ISSUE 3 September 2016 VOLUME 10

A word from the

CHIEF INSTRUCTOR

Breaking striving for perfection

moderntkd.com

upcoming events

8th October

All Rank Training

@ Deception Bay

15th October

20th Anniversary Party

@ Kallangur

22nd October

Tournament Round 3

@ Redcliffe

19th November

All Rank Training

@ Redcliffe

3rd December

Grading

@ Kallangur

Bridge in the Gold Coast hinterland area and we were blessed with some of the best training weather available with the sun warming the days to perfection, not too hot, not too cold. We focused on a more tech-nical camp with just about everyone learn-ing a new pattern or refining their current ones. This included Brett, Jason and myself taking the time to work on a new pattern ready for them to refine and add to their next grading syllabus. The camp was not just a pattern weekend though, we had lots of physical sessions focusing on sparring, set sparring, breaking preparation, boxing and yoga just to name a few sessions. The rain stayed away and the sun was beautiful. I had a bit of a sore back and decided to lay out flat to stretch it while being bathed in the sun‟s rays – this was so nice in fact, that I managed to fall asleep with the class still training, only to wake up when they went quiet...to find Brett was videoing me, snor-ing my head off. Most respectful, don‟t you think? What I find most impressive is that I could be so relaxed in a training hall with everyone making noise, and so soothed by it that I can fall asleep. All in all, everyone had a great couple of days, sweating, com-paring bruises, and just bonding together after class. Life does not get much better than this. Thanks to all the high grades that attended and keep the same times available for next year, I‟ve already booked for 2017. Our 20th year celebrations are coming to-gether well, and we have booked a date for our big party – it will be the 15th of Octo-ber at our spiritual home, Kruger Hall in Kallangur. We will confirm final times, but will likely commence around lunch (so we can get the most visitors possible – and to take advantage of the park outside) and party into the evening. Because after all, 20

Winter is slowly drawing to an end, the cold feet and numb toes will also come to an end and before long the hot summer days will take hold. As much as I enjoy the cooler weather, I must say that the beautiful Queensland climate is something special, particularly this spring period. With great weather comes great training sessions, with the outdoor offering sunshine and fresh air to make our additional training sessions very special indeed. We recently held our yearly black belt camp at The Log Cabin at the Natural

years is a cause worthy of celebration. Make certain that you are available for this very special event in our history. Our re-quired partying has meant that we have moved the 3rd round of our tournament series to the 22nd of October, a week later than originally scheduled. Please make sure you add a note in your schedule to keep this date free too. My next news is also very special for the club – with the announcement that Brett Parker will now have the title of Master within the club. Master Brett Parker...has a certain sound to it don‟t you think? Brett has earned this and will now hold the same title as his brother Jason. We classify in the IMT system a 4th Dan ranking as that of a Master of our system. Now that Brett has held this ranking for a few years it is only right that he now should be addressed ap-propriately. Please congratulate him and show him the respect he deserves for so many years dedication and service to the club we all love so much. I am so proud of Brett and Jason for their unwavering dedi-cation and commitment to the organisation. I hope they inspire many of our students to embrace the same love of what we teach. I have seen both these boys grow into fine men with respect to all their fellow instruc-tors and students alike. I would like to thank all those students that attended our most recent All Rank training session hosted by the Banyo class at Tai-gum on the 20th of August. Again, great weather and a large number turned up, making the session one to remember. We focused on the upcoming grading, with lots of our black belts on hand to help fine tune each rank groups. The session had a great vibe about it. It‟s great to see so many peo-

By Peter Cameron

6th Degree Black Belt

Chief Instructor

Founder of IMT in Australia

kallangur .............. 2

black belt camp ..... 3

deception bay ........ 3

bribie ...................... 4

master the art ....... 4

black belts ............ 5

Murrumba downs ... 6

banyo ..................... 6

tournament............ 7

redcliffe ................ 8

ormeau ................... 8

Kallangur By Brett Parker

4th Degree Black Belt

ple support these sessions, as they are vital-ly important in keeping the club standard as high as it is. Thanks to all of you that regu-larly attend these sessions, and if you have-n‟t been along to one...it‟s time. Recently I opened a new class in Ipswich. We have started with a small yet dedicated group of members, and with some upcom-ing advertising we hope to grow soon. I am lucky enough to have someone that ob-tained their black belt with the club over 14 years ago. Lisa Smith (as she is now known) got her black belt, grew up, got married and started a family and has been waiting for me to open the class out here for over two years. She has also bought along with her, son Matthew who has just recently turned 7 years old and shows great promise already. Must be in the genes. We also have two bigger players in green belt Malcolm Burt (our academic superstar) that quite a few in the club will know from his documentaries and short films and a friend of his, Stephen Dryley-Collins, who is also making excellent progress within the class. It might just be the extra attention in class that is working as I can spend time with

