Little Lions – Page 7 – Kyokushin International Martial Arts Australia

Black Belt Grading – December 3, 2016

Shihan Howard Lipman held a Black Belt grading at Turramurra Dojo on Saturday the 3rd of December.

The senior student of the Kyokushin grading was Sempai Jason Lambe of Annangrove Dojo, attempting Nidan (2nd Dan). Along with Sempai Jason were five applicants for Shodan (1st Dan). These included:

Jonathan Lee, Turramurra Dojo
Angus Sweeney, Turramurra Dojo
Joshua Darley, Turramurra Dojo
Victor Sweeney, Turramurra Dojo
Patricia Tan, Lismore Dojo

There were many KIMAA karateka attempting various Kyu grades as well, both children and adults.

Students from Turramurra, Annangrove, Lismore and Ballina dojos participated in the grading, with Wesley Snider and Mick Calnan also making the trip down with Trish from the North Coast dojos. Travelling with their students were Sensei Mark McFadden and Sensei Jon Ellis.

Shihan Howard was judging the students’ performance on the day, with assistance from Shihan Rick Cunningham, while Shihan Peter Olive took the students through their techniques. Many other KIMAA black belts came in support of the students attempting the grading.

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At various points during the basics, the black belt applicants, and applicant for 1st Kyu Elia Parsanejad, took the class.

Jonathan Lee leads the grading.

Sensei Jon Ellis

Supporting black belts train with those grading.

Victor Sweeney leads the grading.

Joshua Darley leads the grading.

Angus Sweeney leads the grading.

Shihan Howard corrects students’ technique.

Sensei Ben Ng demonstrates Ushiro Geri.

Elia Parsanejad leads the grading.

After the basics, the grading turned to kata, bunkai, advanced techniques and fitness.

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Many gruelling hours later, it was time for the sparring. Sempai Jason and Elia had to complete 20 full-contact fights for their respective grades, while the young aspiring-to-be Shodans had to push through the full 40.

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Despite some close calls, everyone made it through. Everyone was thoroughly tested, fought well and displayed strong Kyokushin spirit. Shihan Howard was delighted with the standard, declaring at the end of the grading that the base level of technical ability had noticeably improved since the previous black belt grading. He congratulated all students, and awarded the new yudansha with their new black belts.

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Congratulations to all, especially Sempai Jason, Sempai Jonathan, Sempai Angus, Sempai Josh, Sempai Victor and Sempai Trish!

Shihan Howard Lipman and Shihan Rick Cunningham with the new black belts.

This was an extra significant grading, as two records were broken: Sempai Patricia Tan is the oldest KIMAA member to pass the Shodan grading; and Sempai Josh is the youngest KIMAA member to pass the same grading, at 12 years and two weeks old. Sempai Jonathan is also the second person who began Karate through Knox Grammar to achieve black belt.

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All who graded and those who came along in support.

Queensland NAS – May 22, 2016

Sensei Mark McFadden and Patricia Tan with the Little Lions. — Sensei Mark McFadden and Patricia Tan with the KIMAA North Coast Little Lions team.

On Sunday May 22, four Little Lions from the KIMAA North Coast team competed in another round of the National All Styles. The tournament was held in Queensland.

Four Little Lions – Brad, Liam, Isaac and Loc – participated on the day. Sensei Mark McFadden (3rd Dan Kyokushin, 3rd Dan Kobudo) and Patricia Tan were the coaches.

Brad Chisolm of Ballina Dojo came second in point sparring, while Loc Ngyuen of Lismore Dojo came first in point sparring. Both boys fought in different divisions.

Well done to all who competed, and to Brad and Loc for their wins!

Sempai Rob James with Kancho Jim Casey at the NAS.

Sempai Rob James (2nd Dan Kyokushin) also competed in the NAS. He participated in the Open Black Belt and Veterans divisions.

Up against some very talented and skilled competitors, in the Open Black Belt division, Sempai Rob placed 4th. He performed the senior Kyokushin kata, Seienchin.

Sempai Rob participated in the NAS to inspire his Little Lions to do well in their own kata tournaments that are held at Aspley Dojo. “Seeing their Sempai compete in a kata tournament might inspire them in some small way.”

North Coast Gradings – March 30-31, 2016

Kyokushin Karate gradings were held recently in KIMAA‘s two dojos in the Far North Coast of New South Wales. The gradings were for the Little Lions (kids classes) and adult junior kyu grades.

Sensei Jon Ellis (3rd Dan Kyokushin, 2nd Dan Kobudo) took the Ballina Dojo grading on March 30th.

Ballina Dojo March 2016

Ballina Dojo March 2016

Sensei Mark McFadden (3rd Dan Kyokushin, 3rd Dan Kobudo) took the Lismore Dojo grading on March 31st.

Lismore Dojo March 2016

Lismore Dojo March 2016

A great effort by all involved. Results will be announced by the instructors at regular training.

North Coast Grading – December 12, 2015

Students of Lismore and Ballina dojos came together on Saturday December 12 for an end of year Kyokushin grading.

Sensei Mark McFadden (3rd Dan Kyokushin, 3rd Dan Kobudo) and Sensei Jon Ellis (3rd Dan Kyokushin, 2nd Dan Kobudo) assessed the students, with Sempai Wally Gray (2nd Dan Kyokushin) and Will Brook assisting.

It was a long day of basics, ido geiko, kata, bunkai, fitness and kumite, ending around 3.30 pm.

