Club News Archives - Page 6 of 7

Senior Black Belt Grading 2010 – Paul Harper

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)

28 September, 2010/0 Comments/by Shawn Sutton

Stawell Grading and Masterclass Report – Sept 2010

Stawell

Master Daher conducted the Master Class before the grading and introduced himself to the not only the students but also the many spectators as well. After his brief introduction highlighting Master Daher’s experience and outlook on Martial Arts the class got down to business. Master Daher quickly established a rapport with the students and their nerves calmed. One of the highlights of the Masterclass was Master Daher teaching the white belts Chon-Ji in 10 minutes! Many of the students were invited onto the floor in pairs and individually to perform a pattern they had only briefly seen performed by the more senior students of the class. Each student, under the tuition of Master Daher, performed very well with the whole hall looking on. This would have to be the fastest ever lesson in how to perform our first pattern and the students performed it so well the senior belts were left wondering what the secret was! The Masterclass ran through many of the fundamental techniques of Taekwon-Do and was extremely successful.

Grading Report

The Masterclass had eased some of the nerves of the students, however, Mr Harper was remained nervous, wondering how his club would perform. All of the students performed extremely well with everyone passing.

Eleven students were graded from white belt to yellow tip. With eight students grading to yellow tip and the three younger members of the class grading to W/S. All of the students were presented with their certificate and promoted to their next belt by Master Daher on the day. There were many smiling, relieved students after the grading, not to mention Mr Harper!

The Stawell students and Mr Harper look forward to Master Daher’s return for our next grading in December.

Comments:

Emily (8 years of age) – I think it was fun and the teacher was interesting.

Austin (10 years of age) – I am very proud of myself for grading to yellow tip. I really enjoyed the whole experience.

Koedy (14 years of age)– I was hard but worth it.

Tom (14 years of age) – It was different but fun to get yellow tip

Cory (13 years of age) – It was fun but hard at the same time

Darren – Learnt a great deal of information. Thank you for the opportunity

Sharon – Great experience, encourage more in Stawell. Thanks, Sir.

Graham – Inspirational – just great. Worth all the time spent.

17 September, 2010/0 Comments/by Shawn Sutton

Aberdeen Grading September 2010

Aberdeen

Other members of the class who were grading for colour belts were also put through a rigorous assessment in front of a panel of senior Black belts.

Afterwards Master Daher took time to explain to the class that in order to achieve a promotion, all of the students must expect to be scrutinised much more closely on their technique and effort, not only at grading but also in their normal class training, as they continued to progress through the ranks to the more senior belt levels.

Congratulations to new Black belt students: Johnny Bowman, Cecilia Love and Braiden Lewis.

15 September, 2010/0 Comments/by Shawn Sutton

Melbourne Master Class Sept 2010

Melbourne

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.

13 September, 2010/0 Comments/by Shawn Sutton

Our Black Belt Journey

Agnes Water

Blake Esplin

I graded for my Black Belt, First Dan on the 20/09/2008. I was 13 years old on the day of my grading.

Since achieving my Black Belt I have been assisting Ms Jacobsen in the role of Senior Assistant Instructor at our club.

Some of the experiences that I have been involved with leading up to my Black Belt Grading were;

¨ Three Masters Downunder Seminar held on the Sushine Coast, Queensland. Master Daher was joined by Master McPhail and Master Davidson from New Zealand. This seminar went for three days.

¨ Attended the General Choi Cup in Sydney in 2004.

¨ Attended a tournament held by the Bai Rui Club in Brisbane.

¨ Attended an International Instructors Course at Nambour, Queensland.Supportting Master Daher were Master McPhail from New Zealand, Master Hector Marano, Master Pablo Trajtenberg both from Argentina and members of ITF Technical Committee.

¨ A number of seminars conducted by Master Daher for the clubs in our region.

¨ Our instructor has also conducted various workshops and beach training.

Our week days are very long days particularly on our training days as it takes an hour and a half to get to school and hour and a half to get home by bus. The distance we travel to training from home after school is a 95km round trip. The traveling only, on training days is 4 hours.

Saturday training is good as we don’t have to get up so early or go to school.

I started Taekwon-Do in 2004 and have been training regularly and attending seminars since.

I get a lot of enjoyment when I pass my examinations with all the hard work I’ve done with training and preparations.

I also enjoy the technical seminars and workshops, particularly with all the new people I meet and the new training methods that I learn. Everyone at the seminars is very helpful and offers a lot of assistance.