each member very closely to perfect the basics. It also means they can‟t get away with slacking off! I would like to welcome all our other new members to the IMT. Know that you have a very dedicated group of instructors and black belts to help you in learning our art and system. Each black belt has trained for over 4 years and can assist to help teach in class under the guidance of their instruc-tors, as teaching makes you really look at what you are doing and is the next progres-sion in learning Tae Kwon Do . We pride ourselves for being dedicated and passion-ate about the organization that we love so much. I hope you enjoy what we have to offer and see that we have your best inter-ests in mind when it comes to training and learning Tae Kwon Do. On a sad note, we unfortunately will need to close the Bribie Island class down after 18 years. Lee has been an outstanding ex-ample of what the IMT stands for, with her unwavering dedication and enthusiasm for sharing and teaching Tae Kwon Do. We will not be losing Lee from the club, but time is needed for recovery from a knee replacement operation and she will take a well-deserved break before she starts back into some light training. Only time will see

if the body will allow Lee to keep kicking and push towards her next challenge. She is our beloved „Mother Duck” and has alway been the first to put her hand up to help teach our youngest members at each camp and training session. As I mentioned, we are not losing Lee (I won‟t let her retire), just the class. She will still be very present at the club when she is able. Thank you Lee from all of us at the IMT and know that we love you and will continue to support you through this time. Members of the club also competed in the most recent round of the AMAC QLD se-ries with great success. See Max‟s report in this newsletter for a wrap up of this excit-ing event, and note there is still one more tournament coming up where you can qual-ify for the QLD titles and then head onto the Australian Championships if successful. If you are interested in external competi-tions please ask your instructor about what you need to practice and how to get in-volved. Good luck to all those people going for this grading! Stay focused on your personal goals, train hard, kick high – and keep striving for perfection.

A word from the CHIEF INSTRUCTOR

news all students to have some additional fun outside the normal classes. It really helps improve you sparring and patterns abilities as everyone always tries their

hardest. It‟s also brilliant to see the comradery between all the students from all the clubs as well which makes for an exciting day. Thanks again for all the support from the helpers who as-sisted with running the can-teen in round 2.

Train Hard

With a relatively small team (by com-parison to previous years) competing in the years tournament series it‟s is fan-tastic to see the Kallangur club leading the overall points challenge for the perpetual club tro-phy. We are definitely punching (or kicking) above our weight this year! We have a narrow points lead over the Banyo club which can easily be gobbled up in Round 3 without strong support, so I encourage all the students to get involved for Round 3 and any students who have not yet competed to come along and have a fun day, the Tourna-ment series are put on for the benefit of

With 2016 running away from us, I would like to take the time to thank all the students from the Kallangur club for their commitment to training this year. There have been so many great im-provements from all the students not only with the Tae Kwon Do aspect but their confidence as well, which has and always will be a huge bonus from any martial arts training. It‟s all about the journey and how it can positively affect your life in many ways.

“It’s all about the journey and how it

can positively affect your life in many

ways.”

By Jason Pascoe

2nd Degree Black Belt

I hope everyone has been training hard for the Grading, remember to keep your hands up and you will do well. Bye for now

Hello from Deception Bay TKD! Exciting news! October 8th will be the first all rank training session hosted by Decep-tion Bay. I would really like to see a big turnout to support our club. It will be a great day. The club has increased its membership re-cently, so there is a good mix of students to spa with and meet.

I would like to welcome the Ayres family who have just joined and will be going for their first grading this Saturday. Good luck! Well done to all students at the tournament your effort was great and you have all shown good improvement. Well done also to those students who quali-fied for the state titles in AMAC.