Well done to everyone who participated.

Students of the Year awards were also handed out at the end of the day. These included:

Ballina Little Lions – Brad Chisolm
Ballina Adults – Mick Calnan
Lismore Little Lions – Liem Nguyen
Lismore Adults – Jared Duckworth

NAS Australian Championships – December 5-6, 2015

Written by Sensei Mark McFadden (3rd Dan Kyokushin, 3rd Dan Kobudo)

On the weekend of December 5-6, the National All Styles Australian Championships were held on the Gold Coast. Competitors came from New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. The competition ran over two days on six mats.

Representing KIMAA were:

Trish and Amanda perform their Creative Weapons demo. — Trish and Amanda perform their Creative Weapons demo with the Bo staff.

Patricia Tan, Wes Snyder and Isaac McAlpine from Lismore Dojo, Far North Coast NSW.
Ayla Calnan, Conrad and Cooper Bahadur, and Brad Chisolm from Ballina Dojo, Far North Coast NSW.
Amanda Bolger from Aspley Dojo, Brisbane QLD.

To qualify for the nationals they all had to go through a qualifying round, then the Queensland State Championships and then be invited to participate in the nationals.

Cooper, Isaac and Ayla were in the under 7, Peewee division. Cooper fought a black belt in his first round and won.

Conrad and Brad were in the 8 to 9 years division. Brad did well, losing in an extension. Conrad placed Third.

Wes was in one of the largest divisions, the 16-year-old male 5th Kyu and above. This meant he was fighting and doing kata against black belts.

Amanda and Trish teamed up to do a demo kata with applications and came Second.

They teamed up again in the Creative Weapons section and came Third.

Amanda and Trish were also in the Women’s Advanced Kyu grade sparring, and unfortunately drew each other first up. It was a close match which Trish won.

Trish then went on to fight twice more and came Second in an extension. It was later discovered she had broken her thumb in the first match. Trish fought three rounds with the broken thumb – the power of the Kyokushin spirit and adrenalin!

The highlight was Trish winning the Women’s Open Kata division, performing Seienchin (which is in the KIMAA syllabus for 3rd Dan black belt). As the first competitor she had the option to do the kata again. She was told she was placed Second but if she did the kata again she would risk getting a lower score. She risked it all, with Sensei Jon Ellis telling her she could do a better kata. She did and placed First.

Trish and Amanda also were asked to compete in the Victorian team for the state against state competition, and were placed Third.

KIMAA's Little Lion champions! — KIMAA’s Little Lion champions!

In the end KIMAA had:

3 Thirds,
2 Seconds and
a First place in the Australian National All Styles.

Congratulations to all who competed. It took a lot of hard training and effort in previous competitions to qualify for the nationals. Not only did these students make the journey to reach this point, they all were excellent ambassadors for KIMAA and did their karateka proud. Special congratulations to those who won a placement. Thanks go to instructors Sensei Mark McFadden, Sensei Jon Ellis (3rd Dan Kyokushin, 2nd Dan Kobudo) and Sempai Wally Gray (2nd Dan Kyokushin) for their continued teaching, support and mentorship in Kyokushin and Kobudo.

Patricia Tan

Trish Tan & Amanda Bolger

Wes Snyder doing kata

Shihan Lipman Seminar at Aspley Dojo – November 28-29, 2015

Written by Shihan Howard Lipman (8th Dan Kyokushin, 7th Dan Kobudo)

On the weekend of November 28-29, my wife Masumi and I travelled to Brisbane for me to conduct a seminar at Sempai Rob James’s (2nd Dan Kyokushin) dojo in Aspley. There were 15 kids and 12 adults in attendance over the course of the weekend.

Sempai Rob and Shihan Lipman lead the class.

Aspley Dojo Little Lions with Shihan Lipman.

On Saturday afternoon the first class was for the kids who were initially a little apprehensive, however they were soon made to feel at ease and settled down to enjoy their class. I was most impressed with their level of knowledge and attitude towards training. The class consisted of Kihon, Ido Geiko and Kata.

At the conclusion of the class, Masumi wrote all the kids’ names on their belts in Japanese, which they thought was great.

This class was followed by a session with the adults where once again I checked and emphasised the importance of basics. Most of the class was spent on Kihon and Ido Geiko. Both were at a good standard, which is always a measure of capable students and a quality and dedicated instructor.

On Sunday morning there was another class for the adults and this was orientated towards Ido Geiko, Kata, some fighting techniques and a little self-defence. All the adults performed well and have potential to move forward in their grades.

A few deserve special mention: Jermaine and Amanda, the senior kyu grades, are excellent role models for the more juniors. Chris and Yolanda from the junior kyu grades also performed exceptionally well.

Aspley Dojo adults with Shihan Lipman.

All the adults also had their names put on their belts in Japanese by Masumi.

The seminar was a great success and enjoyed by all. Congratulations are due to Sempai Rob, who I have known since he was 17 years old. It has been interesting and pleasing to watch his progress over the years. His dojo now is well organised and well disciplined which is a mark of the man himself.

Sempai Rob James with Shihan Howard Lipman

Sydney Gradings – December 10, 2014

On December 10th, Shihan Howard Lipman held two Karate gradings at Turramurra Dojo.

First was a Kids grading, followed later in the evening by an Adults junior kyu grading.

The belts and certificates were awarded to students on December 19th, the final night of training for 2014 at Turramurra. The grading results are available below.

Click here for the grading results for December 10.