next it's Brazil's turn to choose a fighter and they choose their hyperweight, NZ puts in Stuart. This round started and finished in the same way - both competitors toe-to-toe, slugging it out. Stu's nose started to bleed about half way through the round, but the referee let the match continue without a stoppage. It looked like a close round but unfortunately NZ suffers a second loss.
Loss - NZL 2 BRZ 2
2-2, tied up - next win takes the match. Brazil only has one more fighter - the lightweight that Callum fought in the quarterfinal in his individual sparring (Callum gave him 14 warnings). We choose Shane Black. Our only fear was that Shane would hit the Brazilian too hard and get disqualified by the strict referee. Shane fought smart and pushed the smaller fighter out of the ring 15 times (5 minus points).
Win - NZL 3 BRZ 2
Match to New Zealand!
See all the junior male team sparring pictures...
Junior female team sparring: New Zealand vs Germany
The junior females, senior females, junior males and senior males were all on at the same time for team sparring - so I apologise where detail is mimimal.
Cori Jean is up first - she dominates the match scoring clear punches using her long legs well to close distance.
Win - NZL 1 GER 0
Candice - up against a really tall girl with massive reach and good leg control, unfortunately Candice only figured out how to get inside her opponants kicks towards the end of the round, and although she was winning by the end, the German had scored too much in the start.
Loss - NZL 1 GER 1
Alisa - faster than her opponant, Alisa worked well moving in and out changing from punches to kicks with ease, a close round against a good opponant.
Win - NZL 2 GER 1
Courtney - looked strong the whole round, a close match but Courtney looked like she was on top of her opponant. The German girl got lucky and connected with a high turning kick on the sound of the bell.
Could cost us the round, its close!
Loss - NZL 2 GER 2
Stacey - next win seals the match, the pressure is on. Another tall German girl creates problems for the girls as Stacey finds it hard to get past her long side kicks.
Loss - NZL 2 GER 3
Match to Germany - so close!!
See all the junior female team sparring pictures...
Senior male team sparring: New Zealand vs France
Clint King - up against a similarly built Frenchman, Clint managed to get ahead early and stay on top of his opponant throughout the round.
Win - NZL 1 FRA 0
Richard Lavin - again, not too much difference in height or weight. Richie dominated the ring and scored good, clean points. Well timed counters and jumping punches put him firmly on top of his opponant.
Win - NZL 2 FRA 0
Kane Baigent - this time we came up against a slightly bigger fighter, however, Kane moved well - using the ring effectively, he launched quick barriages of attacks and took advantage of any hesitation on his opponants behalf.
WIN - NZL 3 FRA 0
Match to New Zealand!
Senior female team sparring: New Zealand vs Scotland
NZ loses the coin toss and has to choose the first competitor.
Looking for a win straight off the bat, Carolina steps up.
Carolina Dillen - Scotland chooses their microweight to match NZ. This girl has good timing and is very experienced. Unfortunately the Scottish fighter pulled off a nice clean body kick at the begining of the match and spent the rest of the ring evading Carolina's attacks as she tried to get those valuable points back.
Loss - NZL 0 SCO 1
Scotland puts up their HUGE hyperweight sparrer. NZ sends our heavyweight to match.
Lizzie Faafili - the Scottish hyperweight is much taller than Lizzie, and both hit hard. The fight is spent toe to toe, trading solid punches and kicks (mainly punches) to the head and body. Lizzie struggles to land the clearer shots against her taller opponant.
Loss - NZL 0 SCO 2
Scotland wants to finish the match quickly and put up Julia Cross - 4 times lightweight world champ. Estee is ready to go.
Julia Cross underestimated Estee, coming out from many exchanges worse off than she would have liked. Estee lands a head kick and drops her with a punch. The world champion's ego is suddenly under attack and she is warned for not listening to the referee when she continues to attack as both competitors leave the ring. A huge effort from Estee against a living legend.
Loss - NZL 0 SCO 3
Match to Scotland.
Junior male team sparring - New Zealand vs Netherlands
NZ wins the coin toss, Netherlands chooses first.
They choose their heavyweight (who Shane knocked out in the quarter finals in individual sparring). We choose Johs, hoping to unsettle the Netherlander with his dominant style.
Johs van Pierce - his opponant is quick, and likes to counter with quick, 'in-and-out' manouvres such as jumping punches. Luckily, we had already seen this fighter in action and quickly came up with an appropriate game plan. Johs stuck to the plan and kept the other fighter away with straight kicks (side/front/pushing kicks) and punishing the Netherlander with solid punches when he came too close.
Win - NZL 1 NED 0
NZ's turn to choose a fighter. We choose one of our middle weights - Brad who can adapt well to many situations, and well suited to any of the Netherlands well-rounded team. Netherlands sends up their middleweight also - one of Master Willy Van De Mortel's students, a good fighter.
Bradley Wickman - both sparrers are built similarly, Brad tried a similar game plan to his fight against Brazil - use the ring and counter effectively. The Netherlander has been tought well and has an exceptional side kick - offensive and defensive. Brad finds it hard to get past the side kick, but still scores a few points when he does manage to get through.
Loss - NZL 1 NED 1
Netherlands puts up their microweight - NZ looks like they choose David, who gears up. A brief discussion between Jeremy and Mr Ballard follows and David sits back down.
Jeremy Hanna - even though Jeremy has 15-20kg on the micro-weight, the two stand at roughly the same height. Jeremy waits for his opponant to make the first move, the Netherlander pumps out solid side kicks and Jeremy narrowly misses with two reverse turning kicks - change of plan - Jeremy wears the sidekicks on his arm, pushes past and slugs it out. Multiple knockdowns ensue and although not many points are scored by Jeremy (the Netherlander turns away and falls over a lot), by the end of the round Jeremy has no warnings and his opponant has 7 (2 minus points).
Win - NZL 2 NED 1
Next up is David, Netherlands send in a similarly built fighter.
David Burr - the Netherlander gets off to a good start as a couple of his side kicks manage to slide up David's arm into his face, I'm not too sure whether or not they would have scored though. David soon shrugs them off and by the end of the round the Netherlands fighter is falling into every trap David lays - David is definately coming out better off from each exchange but those head kicks at the beginning may sway the decision.
Loss - NZL 2 NED 2
All tied up, next win takes the match and a spot in the semi final against Germany (into medal contention). Netherland puts in their Bronze medal winning hyperweight, NZ puts up Shane.
Shane Black - not many people can make Shane look small; this guy dwarfed him. The Netherlander also wore a full-face helmet (apparantly he is still recovering from a nose reconstruction). Shane was getting pushed around a fair bit during the beginning of the match, he managed to collect a couple of points with body kicks but the Netherlander was dominating. During an early exchange of punches, Shane went down - he stayed down for about 20 seconds as Mr Ballard checked him over - a broken nose. Shane sent the medics away and continued to fight - this was the 'amp-up' Shane needed to get busy. Shane landed kick after kick - head, body, whatever (he also managed to split his opponants lip through the full face helmet somehow).
DRAW! - NZL 2 DRAW 1 NED 2
One more round...
Shane can't fight again.
Their Hyperweight doesn't want in either.
Jeremy is put up.
They choose the middleweight that Bradley fought (Master Van de Mortel's student)
Jeremy Hanna - the round starts of slow, both testing eachother, waiting for a move. The Netherlander begins with his sidekick, Jeremy gets scored on a couple of times before he manages to get around it. Once he does manage to get around it he scores a few clear punches and finishes cleanly with a body turning kick. They take turns at dominating the ring as both pump out firm side kicks. Jeremy seems to be up at the end - but it's definately close!
Another draw!! - NZL 2 DRAW 2 NED 2
Sudden Death...
Both sparrers from the previous round are selected again.
Jeremy Hanna - sudden death - first point wins. The pressure is on - it's a shot at the medals. Both start slow, again waiting for a counter attack. The Netherlander pumps out his sidekick and Jeremy stands his ground, taking the impact on his arm. The referee stops the bout and goes to the flags. One blue (Netherlands) - none red (New Zealand). More waiting. More faking. Jeremy again takes a sidekick on the arm, this time rolling with the impact and closing the distance for two clear punches and a turning kick. The referee goes to the flags again. none red - two blue. the match continues (need three judges to see the point). More waiting, Jeremy guides the Netherlander into a corner - he fakes with a side kick then quickly changes to jumping punches. The Netherlander also jumps. Both score. Who was first?
One judge blue... another blue... one red... and the last is blue.
Loss - NZL 2 DRAW 2 NED 3
Match to Netherlands.
Netherlands continue to face Germany (who beat Poland in the quarterfinal) and win - putting them in the final against Argentina.
The result of the team sparring final will determine who will win the 'best junior male team' award - it's between Argentina and New Zealand.
Argentina wins the final 3-2, taking the team sparring gold and the best junior male team trophy.
Senior male team sparring - New Zealand vs Slovenia
New Zealand faces off against Slovenia in the quarter final of male senior team sparring.
Clint King - a close match, although a lot of action - not many points are scored. Clint is down on warnings at the end of the round.
Loss - NZL 0 SLO 1
Richard Lavin - the Slovenian is slick, and moves well - countering Richie with straight punches and kicks, very clear points. Richie fights smart though, and manages to pin his opponant a couple of times - scoring with kicks of his own.
loss - NZL 0 SLO 2
DJ Thompson - NZ can't afford another loss, DJ is up against the Slovenian hyperweight - he is huge! DJ is pushed around a lot, a couple of long side kicks make their way through his guard but DJ is lightning quick, once he got his momentum going foreward, DJ began to score good points. DJ connects with a massive turning kick, hitting his opponant flush in the stomach in the closing seconds - it could be heard clearly from the stands above all the noise.
Loss - NZL 0 SLO 3
Match to Slovenia.
Junior female individual power test
Eliza breaks everything; knifehand for two points, side kick for four points, and turning kick for four points, putting her in first place.
Kristy also breaks everything, putting her in a tie breaker with Eliza.
Stacey misses the knifehand - putting her out of medal contention.
ELiza wins the tiebreaker - Gold medal!!
Silver for Kristy as well!
Senior male team power
Jon misses punch (first time ever)
DJ smashes the knifehand for 6 points
Carl misses the side kick
Luke nails the turning kick for 6 points
Clint breaks the reverse turning for 6 points
Bronze medal!
Senior female team power
Chanthie breaks the knifehand side strike for 4 points
Lizzie misses the side kick
Rose breaks the turning kick for 4 points
unfortunately 4 teams got all three breaks so NZ is out of the medals this time.
Junior male team power
Jeremy breaks punch - 4 points
Johs breaks knifehand - 4 points
Bradley smashes the side kick - 6 points
David breaks the turning kick - 6 points
Shane powers through the reverse turning kick - 4 points
Perfect run!!
Still in the lead with one team to go - Netherlands, still in the team sparring final..
We wait..
And wait..
Finally they report to the power ring.
The first competitor lines up the punch, and bounces his fist off the boards!
GOLD!!
NZ loses the coin toss and must put in the first competitor - we send in Johs to test the water. Brazil puts in their best sparrer to match. This guy was amazing to watch and lightning quick! Johs went in with an appropriate game plan; try not to get hit and win on warnings. Unfortunately the Brazilian was too quick, he landed a beautiful reverse turning kick plus a number of clear back kicks on Johs.
Loss - NZL 0 BRZ 1
Next it's Brazil's 'put-up' - they choose a small, agile fighter and NZ reacts by sending in Brad. Brad sparred the perfect round against this fighter, he used his longer reach to his advantage and countered the Brazilians attacks beautifully with jumping punches and dodging kicks.
Win - NZL 1 BRZ 1
After a win from Brad, New Zealand attempts to take the momentum from the previous match and strike again for another win, NZ sends up Jeremy. The round started well with Jeremy scoring with a head kick, the brazilian became frustrated as Jeremy scored with another high turning kick a bit later and collected a wild hook from the Brazilian, the contact level escilated as the match went on and the referee is strict, both competitors had 2 minus points by the end for excessive contact. Jeremy scores a 3 point downward kick as the bell rings for the end of the match.
Win - NZL 2 BRZ 1
Next it's Brazil's turn to choose a fighter and they choose their hyperweight, NZ puts in Stuart. This round started and finished in the same way - both competitors toe-to-toe, slugging it out. Stu's nose started to bleed about half way through the round, but the referee let the match continue without a stoppage. It looked like a close round but unfortunately NZ suffers a second loss.
Loss - NZL 2 BRZ 2
2-2, tied up - next win takes the match. Brazil only has one more fighter - the lightweight that Callum fought in the quarterfinal in his individual sparring (Callum gave him 14 warnings). We choose Shane Black. Our only fear was that Shane would hit the Brazilian too hard and get disqualified by the strict referee. Shane fought smart and pushed the smaller fighter out of the ring 15 times (5 minus points).
Win - NZL 3 BRZ 2
Match to New Zealand!
See all the junior male team sparring pictures...
Junior female team sparring: New Zealand vs Germany
The junior females, senior females, junior males and senior males were all on at the same time for team sparring - so I apologise where detail is mimimal.
Cori Jean is up first - she dominates the match scoring clear punches using her long legs well to close distance.
Win - NZL 1 GER 0
Candice - up against a really tall girl with massive reach and good leg control, unfortunately Candice only figured out how to get inside her opponants kicks towards the end of the round, and although she was winning by the end, the German had scored too much in the start.
Loss - NZL 1 GER 1
Alisa - faster than her opponant, Alisa worked well moving in and out changing from punches to kicks with ease, a close round against a good opponant.
Win - NZL 2 GER 1
Courtney - looked strong the whole round, a close match but Courtney looked like she was on top of her opponant. The German girl got lucky and connected with a high turning kick on the sound of the bell.
Could cost us the round, its close!
Loss - NZL 2 GER 2
Stacey - next win seals the match, the pressure is on. Another tall German girl creates problems for the girls as Stacey finds it hard to get past her long side kicks.
Loss - NZL 2 GER 3
Match to Germany - so close!!
See all the junior female team sparring pictures...
Senior male team sparring: New Zealand vs France
Clint King - up against a similarly built Frenchman, Clint managed to get ahead early and stay on top of his opponant throughout the round.
Win - NZL 1 FRA 0
Richard Lavin - again, not too much difference in height or weight. Richie dominated the ring and scored good, clean points. Well timed counters and jumping punches put him firmly on top of his opponant.
Win - NZL 2 FRA 0
Kane Baigent - this time we came up against a slightly bigger fighter, however, Kane moved well - using the ring effectively, he launched quick barriages of attacks and took advantage of any hesitation on his opponants behalf.
WIN - NZL 3 FRA 0
Match to New Zealand!
Senior female team sparring: New Zealand vs Scotland
NZ loses the coin toss and has to choose the first competitor.
Looking for a win straight off the bat, Carolina steps up.
Carolina Dillen - Scotland chooses their microweight to match NZ. This girl has good timing and is very experienced. Unfortunately the Scottish fighter pulled off a nice clean body kick at the begining of the match and spent the rest of the ring evading Carolina's attacks as she tried to get those valuable points back.
Loss - NZL 0 SCO 1
Scotland puts up their HUGE hyperweight sparrer. NZ sends our heavyweight to match.
Lizzie Faafili - the Scottish hyperweight is much taller than Lizzie, and both hit hard. The fight is spent toe to toe, trading solid punches and kicks (mainly punches) to the head and body. Lizzie struggles to land the clearer shots against her taller opponant.