Deception Bay buzz

WHAT BLACK BELTS GET UP TO AT BLACK BELT CAMP

All instructors particularly look forward very much to convening for the annual Black Belt Training Camp. This is a time when we can focus purely on our own growth as martial arts and refine skills for both our per-sonal and club students‟ benefit. Plenty of time was spent learning new patterns and refining „old‟ ones and the support and guidance given to each of us was outstanding. Thank you Peter, Jason, Brett, and Joe. We also spent time refining our set sparring, and also had a try of an new form of set sparring that Jason and Brett have been working on. It was very challenging, but the lessons learnt from it were worth the challenge. Time was also set aside to get everyone focused on their next Dan promotion. We practiced breaking tech-niques as well as some more advanced self defence techniques. Of course, the beautiful environment in which we trained, was food for the soul. A morning walk in the rain-forest to the Natural Bridge was a great start to the first full day of training. Time off the training floor was spent socialising and enjoying each other‟s company. We truly are blessed to be such a united and friendly group of black belts and the love for our martial art and our organisation and its students is palpable.

I‟ve canvassed having next year‟s camp on a long weekend so that we can all spend more time working and playing to-gether. Thanks again to all involved in the training camp. I can‟t wait for the next one Lee Griffith

By Lee Griffith

2nd Degree Black Belt

training sessions until they give me new knees. My best wishes and deepest thanks to the BRIBIE club for their understanding and compassion through this situation and with Mike's cancer journey. The heart of a black belt never gives in and the Griffith duo don't wave the white flag! Cheers for now.

Greetings from Bribie. A quiet term for us on the island with everyone working hard to achieve their best and prepare for the grading period. Other sports that our troupe are involved in impact on their involvement in the tournaments etc., but congratulations to Duncan for putting in a good perfor-mance at the last one. Our very best wishes to all those preparing for their col-oured belt gradings and to those amongst the black belt fraternity who are gearing up for their next Dan grading. POST SCRIPT: Since penning our club's news, there have been some major changes. Our club will unfortu-nately be in hiatus for the remainder of the year. As I

would like the most powerful knee strikes that would outdo Wonder Woman, I am preparing for double/bilateral knee replacements in October. Lovely polished titanium knee joints are being prepared for me and I look forward to trying them out in 2017 and hopefully they'll get me through a 3rd Dan grading.....coinciding with the celebration of turning 60 years young. Yes, I know, it's hard to believe I'm of that vintage. I'm proud of the fact that I've stuck it out, not giving into a very dodgy shoul-der and two crumbling knees to continue on the TKD journey. I would never have thought I'd still be going at this 22 years on. I've been told, in no uncertain terms, that I can't retire and one does not argue with or disobey Peter Cameron's instructions, nor his team of fearless instruc-tors. Hopefully you'll see me helping out at one of the club

Training your Mind Mini-Series - Part 3: Goal Setting

Welcome back for part 3 of the Training Your Mind Mini-Series. In today's article, we're going to be look-ing into your ability to make progress and advance as a martial artist by setting yourself goals for your train-ing. Setting goals is an important part of your training as a martial artist as well as in all areas of life you wish to succeed in. Setting a goal helps you focus on some-thing you wish to achieve and helps keep you motivat-ed enough to achieve it. Too many people think about things they want but never take any action towards it. The first step is always to set a clear goal of what you want. Only by knowing what you want can you direct your focus and enough of your energy in a meaningful manner to get there without being distracted along the way. By always starting a new thing, we fail to make progress or ever see any results. The same applies to your training in Tae Kwon Do. If you want to learn a new kick for example, it is not enough to do it once and then do something else, you must invest your time and effort in to it. You must think about what you're doing and how you could do it better each time you do it.

'I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks

once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick

10,000 times' - Bruce Lee.

them quickly however you will not push yourself to your limits and will quickly become bored and unful-filled again. Set yourself both long and short term goals. For each goal, break it down into smaller goals and think of a way you can take action on. Try to think of how you can work on this in every area of your training.

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting

our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our

aim too low, and achieving our mark.” – Michelangelo

It is best to write out your goals and read them regular-ly. This will help keep them fresh in your mind and will give you a lot of satisfaction and inspiration as you are able to cross them off. If you need help stick-ing to your goals, tell your instructor to help keep yourself accountable as well as get their help and tips. Don't forget to also use what you have learned about positive thinking, language and visualization from Parts 1 and 2 of the Mindset mini-series to help achieve your goals. A great tool to help with visualisa-tion is to create a vision board. Print images of the things you wish to achieve and put them somewhere you will see each day, for example, The Chief Instruc-tor doing the splits, or someone kicking above their head. In order to get the best benefit from your goals, it is important to set your own goals that you are interested in. If the goal isn't yours and doesn't reflect your val-ues and desires, you will not be motivated to achieve it. We hope you enjoyed this Mindset mini-series. Re-member to train hard, sharpen your mind and always keep 'Striving for Perfection.'

