Two Australian champs were crowned from the one small Taekwondo club in the Nambucca Valley.
The results got better, as final points were calculated over the last few weeks. Two other members were crowned state and zone champions in their age groups.
Former Australian champion Reece Trent passed on his Australia Independent Martial Arts Tournament (IMAT) title for 10-15 year-olds to his younger brother, Trent.
Reece went on to claim the NSW championship for the same age group.
Hope Forrest was named Mid North Coast champion for her age.
Tournament trainer Dean Conlan was named Australian Senior Male Champion for over-18s.
Nambucca Valley Taekwondo Club head instructor Murray Hicks said this year ’s outstanding results had everything to do with the effort that Conlan had put into preparing students for the physical and psychological challenges of tournament competition.
"The club finished sixth out of all the clubs entered in IMAT from across Australia," he said.
"For a small club, that is a wonderful result, and Dean deserves all the credit for that." Conlan focused on a combination of fitness and training regimes to prepare students for tournaments, and prevent newcomers freaking out ’.
"You get used to sparring with the same people, so it is a challenge when you get there and you are put up against people fighting in a different style, who might be a lot bigger than you are," he said.
"You only have a couple of minutes to prove the worth of all your training, so you ’ve got to be ready to think on the spot." The champions ’ awards were decided by adding together all the tournament points accumulated during the year~ which rewarded both winning and participation.
Each competes in an age division against those on the same level as them. Hope is currently a red belt, while the Stack boys are Sho Dan Bos, or provisional black belts.
Dean is a third Dan black belt. All of them have been training for years to achieve their belts, and were looking forward to taking on the next step next year.
The group of champions has stock-piled a huge mound of trophies and medals from their activities throughout the year and are hoping for more success in 2009.
Guardian News,
New South Wales,Australia
Australian, state and zone champs crowned