Outside of Taekwon do, I play U14 rugby union for St Luke’s every Friday night, which I was just selected to represent Bundaberg in the lighthouse cup.

I have also completed a 2 Day course in May this year for my Senior First Aid Certificate.

Brooke Esplin

I graded for my Black Belt, First Dan on19/09/2009. I was aged 12 years old on the day of my grading.

Some of the experiences that I have been involved with leading up to my Black Belt Grading were;

¨ Three Masters Downunder Seminar held on the Sushine Coast, Queensland. Master Daher was joined by Master McPhail and Master Davidsoin form New Zealand. This seminar went for three days.

¨ Attended a tournament held by the Bai Rui Club in Brisbane.

¨ Attended an International Instructors Course at Nambour, Queensland.Supportting Master Daher were Master McPhail from New Zealand, Master Hector Marano, Master Pablo Tranjitenberg both from Argentina and members of ITF Technical Committee.

¨ A number of seminars conducted by Master Daher for the clubs in our region.

¨ Our instructor has also conducted various workshops and beach training

I also go to the same school and travel the same time and distance as my brother Blake. We do training at home in the morning before we catch the bus to go to school.

I started Taekwon-Do in 2004 and have been training regularly and attending seminars since.

We have also attended the 1770 Festival and Bororen Fair to give demonstrations of Taekwon-Do, which was exciting.

At school I am quite busy participating in the St Lukes Dance club. We recently competed in a competition with the other schools in our area were we all had to go up on stage and perform. Over all our group came 2^nd and I really enjoyed it.

We are now learning another dance for the St Lukes Multi Cultural Evening.

Shania Esplin

I graded for my Black Belt, First Dan on 10/09/2009. I was aged 10 years on the day of my Grading.

Some of the experiences that I have been involved with leading up to my Black Belt Grading were;

¨ Three Masters Downunder Seminar held on the Sushine Coast, Queensland. Master Daher was joined by Master McPhail and Master Davidson form New Zealand. This seminar went for three days.

¨ Attended a tournament held by the Bai Rui Club in Brisbane.

¨ Attended an International Instructors Course at Nambour, Queensland. Supporting Master Daher was Master McPhail from New Zealand, Master Hector Marano, Master Pablo Tranjitenberg both from Argentina and members of ITF Technical Committee.

¨ A number of seminars conducted by Master Daher for the clubs in our region.

¨ Our instructor has also conducted various workshops and beach training

I started Taekwon-Do in 2005, aged six years and have been training regularly and attending seminars since.

Sometimes when I was training and grading it would become very tricky for me. But what helped a lot was having my older brother, Blake and older sister, Brooke help me. Watching them achieve their gradings made me want to do better and achieve my Black Belt.

At school I was voted to represent Junior School as their School Leader at Rosedale State School in 2008.

In the last three years running I was awarded the Class Distinction award at the end of the year for highest achiever in the class.

I have volunteered to be an M&M (Mentor and Mediator). Every lunch time I help the children from the lower grades than me to learn and play games. We give out awards and stickers. This helps the younger children at school learn to play together and mix with different children rather than playing with the same group all the time.

I also play sport at school and the past two years I was selected for the Bundaberg Regional Zone Athletic Competition to compete in high jump and 800 hundred meters. I have also been the Cross Country Champion and age champion at the Rosedale School sports carnival over the past two years.

Written by Blake

Another exciting time for all of us this year in September (2009) straight after Brooke and Shania graded for their Black Belt was when we went to Christchurch to visit our Grandparents and attended the Riccarton club of ITFNZ where we trained for 2 weeks during the New Zealand Nationals.

We also went down to the QE2 Stadium to watch the ITFNZ Nationals and support the members of the Riccarton club.

We would like to thank the club instructor, Mr David Oliver and all the members of the club particularly senior members Mr Kris Herbison and Ms Helen Caley for welcoming us to the club and sharing their training time.

The three of us are helping our youngest brother, Quinn to pass his examinations to help him get to Black Belt. Quinn is 9 years old and holds the rank of Red Tip, 3^rd Kup.

Quinn was always going to take up Taekwon-Do. When he was 5 years old he fell out of the van and broke his arm. He had his arm in a cast for six weeks. One Saturday when Mum and Dad took us to training they were looking for Quinn and could not find him until they looked at the back our Taekwon-Do class. He joined in with his arm in a cast and has been doing Taekwon-Do since. This was his first lesson.

Although we have personally made the achievements in Taekwon-Do mentioned above, it was only made possible with the direction and strong support of our instructor, Ms Gail Jacobsen and Master Michael Bou Daher. We also have very good support from our Mother and Father.