Loss - NZL 0 SCO 2
Scotland wants to finish the match quickly and put up Julia Cross - 4 times lightweight world champ. Estee is ready to go.
Julia Cross underestimated Estee, coming out from many exchanges worse off than she would have liked. Estee lands a head kick and drops her with a punch. The world champion's ego is suddenly under attack and she is warned for not listening to the referee when she continues to attack as both competitors leave the ring. A huge effort from Estee against a living legend.
Loss - NZL 0 SCO 3
Match to Scotland.
Junior male team sparring - New Zealand vs Netherlands
NZ wins the coin toss, Netherlands chooses first.
They choose their heavyweight (who Shane knocked out in the quarter finals in individual sparring). We choose Johs, hoping to unsettle the Netherlander with his dominant style.
Johs van Pierce - his opponant is quick, and likes to counter with quick, 'in-and-out' manouvres such as jumping punches. Luckily, we had already seen this fighter in action and quickly came up with an appropriate game plan. Johs stuck to the plan and kept the other fighter away with straight kicks (side/front/pushing kicks) and punishing the Netherlander with solid punches when he came too close.
Win - NZL 1 NED 0
NZ's turn to choose a fighter. We choose one of our middle weights - Brad who can adapt well to many situations, and well suited to any of the Netherlands well-rounded team. Netherlands sends up their middleweight also - one of Master Willy Van De Mortel's students, a good fighter.
Bradley Wickman - both sparrers are built similarly, Brad tried a similar game plan to his fight against Brazil - use the ring and counter effectively. The Netherlander has been tought well and has an exceptional side kick - offensive and defensive. Brad finds it hard to get past the side kick, but still scores a few points when he does manage to get through.
Loss - NZL 1 NED 1
Netherlands puts up their microweight - NZ looks like they choose David, who gears up. A brief discussion between Jeremy and Mr Ballard follows and David sits back down.
Jeremy Hanna - even though Jeremy has 15-20kg on the micro-weight, the two stand at roughly the same height. Jeremy waits for his opponant to make the first move, the Netherlander pumps out solid side kicks and Jeremy narrowly misses with two reverse turning kicks - change of plan - Jeremy wears the sidekicks on his arm, pushes past and slugs it out. Multiple knockdowns ensue and although not many points are scored by Jeremy (the Netherlander turns away and falls over a lot), by the end of the round Jeremy has no warnings and his opponant has 7 (2 minus points).
Win - NZL 2 NED 1
Next up is David, Netherlands send in a similarly built fighter.
David Burr - the Netherlander gets off to a good start as a couple of his side kicks manage to slide up David's arm into his face, I'm not too sure whether or not they would have scored though. David soon shrugs them off and by the end of the round the Netherlands fighter is falling into every trap David lays - David is definately coming out better off from each exchange but those head kicks at the beginning may sway the decision.
Loss - NZL 2 NED 2
All tied up, next win takes the match and a spot in the semi final against Germany (into medal contention). Netherland puts in their Bronze medal winning hyperweight, NZ puts up Shane.
Shane Black - not many people can make Shane look small; this guy dwarfed him. The Netherlander also wore a full-face helmet (apparantly he is still recovering from a nose reconstruction). Shane was getting pushed around a fair bit during the beginning of the match, he managed to collect a couple of points with body kicks but the Netherlander was dominating. During an early exchange of punches, Shane went down - he stayed down for about 20 seconds as Mr Ballard checked him over - a broken nose. Shane sent the medics away and continued to fight - this was the 'amp-up' Shane needed to get busy. Shane landed kick after kick - head, body, whatever (he also managed to split his opponants lip through the full face helmet somehow).
DRAW! - NZL 2 DRAW 1 NED 2
One more round...
Shane can't fight again.
Their Hyperweight doesn't want in either.
Jeremy is put up.
They choose the middleweight that Bradley fought (Master Van de Mortel's student)
Jeremy Hanna - the round starts of slow, both testing eachother, waiting for a move. The Netherlander begins with his sidekick, Jeremy gets scored on a couple of times before he manages to get around it. Once he does manage to get around it he scores a few clear punches and finishes cleanly with a body turning kick. They take turns at dominating the ring as both pump out firm side kicks. Jeremy seems to be up at the end - but it's definately close!
Another draw!! - NZL 2 DRAW 2 NED 2
Sudden Death...
Both sparrers from the previous round are selected again.
Jeremy Hanna - sudden death - first point wins. The pressure is on - it's a shot at the medals. Both start slow, again waiting for a counter attack. The Netherlander pumps out his sidekick and Jeremy stands his ground, taking the impact on his arm. The referee stops the bout and goes to the flags. One blue (Netherlands) - none red (New Zealand). More waiting. More faking. Jeremy again takes a sidekick on the arm, this time rolling with the impact and closing the distance for two clear punches and a turning kick. The referee goes to the flags again. none red - two blue. the match continues (need three judges to see the point). More waiting, Jeremy guides the Netherlander into a corner - he fakes with a side kick then quickly changes to jumping punches. The Netherlander also jumps. Both score. Who was first?
One judge blue... another blue... one red... and the last is blue.
Loss - NZL 2 DRAW 2 NED 3
Match to Netherlands.
Netherlands continue to face Germany (who beat Poland in the quarterfinal) and win - putting them in the final against Argentina.
The result of the team sparring final will determine who will win the 'best junior male team' award - it's between Argentina and New Zealand.
Argentina wins the final 3-2, taking the team sparring gold and the best junior male team trophy.
Senior male team sparring - New Zealand vs Slovenia
New Zealand faces off against Slovenia in the quarter final of male senior team sparring.
Clint King - a close match, although a lot of action - not many points are scored. Clint is down on warnings at the end of the round.
Loss - NZL 0 SLO 1
Richard Lavin - the Slovenian is slick, and moves well - countering Richie with straight punches and kicks, very clear points. Richie fights smart though, and manages to pin his opponant a couple of times - scoring with kicks of his own.
loss - NZL 0 SLO 2
DJ Thompson - NZ can't afford another loss, DJ is up against the Slovenian hyperweight - he is huge! DJ is pushed around a lot, a couple of long side kicks make their way through his guard but DJ is lightning quick, once he got his momentum going foreward, DJ began to score good points. DJ connects with a massive turning kick, hitting his opponant flush in the stomach in the closing seconds - it could be heard clearly from the stands above all the noise.
Loss - NZL 0 SLO 3
Match to Slovenia.
Junior female individual power test
Eliza breaks everything; knifehand for two points, side kick for four points, and turning kick for four points, putting her in first place.
Kristy also breaks everything, putting her in a tie breaker with Eliza.
Stacey misses the knifehand - putting her out of medal contention.
ELiza wins the tiebreaker - Gold medal!!
Silver for Kristy as well!
Senior male team power
Jon misses punch (first time ever)
DJ smashes the knifehand for 6 points
Carl misses the side kick
Luke nails the turning kick for 6 points
Clint breaks the reverse turning for 6 points
Bronze medal!
Senior female team power
Chanthie breaks the knifehand side strike for 4 points
Lizzie misses the side kick
Rose breaks the turning kick for 4 points
unfortunately 4 teams got all three breaks so NZ is out of the medals this time.
Junior male team power
Jeremy breaks punch - 4 points
Johs breaks knifehand - 4 points
Bradley smashes the side kick - 6 points
David breaks the turning kick - 6 points
Shane powers through the reverse turning kick - 4 points
Perfect run!!
Still in the lead with one team to go - Netherlands, still in the team sparring final..
We wait..
And wait..
Finally they report to the power ring.
The first competitor lines up the punch, and bounces his fist off the boards!
GOLD!!
We leave with awesome memories
Some of the team have departed already, we leave in half an hour and many others leave tomorrow. However, we take with us cherished memories of a fantastic event, a team that have bonded and performed brilliantly, the 2011 World Champs in Auckland and a solid future for New Zealand Taekwon-do on the international stage.
You may have your own but here are my favourite pictures from the tournament...
Monday, 4 June 2007
NZ Third overall?
As far as we can see by analysing the medal counts on the official site, NZ came 3rd Overall in BOTH Seniors and Juniors.
The first pass for calculating Overall placings counts only Golds.
Seniors: POL 7, ARG 5, NZ 4 golds
Juniors: POL 8, ARG 6, NZ 3 golds
(There might be a hiccup if the Seniors "Traditional Sparring" gold is not counted for overall placing - as it is a mixed male/female division, however, they're still seniors, so for now we assume it is counted)
Full gold list (NOTE - this is an unofficial placings list compiled from the result files in the official website)
Seniors: POL 7, ARG 5, NZ 4, CAN 3, FIN 2, SLO 2, AUS 1, BRAZ 1, ENG 1, NETH 1, ROM 1, SCO 1, UKR 1, USA 1
Juniors: POL 8, ARG 6, NZ 3, (USA 3/1), CAN 2, ENG 2, UKR 2, GER 1, SLO 1
( 2 of USA's 3 Junior golds appear to be in divisions with only 2 competitors, which show in the results page as zero points)
The first pass for calculating Overall placings counts only Golds.
Seniors: POL 7, ARG 5, NZ 4 golds
Juniors: POL 8, ARG 6, NZ 3 golds
(There might be a hiccup if the Seniors "Traditional Sparring" gold is not counted for overall placing - as it is a mixed male/female division, however, they're still seniors, so for now we assume it is counted)
Full gold list (NOTE - this is an unofficial placings list compiled from the result files in the official website)
Seniors: POL 7, ARG 5, NZ 4, CAN 3, FIN 2, SLO 2, AUS 1, BRAZ 1, ENG 1, NETH 1, ROM 1, SCO 1, UKR 1, USA 1
Juniors: POL 8, ARG 6, NZ 3, (USA 3/1), CAN 2, ENG 2, UKR 2, GER 1, SLO 1
( 2 of USA's 3 Junior golds appear to be in divisions with only 2 competitors, which show in the results page as zero points)
Day 4: photos from final day of competition (updated)
I have now split day 4's image gallery into three, sorted out the order of photos (we were shooting several matches at the same time and they were all mixed up) and added quite a lot of comments so you can tell more easily what was going on.
Junior male team power win gold
Jeremy Hanna
Johs Van Pierce
Bradley Wickman
David Burr
Shane Black
It was a perfect run, no playoff as they were the only team to make all 5 breaks although it took several hours of nail biting as the event was interrupted awaiting the Nederlands to come free from team sparring before gold was realised.
See all the junior male team sparring pictures...
See all the junior female team sparring pictures...
The rest of today's selected pictures...
Junior male team power win gold
Jeremy Hanna
Johs Van Pierce
Bradley Wickman
David Burr
Shane Black
It was a perfect run, no playoff as they were the only team to make all 5 breaks although it took several hours of nail biting as the event was interrupted awaiting the Nederlands to come free from team sparring before gold was realised.
See all the junior male team sparring pictures...
See all the junior female team sparring pictures...
The rest of today's selected pictures...
Sunday, 3 June 2007
ITF Hall of fame
At the Hall of Fame dinner, the winners of places in the ITF hall of fame were chosen from nominations made prior to this year's Champs:
Alicia Yates, from Palmerston North Taekwon-Do Academy, won best junior girl.
(very proud dad Mike Yates is our 2007 team manager)
Doug Hanna (our 2007 Journalist) & Rose Cherrington, Instructor Taekwon-Do Cubs won prizes in the photography competition.
Alicia Yates, from Palmerston North Taekwon-Do Academy, won best junior girl.
(very proud dad Mike Yates is our 2007 team manager)
Doug Hanna (our 2007 Journalist) & Rose Cherrington, Instructor Taekwon-Do Cubs won prizes in the photography competition.
More Congress detail from Master McPhail
Over 60 countries were present at the congress with 2 delegates from each.
The members of the current Board of Directors were re-elected.
The world champs bid was near the end.
Mark Banicevich moved the directors out of the way and had Masters Daher, Davidson and myself stand at the front.
He then did an amazing presentation.
This was followed by the video Carl Matthews had prepared.
On a giant screen with a great sound system it went down really well.
(A big thanks to Carl and Anne!)
All the directors then congratulated us with hugs all round.
A vote was taken and NZ was declared the host for the ITF World Championships 2011.
Later there was discussion about whether to continue with combined juniors and seniors,
and Poland, the main opponent to it, said because the NZ bid was so strong,
they moved to retain it combined at least until 2011 to support us. That was great!
The members of the current Board of Directors were re-elected.
The world champs bid was near the end.
Mark Banicevich moved the directors out of the way and had Masters Daher, Davidson and myself stand at the front.
He then did an amazing presentation.
This was followed by the video Carl Matthews had prepared.
On a giant screen with a great sound system it went down really well.
(A big thanks to Carl and Anne!)
All the directors then congratulated us with hugs all round.
A vote was taken and NZ was declared the host for the ITF World Championships 2011.
Later there was discussion about whether to continue with combined juniors and seniors,
and Poland, the main opponent to it, said because the NZ bid was so strong,
they moved to retain it combined at least until 2011 to support us. That was great!
Day 3: Photos of the action (updated)
v2 06 June updated image galleries, correcting order and adding captions.
What a day!! With sparring to get some good images you have to take hundreds... especially with guys like Mark Trotter and Carl Van roon who are so fast that your reaction time to press the shutter is too slow... after all their feet are often blurred even at 1/200th of a second. So I have to predict what they're going to do next and just take the shot, and another, and another.. you get the idea. With so much on Regan grabbed one of my cameras and we covered different parts... Thanks heaps Regan, especially for the great power shots which there would be none without your help. Well we ended up with 2,700 images today and have weeded out the first cut of good ones down to about 500. I would normally do another cut and drop it to say 200 of the very best but hey, it's after midnight and there's another 5.30am start required in the morning.
So... you get the lot this time until I can find the time to sort them out and tidy them up a bit more.
So... you get the lot this time until I can find the time to sort them out and tidy them up a bit more.
Oh...and sorry, no time for a detailed report tonight. We didn't get back from the venue until around 11pm.
Today's photos part 1...
Today's photos part 2...
Today's photos part 1...
Today's photos part 2...
Day 3: gold and bronze for prearranged
Luke Thompson and Mark Trotter win gold in senior prearranged sparring.
Stuart Maden and David Burr win bronze in junior prearranged.
Team NZ have gone wild with the excitement... an amazing evening.
Day 3: Luke Thompson wins gold
Senior male individual power. Wins to euphoric team reaction after
playoff with England and Romaia.
playoff with England and Romaia.
Day 3: afternoon highlites so far (updated)
Carl Van Roon, senior male sparring has made it through to the
semi-finals but suffered concussion in his last fight with Netherlands
and the doctor won't let him continue; bronze medal.
semi-finals but suffered concussion in his last fight with Netherlands
and the doctor won't let him continue; bronze medal.
Luke Thompson, male individual power got all his breaks and we are
waiting for the first round to finish to see who will play off for
gold. Currently it is NZ, England and Romania.
Other sparring results:
Mark Hanna vs Canada; lost.
Ross Black vs Spain; won. Vs USA dominated but lost.
Courtney Meleisea vs Poland. Put up a good fight but lost.
Uma Goodyer vs Slavakia; draws twice then loses sudden death.
Lizzie Faafili vs Romania; lost.