Setting goals will not only help you improve faster by focusing you efforts, it will also keep your training more interesting. If you have found yourself becoming bored with a particular area of your training, it is be-cause you have stopped challenging yourself to im-prove. By giving yourself a goal to focus on, you will always be able to push yourself to get better or learn something new regardless of the activity. For example, next time you're set-sparring, instead of always doing front-kick, turning-kick or finishing off your partner with the same combination, challenge yourself to do something new and exciting like practice a difficult spin kick or use a new takedown or arm lock you haven't practiced since camp. Patterns and basics are often seen as repetitive and become boring for some students however they are an essential part to becom-ing proficient in your martial arts. Rather than just going through the motions, set yourself a goal of something to improve each time. This will keep your mind sharp and before you know it you will be out of time and wishing you could do a few more. When setting goals, it is important not to make them too easy. By making them too easy, you will achieve

By Joseph Sandona

3rd Degree Black Belt

Mastering the art

Bribie bulletin

GET TO KNOW YOUR BLACK BELTS

Jason Parker

How old were you when you started TKD?: 8

How long have you been doing TKD?: very nearly 30 years

What age did you attain the rank of black belt?: 13

Why did you start TKD?: I don‟t remember ever asking to do it, but our parents started us.

Why are you still doing TKD?: I never had a reason to stop do-ing it. There has always been something to keep me motivated to continue. Black Belt - Check, Assisstant Instructor - Check, 2nd Dan - Check, Instructing my own class - Check, 3rd Dan - Check etc, etc. It is a journey that has given me so much motivation, that stopping has never entered my head.

Have you ever had any “bumps” in your TKD journey?: Not really. Injuries have always been minor. Nearly all of my injuries have happened outside of TKD. When I was younger, there was a period where we had to keep moving clubs because an instructor would move or change, but the longest it ever got was about 10 - 12 months.

Which part of TKD did you struggle with the most along the way & why?: Confidence and punching. Both of these only really got better when I was a 2nd Dan (around 16yrs old). I was quite introverted when I was younger, so I got scared easily using punches. My lack of confidence was also a result of this.

What do you enjoy most about TKD?: I really love teaching. I love having an impact in peoples lives and watching them grow and develop in areas where they thought they never could. I also really like kicking people in the head. The better I have got, the easier this has become. Now it‟s as easy as walking or running.

What is your occupation?: Signwriter

Apart from TKD, what do you like to do in your spare time?: I play indoor soccer once a week and I generally like watching car-toons and movies in my downtime.

What other sports have you done in your life?: Mostly soccer.

Tell us one thing we probably don’t know about you: That‟s pretty hard. Most people who know me or train with me know the kinds of things I like. I suppose for people who don‟t know me that well, I always wanted to be an animator, so I can draw pretty ok cartoons. That‟s why I still love cartoons and comics even though I‟m 37. I suppose it is also a bit of a regret not pursuing it more, but I have a lot of things in my life that make me happy.

Anything else you’d like to share? People start TKD for different reasons, and continue or stop TKD for different reasons. But I always threat every person who walks through my door as a poten-tial instructor, so I give my all. I try to fill them with as much knowledge as I possibly can in the hope that one day they may pass it on to someone else. This attitude does not make me special or different in any way, but it is what keeps me motivated and why it still makes me sad when a student leaves my class.

John Barron

How old were you when you started

TKD?: I started training at the age of 36.

How long have you been doing TKD?: I have been doing TKD for 12 years.

What age did you attain the rank of black belt?: I was officially 40.5 years old. I had wanted to get my BB before 40, but a shoulder injury put me 1 year

behind. It was scary being 40 as I thought I would be too old – but age is just a number.

Why did you start TKD?: I was doing a job where I had received quite a few threats from unsavory characters I had to deal with (Loan sharks). Plus I wanted to get my kids into a sport, so I trained in the junior class with my eldest son. He quit to do triathlons but lucky Max has started getting into it. So of course son 1 has been disowned!

Why are you still doing TKD?: Because it is fun to teach and make the little kids cry…. Just kidding I also like making the big kids cry. Teaching has given me a whole new appre-ciation of TKD. All instructors have different teaching styles, and I feel like I can offer a lot.