22 August, 2010/0 Comments/by Shawn Sutton

Nathan Tyson NIT

Parramatta

Article on Nathan Tyson in The National Indigenous Times newspaper

Click here for Page 1

Click here for Page 2

18 August, 2010/0 Comments/by Shawn Sutton

Training with a Bite – Muswellbrook 2010

Aberdeen

By invitation Master Daher spoke first to talk about the earlier days of the IL Shim International Taekwondo Federation. Where most if not all IL Shim tournament competitors were feared as they were superior in the ring. Highly driven by discipline and respect for their instructor and themselves, not to mention their hunger for a good hard fight to win.

After warm-up we were straight into it!

First, concentrating on foot work, getting the body and feet to move in the quickest and most effective ways to enable a good counter attack when moving. Also emphasising the importantance of your breathe. If you are not breathing correctly you will tire too quickly.

2nd, we moved into the feel of contact sparring, practicing sparring combinations with contact to a protected area at first to feel the contact before moving into contact sparring. Too often we are afraid of getting hit, and without the contact training it is difficult to tell your mind that you will not feel pain! It is just a shock. With this kind of training the shock becomes less and less until you don’t feel anything anymore……. Then you are ready to fight.

After lunch everyone was treated to a session with Master Daher. Whom firmly touched back on to the discipline and respect side of training. Your actions show your discipline and respect, using a strong and confident voice.

For instructors it is difficult to teach those whom do not respond. It is your responsibility and duty as a student of taekwondo, whom is there to learn from the instructor, to focus and respond with respect.

Respect what your instructor does for you so you can do for yourself!! The weakness in your technique is the weakness in your discipline…

Senior Members remember that you are to set an example!!

And Instructors must demand total focus & respect to get the results!!

After the speech came the work to put the key elements into practice with fundamental movements and the 5 elements of movement (Signwave, Back Motion, Action Reaction, Twist & Breathe….)

If any of the Key Elements are missing you loose parts of your power and performance….

We finished the afternoon with more sparring techniques. To include the all important hands (No Gaps) philosophy. Followed by continuous (No Gaps) and contact sparring.

For dinner we all enjoyed a quiet get together at the local RSL where everyone could mingle.

Sunday was the big day for sparring! Well done to everyone for their participation and enthusiasm.

Thank you to Master Daher, Mr Christensen and to Gail Hayden for getting this happening for us out of sheer passion and commitment.

On behalf of all students present, we now owe it to you to put this into every day practice.

By Sally Clark-Petrassi

IL Shim Newcastle

6 August, 2010/0 Comments/by Shawn Sutton

ILShim Aberdeen’s Training Camp

Aberdeen

Master Daher was a special guest for the weekend and brought with him several students from his Parramatta club. Mrs Sally Clark-Petrassi from Newcastle also attended with a group of very keen students, who had recently moved south from Queensland. Most of the students in attendance were Black tip and above and as such the training was intensive.
	Training started at 10am Saturday with a warm-up and fitness session, then lots of sparring technique, with Mr Christensen teaching some of the training methods that he and Trent Hayden had learnt when they trained in Germany earlier this year. I’m sure the drills were enjoyed by all! The students then had a Patterns session run by Master Daher. During this session the students learned a great deal about focus, and worked hard on correcting areas of weakness. Then it was back to sparring techniques. The day ended at about 3:30pm. We all met later that night at the Muswellbrook RSL Club for dinner and a chance to get to know each other in a more relaxed environment.
Sunday morning kicked off at 9am with a warm-up with Mr Christensen, then straight into Patterns with Master Daher. Next up was a Special Techniques session with everyone having a go. Mr Christensen then gave everyone the opportunity to put into practise the sparring techniques learnt by giving everyone sparring time in the ring with a variety of partners. Everyone agreed at the end of the day that they had learned a great deal and looked forward to future weekends. Some of the sessions over the weekend were quite challenging and it was exciting to see a group of students who were keen to extend their knowledge and willing to place themselves in intense situations in order to improve their performance.