Cori-Jean Topia vs Argentina. A furious and impressive fight from
Cori; wins. vs Poland, dominates but loses.
Kane Baigent vs Australia; won. vs Columbia; won. vs Argentina; loss.
One fight short of a bronze medal.
Johs Van Pierce vs Australia; win. vs Romania; win. vs Poland; loss.
Mark Trotter vs Canada (current world cup champ) . Team Haka opens.
Loss. Brutal draw as both were favourites for medals.
Christine Topia vs Canada; win. vs Germany; long fight to sudden death; loss.
Daniel Thompson vs Tobago, dominated the fight but lost. (He had at least two matches... details sketchy, will confirm later.)
Melissa Timperley vs Slovinia; loss.
Paige Moki vs Ireland. Completely dominated the fight; win. vs Slovinia; loss.
Alisa Parke vs Germany; loss.
Christie Leong vs Romania; win. vs Canada drew then lost.
Candice Millar vs Poland; loss.
(If I've missed anybody my apologies... it's been a full-on day and I don't have a copy of the draw to work from.)
Viewpoint power - Richard Burr
Hi all...what an emotional rollercoaster this morning!!!!!
Some fantastic sparring and comments from other country coaches on how good NZ now is.
CJ sparred off her face! Just incredible.
Power off to a bad start - everyone getting last minute clarifications before junior individual starts, then suddenly umpires say 'can't tell you anything else - you should know rules'. OK but then conflicting interpretations on details of rules..some coming from masters, some from jury table running event - who's correct and who is the ultimate arbiter??? Lots of coaches very upset, many approaches to main jury table. Still unhappy when event starts but seems to run through ok after all!
Shane first up but with small tear to hamstring. Punch, knifehand, side OK but misses turning, then ok for reverse turning - 18 points.
David up early - smashed punch ok, smashed knife hand (weaker technique), smashes side kick no surprise, smashes turning kick (whew!)and munts reverse turning - clean sweep 24 points!
Long wait as rest of competitors trickle through...all missing at least one technique until monster from Poland - cleans all (24 points).
Very long wait for Johs cause he was sparring early- very tough Pole for sparring. Still not settled very well before starting power- seems to rush through a little - misses turning - 18 points.
Few others on 20 points for tied third.
Final break off between David and Monster Poland - extra board added - 1st reverse turning.
David hits well but a little slip (mats again!) and not hit exactly where he wants - no break. Pole - no break. Next knife hand - David big smack but no break, Pole breaks.
Very happy and proud Dad, very happy David - he knows that it could have been him as World Champion.
Girls team power bad start - all break but dispute over one technique and no points awarded.
Coach B in like a polite pit bull arguing for NZ - just never gave up. Ends up as official protest ($100 US cash - protests NEVER succeed) - protest UPHELD!
NZ girls through to final break off against England. Dipped out on final technique - silver again.
So you can see I spent most of this AM on power.
Another big PM and then into the evening session.
Very hard on body - late nights, early mornings, lots of stress, but worth it to see your boy take a silver medal.
Richard
Some fantastic sparring and comments from other country coaches on how good NZ now is.
CJ sparred off her face! Just incredible.
Power off to a bad start - everyone getting last minute clarifications before junior individual starts, then suddenly umpires say 'can't tell you anything else - you should know rules'. OK but then conflicting interpretations on details of rules..some coming from masters, some from jury table running event - who's correct and who is the ultimate arbiter??? Lots of coaches very upset, many approaches to main jury table. Still unhappy when event starts but seems to run through ok after all!
Shane first up but with small tear to hamstring. Punch, knifehand, side OK but misses turning, then ok for reverse turning - 18 points.
David up early - smashed punch ok, smashed knife hand (weaker technique), smashes side kick no surprise, smashes turning kick (whew!)and munts reverse turning - clean sweep 24 points!
Long wait as rest of competitors trickle through...all missing at least one technique until monster from Poland - cleans all (24 points).
Very long wait for Johs cause he was sparring early- very tough Pole for sparring. Still not settled very well before starting power- seems to rush through a little - misses turning - 18 points.
Few others on 20 points for tied third.
Final break off between David and Monster Poland - extra board added - 1st reverse turning.
David hits well but a little slip (mats again!) and not hit exactly where he wants - no break. Pole - no break. Next knife hand - David big smack but no break, Pole breaks.
Very happy and proud Dad, very happy David - he knows that it could have been him as World Champion.
Girls team power bad start - all break but dispute over one technique and no points awarded.
Coach B in like a polite pit bull arguing for NZ - just never gave up. Ends up as official protest ($100 US cash - protests NEVER succeed) - protest UPHELD!
NZ girls through to final break off against England. Dipped out on final technique - silver again.
So you can see I spent most of this AM on power.
Another big PM and then into the evening session.
Very hard on body - late nights, early mornings, lots of stress, but worth it to see your boy take a silver medal.
Richard
Day 3: lunch time update; 2 x silver medals
David Burr wins silver in junior male individual power.
David got all his breaks in the first round but was knocked back to
silver in the play-offs. Shane Black and Johs Van Pierce placed 4th.
Junior girls team power played off for gold with England but were also
knocked back to silver when we missed the knife-hand break.
This morning's sparring hasn't resulted in medals but both the Topia
girls just missed out on bronze. Christine Topia had a dramatic fight
going to sudden death with about 4 flag showings with 2 for Christine
and 2 draw but finally she was beaten by a clear punch.
Medals then lunch next.
Saturday, 2 June 2007
Medal ceremony and other pictures
I've pulled out images of each person/team's medal ceremony...
Also have updated Doug's pick's of the pix...
Second day of competition pulls in 2 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronze
Summary of the day's successes:
All of our special technique teams won medals.
Senior male team special technique - gold medal
Junior female team special technique - gold medal
Junior male team special technique - silver medal
Senior female team special technique - bronze medal
Shane Black, junior male heavyweight sparring, bronze medal
Detailed commentary:
It was a day that started kiwis in action everywhere dominated by junior sparring with lots of kiwi action characterised by emotional highs and lows. The day finished early due to the holding of the ITF Congress from 3pm-6pm so the competition stopped prior to this and the scene changed to medal ceremonies which saw more than it's fair share of kiwis receiving metal.
Senior male team special technique - gold medal
We got off to a flying start with the senior men's team special technique playoffs which were postponed from yesterday.
Romania, Netherlands, Poland and NZ were through to the playoff for gold. Fist up Jon Sawden for jumping turning kick - 2 points for a hit. The only other team through was Poland. Carl Van Roon was up next for reverse turning kick which was successful. Poland also successful. Next was mid air kick. Carl up again and gets it. Elation from supporters. Poland up and missed. NZ team wins gold!
Junior female team special technique
Cori is up first - lines up the high kick and smashes the board over for 2 points! Paige hits the turning kick but fails to move the board far enough to get any points. The pressure builds as Melissa measures up the overhead kick - no one has hit it so far. She runs. Jumps. Clears the ribbon. Breaks the board!! 2 points - Gold medal!
Senior female team special technique
Sparring results
Today New Zealand had a few 'controversial' decisions within the sparring competition.
Jeremy Hanna, junior male heavyweight sparring
Jeremy is up for the first fight of the day - first bout in Junior Heavy Weight sparring. He has 5 minutes to get ready and makes it to the ring with about 2 minutes to go.. He looks psyched up and ready to fight. After a 30 second stare down between him and his Polish opponent the fight begins - both are quick and contact is heavy. Jeremy lands a nice head kick and the Pole gets angry, Jeremy takes a heavy punch but immediately replies with a solid rear hand smack bang in the middle of the Pole's face - both are fouled for excessive contact but still go hard. Jeremy continues to dominate with the hands landing multiple jumping punches plus another staggering right hand. bout ends...... It’s a draw! Round 3 seems pretty even - Jeremy lands clear punches but the kicking seems even... round ends. Win toPoland
Shane Black, junior male heavyweight sparring
Shane is up next againstUSA - although starting slow, Shane dominates both rounds landing powerful head kicks and right hands, USA
Bradley Wickman, junior male middleweight sparring
David Burr, junior male middleweight sparring
David is up against Argentina in the central raised ring. David puts up a huge physical fight against the Argentinean, charging in with conviction. Both are going hard. The Argentinean seems to be scoring the clearer points. David's style is very mobile and thus he found it difficult to manoeuvre due to the slippery mats - creating a few minus points from warnings. Bout eventually goes to Argentina.
Estee Speirs, senior female microweight sparring
Shane Black, 4th fight, semi-final
Carolina Dillen, senior female lightweight sparring
Carolina is fighting a 4th dan fromCanada Carolina Carolina Carolina Carolina Carolina
Carolina's 2nd fight, vs Germany
Junior male team special technique
All of our special technique teams won medals.
Senior male team special technique - gold medal
Junior female team special technique - gold medal
Junior male team special technique - silver medal
Senior female team special technique - bronze medal
Shane Black, junior male heavyweight sparring, bronze medal
Detailed commentary:
It was a day that started kiwis in action everywhere dominated by junior sparring with lots of kiwi action characterised by emotional highs and lows. The day finished early due to the holding of the ITF Congress from 3pm-6pm so the competition stopped prior to this and the scene changed to medal ceremonies which saw more than it's fair share of kiwis receiving metal.
Senior male team special technique - gold medal
We got off to a flying start with the senior men's team special technique playoffs which were postponed from yesterday.
Romania, Netherlands, Poland and NZ were through to the playoff for gold. Fist up Jon Sawden for jumping turning kick - 2 points for a hit. The only other team through was Poland. Carl Van Roon was up next for reverse turning kick which was successful. Poland also successful. Next was mid air kick. Carl up again and gets it. Elation from supporters. Poland up and missed. NZ team wins gold!
Junior female team special technique
Cori is up first - lines up the high kick and smashes the board over for 2 points! Paige hits the turning kick but fails to move the board far enough to get any points. The pressure builds as Melissa measures up the overhead kick - no one has hit it so far. She runs. Jumps. Clears the ribbon. Breaks the board!! 2 points - Gold medal!
Senior female team special technique
Lizzie missed the high kick. Estee got the turning kick giving us 2 points. Thu collects the ribbons on the overhead. Playoff against Canada for silver on
the turning; they got it, Estee hit it but not enough to score. Bronze for NZ!
Sparring results
Today New Zealand had a few 'controversial' decisions within the sparring competition.
Jeremy Hanna, junior male heavyweight sparring
Jeremy is up for the first fight of the day - first bout in Junior Heavy Weight sparring. He has 5 minutes to get ready and makes it to the ring with about 2 minutes to go.. He looks psyched up and ready to fight. After a 30 second stare down between him and his Polish opponent the fight begins - both are quick and contact is heavy. Jeremy lands a nice head kick and the Pole gets angry, Jeremy takes a heavy punch but immediately replies with a solid rear hand smack bang in the middle of the Pole's face - both are fouled for excessive contact but still go hard. Jeremy continues to dominate with the hands landing multiple jumping punches plus another staggering right hand. bout ends...... It’s a draw! Round 3 seems pretty even - Jeremy lands clear punches but the kicking seems even... round ends. Win to
Shane Black, junior male heavyweight sparring
Shane is up next against
Bradley Wickman, junior male middleweight sparring
Brad vs
David Burr, junior male middleweight sparring
David is up against Argentina in the central raised ring. David puts up a huge physical fight against the Argentinean, charging in with conviction. Both are going hard. The Argentinean seems to be scoring the clearer points. David's style is very mobile and thus he found it difficult to manoeuvre due to the slippery mats - creating a few minus points from warnings. Bout eventually goes to Argentina.
Estee Speirs, senior female microweight sparring
Estee vs 
Stuart Maden, junior male middleweight sparring
Stu is up against a bigger fighter from 
Matthew Hartigan, junior male middleweight sparring
Matthew vs 
Shane Black, 2nd fight vs Poland
Shane's up in his second fight - up against a huge fighter from 
Stuart Maden, 2nd fight
Stu is fighting again, this time vs a solid fighter from the 
Shane Black, 3rd fight
Shane is in the quarter-final against a good fighter from the 
Cullum, junior male lightweight sparring
Callum vs
Once again Callum dominates his opponent - scoring with hands and feet,
Shane Black, 4th fight, semi-final
Shane is in the semi-final against a lightning-fast Argentinean. Both start slow but the smaller Argentinean is very agile and manages to stay out of the way of Shane's legs. Shane manages a couple of clear body turning kicks in the first round but the Argentinean is up on points from his 'in and out' jumping punches. Second round is quiet and towards the end 
Carolina Dillen, senior female lightweight sparring
Carolina is fighting a 4th dan from
Carolina's 2nd fight, vs Germany
Junior male team special technique
Junior boys are up for team special technique. Maximum points so far is 4 (turning kick and reverse turning kick) by 
World Champs in NZ in 2011
A brief text from Mr Mark Banicevich: We got it!
More details will follow.
(The "Congress" is where representatives from each country get together at each Senior World Champs and decide things of great import in the ITF world)
More details will follow.
(The "Congress" is where representatives from each country get together at each Senior World Champs and decide things of great import in the ITF world)
Friday, 1 June 2007
Awesome first day for the kiwi team (updated, v4)
v2 updated with detailed commentaries.
v3 updated at breakfast for Ethan, Johs, Carolina and Richard commentaries.
v4, correction. We all thought Paige had a bronze for patterns but we learned at the medal ceremony that she was 4th.
What a day! 13 hours from start to end but the team came away with one gold plus a play off for gold delayed until tomorrow morning, 4 silver medals and 5 bronze medals.
Here’s a summary of our team’s competition…
Jason Fraser, individual junior male 1st dan patterns
Jason won 1st round then lost to Germany.
Thu Thach, individual senior femal 3rd dan patterns
Thu won vs Poland then lost next round.
Mathew Hartigan, individual junior male 2nd dan patterns
Matt lost to Columbia after a costly mistake when he missed out a turn in Choong-Jang, finishing up facing the wrong way. He was much sharper than the Columbian so it was bad luck.
Ethan Parker, individual junior male 1st dan patterns
Ethan won 1st round against Netherlands then lost 2nd round against Hungary.
Chanthie Thach, individual senior female 2nd dan patterns
Chanthie won 1st round, lost 2nd round against the reigning world champ from Argentina - who again went on to win the gold.
Paige Moki, individual junior female 1st dan patterns
Paige won her first match - she was looking really strong, huge amounts of power gave her the win. The second round is up straight after her first match as she was the only person in her division without a bye to the second round - this time she's against Slovenia. The slovenian is good, very technical - Paige blows her out of the ring with her power and crispness - win, on to the semis; vs Poland. Like the Slovenian, the Pole is very technical, but also has huge power in each movement. Loss to Paige.
Carl Van Roon, individual senior male special technique – Gold Medal
Carl was up early in his division and was disappointed to succeed in three out of the five challenges. It was then a painfully long wait to see how the other contestants did. Today was not a good one for special technique with most competitors being very unsuccessful. Some thought that it was the new mats which were quite slippery but others felt there was less room for run-ups than at previous world championships.
Johs Van Pierce, individual junior male 1st dan patterns
Johs was up against Spain and drew then lost the tie breaker. Slip up in Jun-goon meant Spain just won.