Have you ever had any “bumps” in your TKD journey?: I would have to say the tendonitis I have suffered the past 1.5 years is really starting to annoy me.

Which part of TKD did you struggle with the most along the way & why?: Being a large person - moving. During sparring the mind knows what is coming but the body to too big and old to move.

What do you enjoy most about TKD?: The comradery in the organization. A lot of us catch up socially outside TKD and I know if ever I need a hand to get a new fridge up a flight of stairs someone will always be there to help.

What is your occupation?: I work for the Government in the field of investigations. I did a lot of years with Consumer Affairs. Then I did a few years investigating loan sharks and money lenders (hence why I was getting threatened). For the past 6 years I have been doing accident investigations in Min-ing, Gas and Explosives (including fireworks). I like investi-gations as you have to always be thinking, but the downside is having to speak to people who have lost a family member – especially as ALL accidents are avoidable.

Apart from TKD, what do you like to do in your spare time?: I discovered the joy of jet skis in early 2015… no it is not a mid-life crisis! I bought myself 1 (which became 2) and get out as often as I can. I also build and fix computers as I got into computers in my early 20‟s.

What other sports have you done in your life?: From the age of 12 to 30, I played squash. It is an extremely tough sport and very physical. Interesting my mum & dad met through squash. Also I met Leanne (my wife) on the squash court when we played against each other as young teenagers.

Tell us one thing we probably don’t know about you:

Nothing – I am an open book and love telling stories about my adventures or misadventures (as most people know).

Anything else you’d like to share?: Now that I have done this Kathy Pascoe can stop annoying me!

Continuing in this issue of IMT‟s Breaking Ground Newsletter, is a new section called “Get to know your Black Belts”. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was completely scared and intimidated by the black belts, and at times to the point of being afraid to approach them. I‟m sure I wasn‟t the first to feel this way, and I won‟t be the last. So I thought it might be a good idea for all the black belts to put down on paper a few key points about themselves, to show that black belts are just like everyone else......that they all started at the bottom, I'm sure had some type of struggles along the way, and they also have a life outside TKD. The same questions have been asked of all black belts, and I‟ve been entertained and inspired by their responses. As you will see, all of the black belts took up TKD at varying ages, all have different strengths and weaknesses, but they all have a love for it that runs deeper than just a sport. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy getting to know your black belts a little better….. Kathy Pascoe 1st Degree Black Belt

Greetings from the Murrumba club. As we enter into the last ¼ of the year, as per usual it seems like 2016 has passed so quickly and we will be talking about Xmas before you know it. Maybe it seems the year goes so quick because I have had so many??? This grading will see Daniel of Murrumba go for his first grading. Daniel has picked up the basics in a very short period of time and has a very good enthusiasm attitude to-wards TKD which is great to see.

need to do more OR you are not doing them right. Any exercise or stretch is pointless if you have poor technique or you are doing it wrong – so always ask your instructor if you are doing it right. Fitness is not something you get in 1 week, so always try to meet and exceed your per-sonal best – or PB. Do 50 pushups, situps and punches morning and night every day for 2 weeks. Then increase to 60 for 2 weeks, then after 2 weeks increase to 70 and so on. Make your progression a gradu-al thing and you will find it an achievable goal. With approximately 14 weeks to my next article that means you will all be up to 110 morning and night……

At Murrumba we have been focussing on the basics for the yellow & green belts. The brown belts have been working hard and will grade later in December as a Black Tip grading is very tough and is virtually a mini Black Belt grading. Max has also been training very hard and doing 4 nights a week in preparation for a 2nd Dan grading hopefully before the end of 2016.

Seeing all the higher grades prepar-ing for the tougher grading means my training tip for the newsletter I want to talk about is fitness. Even if you are young, fitness does not come naturally and you must work at it. You should always push yourself to get fitter and stronger. If you are finding push ups easy it means you

By John Barron

2nd Degree Black Belt

Maniacs Murrumba

By Tony Robinson

2nd Degree Black Belt

G‟day to every one form the Banyo class.

First up I would like to welcome Will and Angus to our class and the IMT family.

Secondly, hopefully when you are reading this, winter has left us again for another year and everybody can now stop bringing their sniffles and coughs to class to share with the rest of us. Spring is a magnificent time of year here and also a good time to grade with some nice moderate temperatures and bright sunny days. If you have been working hard in class and are getting the oppor-tunity to grade at this time, make the most of the excellent conditions and give us your best display of what you have learned.

