News from the Melbourne Club

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On Saturday the 11th of December we had the pleasure of hosting Master Daher who provided us with our 2nd Masterclass followed by our December Grading.
We also welcomed visiting instructor Mr Dave Proctor from Traralgon, who was kind enough to bring with him 2 of his students, Sarah and Shane,

The Masterclass covered the first four defences from a new Self Defence syllabus. The moves were explained thoroughly, point by point and then
practiced by all students. The moves were simple yet very effective and even our younger students grasped the moves very quickly. Overall the new

self defence syllabus was met with much enthusiasm and we look forward to implementing it during classes for next year.

We then moved onto the Grading which saw Mr Bryan Dance grade to 1st Degree
Black Belt. He describes his journey to Black Belt as ’16 years, five clubs, two countries, countless bruises, and a few fractures later……”

Standout performances included Leiana Keogh, Ingrid Wood, Jon Grandin, Mitch Sammut and Mickey Thomas. We also had a number of students offered positions on the Il Shim Squad for
the 2013 World Championships which was fantastic.   

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Sunday morning came around far too quickly and all participants were a little tired and sore. The biggest issue though was keeping the mind on the job at hand.  Thanks to a well timed chat with Ken Harris (Thanks Ken!), the mind refocussed and finished off the Third and Fourth degree patterns.
We then followed up with step sparring performed in slow and fast motion. This tested the hamstring but it held up ok.

This was then followed by breaking which I really enjoyed, particularly the speed punch which I hadn’t performed before.
We then finished off with a fitness test with all of us rotating through various stations hitting targets with different techniques. At the end all I could remember was push ups! Sit ups! Push ups!


With that finished it was time to find out or results. I passed! The hard work paid off!

I’d like to thank Master Daher for his support and guidance, over this journey. I’d also like to thank my family and in particular my wife Michelle who
has been a great support to me in the preparation for this grading.  Thank you!

Paul Harper (5th Degree)

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We then focussed on our breathing and using knee spring.  Following on from this we then needed to look at what we were doing when an opponent attacked.  We were all trying to block the attack rather than simply trying to avoid it.  We then worked on our breathing and trying to avoid the attack.

We then moved onto counterattacking after avoiding the attack.  The students gained a lot out of the Masterclass and hoped that the work they had done will hold them in good stead for the upcoming tournament.  Some of the senior students then stayed back and worked on their fundamental movements particulary hand position, feet position and timing of legs and hands during the movement.

This ended the Masterclass and was a great reminder of the focus we need to place on our fundamental movements.

The skill of the students had improved dramatically by the end of the class, the improvement came as a result of using their knee spring, which enabled them to breath correctly. Breathing correctly means oxygen is getting into the body, enabling the student to think more clearly. Also Master Daher spent a lot of time teaching the students how to avoid an attack by stepping backwards or sideways instead of blocking, as they learnt the reasons for moving this way, they could then see how much quicker it is to counter attack the opponent.

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