Mark Trotter, individual senior male 4th dan patterns – Silver Medal
Mark was up aganst Slovinia, an incredible display of leg control from both, both choose Moon-Moo as the optional, Mark's kicks are more steady and he looks far sharper - win. He went on to the quarter final vs Puerto Rico - also a good competitor, not good enough though - win to Mark. In the semi final Mark was facing the Hungarian who came 2nd in Germany in 2005 - a close match against a very experienced opponant but Mark pulled through and won. Forward to the final against Jaroslaw Suska of Poland - 2 times world champ - Suska is built bigger than Mark and harnesses a little more power, but looks tense, Mark has grace and flow - his movements are sharper... its close - but the win goes to Suska - now 3 times World Champ. Silver for Mark.
Jeremy Hanna, individual junior male 2nd dan patterns – Silver Medal
Jeremy has a bye through the first round and is last to compete in the second round of competition - vs Canada. Canada has nice stances and sharp hand movements - Jeremy is better with the legs. Choong-Jang for both optionals and Kwang-Gae for designated - its close - a draw! Eui-Am tul for tie breaker, Jeremy stops his reverse turning kicks bang on the money, looking sharp. Win to Jeremy.
3rd round vs USA - Jeremy has more power and steadier kicks - another win, into the semis. Up against Poland - both Strong, but Jeremy is sharper - win and into the finals against Canada!
Jeremy's opponant was a veteran of 5 world champs - and still only a junior!! Canada chooses Juche as optional, Jeremy sticks with Choong-Jang - both look strong, sharp and powerful, designated is Poe-Eun tul, again it's too close to call - draw!! Tie breaker is Kwang-Gae tul - still really close.... Win to Canada though - Silver for Jeremy.
Carolina Dillen, individual senior female 1st dan patterns – Bronze Medal
Had a bye for round 1. Won 1st round against Chile, wins next round then lost in semis to Finland; bronze medal.
Shane Black, individual junior male special technique – Silver Medal
Shane looks strong as he comes out - a mammoth jump and manages to scrape the high kick (no one else hit), but unfortunately takes a fall on the landing. Nails the turning kick and reverse with ease - he had huge height and power in the mid-air but unfortunately his foot missed on the way up by an inch. Hits the otherhead kick. Shane missed out on a gold to Argentina by one point.
Estee Spiers, individual senior women’s special technique
Estee narrowly misses the high kick, nails the turning kick for two points and picks up the tape on the overhead - still in the lead though. Carlie Dann from Aussie out muscles Estee with 3points, and Poland nais the turning and overhead for 4. Estee goes into a tiebreaker with three other countries for 3rd, Estee hits the turning but only 1 point is awarded - Canada puts the board round all the way for the bronze. Estee comes 4th.
Lunch break…
Richard Lavin, individual senior male 3rd dan patterns – Bronze Medal
Richard Lavin wins round 1 against Slovinia who were strong. Goes through second round beating Australia. In the third round Richie faces past NZ team member Hong Looi (now competing for Malasia) he draws this round twice then wins with Joong-gun!! However he was stopped in the semis and takes bronze.
Regan Diggelmann, individual senior male 1st dan patterns
Lost a close one to Japan. Regan looked sharp and it must have been very close.
Melissa Timberley, individual junior female 1st dan patterns
Melissa wins 1st round, loses 2nd round to last years rival from Argentina.
Junior boys team patterns – Silver Medal
The junior boy’s team patterns look awesome, wiping out Poland and into the quarter finals with USA. Next round easily bet USA. Italy are our next opponants - the boys look good but make a few mistakes under pressure, they manage to pull through for a win and now face Argentina in the finals. It's a faultless display from both teams NZ more powerful and better timing, Agrentina has impressive staggers and are very technical. Its close!! The boys are held to a silver - but Master Davidson (jury president for the ring) said that it was far too close to call apparently the judges had it ARG - ARG - ARG - DRAW - NZL - NZL. One point in it!!
Senior women’s team patterns – Bronze Medal
Lose to Argentina in the second round; take home bronze.
Junior girl’s team patterns – Silver Medal
The girls look awesome, hair platted the same way, NZ headbands and put on a great performance. 1st up against Ireland and win. Continue through a few more rounds. Then lose to Poland in the final; silver medal.
Senior men’s team patterns – Bronze Medal
Floor shaking, stage thundering - the most powerful team pattern and march I have ever seen! Argentina, however, hold them to a bronze medal.
Senior men’s special technique – play off for gold delayed until the morning.
Again a lot of teams are scoring 0 or just a few points. Carl missed the high kick by mere millimetres, Jon absolutely demolishes the turning kick for 2 points - tied for first place. Clint hits the reverse turning kick but it is disallowed for foot angle. Mark had the height but his foot went under the board on its way up. Regan has a huuuuge jump for the overhead, clears the second tape by a mile, breaks the board, but unfortunately takes the first tape with him. Play off for Gold with a few other countries in the morning.
Opening ceremony featuring the Haka completes the day.
P.S. Everyone agrees it has been a long tough day. We had times when we had three rings going at once and so it was very busy. I missed seeing and photographing some team members competing which is frustrating but with 7 rings to cover it was easy to miss something. The atmosphere was great. It's midnight now, bed time in Quebec.
v3 updated at breakfast for Ethan, Johs, Carolina and Richard commentaries.
v4, correction. We all thought Paige had a bronze for patterns but we learned at the medal ceremony that she was 4th.
What a day! 13 hours from start to end but the team came away with one gold plus a play off for gold delayed until tomorrow morning, 4 silver medals and 5 bronze medals.
Here’s a summary of our team’s competition…
Jason Fraser, individual junior male 1st dan patterns
Jason won 1st round then lost to Germany.
Thu Thach, individual senior femal 3rd dan patterns
Thu won vs Poland then lost next round.
Mathew Hartigan, individual junior male 2nd dan patterns
Matt lost to Columbia after a costly mistake when he missed out a turn in Choong-Jang, finishing up facing the wrong way. He was much sharper than the Columbian so it was bad luck.
Ethan Parker, individual junior male 1st dan patterns
Ethan won 1st round against Netherlands then lost 2nd round against Hungary.
Chanthie Thach, individual senior female 2nd dan patterns
Chanthie won 1st round, lost 2nd round against the reigning world champ from Argentina - who again went on to win the gold.
Paige Moki, individual junior female 1st dan patterns
Paige won her first match - she was looking really strong, huge amounts of power gave her the win. The second round is up straight after her first match as she was the only person in her division without a bye to the second round - this time she's against Slovenia. The slovenian is good, very technical - Paige blows her out of the ring with her power and crispness - win, on to the semis; vs Poland. Like the Slovenian, the Pole is very technical, but also has huge power in each movement. Loss to Paige.
Carl Van Roon, individual senior male special technique – Gold Medal
Carl was up early in his division and was disappointed to succeed in three out of the five challenges. It was then a painfully long wait to see how the other contestants did. Today was not a good one for special technique with most competitors being very unsuccessful. Some thought that it was the new mats which were quite slippery but others felt there was less room for run-ups than at previous world championships.
Johs Van Pierce, individual junior male 1st dan patterns
Johs was up against Spain and drew then lost the tie breaker. Slip up in Jun-goon meant Spain just won.
Mark Trotter, individual senior male 4th dan patterns – Silver Medal
Mark was up aganst Slovinia, an incredible display of leg control from both, both choose Moon-Moo as the optional, Mark's kicks are more steady and he looks far sharper - win. He went on to the quarter final vs Puerto Rico - also a good competitor, not good enough though - win to Mark. In the semi final Mark was facing the Hungarian who came 2nd in Germany in 2005 - a close match against a very experienced opponant but Mark pulled through and won. Forward to the final against Jaroslaw Suska of Poland - 2 times world champ - Suska is built bigger than Mark and harnesses a little more power, but looks tense, Mark has grace and flow - his movements are sharper... its close - but the win goes to Suska - now 3 times World Champ. Silver for Mark.
Jeremy Hanna, individual junior male 2nd dan patterns – Silver Medal
Jeremy has a bye through the first round and is last to compete in the second round of competition - vs Canada. Canada has nice stances and sharp hand movements - Jeremy is better with the legs. Choong-Jang for both optionals and Kwang-Gae for designated - its close - a draw! Eui-Am tul for tie breaker, Jeremy stops his reverse turning kicks bang on the money, looking sharp. Win to Jeremy.
3rd round vs USA - Jeremy has more power and steadier kicks - another win, into the semis. Up against Poland - both Strong, but Jeremy is sharper - win and into the finals against Canada!
Jeremy's opponant was a veteran of 5 world champs - and still only a junior!! Canada chooses Juche as optional, Jeremy sticks with Choong-Jang - both look strong, sharp and powerful, designated is Poe-Eun tul, again it's too close to call - draw!! Tie breaker is Kwang-Gae tul - still really close.... Win to Canada though - Silver for Jeremy.
Carolina Dillen, individual senior female 1st dan patterns – Bronze Medal
Had a bye for round 1. Won 1st round against Chile, wins next round then lost in semis to Finland; bronze medal.
Shane Black, individual junior male special technique – Silver Medal
Shane looks strong as he comes out - a mammoth jump and manages to scrape the high kick (no one else hit), but unfortunately takes a fall on the landing. Nails the turning kick and reverse with ease - he had huge height and power in the mid-air but unfortunately his foot missed on the way up by an inch. Hits the otherhead kick. Shane missed out on a gold to Argentina by one point.
Estee Spiers, individual senior women’s special technique
Estee narrowly misses the high kick, nails the turning kick for two points and picks up the tape on the overhead - still in the lead though. Carlie Dann from Aussie out muscles Estee with 3points, and Poland nais the turning and overhead for 4. Estee goes into a tiebreaker with three other countries for 3rd, Estee hits the turning but only 1 point is awarded - Canada puts the board round all the way for the bronze. Estee comes 4th.
Lunch break…
Richard Lavin, individual senior male 3rd dan patterns – Bronze Medal
Richard Lavin wins round 1 against Slovinia who were strong. Goes through second round beating Australia. In the third round Richie faces past NZ team member Hong Looi (now competing for Malasia) he draws this round twice then wins with Joong-gun!! However he was stopped in the semis and takes bronze.
Regan Diggelmann, individual senior male 1st dan patterns
Lost a close one to Japan. Regan looked sharp and it must have been very close.
Melissa Timberley, individual junior female 1st dan patterns
Melissa wins 1st round, loses 2nd round to last years rival from Argentina.
Junior boys team patterns – Silver Medal
The junior boy’s team patterns look awesome, wiping out Poland and into the quarter finals with USA. Next round easily bet USA. Italy are our next opponants - the boys look good but make a few mistakes under pressure, they manage to pull through for a win and now face Argentina in the finals. It's a faultless display from both teams NZ more powerful and better timing, Agrentina has impressive staggers and are very technical. Its close!! The boys are held to a silver - but Master Davidson (jury president for the ring) said that it was far too close to call apparently the judges had it ARG - ARG - ARG - DRAW - NZL - NZL. One point in it!!
Senior women’s team patterns – Bronze Medal
Lose to Argentina in the second round; take home bronze.
Junior girl’s team patterns – Silver Medal
The girls look awesome, hair platted the same way, NZ headbands and put on a great performance. 1st up against Ireland and win. Continue through a few more rounds. Then lose to Poland in the final; silver medal.
Senior men’s team patterns – Bronze Medal
Floor shaking, stage thundering - the most powerful team pattern and march I have ever seen! Argentina, however, hold them to a bronze medal.
Senior men’s special technique – play off for gold delayed until the morning.
Again a lot of teams are scoring 0 or just a few points. Carl missed the high kick by mere millimetres, Jon absolutely demolishes the turning kick for 2 points - tied for first place. Clint hits the reverse turning kick but it is disallowed for foot angle. Mark had the height but his foot went under the board on its way up. Regan has a huuuuge jump for the overhead, clears the second tape by a mile, breaks the board, but unfortunately takes the first tape with him. Play off for Gold with a few other countries in the morning.
Opening ceremony featuring the Haka completes the day.
P.S. Everyone agrees it has been a long tough day. We had times when we had three rings going at once and so it was very busy. I missed seeing and photographing some team members competing which is frustrating but with 7 rings to cover it was easy to miss something. The atmosphere was great. It's midnight now, bed time in Quebec.
Photos from the first day (updated)
Photos from the morning updated with images of Shane Black competing in Special Technique... thanks to Rose who was there with her camera!
Thursday, 31 May 2007
Wednesday - Master McPhail
Yesterday was pretty much a free day for us Umpires. We took in the old town again and pretty much took it easy.
At 5pm I had a photo shoot with some of the other Masters and Master Marano, as they are planning on publishing an update to the condensed encyclopaedia. Master Nunez was involved with that too - reminiscent of the photo shoot we had in Canada in 1996 for the last edition of the encyclopaedia.
After that it was out to dinner with all the Umpires. We arived at a restaurant in a Hotel, where incidentally the German team are staying. We were ushered to our tables and had an okay meal. The German team arrived and we noticed they were sent upstairs for their meal.
Turns out the restaurant staff must have thought we were the German Team so we got THEIR meal (with one drink of coke) - while upstairs they enjoyed a banquet complete with desert and drinks. grrrrr. Those Germans!!
Probably Andrew Niven behind that! :-)
Today we had the 3 hour Umpires meeting, where we were talked through rules and protocols for the next 4 days. Lots of questions asked and I think everyone is perhaps understandably nervy - as we also feel the weight of a World Champs on our shoulders.
The new electronic scoring system was explained and demonstrated. It has been developed further since we saw it in Spain last year and is VERY impressive (a few screen shots are attached). It even includes patterns as well as sparring now so it should be interesting. I have put my name forward to have a crack at that in Ring one - but not sure if they will put new people on that system...depends how many umpires they have that have used it from the different countries I guess. Lots of the German umpires have used it but there is not allowed to be more than one umpire from each Country in any ring.
Master Davidson had put his name down as a Power breaking Referee - so we will hopefully come out of this with a lot more experience which will benefit ITFNZ. Tomorrow they will announce the Ring Councils and we will find out where they put us.
I called in to see the Team after lunch but they were out and about. We saw them briefly training this morning..and they looked fantastic. They were going through their stepping routines for Team Patterns and had all of the supporters clapping in time with their steps. This attracted a lot of attention and looked great.
The Team look happy and I was so proud seeing them today. Good luck team!
The Team look happy and I was so proud seeing them today. Good luck team!
From tomorrow we are not even meant to talk to any team members, so that will be hard.
Mr Eccles is here now, joining Mr Ward, Mr Banicevich, Master Davidson and myself as the Umpires for New Zealand.
Tonight we have a Cocktail Reception thingy, dinner, then our last night`s sleep before it all begins. Very exciting!
Mr Eccles is here now, joining Mr Ward, Mr Banicevich, Master Davidson and myself as the Umpires for New Zealand.
Tonight we have a Cocktail Reception thingy, dinner, then our last night`s sleep before it all begins. Very exciting!
Last team meeting before competition starts
Last evening the whole team got together to hand out the competition ID cards and to hear advice from world champ veterans Carl Van Roon, Luke Thompson and Mark Trotter.
Breakfast is at 7am then we head over to the PEPS sports centre at 8am where the competition starts at 8.30am.
The adrenalin is definately on the rise!
Looking forward to reading all your new messages of support at breakfast in half an hour's time.