While on the subject of training hard, to get the most out of your training ses-sions you need to turn up to class with a positive attitude and a focus only on learning and im-proving. When you get to your hall (early before class is due to start) and bow in at the door, that is the time you should be focusing on what you can get out of the nights lesson. You should be spending some time warming up and stretching so you are ready to give it

reverse this trend at the final round in October. Whilst we had quite a few that could not make it to the last round, we still managed to score pretty well. So look out the rest of you, we are coming hunting. In saying that, I have also stressed to the class that the whole day is about having some fun and friendly competition. It doesn‟t matter whether you win or not. Just enjoy the day, make some new fiends and show some sportsman-ship.

I have also let them in on the details of where Brett Parker and I live and how we visit each other‟s house quite regularly and how good it has been for me to have him walk in and see the big club trophy at my house for a change instead of the other way around and how I would really like this to continue.

So, again, it‟s not all about winning or losing.

It‟s just about winning.

GO BANYO!

everything as soon as the lesson begins. Once the class bows in there shouldn‟t be any talk unless you have a question to ask your instructor, the drill you are per-forming requires you to communicate with your partner or you are shouting during set sparring etc.

Whilst we have a few grading this time, the end of the year will be the busiest time for our class with the majority of students looking at grading at this time. As well as a range of junior and senior grades, hopefully we will also have one or two attempting black belt.

Also, good health and injury permit-ting, the latter part of the year will see Kathy, Jaz and hopefully myself attempting dan promotions. Dan gradings don‟t come along very often (it will be 6.5 years since Jaz and I last graded) and we have all been training hard for more than a year to hopefully achieve our goals. I would like to thank our class for being

patient with us as sometimes we need to do our own thing with the knowledge that they are still working hard by themselves.

The second round of the tournament saw us playing second fiddle to Kallangur again. Hopefully we can

“ you need to turn up to class with a posi-tive attitude and a

focus only on learn-ing and improving.”

Banyo breakers

Tournament Round 2 & AMAC

Round 2 On Saturday 30th of July, IMT held round 2 of the tournament series. Kallangur was the host this time and they kept us all well fed with some delicious food, drinks and sweets for us to enjoy throughout the day. Thank you to all the help-ers in the canteen for keeping everyone well nourished and hydrated for the day. What an exciting round! Congratulations to all students involved on such great performances. The day started with a strong patterns competition. Everyone sat and watched intently at each performance, looking for something that could separate the competitors. With the standard being set so high, even the smallest mistake could be the difference be-tween winning a medal or not. The Instructors had been working hard to get used to the new scoring system, so the patterns ran quite smoothly. At the end of the patterns, Kallangur and Banyo were tied on points, with Bracken Ridge only 2 points behind. The teams event was exciting and entertaining as always. This event has really bought out a lot of great creativity in the students. With each round, the demonstrations are getting more creative and interesting, with each team looking for more ways to outdo each other. Congratulations to the team of Bree and Abby from Kallangur, who bought home 1st place with an amazing performance. Well done girls! Naturally the sparring event got the crowd into full voice. The pee wee group is always one of the highlights of the day, it‟s always great to see our smallest members give such big performances. Well done to Nefi from Murrumba Downs who took out 1st place in her first tournament. The juniors in division 6 also got the crowd going with some excellent fighting. The division was one of the hardest to score with each competitor so evenly matched, the judges had to be right on their toes. When the high grade divisions rolled around, everyone was entertained with all of the big kicks, as each competitor tried to get the edge over their opponent. The excitement kept going as the finals started, all of the clubs got right behind their respective finalist. They were all treated to some great action, so congratulations to all final-ists on such great performances. The third and final round just around the corner on the 22nd of October, (please note the change of date in your calen-dar). We‟re sure all students will be anxious to see their points tally, and my word there are som extremely close divi-sions. Grand Champion trophies will be presented to the top points scorer in each division, so there will be a lot of great competition to be had at round 3. Well done again to everyone who competed and we look forward to seeing you at the final round!

