Sports Team Talk - Volume 6

HILLS DISTRICT TAEKWONDO

Haidong Gumdo Grading

Haidong Gumdo

Grading

O n Sunday 3rd April 23 students from

Hill’s District Martial Arts completed their

Haidong Gumdo Grading in front of Grand

Master Oh Jung Il, the President of Haidong

Gumdo Australia, Master Kim from Haidong

Gumdo ACT and our very own Master Sam.

Master Oh commended all the students on

their holistic approach to this martial art with

particular reference to their understanding of

the spirituality of the sword.

All the students had to demonstrate their

knowledge of patterns, step sparring and

candle snuffing.

Whilst Master Oh believed that all students

performed very admirably under Master Sam’s

tuition he made a special commendation as

follows:

Most improved since last Grading:

Junior: Lachlan Campbell

Senior: Justin Patterson

Following on from these outstanding displays

Master Oh advised all the students that the

World Championships are to be held in Korea in

June 2012 with over 72 countries being invited

to participate. He also suggested that most

students present at the grading should aim to

start saving now as they may well be eligible to

participate.

Master Sam is looking

forward to taking a team

of students to the 2012

world championships.

A high-calibre Black Belt grading was held on

Sunday the 20th February. This promotional test was particularly important, not just because ten of our top students were grading, but because the performance was being presided over by Master Jeong Tae Kim. For those who do not know, it was a demonstration by Master Kim that inspired Master Sam to begin taekwondo in the first place. With this in mind, many of our black belts were apprehensive about performing in front of such a special guest, but they overcame any fears to put on an excellent show.

The participants were: Georgia Campbell, Christian Grofski, Alex Kingham, Jarryd Vargas, Kern Sharma, Callum Ide, Natalie Viscardi, Justin Paterson, Samantha Parsons and our Sports Instructor Miss Yok. Most were grading to Second Dan, while Alex, Jarryd, Callum and Sam were aiming for Third Dan and Miss Yok going for her Fourth Dan.

After Master Sam formally introduced Master Kim and opened the class, Miss Yok took a warm up and then each student performed their poomsae. This was followed by a demonstration of self defence techniques, including black belt step sparring, multiple step sparring against kicks, defence against knives and clubs, ground fighting and defence against various grabs and holds. Highlights included smooth performances from members of the demo team (which includes

Georgia, Christian, Alex, Kern and Callum), Natalie's sometimes excessive but always effective defence, and Miss Yok's military-like defence against a gun, which had her opponent on the ground in seconds.

The next part of the grading was sparring, which Master Kim was particularly interested in as it was his area of expertise. Master Kim won a gold medal in the heavy weight division of the first ever Taekwondo World Championships in 1973. Luckily many members of the junior and senior sparring team were present and put on an impressive display for Master Kim. One of the most memorable bouts was between Samantha and Miss Yok, which was energetic and highly entertaining for the spectators. Master Sam was happy with the sparring performances and mentioned that it was a pity not more of the black belts were involved with sparring because they showed great skills.

The final aspect of the grading was board breaking. The well-practiced demo team excelled here again, showing the results of their extra training with swift, clean breaking techniques that included reverse turns, spinning axe's and flying side kicks. A highlight was Justin's double front kick, where he broke two boards with simultaneous jumping front kicks.

At this point the grading had been running for just under two hours, so, with just a few minutes left, Master Sam decided to demonstrate his student's reactions and good footwork to Master Kim once more in the form of two-on-one sparring.

Finally the syllabus-based aspect of the grading came to an end. The students sat waiting to hear the opinions of Master Sam and Master Kim. Master Sam spoke first, saying that it was apparent that many of the students were nervous but he was pleased with their performance. He then went on to say that it was most important to hear what Master Kim had to say in order to judge the standard of our black belts against the rest of Australia and even the world. All black belts, instructors and spectators

Sports Team Talk - Volume 6 April 2011

Black Belt Grading

Master Rion, Master Sam and Master Kim

Sports Team Talk - Volume 6 April 2011

waited anxiously to hear from Master Kim. Master Kim began in a quiet voice, explaining how Master Sam was always one of his favourite and most talented students, and was happy to see how well Master Sam's school was progressing. He went on to say it was rare to see students who could move so fluidly, or use their legs “like chopsticks”. Master Kim finished by saying he could truly see Olympic potential in many of the students at the grading.

Afterwards, I spoke to Alex about his thoughts and feelings in regards to the grading. He said that he was nervous coming up to the grading but was also very excited about it, and while there was some added pressure with the presence of Master Kim, in the end “it was just like any other grading with Master Sam watching you”.

As for his preparation before the grading, Alex said that he practiced 'a lot' and focused mostly on self-defence, which he said was the hardest part of the grading because there was so much to remember. He also said that he felt prepared enough for the grading because of Master Sam's help and was particularly pleased with his board breaking.