6 August, 2010/0 Comments/by Shawn Sutton

Nth Queensland Seminar April 2010

Bundaberg

	Master Daher, 8^th Degree Black Belt, commenced the day by explaining the difference between performing techniques within our patterns compared to using these techniques whilst sparring. Probably the most important factors to keep in mind would be that with Patterns we look at and concentrate on the preparation of the kick before delivering it, whereas in sparring the importance is on the speed of the delivery and reaction time. Master Daher also demonstrated the importance of using defensive techniques to your advantage. The simplicity of moving sideways and using a dodging technique or jumping forward with a punching technique enables the competitor to achieve optimum results.
	In performing this exercise the students needed to develop the skill of reading their opponent. Competitors were to look their opponent in the eye without the use of any facial expressions. By performing this you are signalling to your opponent that you are ready and that you are not scared. Master Daher’s goal here was to pair students against each other to see who would be the first to cave in.
	The students then paired up. The attacker would come forward with a turning kick to their opponent’s midriff. The defender then jumps forward defensively and slightly to the side of the attacker, landing a double punch while in flight. By leading with the front fist the aim was to ensure that when landing they didn’t turn to face the attacker but rather continue in the same direction to avoid a counter attack by the attacker.
	Master Daher then demonstrated a variation to this by the use of the back kick. The secret to the success of this technique, as in the previous technique, is that the counter-attack needs to be performed before the attacker’s front leg touches the ground, avoiding the attacker’s follow-on. When comparing the first two techniques they both have their advantages. With the jumping double punch, you are able to leave yourself in a position where you can continue with the counter-attack, whereas with the back kick as the counter-attack you remove your opponent’s scoring opportunity by legally turning your back. Students were then given the opportunity to add to these techniques in free sparing. It was good to see that some of the younger students were modifying techniques to suit themselves and optimise their scoring opportunities, for example adding the jump to the back kick (for increased points) or adding further punches (to avoid a second counter-attack).
	Students then were split into two teams where they were matched against each other for a taste of sparring. It was interesting to see how they reacted when put up against someone other than their training partner, especially when it came to mother and son/daughter competing against each other. For the newer students, it was even more daunting to be in a ring with everyone watching compared to training with a training partner.
	Master Daher finished the day off with some fundamental training. It was pleasing to hear students and parents comment on how much they enjoyed the seminar. With this grounding I look forward to seeing these students develop their skills and compete well at future Tournaments.
	Sunday saw the 2^nd grading for 2010 take place. This grading was mainly attended by the junior grade belts, with approx 20 students grading. Once grading proceedings were complete, Master Daher took the opportunity to take the students through their new patterns. It was quite interesting to see how quickly Master Daher was able to teach the pattern while still being thorough in technique. Once again the use of repetition to build muscle memory was proven to be a key factor. With the current changes that have occurred in the Bundaberg club, the increase in students from simple promotions, and the new structure that Master Daher is implementing across the organisation, 2010 I feel is shaping up to be a very successful year.

Photos and report courtesy of Mr Michael McGaw, IL SHIM Bundaberg

Following a successful weekend Master Daher received the following positive feedback:

“This is my first seminar and I found it has opened my eyes to how much I’m yet to learn and what I have learnt through this seminar.

I plan to take away and go further with in; my future grading, tournaments and my patterns.

So I thank Master Daher for all his help.

On another note I had a great time and look forward to the next one!”

Natasha Price 15 yrs

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“I liked learning new things and it was fun!”

Michael Blacklock 8 yrs

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“I liked the sparring seminar because I got to do a practice tournament and I beat a green belt at sparring.”

Luca Bowe 6 yrs

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“I liked the sparring seminar because we had a mini tournament.

The blue team won the first round and the red team won the second.

I learnt that you are allowed to kick anywhere on the front of your body above the belt.”

Ari Bowe 8 yrs

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“Master Daher, I am very grateful that you came up to teach us what you have learnt.

I thought the seminar was interesting and fun because I got to learn how to use different techniques in sparring.

Thank you.”

Lauren Green 11 yrs

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“I attended the seminar not knowing what I would get out of it, but I found myself learning a whole lot.

Every technique we were shown and then practiced came together and made sense.

I am feeling a little sore and stiff but that shows me I put as much effort as I could into it.

Thanks Master Daher for your time and expertise for this seminar.”

Vanessa Smith

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“Today I went to a seminar. It was very fun. I learnt a lot of sparring techniques from Master Daher.

This seminar has changed my experience of sparring forever.

I would love to acknowledge the black belts and Master Daher for all the effort they put in with this seminar.

THANKS A LOT!”

Tara Smith

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“To Master Daher

Today was very fun especially when we did the sparring.

From Jake”

Jake Smith

23 April, 2010/0 Comments/by Shawn Sutton

SAD NEWS….

Club News

We are saddened to learn of the news of the tragic death of our President, Grand Master Tran Trieu Quan, following the recent earthquake in Haiti. Our deepest sympathy and condolences are extended to the Tran family.