AMAC

On Sunday the 31st of July IMT was well represented by 10 instructors and students at the Australian Martial Arts Championships at Morayfield. IMT had majority of competitors meaning that most of the students who entered came away with a trophy or a medallion. It was the first time I had ever entered AMAC and I found it to be a great experi-ence. I found I learnt about different sparring styles against different people. If more students entered, IMT would probably dominate the competition. In case you missed the results on the Facebook page, here they are: Jason Parker: placed 1st in Veterans points, veterans freestyle and black belt points, also placed 3rd in Points Contact. Brett Parker: 1st in points contact, patterns, 2nd in full contact and 3rd in Freestyle. Joe Sandona: 2nd in points contact, points and 3rd in patterns. Max Barron: 1st Junior points contact and 2nd in 16-17 yrs patterns. Michael Loeken: 1st Freestyle, 4th in points sparring and patterns. Leana Johnson: 1st in Freestyle sparring. Coban Parker: 3rd in Patterns. Ebony Eayrs: 1st in points contact, 2nd points sparring and sumo, 3rd Freestyle, patterns and Sword combat. Isabel Wellock: 4th in Points sparring. Chris White: 1st Freestyle, 2nd points, points contact, patterns, sword and 3rd in sumo. Some short mentions to Chris who came away with the most trophies at the end of the day with a total of 7 placings in his first experience at AMAC. This is a great achievement for a new young student as Chris is only a Greenbelt. I had to fight in adult sparring divisions sparring with Jason, Brett, Joe, Michael and a handful of other adults. I found this to be very challenging. All members of IMT who entered showed great sportsmanship throughout their divisions, thank you to Lee, Jason Pas-coe and Troy who came and supported the club as well as family members, thank you for coming along and cheering for IMT. If you are interested in entering the next round of AMAC speak to your instructor or Brett and Jason and keep and ear out for when the next round is. Max Barron

By Jason Parker

4th Degree Black Belt

Between my last article and this one, I have had my 2

1/2 week holiday to China and Japan. Both countries

were very unique and offered many different sights,

sounds and tastes. A big thanks to Jason and Anthony

for taking care of the class while I was away.

Anthony has also just returned to training after a

camp. Instructors really need these camps to get to-

gether for some solid training and to share ideas. Plus

the location wasn‟t bad either!

I am hoping for a bigger representation from the Red-

cliffe club at the 3rd round of the tournament series on

the 22nd of October. We are hosting this round, and I

have made it very clear that I am

expecting 100% attendance this time!

Good luck at the grading everyone.

Be confident in yourself, as much as

your instructor has confidence in

you.

looong 2 month holiday in Europe. He hasn‟t lost his

edge and came back to class almost as strong as when

he left.

We have had some new white belts join recently, so

class numbers are up again. They are all training well

and are showing good potential. With my focus shift-

ing to the newer ranks, Jason Pascoe has been doing a

good job of preparing the higher grades. This is good

practice for him as his own students

from Deception Bay progress through

the ranks. I have been pushing my

senior class pretty hard lately, not only

physically, but pushing them outside

of their usual comfort zone. They

have responded well and are showing

good strength of character and understanding of where

I am leading them.

I had a very enjoyable time at the recent Black Belt

“They have respond-

ed well and are

showing good

strength of character

and understanding...”

Redcliffe review

Ormeau By Troy Johnson

2nd Degree Black Belt report At our own tournament series we managed to pull into 4th place overall which we are more than happy with. We had our student‟s place 2nd in team demonstrations, and given that they had only had one afternoon worth of practice beforehand, this was a well-deserved award. Good luck to everyone grading today, push hard and keep your hands up.

In more light news, we had our assistant Leana, com-pete in her first ever AMAC tournament and she man-aged to place 1st in Freestyle sparring. She is now off to states, hoping she can bring home even more tro-phies and add to the clubs reputation. She has a good, steady support group of martial artists helping her push herself each day, and in turn, it will hopefully lead her to nationals where she can represent IMT alongside our already awesome Australian Champions.

The last 3 months have been relatively normal in terms of our class. The Ormeau crew are hard at work to improve themselves and as always it pays off. Our class is growing in rapid numbers with more and more eager people to learn the art we have all dedicated our lives to. Now this comes with a bit of sad news, unfortunately while our class has been growing, the gym has not. I have, with a heavy heart, had to sadly close the gym. The gym has been a big commitment for the past 3 years of my life, and unfortunately I cannot continue to work 100 hour weeks to support it. Our class will now be moving to the local high school, and training out of there on the same nights. We will continue to strive for perfection, no matter where we are and will continue to grow our numbers. We wish our students the best with their grading today, we know you will all smash it.