The long wait chilling out
This afternoon most competitors spent time confined to barracks and chilling out. Huge anticipation for tomorrow. At the moment coaches and management are at a tournament briefing meeting and we expect to get a de-briefing ourselves when they return soon.
We've just returned from dinner so spare a thought for Cori-Jean, Paige, DJ and Lizzie who are working hard to loose weight for the weigh in tomorrow. (Apologies if I missed any "starvers" out.)
Tournament program
The team management get the draws and the programme details at their briefing tonight. In the mean time Master McPhail and Mr Banicevich came in and met with coaches this afternoon while they had a break in their seminars and debriefed them on rule interpretation decisions and the programme. We haven't seen much of the 4 NZ officials as they're staying in a hotel away from us and have spent most of their time at various official meetings and seminars etc.
From what I have gleaned (and the official programme) here's how it will go:
Thursday May 31:
From 8.30am - 12.30pm, then 2.30pm - 6.30pm
Individual and team patterns
Concurrent weigh in in the morning
Specialty
First round of pre-arranged sparring (because it is a new event this is to give the judges a "feel" for what they will be judging).
7pm-8.30pm Opening ceremony & historic photo shoot (contestants and supporters in Dobok)
Friday June 1:
From 8.30am-12.30pm Competition (I'm not sure what events yet)
3pm-6pm XVI ITF Congress (where NZ will pitch for the 2011 world champs)
4pm-6pm Mass Outdoor Training
7.30-10pm 1st ITF Hall of Fame Banquet Evening (fingers crossed for NZ nominees Master McPhail, Carl Van Roon and Johs Van Pierce)
Saturday June 2: (very big day for sparring)
8.30am-12.30pm, 2.30pm-6.30pm Sparring
7.30-10.30pm Sparring Finals
Sunday June 3:
8.30am-12.30pm, 3.00pm-6.00pm Competition Finals
6.00pm-6.45pm Closing Ceremony
9.00pm-2.00am Farewell Party
Monday
Recovery, although a few kiwis leave to go on with their travels
Tuesday
The remaining contingent leave to come home or go on with their travels.
From what I have gleaned (and the official programme) here's how it will go:
Thursday May 31:
From 8.30am - 12.30pm, then 2.30pm - 6.30pm
Individual and team patterns
Concurrent weigh in in the morning
Specialty
First round of pre-arranged sparring (because it is a new event this is to give the judges a "feel" for what they will be judging).
7pm-8.30pm Opening ceremony & historic photo shoot (contestants and supporters in Dobok)
Friday June 1:
From 8.30am-12.30pm Competition (I'm not sure what events yet)
3pm-6pm XVI ITF Congress (where NZ will pitch for the 2011 world champs)
4pm-6pm Mass Outdoor Training
7.30-10pm 1st ITF Hall of Fame Banquet Evening (fingers crossed for NZ nominees Master McPhail, Carl Van Roon and Johs Van Pierce)
Saturday June 2: (very big day for sparring)
8.30am-12.30pm, 2.30pm-6.30pm Sparring
7.30-10.30pm Sparring Finals
Sunday June 3:
8.30am-12.30pm, 3.00pm-6.00pm Competition Finals
6.00pm-6.45pm Closing Ceremony
9.00pm-2.00am Farewell Party
Monday
Recovery, although a few kiwis leave to go on with their travels
Tuesday
The remaining contingent leave to come home or go on with their travels.
Only 17 hours to go!
Over jet lag – check
Over travel sickness – check
Energy levels high – check
It’s fair to say we are ready! Bring it on!
This morning’s training session was about pulling it all together. For the first time since we arrived the supporters were “invited” to come to the training. Unfortunately it’s been raining and we thought we’d all get pretty wet getting over to PEPS.
However, someone found the underground tunnel system. In winter there’s permanently several feet of snow on the ground so they have an underground walking tunnel system joining all the buildings together. It’s awesome. So we used it and didn’t get wet at all (except for me because I joined the team late after staying behind to put up the messages home and walked over in the rain).
For training we had booked a basketball court for a couple of hours. Other teams were also training nearby but we got some privacy.
At the end Mr Trotter got everyone together to go over the cheering strategy. We all practiced for all the team walk ons and it sounded and looked awesome!
I’ve put comments on the photos…
Messages for people back home…
Here’s the team having breakfast and reading the 14 pages of messages that we received from you overnight (they're projected up onto the wall and also downloaded onto various laptops which are passed around).
They didn’t have much time to write as well as read and eat breakfast but here’s a few messages back to you (below).
Please keep them coming… they make a big difference!
From Bradley
Hi everyone, so far everything is going well. I’m just getting over a cold now but I will be fine for the competition. Wish us luck. See you soon
From Candice
To all my fans, I love you. XXX
From Jeremy
Not long now – can’t sit still! Just wanna get in there!!
From Shane
Hi everyone. One more day to go until we kick ass. See you soon :-)
From Stacey
Hay everyone, it’s going well very tired haha but alg. I miss you especially my family, tail, berry, sez, and Jason. Not long to c u soon, mwah xoxoxoxoxo
From Eliza
Hello! I miss all you guys! Tomorrow’s the day! Really tired from too much shopping – haha – see you all when I get back! Luv yah! xoxo
To Mr Salton & Horowhenua TKD Club
Aramai is fine. Our body clocks have finally changed over. Please send us messages. Can’t text home. Lotsalov – Suzanne, Whetu & Aramai
To Pete, Taila & TKD Clubs
Many thanks for your support. Uma and Rose are continuing to train hard – fully focused. D-day not long now. Yours in TKD, Uma, Donna, Rose and Luke
To Joanna & Bob Van Pierce
Hi family. Thanks for all the messages, they are very welcome. Canada is awesome and training is excellent. I have gotten a sore throat infection. Comp starts tomorrow. Will call you soon. Johs Van Pierce
To Indigo
Hay Ind! Here’s your reply! Everything is going well and having a great time! I miss all you guys and yes I won’t 4get your pressie! Keep writing to me and tell the others too! Love ya, Kristy xoxo
To Nick & the TSE Family
Hi Guys. All good over here. Preped up ready to go. Can’t wait. Hope you are all good over there. Cher Cher Jonboy
To Lena
Cheers bud, one more eh. See you in the next team champ. Cher Cher Jonboy
Click Message Book on the grey menu on the right of this page to leave us a message
They didn’t have much time to write as well as read and eat breakfast but here’s a few messages back to you (below).
Please keep them coming… they make a big difference!
From Bradley
Hi everyone, so far everything is going well. I’m just getting over a cold now but I will be fine for the competition. Wish us luck. See you soon
From Candice
To all my fans, I love you. XXX
From Jeremy
Not long now – can’t sit still! Just wanna get in there!!
From Shane
Hi everyone. One more day to go until we kick ass. See you soon :-)
From Stacey
Hay everyone, it’s going well very tired haha but alg. I miss you especially my family, tail, berry, sez, and Jason. Not long to c u soon, mwah xoxoxoxoxo
From Eliza
Hello! I miss all you guys! Tomorrow’s the day! Really tired from too much shopping – haha – see you all when I get back! Luv yah! xoxo
To Mr Salton & Horowhenua TKD Club
Aramai is fine. Our body clocks have finally changed over. Please send us messages. Can’t text home. Lotsalov – Suzanne, Whetu & Aramai
To Pete, Taila & TKD Clubs
Many thanks for your support. Uma and Rose are continuing to train hard – fully focused. D-day not long now. Yours in TKD, Uma, Donna, Rose and Luke
To Joanna & Bob Van Pierce
Hi family. Thanks for all the messages, they are very welcome. Canada is awesome and training is excellent. I have gotten a sore throat infection. Comp starts tomorrow. Will call you soon. Johs Van Pierce
To Indigo
Hay Ind! Here’s your reply! Everything is going well and having a great time! I miss all you guys and yes I won’t 4get your pressie! Keep writing to me and tell the others too! Love ya, Kristy xoxo
To Nick & the TSE Family
Hi Guys. All good over here. Preped up ready to go. Can’t wait. Hope you are all good over there. Cher Cher Jonboy
To Lena
Cheers bud, one more eh. See you in the next team champ. Cher Cher Jonboy
Click Message Book on the grey menu on the right of this page to leave us a message
Wednesday, 30 May 2007
Keep the support messages coming...
Please keep the messages of support coming through the website. The team loves getting them. Each morning we download the latest messages that you have written in the previous 24 hours and put them onto various laptops plus the big screen at breakfast. There's then a swarm around each laptop to get to read them. We'd love to respond to each and every one but unfortunately, it's really hard to achieve (due to lack of Internet access points) but we will try to get some responses tomorrow. I've only got pictures of parents reading them so you'll just have to believe me until tomorrow morning!Click Message Book on the grey menu on the right of this page to leave a message
Haka practice
The team did their first full Haka tonight since camp. At first it was established that they would do a couple of quiet ones to save their voices for the competition. However, it felt right to go "full out" for the last one. It's a great way to psych up for the competition and cleared any flem right out. No photos.
This was followed by a long team talk headed by the captains discussing various tactics but I can't tell you (and our competitors) about this until it's "delivered".
More pick's...
This was followed by a long team talk headed by the captains discussing various tactics but I can't tell you (and our competitors) about this until it's "delivered".
More pick's...
More questions answered...
Why are there so few photos of the supporters?
The training sessions have been "Closed" which means the parents are politely "not invited". so whle I'm there taking lots of photos of the coaches, management and team members, there ain't any supporters around.
A further small problem is that they generally hate me pointing my camera anywhere near in their direction I have to pretty much resort to "stalking" them from a long distance away.
So that you know they do exist, here's some photos of them at Le Pub (on campus) last night and relaxing tonight in the warm evening air.
Breakfast routine
Breakfast is at 7.30am. The cafetaria is in another building about a 100 metre walk from here. Starting this morning we set up the datashow (kindly loaned to us by Greg Skinner from Epson) and show the previous day's photos plus the new messages from the website. It's a great way to get everyone excited for the day. This morning we also played Jeremy's Impact video compilation which went down a treat. You can watch it from the "Highlight Reel" on the Impact website.
The training sessions have been "Closed" which means the parents are politely "not invited". so whle I'm there taking lots of photos of the coaches, management and team members, there ain't any supporters around.
A further small problem is that they generally hate me pointing my camera anywhere near in their direction I have to pretty much resort to "stalking" them from a long distance away.
So that you know they do exist, here's some photos of them at Le Pub (on campus) last night and relaxing tonight in the warm evening air.
Breakfast routine
Breakfast is at 7.30am. The cafetaria is in another building about a 100 metre walk from here. Starting this morning we set up the datashow (kindly loaned to us by Greg Skinner from Epson) and show the previous day's photos plus the new messages from the website. It's a great way to get everyone excited for the day. This morning we also played Jeremy's Impact video compilation which went down a treat. You can watch it from the "Highlight Reel" on the Impact website.
Have you seen the other teams?
Most of the other teams are staying in hotels a few miles away from us so we have had very little contact with them. This afternoon the juniors headed down to the mall for a while and they saw a few other teams wondering around in their track suits.
Here at the university there are 83 kiwis and maybe 20 others. Peru and Columbia teams arrived here a couple of days ago. Today we were joined by Spain (x4) who have another 3 arriving from another region of Spain tomorrow. Carolina helped me have a short conversation with them - she's amazing at Spanish! Paraguay also appeared here today.
We expect to see more teams come and check out the PEPS sports centre tomorrow.
Are the team members allowed to try out the climbing wall?
No, for obvious reasons ;-)
Hair dying
You may have noticed a few remaining members of the team having their hair "professionally" dyed in-house. I don't know much about it but I think there's been a bit of halarity surrounding the process.
When does the competition action start?
Tomorrow is our last "preparation day" as the tournament opens on Thursday 31st and goes through until the end of Sunday. Now, this is our time here in Quebec but for you kiwis back home, your first news will be on Friday morning your time which will be about 3pm our time. We hope to sedn through news flashes from my mobile phone with full reports being produced in our evening. So late afternoon, evening you'll have the full story.
Time converter
When will you know the draws etc?
I don't know the answer to this yet. I suspect we'll learn tomorrow.
Supporter’s trip to an Indian Reservation
Today a group of the supporters took a trip to an Indian Reservation that Suzy had found out about. I didn’t go, but here’s the story as it’s being told to me.
We were told to catch bus 87 until the end of the line. When the bus finally stopped we were in the middle of nowhere with no sign of any reservation.
We asked the bus driver where the reservation was and he said we were supposed to catch another bus and he’d take us back in half an hour after he’d had his lunch break. So, later on he came back for us and dropped us at the right stop. Again there was nothing there.
We found a sign on a modern tepee that said the reservation was 5 minutes away. Then further down the sign we realised that 5 minutes meant by car. We walked 2.8kms to get to the reservation!
At the reservation we paid $26.50 and got a guided tour and a three course traditional Indian meal.
Check out the photos…
We were told to catch bus 87 until the end of the line. When the bus finally stopped we were in the middle of nowhere with no sign of any reservation.
We asked the bus driver where the reservation was and he said we were supposed to catch another bus and he’d take us back in half an hour after he’d had his lunch break. So, later on he came back for us and dropped us at the right stop. Again there was nothing there.
We found a sign on a modern tepee that said the reservation was 5 minutes away. Then further down the sign we realised that 5 minutes meant by car. We walked 2.8kms to get to the reservation!
At the reservation we paid $26.50 and got a guided tour and a three course traditional Indian meal.
Check out the photos…
Tuesday 29 - morning training
Both the seniors and juniors had training this morning over at the PEPS arena where the competition will be. It's good for them to get used to the venue.
I felt like I had falled into a rut with what I'd been photographing. Actually I was getting a bit bored with it. So played around a bit more trying to capture a different viewpoint and playing with the strong light.
A few of us are still suffering from jet lag and are having trouble sleeping. Mr Pellow is definately off-colour today too.
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Doug's picks of the pix...
Just wanted to keep with tradition (established in Honduras last year) and publish my picks of the pix taken on tour. I'll update them each day and you can check them out by clicking on the Doug's picks of the pix on the LINKS menu to the right.
Ok, I'm going to bed now. It's 00.40am in Quebec.
Because you asked…
We love your messages in the Message Book! At breakfast and again at dinner we now download the guest book onto laptops and huddle around reading your messages while we eat. That is hugely appreciated so please keep them coming.
You have asked a few questions in the message book so here goes on a few observations, answers…
The university is empty because it’s the summer vacation – that’s why there are no cars and people around.
The weather is changeable… very similar to Auckland actually (occasional sun, occasional showers, occasional wind, and sometimes warm then cold). We’re mostly wearing shorts and T shirts but always take a jacket which is either on because of a cold wind or off because you have stepped into a double insulated, double glazed building. They’re all “warm as” inside.
The locals are very friendly and are happy to speak to us in English when we ask “parlez vous anglais”. They are very helpful people.
We’re well serviced for buses here… they go past the university every few minutes. It costs $2.50 to go anywhere on the bus for up to a couple of hours.
Some things are surprisingly cheap. I bought a round of coffee for 3 of us the other day at the university café and it cost just over $5 for the lot. A large bottle of water is $1.50, a dozen small bottles of water in a pack are 2 packs for $5. I’m sure some of the team have found the expensive stuff too though!
All our meals are held in the university cafeteria. Good wholesome food and plenty of it.
