Little Lions from KIMAA’s North Brisbane Dojo competed in the National All Styles tournament on Sunday March 26.
The competitors in the Gold Coast tournament were led by their instructor Sempai Rob James.
Sean performed Taikyoku sono Ichi and Maddison performed Pinan sono Ni. Both came up against tough competition in their respective divisions. Sean won Third Place and Maddison came fifth in her division. For both, it was their first tournament. Congratulations Sean and Maddison!
Students from KIMAA’s North Coast dojos participated in the Gold Coast Budo Challenge on Sunday October 2nd.
Sensei Jon Ellis led the team from Ballina Dojo and Sempai Wally Gray led the team from Lismore Dojo.
Sensei Mark McFadden had pepped up the team the night before with the following words:
“The only thing I would add is enjoy the tournament, the atmosphere, whether it is your first or 31st. Enjoy the camaraderie, and being with stacks of people all into Kyokushin. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose. It matters that you participated and gave it a shot.
Of course we will celebrate those who do well, but we will also celebrate those who tried. The competitors have all put in extra training, extra effort. You will all be fine.”
The first trophy of the day was won shortly after lunch by Patricia Tan, coming third place in a kata division.
The success for the KIMAA team followed, with our karateka taking out gold trophies in three divisions.
Congratulations to all who participated, whether you won a trophy or not. You represented KIMAA proudly.
KIMAA karateka from Turramurra and Annangrove dojos competed in the Australian Kyokushin Karate Association NSW State Tournament on May 22.
Sempai Jason Lambe (1st Dan Kyokushin) and Christian Girdham competed from Annangrove Dojo, while Angus and Victor Sweeney represented Turramurra.
Acting as coaches and other support on the day were Shihan Rick Cunningham, Sensei Mark Shelmerdine, Sensei James Sidwell and Sensei Don Cheong.
Sempai Jason, Angus and Victor all fought in the COLTs heavy weight division while Christian fought in the COLTs light weight division.
Sempai Jason and Victor were up against each other for their first fight. Victor lost to Jason by a half-point due to a solid kick to the ribs, but the round still went to completion.
Angus was up against a black belt in his first round. Angus lost by a half-point when he took a jodan mae geri to the face, but continued the fight to completion.
Sempai Jason then went up against the black belt who had bested Angus. Sempai Jason fought well but also lost by a half-point due to a head kick, yet he finished the round all the same.
These three had fought in the AKKA state titles last year and in others, but for Christian, it was his second tournament. He fought well for his second time, but ultimately lost his round due to an ushiro geri kick.
Well done to all competitors for turning up and representing KIMAA.
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 (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.”
Sensei Jon Ellis (3rd Dan Kyokushin, 2nd Dan Kobudo) has opened a new full-time dojo in Ballina, replacing the existing Ballina Dojo.
The new dojo is located at Unit 2/3 Sheather Street, Ballina NSW 2478. Class times are detailed below:
Sensei Jon is one of KIMAA’s licensed dojo operators under Shihan Howard Lipman, and one of the two senior instructors in the Far North Coast NSW branch of KIMAA. You can read more about Sensei Jon here.
The opening of this dojo is a proud expansion of KIMAA operations on the North Coast. Thanks go to all students who helped clean and prepare the new dojo for training.
In other recent news for Ballina Dojo and their Little Lions, on Sunday April 10, Cooper competed in the first round of the National All Styles.
Cooper came second in the Pee Wee Points Sparring division. Congratulations, Cooper! Thanks go to Sempai Rob James for standing in Cooper’s corner on the day.
Students from three KIMAA dojos attended at the Queensland Frank Everett Memorial Tournament on Saturday April 2nd.
The groups from Lismore, Ballina and Aspley were led by Sensei Mark McFadden (3rd Dan Kyokushin, 3rd Dan Kobudo), Sensei Jon Ellis (3rd Dan Kyokushin, 2nd Dan Kobudo) and Sempai Rob James (2nd Dan Kyokushin) respectively.
Competing were three fighters from Ballina Dojo and eight from Aspley Dojo.
Mick Calnan, Cooper Bahadur and Peter English, all students of Sensei Jon, fought on behalf of the NSW Far North Coast. It was the first time competing in a tournament for Peter and Cooper, and the second time for Mick.
Mick fought very well but unfortunately did not win his fight. He made the dojo proud though, earning the nickname ‘The Gumtree’ from his fellow competitors because they couldn’t knock him down or budge him!
Cooper fought two fights and won both. He lost his last fight – in the final for his division – but made an admirable effort for second place.
Peter had one fight and was put up against a 1st Kyu (Senior Brown Belt). Peter is a 10th Kyu (Orange Belt). It was a tough fight but Peter managed to hold his own against the much more seasoned opponent for the entire two-minute round, also taking second place in his division.
Videos of some of the fights are available on the private North Coast Kyokushin Facebook page for members there.
Eight of Sempai Rob James’s Little Lions also competed on the day: Brock, Bodie, Quinten and Chantelle Dielwart; Darius and Mayhar Firoozi; Jack Bolger; and Isaac Selwood.
Sempai Rob was impressed by everyone’s courage and determination on the day – most notably young Isaac, who has only been training a short time but managed second place in his first tournament.
Chantelle twisted her ankle seconds into her first round and was taken to hospital. She has since been released with no broken bones, just severe bruising and soreness. We wish her a speedy recovery.
Brodie and Brock Dielwart performed well in their first tournament as did Darius Firoozi. Jack Bolger placed second in boys 8-10 years; Isaac Selwood second in boys 10-12 years; Mahyar Firoozi second men’s novice 70-80 kgs; and Quintin Dielwart placed third in the men’s 8th Kyu novice.
Four students from Lismore Dojo attended the tournament with Sensei Mark to watch and support their fellow karateka. Jack, Yacho, Lachlan and Phil enjoyed watching their first live Kyokushin tournament, giving them a taste of what they need to train for in the future. Their attendance is a typical reflection of the KIMAA attitude, showing up to support your mates in the dojo even if you don’t have a fight on the day. Their cries of encouragement from the sidelines would have helped the fighters from Ballina and Aspley get through their two-minute rounds, no doubt.
Well done to all involved for their training in the lead-up, their performance on the day and their continuous display of the Kyokushin spirit.
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:
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.
In the end KIMAA had:
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.
Kyokushin International Martial Arts Australia 