Newsletter #08 - 22 November 2010

OCEANIA, TAHITI, 16-19th

This year, Oceania was held in Tahiti, and our club had 3 students selected. They were, Matt Burns for Junior male kumite, Zara Wech for cadet female kumite, & of course, Nicky Roberts for -21 & senior women Kata.  It was a very big tournament, with Australia entering 46 and NZ entering 42 players.

NZ was totally dominant, securing 31 gold to 15 for Australia and also totally outscoring Australia in silver medals. The only medals Australia had more of than NZ were bronze which meant most finals were all NZ. NZ at the moment is particularly dominant in Kata events and most finals were between NZ competitors.

Zara and Matt, at their first Oceania tournament performed very well, with both of them winning silver in their events, but the big success was Nicky Roberts. She was overcoming the disappointment of having her Serbia selection overturned by the KNZ board and she had a point to prove, which she did, with a vengeance! Nicky came second to Andrea Anacan in -21 female kata, but came back in the senior women kata to beat Andrea

comfortably, 4-1, in an all NZ final. Nicky holding the title Oceania Senior Women Kata Champion.

Great news for the Kamo club. Matt Burns, won Silver in his weight division kumite at the recent Oceania champs in Tahiti. It was a well deserved medal, particularly as he was contacted VERY hard twice during the fight, in fact he says he remembered nothing after the second head punch. Well done Matt!

The two Senior Kata spots, Male and Female went to Nicky and Matthew, who were also selected for the special Oceania category of 18-20 years. Well done both of you, I know Nicky will be back with a vengeance and Matthew will also keep on improving. Bob Dalton

NOVEMBER 2010 NEWSLETTER

Well, my "quiet good feeling" about the Northland Secondary Schools sports awards came to fruition! At the awards on Friday night 29th October, Nicky became the 2010 Northland Secondary Schools Sportswoman of The Year, a well earned and VERY well deserved title. It caps off a great year for Nicky, following on from her Oceania Senior Women kata Title.

However, the club successes did not stop with Nicky. We had four finalists in the Karate code award category (Matt & Dan Burns, Zara Wech and Nicky) with Matt Burns winning the male karate code award.

Congratulations to all of you.

Bob Dalton