We have shared bathroom facilities – they’re clean and we just have to be quick to shower and patient if waiting a turn. Our linen and towels are changed every couple of days. There’s a large laundry with a bank of washing machines and dryers.
Everything its tidy. The landscaping around the city is very clean and tidy with no rubbish to be seen.
The guys and gals wearing hoodies while training are doing so to loose weight. This morning DJ had two pairs of pants and a hoodie and was literally leaving a trail of water in his foot steps.
We’ve met some of the Australian team, and a couple from Argentina who now live in (brain freeze – somewhere in Europe). Other teams are staying in Hotels so we’re only really meeting up with others who are also at the university.
Internet access is hard for us from the university. We haven’t found a handy internet café and it was only today that three (out of 83) of us were able to gain cable internet to our laptops in our rooms. So, if you haven’t had a reply to your message it doesn’t mean that it’s not appreciated… we just don’t have easy access to reply. I guess most students at the uni have their own laptops, hense the apparent lack of an internet café.
You have asked a few questions in the message book so here goes on a few observations, answers…
The university is empty because it’s the summer vacation – that’s why there are no cars and people around.
The weather is changeable… very similar to Auckland actually (occasional sun, occasional showers, occasional wind, and sometimes warm then cold). We’re mostly wearing shorts and T shirts but always take a jacket which is either on because of a cold wind or off because you have stepped into a double insulated, double glazed building. They’re all “warm as” inside.
The locals are very friendly and are happy to speak to us in English when we ask “parlez vous anglais”. They are very helpful people.
We’re well serviced for buses here… they go past the university every few minutes. It costs $2.50 to go anywhere on the bus for up to a couple of hours.
Some things are surprisingly cheap. I bought a round of coffee for 3 of us the other day at the university café and it cost just over $5 for the lot. A large bottle of water is $1.50, a dozen small bottles of water in a pack are 2 packs for $5. I’m sure some of the team have found the expensive stuff too though!
All our meals are held in the university cafeteria. Good wholesome food and plenty of it.
We have shared bathroom facilities – they’re clean and we just have to be quick to shower and patient if waiting a turn. Our linen and towels are changed every couple of days. There’s a large laundry with a bank of washing machines and dryers.
Everything its tidy. The landscaping around the city is very clean and tidy with no rubbish to be seen.
The guys and gals wearing hoodies while training are doing so to loose weight. This morning DJ had two pairs of pants and a hoodie and was literally leaving a trail of water in his foot steps.
We’ve met some of the Australian team, and a couple from Argentina who now live in (brain freeze – somewhere in Europe). Other teams are staying in Hotels so we’re only really meeting up with others who are also at the university.
Internet access is hard for us from the university. We haven’t found a handy internet café and it was only today that three (out of 83) of us were able to gain cable internet to our laptops in our rooms. So, if you haven’t had a reply to your message it doesn’t mean that it’s not appreciated… we just don’t have easy access to reply. I guess most students at the uni have their own laptops, hense the apparent lack of an internet café.
Monday 28th – Visit to Old Quebec City
The scouts went out yesterday and figured out which bus to take to get to the old part of Quebec City so at about 10.30am about 25 (I guess) of the juniors and parents jumped on an 801 bus into the old town.
Upon arrival the girls disappeared into some of the boutique women’s clothing stores. Actually “stores” seems too cheap a word for this part of town. Everything oozes personality, history, tradition, craft and quality… such a contrast to the malls of yesterday.
Shortly after the boys spotted a sports store and the men walked the streets before shooting into a wonderful [very French] bakery/café.
Large lattés, short blacks and cakes we’re the order of the day.
I’m afraid I can’t pretend to do justice to describe this part of the city but you can read what National Geographic say about Quebec City it to learn more.
Upon arrival the girls disappeared into some of the boutique women’s clothing stores. Actually “stores” seems too cheap a word for this part of town. Everything oozes personality, history, tradition, craft and quality… such a contrast to the malls of yesterday.
Shortly after the boys spotted a sports store and the men walked the streets before shooting into a wonderful [very French] bakery/café.
Large lattés, short blacks and cakes we’re the order of the day.
I’m afraid I can’t pretend to do justice to describe this part of the city but you can read what National Geographic say about Quebec City it to learn more.
See all the photos...
Monday 28 - afternoon seniors training...
The seniors trained twice today, from 10am this morning and again late this afternoon. They’re looking good too. I love the photo above of the woman’s team patterns. (I just figured out the reason why the photos I’ve been publishing have only come out ¾ size… from now on you’ll get the wider versions again.)
The senior team have been taking the opportunity to train in the gym where the tournament will be held. It’s a massive area as you can see from this photo (which doesn’t cover the whole area either).
We ran into some members of the Aussy team today here at the university. They said they’ve been following our build-up progress from our website. Neil… for Argentina can we “block” overseas IP addresses? Just kidding. For any other teams out there in cyber space watching us… welcome. We look forward to meeting you just 500 metres away from where we are based here at Laval University in Quebec City.
Rose’s little boy Luke had a great time playing (and did a bit of warm up training with the team too). He’s quite a stunts man…
We ran into some members of the Aussy team today here at the university. They said they’ve been following our build-up progress from our website. Neil… for Argentina can we “block” overseas IP addresses? Just kidding. For any other teams out there in cyber space watching us… welcome. We look forward to meeting you just 500 metres away from where we are based here at Laval University in Quebec City.
Rose’s little boy Luke had a great time playing (and did a bit of warm up training with the team too). He’s quite a stunts man…
Lastly, here's one of my favourite pics for the day... Jon Sawden
Monday 28 - 6am training for juniors...
The interweb has been turned on in my room at last. Ahhhh, it’s like getting my caffeine fix. It’s fast too so I can upload tons of photos without it taking too long.
This morning was an early start for the juniors.
Captains Candice and Johs were responsible for waking their team mates at 5.30am. Only problem was Candice woke at 2.00am and, thinking she’d slept in, proceeded to wake her mates. They soon sorted her out!!
At the real wake-up time Donna shot across the hall to the loo in her PJs and the door gently closed behind her, leaving her locked out of her room for half an hour while security were summoned to let her back in.
I took lots of photos but the dim light made it hard for the camera to focus and some are pretty blurry due to the slow exposures. However, I tried hard to get some good shots of everyone who was training…
The better photos…
More (but not all good) photos…
Sorry that this is so short… it’s now 2.45pm and the seniors go for their second training session for the day in 15 minutes time and I want to take a few photos of them for you.
Went to Old Quebec this morning… will tell you about it later.
This morning was an early start for the juniors.
Captains Candice and Johs were responsible for waking their team mates at 5.30am. Only problem was Candice woke at 2.00am and, thinking she’d slept in, proceeded to wake her mates. They soon sorted her out!!
At the real wake-up time Donna shot across the hall to the loo in her PJs and the door gently closed behind her, leaving her locked out of her room for half an hour while security were summoned to let her back in.
I took lots of photos but the dim light made it hard for the camera to focus and some are pretty blurry due to the slow exposures. However, I tried hard to get some good shots of everyone who was training…
The better photos…
More (but not all good) photos…
Sorry that this is so short… it’s now 2.45pm and the seniors go for their second training session for the day in 15 minutes time and I want to take a few photos of them for you.
Went to Old Quebec this morning… will tell you about it later.
Sunday 27th May - afternoon and evening
After my laptop battery was finally wrung dry I packed up and then spent 20 minutes walking around in the mall just soaking it in.
The mall was pretty up-market. I could see the French influence with elegant but simple window and shop design. Interestingly none of the shops had dual language signs with their names proudly displayed in French only.
I was particularly impressed with the shoe shop above and set about taking some “busy shopper” photos to impress the ladies back home. A very pretty shop assistant came out and stood in front of the window for me. You can just see her on the left behind the woman walking past me. I thought it was really sweet for her to pose for me then, on enquiry, I realised she was trying to hide the windows display from my pesky camera. She thought I was steeling her marketing ideas. After a little explanation that I was just a tourist she looked like she half believed me and let me go. I then realised that walking around with a laptop case and a camera made me look a little suspicious. Ah well.
I went into the mall in warm sunshine and when I came out about 3 hours later (2 ½ spent getting my fix on the laptop!) it was cool, heavily overcast and drizzling. Just like home!
Getting back to our quarters from the shopping mall was interesting for a bus phobic person like me (I’m not known for being a great user of any form of public transport).. There were about 20 different bus numbers to choose from at the bus stop. As I’ve found here, the people are really friendly and very helpful. “Parles vous Anglei” (excuse the spelling, it’s bound to be terribly wrong) usually gets a smile and “Yes, I speak English”. I soon got to know which bus number to look for. $2.50 gets you as much bus ride as you like for a couple of hours. After 5 minutes I recognised the university building we’re staying at and had to cut another conversation short and jump off.
Before coming we’d heard on the grape vine that the French speaking Quebecan people like you to speak French, but once you’ve made an attempt everyone so far has been really friendly and helpful at speaking to us in English. I think they’re quite curios about our weird accents. Unlike Americans they generally seem to know about New Zealand. Maybe it’s the Commonwealth influence.
The university digs…
As promised, when I got back to Laval University I took a few photos for you to see where we were staying.
Here’s the entrance to our hostel.
Our rooms are small but comfortable. With concrete walls and floors, you can’t hear your neighbour (unless you are next to the bathroom I’ve been informed). We have communal bathrooms on each floor and male and females are separated onto different levels in the three story building.
I ran into Mr Yates who told me the Juniors were training downstairs so I grabbed my gear and went and took a few photos of them in action. I expected they’d be a bit lethargic after all the travel and the late night last night but I was completely wrong. They were into it with real intensity. And smiles everywhere as they were loving it. I missed the seniors who had gone over to the main sports complex to train in a huge gym. Maybe tomorrow I’ll catch them.
Tonight we had a bit of room swapping to make things run smoother for female and male access to bathrooms etc then it was curfew for the juniors at 9.30am.
Tomorrow…
The plan tomorrow is:
5.30am wakeup for juniors
6.00am junior training until 8.00-8.30am
Breakfast then the rest of the day off for exploring.
Dinner at 6.30pm then possibly a light evening training session I think was the order of the day.
So, hopefully we’ll get some sight seeing in. I’m keen to get down to “Old Quebec” which some from the advance party who went today said it was fantastic.
Time to sign off, it’s 11.35pm here – 3.35pm in NZ. Tomorrow I hope to get internet access to my room (fingers crossed) so I can actually send these despatches when I write them instead of having to wait until the next day to stroll down the road to the mall.
This afternoon’s photos…
Sunday - Master McPhail
As well as look around the old city, Master D, Mark B & I also called down to the Plaza Hotel where they have the "welcome centre".
Master Tran, his two daughters, Mr Kurt Otterson and others welcomed us and we received a packet of bits - tournament program (featuring Carl van Roon), tickets to the various functions etc.
Umpires have food & accommodation paid for 8 days which is more than we were expectng. They have 70 umpires registered for the tournament.
We ran into a few old friends including Master Lan from Germany and Andrew Niven. Germany have a big team here (close to 40 competitors I think).
Apparently around 6 countries could not get visas including Russia, but still there are over 60 countries here. Master CK Choi is here as special guest. He is one of the original masters - some say the best ever. He graded me to 2nd dan in '81 and I have not seen him since... Will be great to meet him!
Day 2 for us started with breakfast and news of the team's late arrival. No doubt they will have a long day ahead as they work through the tournament registration process. We are off on a cup tour this morning then will try and catch up with the team later.
Monday, 28 May 2007
Sunday 27 May - 1st full day in Quebec City - R & R
My battery is running low... I'm sitting in the mall still typing away so need to be quick and get this to you before my laptop dies. I get about 2 1/2 hours without recharging and can't get my internet access at the university sorted out until tomorrow (Monday).
We woke this morning at various times to a fine day with clear skies. It is quite warm and comfortable. I slept in (yay) and nearly missed breakfast in the cafeteria at the university. It was nice... yoghurt, apple juice, scrambled egg, sausages, bacon, toast and tea - made me feel alive again.
We then all met in our new "meeting room" to discuss procedure stuff and plan the day. The juniors and seniors are doing a light training starting about now (3pm).
The Laval University is huge, with lots of big open space between the buildings. The landscape is completely flat which surprised me. For some obscure reason I imagined Quebec to be quite mountenous... perhaps I should have taken a bit more notice of the guide book.
Sorry... no photos of the university yet... promise that I'll do better later on today.
Everything is very clean and tidy.
Mr Burr and I took a walk over to the sports complex where the tournament will be held. I guess it is a 400-500 metre walk from our accommodation. So, while our digs are pretty basic, it's going to be great to be so close to home during the tournament.
The venue is huge with an indoor olympic pool and basket ball courts next door.
Most of the team walked or caught a bus just a couple of kilometers down the road to a set of three huge shopping malls. Heaven for many. By the time we turned up (late) many were in the food hall and all looking very happy.
I stayed on here to post a few articles for you and haven't seen anyone for ages to I'm guessing that they all headed back to get ready for this afternoon's training.
Language hasn't posed a problem. Everyone I've come across so far who serves in shops and the like can speak English. We're trying to use some of our rough French (Vous parlez Anglais) and it's appreciated but they're happy to speak with us in English. The signage is another matter. Fortunately a lot of the food signs and menus have numbers next to them which helps some if us.
I'm going to save this, before my battery runs flat, and head back to the University to see if I can get you some photos of the place and the team training.
Au revoir de la ville du Québec
We woke this morning at various times to a fine day with clear skies. It is quite warm and comfortable. I slept in (yay) and nearly missed breakfast in the cafeteria at the university. It was nice... yoghurt, apple juice, scrambled egg, sausages, bacon, toast and tea - made me feel alive again.
We then all met in our new "meeting room" to discuss procedure stuff and plan the day. The juniors and seniors are doing a light training starting about now (3pm).
The Laval University is huge, with lots of big open space between the buildings. The landscape is completely flat which surprised me. For some obscure reason I imagined Quebec to be quite mountenous... perhaps I should have taken a bit more notice of the guide book.
Sorry... no photos of the university yet... promise that I'll do better later on today.
Everything is very clean and tidy.
Mr Burr and I took a walk over to the sports complex where the tournament will be held. I guess it is a 400-500 metre walk from our accommodation. So, while our digs are pretty basic, it's going to be great to be so close to home during the tournament.
The venue is huge with an indoor olympic pool and basket ball courts next door.
Most of the team walked or caught a bus just a couple of kilometers down the road to a set of three huge shopping malls. Heaven for many. By the time we turned up (late) many were in the food hall and all looking very happy.
I stayed on here to post a few articles for you and haven't seen anyone for ages to I'm guessing that they all headed back to get ready for this afternoon's training.
Language hasn't posed a problem. Everyone I've come across so far who serves in shops and the like can speak English. We're trying to use some of our rough French (Vous parlez Anglais) and it's appreciated but they're happy to speak with us in English. The signage is another matter. Fortunately a lot of the food signs and menus have numbers next to them which helps some if us.
I'm going to save this, before my battery runs flat, and head back to the University to see if I can get you some photos of the place and the team training.
Au revoir de la ville du Québec
LA to Quebec City, part 2 (continued).
Yesterday was huge.
