Juniors started off the day well, with most competitors gaining at least one place. In the 10-11 year 10-6th kyu division, James Swift won the Forms event and also took out Sparring. In the 5-BB section of this age group, competition was again very close with Jasmine Harford taking out the Forms event from Jalen Croxton, with Demi Harford third, and Stephanie Antolis fourth. In Sparring, Jalen faced Stephanie in one semi-final, with Jasmine facing Demi in the other. Both bouts were tight, with some excellent sparring. However, it was Jalen and Demi who advanced to the finals. Jalen took out the final from Demi, while Jasmine just outpointed Stephanie for third place. All competitors did very well. The 12-13 year 5-BB division saw a strong Sepei from Jason Spiteri take him into first place in Forms, with Lucille Lott in third. Jason placed second in Male Sparring, while Lucille had two very tough bouts to take out the Female Section. In the 14-15 year section, Callum Boyd won Forms from Madee White. Both Callum and Madee won their respective Sparring events. In the 5-BB section, Daniel Andrew won both Forms and Male Sparring, while Margie Hookway placed second in Forms and Female Sparring. Jondalar Grenfell-Sexton placed second in both Forms and Sparring in the 16-17 year 5-BB division.
Junior Continuous events were well supported and our Juniors did well. In the 10-11 year event, Jasmine Harford took out first place, with another convincing performance. The 12-14 year Female event was well fought, with Lucille Lott also taking out her division. Jondalar Grenfell-Sexton placed second in 15-17 year Male Continuous. The Senior Continuous events were well supported, with Nik McDonald being "steamrolled" in his bout for third place in the Male Advanced Section. In Female Advanced, Jess Dubois took the points over Lesley McDonald in the final of a very tightly fought bout.
Mid morning saw our competitors in the Senior events. In Female Intermediate, Linda Donnellan took out both Forms and Sparring. David Boyd won Forms, Steve Tyler placed third and Chris Taylor was fourth in the Male Intermediate division but all missed out on a place in Sparring. Female Advanced had a strong group of competitors and Forms was won by Zoe Tyler from Tamsin Ing, with Mary Bambacus third. Following recent knee surgery, Kate Jamieson bravely performed a cut down version of Seisan to qualify for the Nationals and was understandably unplaced. In Sparring Jackie Probert faced Tamsin Ing in the final and it was Tamsin who took the points over Jackie to take out the event. The Male Advanced competition saw Nik McDonald take out both Forms and Sparring. Veteran Forms saw Mary Bambacus take out second place with Chris McDonald third. Barb Hesselschwerdt and Steve Tyler were close behind. Steve Tyler placed third in Male Sparring, with Barb taking out a close final from Chris in the Female Sparring.
Ian Rollings was our only competitor in Male Black Belt Open Forms and placed third. In Sparring, Ian narrowly lost his semi-final bout, but rebounded to take out third place. A large Female Black Belt Open competition saw Lesley McDonald take out the Forms event again, with Dragana Calic finishing in third place following a three-way tie for second place. Catherine Wilkinson and Jess Dubois both performed quality kata, but missed out on a place. Jess and Dragana narrowly lost their first round Sparring bouts but Lesley won hers to move through to the semi-finals. However, Lesley lost her bout against Catherine and had to settle for the third place bout, but was unsuccessful. Catherine fought strongly in the final, but had to settle for second place.
State Team Coach Sensei Jeremy Thompson and Assistant Coach Sensei Shane Bennett were both very pleased with the performance of team members and the way in which they competed.
Videos coming soon in the Video Gallery
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