Now, to complete their grading requirements, the black belts must write an essay on a taekwondo topic and prove that they are aware of the terminology and tenants used in taekwondo. As for the practical aspect of their grading, they all excelled and did themselves and their school proud. Dan Grading congratulations to Chris Brown on a successful performance at his 4th Dan grading.

February 2011

Back Row: Kern Sharma, Justin Patterson

Third Row: Callum Ide, Jarrad Vargas, Samantha Parsons, Natalie Viscardi, Miss Yok

Second Row: Christian Grofski, Alex Kingham, Georgia Campbell

Front Row: Master Sam Loiacono, Master Jeong Tae Kim, Master Rion Lydon

TKD NSW held the 2011

Autumn Open and State

Championships at Sydney

Olympic Park on Sunday

27th March . Team

members started arriving

at 7:30am for an action

packed day stretching out

over 11 hours of non-stop

Taekwondo at its best.

Master Sam entered a

team of 9 into the

Poomsae ( techn ica l )

d i v i s i o n . A l l t h e

c o m p e t i t o r s g a v e

outstanding performances

making Master Sam very

proud of the efforts and

achievements.

Joseph Mathias, Christian

Shadwick, Noah Grofski

and Georgia Campbell all

won gold medals, Justin

Patterson, Sarina Randoja,

Kern Sharma, and

Christian Grofski won Silver

and Anthony Charara took

out the Bronze giving Hills

TKD 9 out of 9 for medals.

Hills Taekwondo was

represented by 16 players

in the sparring division.

The sparring team would

like to thank Master Sam,

Master Rion, Mister Justin

and Mister Michael for

coaching them to achieve

such great success.

NSW Open State Championship

Triple Strike

First Timers at NSW State... p r o d u c e d f a n t a s t i c

performances.

Master Sam is never

short of a trick in his kit

b ag o f Taekw ond o

Teaching and surprised us

all with his wild card entry

of Mister Justin into the

Male Open Black Belt

Sparring Division. This

was Mister Justin’s first

sparring competition at

State level.

We all enjoyed watching

Mister Justin’s technical

expertise being put into

practice in the fast paced

arena of full contact

sparring with head kicks.

Mister Justin proved to be

a very capable competitor

and produced some

excellent shots.

The sparring team bought

home 7 Gold, 4 Silver and

4 Bronze Medals.

It is with the greatest of

pleasure that we welcome

new members to the

Poomsae (technical) team

for state level competition.

They are Male Blue Belt

Division 11 - 13 years

Anthony Charara, Male

Blue Belt 14 - 18 Years

Joseph Mathias and

Female Blue Belt 11 - 13

years Sarina Randoja. The

new team members all

Jacob McCone competed in

the Red Belt 10 - 11 years

division sporting 5 players. This

meant Jacob had to win three

fights to achieve his gold

medal. Jacob took on board all

those words of advice and

special tips from Master Rion

to win his first fight 15 -14.

Master Rion then coached him

to a 7 - 4 win and finally the

Gold Medal winning fight ended

at 3 - 0. Well done Jacob!

HILLS TKD

WELCOMES

NEW SPORTS

TEAM

MEMBERS INTO

THE POOMSAE

(TECHNICAL)

DIVISION AND

A SURPRISE

ENTRY INTO

SPARRING !!

Sports Team Talk - Volume 6 April 2011

Christian Shadwick - Blue

Jacob McCone - Red

N o a h G r o fs k i w a s

competing in the Male

Yellow Belt 12 - 13 years

division. Noah’s effort was

truly outstanding, putting

into action all that fantastic

advice from Head Coach

Master Sam.

Noah won his fight very

convincingly with a score

line of 14 - 0 bringing

home the Gold Medal.

Sports Team Talk - Volume 6 April 2011

A new age ... another gold Elijah Sarkis entered a

new age division the 8 - 9

years blue belts. Elijah

beat his first opponent

convincingly at 4 - 1 to go

on to the final match.

Elijah scored 6 - 0 using

all his kicking techniques

including some fantastic

back kicks. Elijah also

showed great skill with

some spin around round

house kicks, earning him

the very well deserved

Gold Medal.

Slam - ZIP

Outstanding performance Matthew Watt was

competing in only his

second state completion

but you would be forgiven

for thinking he had been

competing for years.

Matthew was in the 16 -

17 years Yellow belt

division and simply out

classed his competition.

Matthew won his fight 16 -

2 winning a well deserved

Gold medal. Jacob Neighbour - Blue

Angelo Arrastia - Blue

Alex Parsons - Red

Elijah Sarkis - Red

Noah Grofski - Blue

Matthew Watt

Sports Team Talk - Volume 6

Haidong Gumdo Grading

Haidong Gumdo Grading

Mister Justin in action

i t was truly an honour for all

present to witness Master

Sam receiving his 2nd Dan

Black Belt certificate in Haidong

Gumdo. After all its not every day

you get to see your own Master

grade.

Master Kim Master Sam Master Oh

Master Oh presents Master Sam Loiacono with his 2nd Dan Black Belt Certificate Master Sam Loiacono proudly displays his 2nd Dan Black Belt Certificate