The flights were pretty smooth. From LA to Toronto we got to see the landscape below for half an hour or so out of LA... pretty much contonuous desert. Then there was cloud below for the rest of the trip which was a pity and we only sighted land again on our descent into Tronoto. Got a great view of the CBD and Toronto tower on the way in, see the photos.
Lots of the team had a good snooze on the flight after our 3am wake up call in the morning.
I haven't gone out of my way to make friends with the rest of the team after getting my second upgrade to business class in a row. I got lots of "stick" for this. (I fly from Auckland to Wellington a lot for work and so Air NZ gave me a gold card due to my air miles and with Air Canada being part of the Star Alliance network they thought I was special. Hey, I wasn't arguing. They gave me two upgrades and with Jeremy standing next to me he was in to it like a robber's dog.
At Tronoto airport we got through border control and picked up our luggage before boarding our onward flight to Montreal. I wanted to take a photo of the "Welcome to Canada" in lights above border control to show you all but when I raised my camera above my head in the crowd to get the shot I got a reaction from the security staff like I was waving a gun around. Lots of shouting and waving at me. Oops... sorry, I didn't realise this was a capital offence. I'll be more careful in future.
We didn't have long in Toronto, just time for a quick coffee then onto our short flight to Montreal. This time I was in cattle class with the rest of the team.
This flight was only an hour and a half. Again pretty cloudy so we didn't get to see much except on take off and landing.
We made it with no luggage going missing and no other problems which was pretty amazing.
There were two coaches to take us to Quebec City. The first left straight away while the second waited for a hand full of the senior team who had flown LA - Calgary - Montreal and were arriving an hour later.
The bus trip seemed to take a long time. It started at about 5.45pm and we'd been up since 3am. After 20 minutes we were out of the city and onto the motorway to Quebec City. Flat tree-lined landscape with not a lot to look at. After an hour or more some of the senior boys in the back of the bus started singing. They were pretty good and it all got pretty hilarious.
Jeremy had been video taping them then set about editing up bits and pieces of their antics so wen ended up with a dozeon or so huddled around the laptop laughing and cojoling at themselves playing back at half speed, double speed, quadruple speed etc. You get the picture. Anyway, it helped break the trip and give us all somethign to laugh about.
Then Carl and Luke did a great mini-me taekwon-do act. They were hilarious. check out the photos.
We finally arrived at Quebec City at about 8.30pm I think it was. We pulled up at the Plaza Hotel where the tournament organisers were setup ready to receive us.
Mr Burr and Mrs Baigent set about going through the registration details double checking everything and making sure we all had the appropriate neck tags, meal vouchers etc. This took an age and was pretty hard work. The ITF organisers complimented the NZ Team on how well organised we were with our registrations, all sent through well in advance, compared with other teams. Well done to our management team!
The team and supportes tracked across the street to BK for dinner and it was very late by the time the registration process was all complete. ITF didn't want to let us go to our accommodation until all of the details had been completed and everyone's patience was tested.
We finally got on the way yo the university where Mrs Baigent (who, along with the rest of the management team, still hadn't eaten) tried to sort out access to our accommodation with the university people. Again it took ages but eventally we all got to our rooms and collapsed into bed from about 1am.
Les photographies (the photos)...
The flights were pretty smooth. From LA to Toronto we got to see the landscape below for half an hour or so out of LA... pretty much contonuous desert. Then there was cloud below for the rest of the trip which was a pity and we only sighted land again on our descent into Tronoto. Got a great view of the CBD and Toronto tower on the way in, see the photos.
Lots of the team had a good snooze on the flight after our 3am wake up call in the morning.
I haven't gone out of my way to make friends with the rest of the team after getting my second upgrade to business class in a row. I got lots of "stick" for this. (I fly from Auckland to Wellington a lot for work and so Air NZ gave me a gold card due to my air miles and with Air Canada being part of the Star Alliance network they thought I was special. Hey, I wasn't arguing. They gave me two upgrades and with Jeremy standing next to me he was in to it like a robber's dog.
At Tronoto airport we got through border control and picked up our luggage before boarding our onward flight to Montreal. I wanted to take a photo of the "Welcome to Canada" in lights above border control to show you all but when I raised my camera above my head in the crowd to get the shot I got a reaction from the security staff like I was waving a gun around. Lots of shouting and waving at me. Oops... sorry, I didn't realise this was a capital offence. I'll be more careful in future.
We didn't have long in Toronto, just time for a quick coffee then onto our short flight to Montreal. This time I was in cattle class with the rest of the team.
This flight was only an hour and a half. Again pretty cloudy so we didn't get to see much except on take off and landing.
We made it with no luggage going missing and no other problems which was pretty amazing.
There were two coaches to take us to Quebec City. The first left straight away while the second waited for a hand full of the senior team who had flown LA - Calgary - Montreal and were arriving an hour later.
The bus trip seemed to take a long time. It started at about 5.45pm and we'd been up since 3am. After 20 minutes we were out of the city and onto the motorway to Quebec City. Flat tree-lined landscape with not a lot to look at. After an hour or more some of the senior boys in the back of the bus started singing. They were pretty good and it all got pretty hilarious.
Jeremy had been video taping them then set about editing up bits and pieces of their antics so wen ended up with a dozeon or so huddled around the laptop laughing and cojoling at themselves playing back at half speed, double speed, quadruple speed etc. You get the picture. Anyway, it helped break the trip and give us all somethign to laugh about.
Then Carl and Luke did a great mini-me taekwon-do act. They were hilarious. check out the photos.
We finally arrived at Quebec City at about 8.30pm I think it was. We pulled up at the Plaza Hotel where the tournament organisers were setup ready to receive us.
Mr Burr and Mrs Baigent set about going through the registration details double checking everything and making sure we all had the appropriate neck tags, meal vouchers etc. This took an age and was pretty hard work. The ITF organisers complimented the NZ Team on how well organised we were with our registrations, all sent through well in advance, compared with other teams. Well done to our management team!
The team and supportes tracked across the street to BK for dinner and it was very late by the time the registration process was all complete. ITF didn't want to let us go to our accommodation until all of the details had been completed and everyone's patience was tested.
We finally got on the way yo the university where Mrs Baigent (who, along with the rest of the management team, still hadn't eaten) tried to sort out access to our accommodation with the university people. Again it took ages but eventally we all got to our rooms and collapsed into bed from about 1am.
Les photographies (the photos)...
LA to Quebec City part 2...
Carl Van Roon and Luke Thompson (the legs) entertaining the troops on the 2 1/2 hour + bus trip to Quebec City.
Ok you action picture starved kiwis back home... I've found a random WiFi internet connection in the local shopping mall so I'm getting my fix with a strong coffee and pictures uploading now. I'll write more details about our very interesting trip up here yesterday over the next half an hour... mean time, here are some pictures...
Sunday, 27 May 2007
ZZZzzz....
This little brainteaser is intended to let you pick a time of day in NZ and see the equivalent in Canada. As it hits midnight here in NZ, the sun is coming up over our crew breakfasting in Quebec.The greater part of the day there is nighttime for us, but the plus is that over breakfast in NZ we should be able to read some reports of their activities up til their mid-afternoon.
As Doug Hanna has demonstrated, the combination of current Web Blogs and cellphones with decent screens and text capability means he can send mini-reports direct to the web-page. (reduces the pressure on the Home Editor a tad :o)
During the NZ days, I am hopeful that I will also have received tidbits by text and email from team members to give the news-hungry audience something to go on with.
Then at the end of your day, you will have the main daily reports...
In a few hours, the team will be waking up to their Sunday. They have four days until competition starts on their Thursday morning. (round midnight NZ time Thursday night)
We made it to Quebec City
After getting up at 3am this morning, we have arrived at our rooms at the university 21 hours later at 00.30am!
Fair to say we are shattered.
I'm a bit grumpy after organising, paying for and double checking that my room would have internet access setup and it doesn't work. Grrr.
So no photos able to be uploaded from today and just this short message from my mobile phone.
It is hot tonight.
Now for some sleep?
Fair to say we are shattered.
I'm a bit grumpy after organising, paying for and double checking that my room would have internet access setup and it doesn't work. Grrr.
So no photos able to be uploaded from today and just this short message from my mobile phone.
It is hot tonight.
Now for some sleep?
from Master McPhail in Quebec
Hey NZ. We have finally arrived (Masters Davidson, McPhail, and Mr & Mrs Rimmer travelled more directly than the team).
Took up over 30 hours with all the stop overs!
Trick is now to stay awake another 3 or 4 hours till we hit the sack.
Spending the time taking in the old city - nice. Not seen the team yet.
Took up over 30 hours with all the stop overs!
Trick is now to stay awake another 3 or 4 hours till we hit the sack.
Spending the time taking in the old city - nice. Not seen the team yet.
From Carl van Roon in LA
Just taking this little break to send out a quick email! Not much time!
It's 3.30am here and our team and support unit are all just waking up to catch our flight out to Canada from LA - the team is gradually shuffling into the foyer... a few tired looking faces - moans of desire for coffee and more time to sleep are heard every now and then...
I imagine it must've been something of a challenge for most of our contingent to even consider rousing themselves from their comfortable hotel beds after yesterday: a group of 12 or so senior competitors including myself thought we'd make the most of our time here in LA by jettin down to Hollywood Blvd in a private shuttle.
You'll have to ask us about our crazy driver Steve sometime - needless to say he wasn't the most politically correct of characters which made for a pretty "sweet ride" to the walk of fame (you know - the one with all the gold hollywood stars along the footpath.
Even got a shot of Chuck Norris Star for his No.1 NZ fan... or was that impersonator? - Cam Snelling...)
Anyhow hollywood was good and now it's pretty much time for us to catch our flight - getting pretty busy down in the foyer now. Looks like it's time to check out.
To French Canada we go! - Bon voyage!
Kia kaha.
Carl
It's 3.30am here and our team and support unit are all just waking up to catch our flight out to Canada from LA - the team is gradually shuffling into the foyer... a few tired looking faces - moans of desire for coffee and more time to sleep are heard every now and then...
I imagine it must've been something of a challenge for most of our contingent to even consider rousing themselves from their comfortable hotel beds after yesterday: a group of 12 or so senior competitors including myself thought we'd make the most of our time here in LA by jettin down to Hollywood Blvd in a private shuttle.
You'll have to ask us about our crazy driver Steve sometime - needless to say he wasn't the most politically correct of characters which made for a pretty "sweet ride" to the walk of fame (you know - the one with all the gold hollywood stars along the footpath.
Even got a shot of Chuck Norris Star for his No.1 NZ fan... or was that impersonator? - Cam Snelling...
Anyhow hollywood was good and now it's pretty much time for us to catch our flight - getting pretty busy down in the foyer now. Looks like it's time to check out.
To French Canada we go! - Bon voyage!
Kia kaha.
Carl
A little background...
 | |  |
| Flag of Canada | Flag of Quebec City | |
Canada has a population of around 33 million, in 10 million square kilometers (compared to NZ's 4 million people in 1/4 million square kilometers). Quebec City is one of the oldest cities in North America, with a population of about 1/2 a million (a little more than Wellington) Wellington saw its first Europeans round 170 years ago, (about 800 years after the explorer Kupe). Quebec City was founded 400 years ago, originally under French domain. This heritage can be seen in the ITF Quebec website - it's in French. | ||
 |  | |
Montreal to Quebec City
Just arrived at Montreal. It is 5.30pm here (9.30am back home). Only a
2.5 hour bus trip to go. Half the team are on this bus and we're
underway. Fair to say we are all pretty sick of travelling. Got told
off again by border control on the way in when I tried to photograph a
welcome to Canada sign. Sigh.
Finally we have found some clear skys. It seems quite warm.
2.5 hour bus trip to go. Half the team are on this bus and we're
underway. Fair to say we are all pretty sick of travelling. Got told
off again by border control on the way in when I tried to photograph a
welcome to Canada sign. Sigh.
Finally we have found some clear skys. It seems quite warm.
3am start, LA to Toronoto...
Our wake up call was at 3am this morning (yawn). Up, showered and downstairs to wait for the buses to turn up at 4am. We had breakfast packs compliments of Air NZ catering organised by Afi which were great.
When we got to LA airport at 4.30am (for our 7.00am flight, the Air Canada counters hadn't opened. They open at 5am. We had a TKD queue of 80 going all the way out onto the street (see photo above).
When we got to LA airport at 4.30am (for our 7.00am flight, the Air Canada counters hadn't opened. They open at 5am. We had a TKD queue of 80 going all the way out onto the street (see photo above).
Then homeland security decided that we looked a bit dodgy and gave the 80 of us the full security treatment, ie wiping down our bags and handles looking for traces of bomb stuff and a full body frisk. Luckily I came through near the front of the queue then made my way up to the Air Canada lounge where I was able to get onto the net to get this report posted for you. I'm guessing many of the others are still coming through the process.
We're all looking forward to getting to Quebec City. Most are going to Toronto, then Montreal then 1/2 fly and 1/2 bus to Quebec City. Meanwhile one group of 15 are flying to Calgary then Montreal.
It's going to be a long day. Gotta go now... 10 minutes until our boarding call so I'd better go find the departure lounge.
More pictures...
More pictures...
Saturday, 26 May 2007
We are in the US of A...
Pretty good flight that left Auckland late and arrived to high overcast, smoggy Los Angeles. I got my head bitten off by the immigration officer for reaching over to pick up our passports when he
had finished with them. Maybe he was having a bad day. We coached to our hotel, very basic (cheap). There is no internet in our rooms so I am typing this into my phone while hanging out at Starbucks across the road. We changed into shorts and singlet tops but there is now a cold
wind blowing.
had finished with them. Maybe he was having a bad day. We coached to our hotel, very basic (cheap). There is no internet in our rooms so I am typing this into my phone while hanging out at Starbucks across the road. We changed into shorts and singlet tops but there is now a cold
wind blowing.
Just found out there is free wireless internet in the Starbucks café (ah, good old America) so I will try to come back. Not looking forward to the 3.30am wake up call in the morning. Didn't sleep at all on the flight so it will be interesting.
Travelling to Canada - Saturday
The team will have arrived in Los Angeles at about 8 this morning NZ time.
They will be off again at about 11pm NZ tonight (4 AM in LA).This flight will take them from LA in the State of California to their first stop in Canada - Toronto, in the Province of Ontario.
(being a commonwealth country, Canada shares many similarities with NZ, with a strong British heritage.
Of course, there is also a major French heritage, and the quaint Canadian accent, which to my ear mixes American and Scottish :o) (there's a mosse in the hosse - rhyme with "host"))
Finally, the team should all be in Quebec, Quebec around NZ breakfast-time Sunday morning (late Saturday afternoon for them).
They will be off again at about 11pm NZ tonight (4 AM in LA).This flight will take them from LA in the State of California to their first stop in Canada - Toronto, in the Province of Ontario.
(being a commonwealth country, Canada shares many similarities with NZ, with a strong British heritage.
Of course, there is also a major French heritage, and the quaint Canadian accent, which to my ear mixes American and Scottish :o) (there's a mosse in the hosse - rhyme with "host"))
Finally, the team should all be in Quebec, Quebec around NZ breakfast-time Sunday morning (late Saturday afternoon for them).
Friday, 25 May 2007
We're off - good bye New Zealand!
The time has come and at last we are on our way. Lots of friends and family turned up to wish the team well and say good bye. Thank you for your support!
