2009 - State Championships (September 13)

A very successful State Championships for the South Australian Team with many team members picking up 25 individual and two Team State Titles. As well, 22 individual and 1 team places were achieved plus 5 third places. Several team members finished in 4th place in Forms events or lost third place bouts in Sparring. A great effort by all Team members who represented the Club well.

Team and Weapons events were on first, and in Senior Demonstrations, it was Alan Gillert, Beau Beaumont and Daniel Tregenza who took out the event. Jenny Miller and John McDonald placed second. In Junior Demonstrations, Jason Spiteri and Tegan Miller took out first place. John McDonald competed in the Senior Weapons event but was unplaced. Junior Continuous events were next and several of the youngsters competed, some for the first time. In the 7-9 year division, Lateilia Mobbs took out the event, with the injured Jasmine Harford withdrawing but still qualifying for the Nationals. In 10-11 years, Lucille Lott made the final but lost a split decision to take out second place. Jamie Lonie won the third place bout in her first attempt in this event. Crystal Spencer was too strong for opponents in the Female 15-17 year division and took out the event yet again.

Pee Wee action saw Jordan Haffner place second in Forms and in spirited competition, took out first place in Sparring. Lateilia Mobbs and Stephanie Antolis were our competitors in 8-9 year 5-BB section, and in Forms, it was Lateilia who placed first, with Stephanie second. However, in Sparring it was Stephanie who took the points over Lateilia in the final to win the event. In the 10-11 year, 10-6th kyu section, Jamie Lonie placed second in Forms and Sparring. In the 5-BB section of this age group, Jason Spiteri  took out Forms, with Lucille Lott placed second. In Sparring, Jason took out the final, with Lucille unsuccessful in the bout for third place. Daniel Andrew took out both Forms and Sparring in his 12-13 year 10-6th kyu division, check out the videos in the Video Gallery. Aaron Hittmann missed out placing in Forms in the 5-BB section of this age group, but placed second in the Male Sparring event. We had three competitors in the 14-15 year 5-BB division, and all performed well in Forms. Tegan Miller won the event from Nathan Perrett, with Jondalar Grenfell-Seaton missing out by a small margin to finish in fourth spot. In Female Sparring, Tegan was outpointed in the final to finish second, as was Nathan in the Male event. Jondalar narrowly lost a first round bout to finish out of the medals. Crystal Spencer won both the Forms and Female Sparring events in her 16-17 year 5-BB division to complete a winning year. It was a very good Tournament for our Juniors with almost everyone placing in at least one event.

Tamsin Stanton placed first in Female Intermediate Forms, with Chris Cope second. In Sparring, Tamsin won the event, a just reward for all the hard training this year. Male Intermediate, saw Cory Burnside continue on his winning way, taking out both Forms and Sparring in a polished display. It was a sweep in Female Advanced Forms with Kate Jamieson, Zoe Tyler and Mary Bambacus finishing in that order. In Sparring, Kate Jamieson won the final over Zoe Tyler. In Male Advanced, Nik McDonald won Forms from Shaun Williams, with Sean Hutton third. In Sparring, Nik took out the final from Sean, with Shaun third. Our Veteran competitors did well, taking out several trophies in their events. In Forms, John McDonald won the event from Jenny Miller, with Julie Tynan third. Chris McDonald, Mary Bambacus and Steve Tyler performed well but out of the pacing's. Jenny Miller won the Veteran Female sparring from Julie Tynan, with Chris McDonald fourth. John McDonald won the Male Sparring, with Steve Tyler just missing out on third place by a small margin.

Open action after lunch saw Lesley McDonald take out the Female Forms decision in a very large group. Chris McDonald, Jess Dubois, Jenny Miller and Julie Tynan were unplaced. None of the ladies placed in sparring, but they all did well. Male Forms was won by Alan Gillert, with Daniel Tregenza, Beau Beaumont and Craig Spencer out of medal position. Male Sparring saw Jeremy Thompson win his fourth Senior Sparring title in five years, taking out the bout in extra time from Daniel Tregenza. Alan Gillert finished fourth. Craig Spencer and Beau Beaumont both won their first round bouts but were eliminated in the next round. Both the Male and Female Open divisions had around 11-12 competitors and were high quality events.

The Senior Continuous events completed the day. Jess Dubois tried her luck in Advanced Open and placed second. In the Male Advanced, Craig Spencer and Nik McDonald went out early but Corey Burnside made the bout for third place but didn't take the Judges' decision. Daniel Tregenza went one better in making the final but lost to the more experienced Jason Couzner. Congratulations to all the winners on a great performance. Time now to focus on the NAS National Tournament at the end of November in Melbourne. Thanks to Tamsin and John for the photos. Videos of several events are in Video Gallery.

Sparring: Alan vs Beau, Alan Gillert, Daniel vs Alan, Daniel vs Alan, Daniel, Jeremy, Jeremy, Jeremy,