Nationals Rundown (with a few pics!)

We couldn’t be much happier with the way the Nationals went for MVD on Saturday.  We had a fantastic team of competitors and supporters and, though I do say so myself we looked very spiffy in our shiny t-shirts!!!

We had a small team of juniors and who pretty much got pushed all around the place but it’s great to see a real team forming with Jack, Rubin, Pavlo & Callum becoming great mates (and rivals).  A standout for me in the pee wees was Cassius from Palmy Dojo.  Not just because he nailed Rubin (that’s twice now! doooh!) but because he’s such a great sport & always comes over to make friends afterwards!  He *fired* during one of his later fights with a hard little kung fu kid… it was most impressive, I reckon he’ll be one to watch!!

In terms of our juniors, my favourite fight was Darsheka’s first fight.  Darsh’ was giving away a lot of weight but it was cool to see her work it out.  She kept finding the middle of the mat and shifted & hit really effectively.  Actually there was a lot of shifting & hitting from our guys!  Chris told me years ago he reckoned only 5% of fighters could shift & hit & those are the fighters who’ll win.  It’s something I know has been being trained in the dojo and I was surprised to see a lot of our fighters working it.  It was very cool.

Unfortunately Darsheka couldn’t make it work against her next opponent who was bigger & stronger still but she doesn’t give up!  I’d love to see her fight girls her own size… might have to take her back to Japan!

Mike Kotlyer is looking amazing, particularly because he hasn’t been around as long as some of the others.  He’s real talented and it’s a pity he took a wazaari (head kick) early in his fight because he was looking strong by the end of it but if a wazaari is scored you can’t win unless you pay it back.  Nice to see him pull a real decent ushiro mawashi too!  Extra points for entertainment!

Chris Eades is looking more & more confident on the mat & took a win against last year’s winner so that’s a score but he withdrew from the next round with a stuffed elbow.  Josh Struthers had a hard first fight but he picked up a wazaari early on so he also progressed but lost in the second.  Still can’t believe he’s only 14.  Both Chris & Josh are loaded with natural talent and guts and are just so much fun to watch!

Chetan, Darsheka, Christian, Tasha & Mike won the team kata with Seienchin.  They’re looking real tight and Chetan does a bit of calling which I liked!  They all got a medal & a trophy to share which was good compensation for some hard fights.

Anna had one of those sucky fights; she got winded before she could even get a sweat up so by the time she left the mat she was feeling good to go & robbed!  She’s asked that we all nail her stomach between now & her next fight so she doesn’t have to go through that again. I’m sure she’ll be obliged.

Jim fought in a round robin.  Her first fight was against Sensei Rachel McLean – doh!  Rachel is VERY strong and looked VERY hot on Saturday but Jim does NOT give up and took a veritable beating without a hint she’d be stopped.  I actually wondered if Rachel would wear herself out & Jim would get a look in because she’s friggin fit and good at the late start but Rachel was looking super fit and maintained a whole lot of pressure right to the end. Again, Jim was managing to shift a bit and pop a few in under Rachel’s punches.  I’d have put her in contention for the spirit award for that fight.

Jim was pretty keen to redeem herself in her next round against a hard looking kung fu girl who was another big puncher.  Jim would not be phased, let the girl go hard for a while and then there was a definite turn when Jim started throwing the shita tsuki’s that gave her the nickname Chucky.   Having had my own stomach contents rearranged by Jim I noticed the fold & would have given it to Jim but it went an extension.  I have to say the other girl was a goer & would not stop but it was apparent she was hurting & Jim got the win by decision.

Ray fought.  Damn Ray!  He must have trained about twice since last year but he’s freakishly talented.  It wasn’t enough on the day though and he lost by decision.  Maybe he’ll train more!?!?

Richard Parry was a little phased, at 76kg, to discover the middle weight was up to 90kg!  In fact, because the heavy boys weren’t worrying about their weight it went well above 90kg, and included Jamie at 96kg, which was more than a little odd!  Richard drew Kevin Mayber so he was preparing for a very hard fight but I think he enjoyed it a lot more than he expected, Kevin being such a classy fighter it was nice & clean, even though Kevin was clearly stronger and took it by decision.

Another nice cleans fight was Brendon Tohill’s match fight against another ‘master’ from Palmy.  It reminded me of gentlemen boxing and was a very good match but Brendon took it, draw, draw, win.

Gareth is another one with loads of natural ability.  He won his first and in the second he got an extension and was absolutely in it but lost it on face!  I was gutted!  Never underestimate how important body language is to the decision!  If you finish a fight shaking your head & looking defeated… if there’s not much in it, you probably will be!

By contrast Thelvin adopts his Costa Rican bedroom expression when he fights!  Thelvin could slip under the radar but he’s way up there on the rounds board and the hard work, together with his natural talent is really working for him.  Another lovely mover he’s a bit of a killer & took the lightweight title with relative ease.  At the end of the day he had the option of fighting Jamie or Warren and probably would have had a crack (which speaks volumes) but Chris suggested he give it a little longer before giving away 30/60kgs!

 

Okay, so Jamie was put in the middleweight!  We had discussed a goal of wins by ippon and he made good on it.  He got a bi in the first.  His first fight wouldn’t have gone a minute, ippon, ribs.  His next fight was against Kevin so not an opponent to give room to but he pulled out everything to put Kevin away within the 2mins & if the judges hadn’t been enjoying the fight so much I think it could have been a bit quicker!  Eventually he did get two wazaris awarded for the middleweight title.

It worked out nicely for Jamie that Warren Gabb won the heavyweight.  Jamie’s been keen to fight the big guy for a few years so he finally got his shot.  I’m starting to feel self concious blogging about Jamie.  Maybe because I rated him so highly as a 16 year old it doesn’t seem right to say he’s stepped it up every single time he fights… but he does!  He just seems to make leaps and no matter who he fights he brings out something new and pulls it off!  I’m not sure Warren even touched him!   Warren’s a hard man to move and at the end of the round it was two flags to Jamie & two for a draw so we were all ready for an extension but Shihan Takiwa called it for Jamie.  It’s fair to say the mood among the team was light!  Great result.  Great day.  Colt’s babysat.  Chris slept on the floor.  Chetan disgraced himself.  Just another successful NZ Nationals!

 

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