More photos...
Thursday, 24 May 2007
Team check-in for departure, Friday 25th May, 4.45pm
The New Zealand team and most supporters have a reporting time of 4.45pm at Auckland International Airport. If you'd like to see them off, this would be a good time to be there.
We're flying out on Air New Zealand NZ006 to Los Angeles, sheduled to depart at 7.45pm
Here's our itinerary:
Day 01: Friday 25 May (NZ) 7.45pm depart Auckland for 12 hour flight to Los Angeles.
Day 02: Friday 25 May (US) Arrive Los Angeles 12.40pm on Friday (we gain a day). Stay at the Hacienda Hotel.
Day 03: Saturday 26 May (US) 4.00am!! Transferred from Hotel to Los Angeles airport for onward flight to Tononto (4 hours 40). Then we fly from Toronto to Montreal (1 hour 15). Then half the team fly to Quebec City while the other half take a coach (2 hours 30). Phew - will be good to get there!
Day 04-07 Sunday 27 May to Wednesday 30 May - time to settle into the new time zone, sus out the university where the tournament is being held and where we are staying, explore Quebec and undoubtably, do some training.
Day 08 Thursday 31st May - Four days of the tournament begins today
(In New Zealand you will be a day ahead, Friday 1st June when the tournament begins. You should get the first updates coming through in the mid-late afternoon.)
Day 09 Friday 1st June - Tournament day 2
Day 10 Saturday 2nd June - Tournament day 3
Day 11 Sunday 3rd June - Tournament day 4 and closing ceremony
Day 12 Monday 4th June - Rest day. Some of the team head back home, others head off on further travels and some stay on another night before departing on Tuesday.
We're flying out on Air New Zealand NZ006 to Los Angeles, sheduled to depart at 7.45pm
Here's our itinerary:
Day 01: Friday 25 May (NZ) 7.45pm depart Auckland for 12 hour flight to Los Angeles.
Day 02: Friday 25 May (US) Arrive Los Angeles 12.40pm on Friday (we gain a day). Stay at the Hacienda Hotel.
Day 03: Saturday 26 May (US) 4.00am!! Transferred from Hotel to Los Angeles airport for onward flight to Tononto (4 hours 40). Then we fly from Toronto to Montreal (1 hour 15). Then half the team fly to Quebec City while the other half take a coach (2 hours 30). Phew - will be good to get there!
Day 04-07 Sunday 27 May to Wednesday 30 May - time to settle into the new time zone, sus out the university where the tournament is being held and where we are staying, explore Quebec and undoubtably, do some training.
Day 08 Thursday 31st May - Four days of the tournament begins today
(In New Zealand you will be a day ahead, Friday 1st June when the tournament begins. You should get the first updates coming through in the mid-late afternoon.)
Day 09 Friday 1st June - Tournament day 2
Day 10 Saturday 2nd June - Tournament day 3
Day 11 Sunday 3rd June - Tournament day 4 and closing ceremony
Day 12 Monday 4th June - Rest day. Some of the team head back home, others head off on further travels and some stay on another night before departing on Tuesday.
Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Finishing touches...
Doboks ironed and folded, boots and gloves named, passport re-checked (again), is the bag big enough? Lots to check. What about my hair?
DJ models the senior mens team hair style
Mark Hanna, no longer blond!
DJ models the senior mens team hair style
Mark Hanna, no longer blond!
Courtney Meleisea - 84th training session; 0 missed
Tonight is Mr Pellow's 84th junior squad training session and Courtney hasn't missed a single workout. I'm also reminded that her Mum has been to every one also.
Good luck Courtney!
Send her and others in the team a message of support here...
Dragon's Spirit wish the team well
Monday night was the last pre-tournament training held at the Dragon's Spirit club. At the end of the session the team were lined up and the whole club shaked each team member's hand to wish them well.
Leave your personal message to the team here...
Monday, 21 May 2007
Tu Te Puehu TV Programme
DJ and Luke put on a demonstration tonight which was filmed for the Tu Te Puehu TV programme which will show in about a month's time.
Last Saturday we took some video of the Juniors training which is hopefully going ot be shown on What Now.
It's only 4 degrees C in Quebec City tonight
Just when we thought we were set for fair weather in sunny Quebec City at this time of the year they're having an overnight low of 4 degrees. Brrr.
Saturday, 19 May 2007
Less than a week to departure and last Saturday training...
Today Mr Pellow's class had their last Saturday training from 9am-12pm. The Kerikeri team members had a really early start - about 5am - to get to the training.
It wasn't full-on, as Mr Pellow is working hard to ensure no one sustains an injury this close to the world champs.
Saturday, 12 May 2007
Last Taupo camp before takeoff...
The NZ squad has assembled in Taupo for the last camp before they fly out to Canada in just under two weeks time.
It's been a relatively relaxed day's training compared with previous camps... intentionally so that team members can focus on tweaking their techniques and to avoid injuries.
Mr Banicevich came down and assisted with this morning's training giving a valuable lesson on sparring point scoring and the techniques that are most likely to be scored by judges.
Saturday morning pictures...
Saturday morning pictures...
Master Davidson came this morning to watch the training and after lunch he formally handed each team member their New Zealand Team Doboks. After that we took the official team photos with Master Davidson, team coaches and management.
The weekend so far has been relatively relaxed and up-beat.
As I write this update the team is practicing the Haka. Parents and supporters have been barred from watching it at this stage.
Tea time soon ;-)
Monday, 7 May 2007
Be careful out there
Mr Pellow's key message tonight was "train hard but be careful". He repeats it every training session. "There's no time left to get a new injury and recover from it so be careful."
Juniors training tonight consisted of a good half an hour of patterns which, at then end, had everyone very warm followed by sparring drills then team patterns.
I hate using a flash gun because images with flash can be so flat and harsh but thought I'd better get some practice in just in case the internal lighting at the world champs proves challenging. So many of tonights training photos were taking with flash (cranked down three stops to minimise it).
Sunday, 6 May 2007
Continuous fine tuning...
Sunday afternoon at Impact and a few members of the senior team assemble for more extreme sparring fitness work under Mr Banicevich's "command". Tons of energy is being exerted with timed intense sparring and short one minute breaks.
A Little later Luke and Mark demonstrate their prowess with their pre-arranged sparring sequence. To avoid giving away any secrets to the offshore competition I'm refraining from showing much here... It's impressive to watch! I got my shot of the day with this...
Luke puts in a few sidekicks and this time we capture a 24 frame sequence. That's one frame every 1/5th of a second. If you have broadband, click the link and select slideshow then select 1 second intervals. It kinda works ;-)
Luke has joined them together into an animated gif.
Carolina does some more work on her patterns with both Mr Breen and Mr Banecivich critiquing. I managed to capture a great shot of her reflected in the huge mirrors...
The light conditions are superb in this room on a sunny afternoon with the sunlight streaming through the high windows offering lots of contrast and photographic challenge. Today I borrowed a second Digital SLR camera from work to try using two cameras so that I don't have to keep changing between my two favourite lenses all the time. I wanted to experiement having two cameras around my neck to see whether it worked and it was great. One for close ups (18-55mm zoom) and one for distant shots (70-300 zoom). Worked well for about 15 minutes until the battery in the borrowed camera died after about 30 shots. Ah well, another lesson learned!!
More photos of the training today...
Sunday, 29 April 2007
Seniors training
I came along to the senior's training again today to watch and photograph them in action. Mr Banicevich was leading the training again and put the team through a long and intensive sparring program.
Meanwhile Luke worked on power which was simply awesome to watch.
Towards the end of the session focus changed to womans team patterns, Luke and Mark practiced male team patterns while Mr Banicevich coached Jeremy on his pattern technique details with assistance from Mr Breen. Once finished with Jeremy they moved on to working with Carolina on her patterns.
Saturday, 28 April 2007
Lets do 48 patterns as a warm up!
Mr Pellow's Junior Team training today was well attended with all the Aucklanders; Cullum, Johs and Sam from Kerikeri; Michael from Gisborne; Shane & Ross from Tauranga and Matt from Rotorua all making the treck to training. DJ and Estee joined in from the seniors team and Chris Broughton came along again also.
"Let's start with some patterns for a warm up" was the call from Mr Pellow. There were one or two drink breaks but they didn't stop until they'd completed 4 sets totalling 48 patterns!
There was a lot of sweating and energy consumed then they went on to sparring for the rest of the afternoon.
I took a few photos of the patterns work.
Wednesday, 25 April 2007
Photoshop 101
Had some time to spare today so I spent it working on this now heavily "photoshopped" image of Mark and Luke facing off in the final for individual patterns at the mini-tournament during the last Taupo camp. They ended up in the finals against each other twice! Knocking the background back to black and white makes quite a difference from the original image. There won't be time for this sort of "playing" with images at the world champs.
Sunday, 22 April 2007
Senior's training at Impact
After berating myself for the lack of coverage and images of the senior team in training I went along to Impact this afternoon with Jeremy. There weren't a lot of team members there but I had a lot of fun trying to capture some useful images in the harsh low autumn light that was streaming in the windows.
Mr Banicevich was taking the training and we watched him warming them up, running through some patterns then working with Luke and Mark on their pre-arranged sparring routine.
Meanwhile Lizzie worked on patterns and Carl focused on special technique.
There were a few other Impact club members working on their own and more were flowing in the door when we left at about 5.
End of an intensive week for the northern juniors
On Friay night Mr Trotter's Impact club put on a combined northern seniors and juniors training session with guest instructor Mr Mark Banicevich.
Mr Banicevich put them through an intensive fitness workout. When I turned up towards the end they were talking and demonstrating kicks and punches that were sure to win points versus technique which was hard to score or unlikely to be scored. Mr Trotter and Mr van Roon asked many questions and everyone present learned something. Mr Trotter wasn't impressed with some of his "cheeky" moves being picked apart from an "is that legal" point of view. He'd rather no one knew about them - too late now!
Unfortunately I didn't take my camera along but I took a handful of photos of the boys and girls team pattern demonstrations on Thursday and Saturday.
On Saturday morning the northern juniors met at McDonalds Papakura at 8am (yawn) for breakfast then headed down to PaulM for the final group training session of the week. The team were fairly worn out after Friday night's workout with Mr Banicevich - if he didn't already he now has a reputation for a mean fitness workout.
Mr Banicevich put them through an intensive fitness workout. When I turned up towards the end they were talking and demonstrating kicks and punches that were sure to win points versus technique which was hard to score or unlikely to be scored. Mr Trotter and Mr van Roon asked many questions and everyone present learned something. Mr Trotter wasn't impressed with some of his "cheeky" moves being picked apart from an "is that legal" point of view. He'd rather no one knew about them - too late now!
Unfortunately I didn't take my camera along but I took a handful of photos of the boys and girls team pattern demonstrations on Thursday and Saturday.
On Saturday morning the northern juniors met at McDonalds Papakura at 8am (yawn) for breakfast then headed down to PaulM for the final group training session of the week. The team were fairly worn out after Friday night's workout with Mr Banicevich - if he didn't already he now has a reputation for a mean fitness workout.
Training included group patterns, team patterns, some power, and individual sparring.
At 12pm it was time for everyone from out-of-town to go home... Michael to Gisborne; Shane, Ross, Matt and Jason back to Tauranga and Rotorua plus Johs, Callum and Sam back to Kerikeri.
Next week it's back to school :-( and regular training :-)
Saturday, 21 April 2007
Big training week for northern juniors
After the Taupo camp the northern juniors (from Rotorua to Kaio) are staying in Auckland and training together each day under Mr Steve Pellow. It's been quite impressive seeing so many training together and we've even had a few joining in from the senior team.
The Auckland juniors normal training week consists of:
Monday night 6.30-8.30pm - training at Dragon's Spirit, Papatoetoe
Tuesday night 6.30-8.30pm - training at Paul M, Papakura
Wednesday night - normal club training for those that have it
Thursday night 6.30-8.30pm - training at Dragon's Spirit, Papatoetoe
Friday night - off
Saturday afternoon 1.00-4.00pm - training at Paul M, Papakura
Sunday afternoon - off
Mr Pellow is always happy for other black belts to join the squad for their training sessions. It adds variety, feedback for the team and we enjoy having visitors so please come along if you can.
Tonight the team went through most of their patterns together before breaking up to work on male team patterns, female team patterns, individual sparring and individual power.
Sunday, 15 April 2007
Introduction to the Senior Team
This Taupo camp was a chance for the juniors and hanger's on like me to get to know the senior team members a lot more.
Meet the seniors...
Meet the seniors...
Taupo Camp - Sunday 15 April
Today was a bit more of a relaxed start with the team heading to the gym after cleaning up the camp at about 9am. On the agenda is training on specialty, power and team patterns with those not involved in these events doing sparring exercises.
Mark Trotter took the warm up... he's a slave driver with some of the techniques challenging the team.
Today saw juniors and seniors joining together in training exercises with 4 coaches on hand to help both juniors and seniors combined.
The mood was pretty up-beat and it was a good feeling with the whole team being together for the first time since prior to trials.
It was also a good chance to swap advice with different people to take advantage of the experience of other members.
By 12pm it was time to pack up and head home. We reconvene for the last camp prior to the worlds in a month's time.
Saturday, 14 April 2007
Taupo Combined Camp - Saturday 14 April
This is the first camp for juniors and seniors combined since prior to the junior trials last year. Everyone arrived on Friday night with the Kerikeri lot arriving at about midnight after their 7 hour drive. They were pretty quiet arriving because I didn't even wake or hear them and they were sleeping around my spot in the morning.
The camp was pretty packed with I guess 40 competitors, 7 coaches and management plus parents and supporters. It had a good feel about it and everyone got on really well. It really feels like a New Zealand team now.
When we arrived on Friday night it was only 8 degrees and had been raining on the way to Taupo but it's not so cold on Saturday morning.
It was an early start for the seniors with a compulsory run at 6.30am. Juniors were invited to come along if they wished to but I didn't see any leap out of bed to join in the run. A few thought about it but hadn't brought running gear (yeah... whatever)! I must admit I didn't consider joining in for more than 5 seconds either.
Today has been a mini-tournament of individual patterns, team patterns then individual sparring, specialty, team specialty with power and team power later in the day.
Mr Pellow was keen to see his juniors take it to the seniors in the sparring. Good results went both ways with everyone getting something out of the competition. It was a good measuring point which revealed previously unknown weaknesses.
We're being pretty careful what images and comments we put up on the web... we know other competing countries are watching and we don't want to give anything away. So only limited photos of such things as team patterns and pre-arranged sparring so that we don't give any of our secrets away :-)
The last activity in the gym was the first Haka practice led by Mark Trotter and Luke Thompson. It was pretty impressive by the end of the session even though some had never done it before. Sorry - no photos of this until we do the real thing in Quebec!
Tonight we stole a TV from the girls room and everyone huddled together and watched Borat and Benchwarmers DVDs. Benchwarmers hadn't been returned from the previous camp to the video shop so was about a month overdue! Oops.
I snuck off to a motel as Jan and Patrick (my wife and 3rd son) and cousin Jimmy came down to check out what all the fuss of the Taupo camps were about. It was luxury compared with sleeping on the camp floor. However, I slept like a log at camp on Friday night and had a useless night's sleep in a flash bed in a new motel tonight. Sheesh!
Thursday, 12 April 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
