Merry Christmas &

a Happy New Year

On behalf of all the instructors and my family

 we wish everyone a Merry Christmas

and a safe New Year.

2007 The Year in Review.

We kick started in early January getting Tamara Bingham ready for her first international event.  Tamara's hard training paid off as she won  a bronze medal at the AYOF (Australian Youth Olympic Festival).  

In February we were all off to Sydney for the World Championship selection competition.  This would also be the Olympic Shadow team selection competition.  Tans would become one of the top 5 clubs taking home 2 gold, 1 silver and a bronze out of 5 competitors.  Byrone Coleborne heavy Weight & Benn Nicholson (who recently moved to Melbourne) Middle Weight made the Australian team to go to Beijing.  Evert du Plessis after a 5 year layoff surprised everyone and won silver (losing in sudden death).  Ben Hartmann, lost to the eventual winner in the semi finals and won a bronze medal.

March, I was off the the Electronic Protector test event in Seoul Korea.  This was the first time electronic protectors were introduced to a sanctioned WTF international event.  Our Olympic team was there as well as most of the top 15 nations.

May - the largest ever Tans Open with over 300 competitors participating from NZ, SA, Vic and NSW.  2008 will see the first ever 2 day event.  Three days later, I was off to Beijing to support our players Byron Coleborne and Benn Nicholson.  The World Championships is considered the hardest competition to win.  Although Byron lost his first fight, Benn did the best out of all the Australians.  Benn in his first World Championship beat Brazil, Spain, Croatia on the way to the final 8.  He finally lost to Korea in the Quarter Finals.

July - A team of 5 went over to Perth for an international competition with teams from Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, Jordan, England, and the rest of Australia.  Heading the Team was Shane Hartmann who was one of the few International Referees at the event.  Our club one the Open Teams Trophy with Ben Hartmann, Thomas Power and Byron Coleborne all winning Gold Medals.

July / Aug - Darryl Gowlett and myself attend the Beijing Olympic Referee Training Camp in Wanju South Korea.  The Heat and Humidity was high and took its toll on a number of referees at the 7 day training camp.  More than 185 IR from all over the world attended the camp.  A total to 10 IR's from Australia  were there.  Apart from Referee training, we all had to do a physical test of long jump and 50 meter sprint.  Only 5 of the Australians passed the test with more than 50 % of the total IR's failing to make the mark.

Aug / Sep- Our bi-Annual Club camp was once again well attended by 36 students on the Gold Coast.  This was the 2nd time we visited the newly refurnished Tallebudgera Recreation Centre at Currumbin.  Apart from the training the students had fun performing demonstrations, swimming, and just plain relaxing.  The Camp finished with the traditional water bomb fight on the beach.

Sept - The nationals were once again held in Adelaide over 4 day.  Darren Jahil from Enoggera was our only Poomse competitor and won gold in his division.  In the Juniors, Elousie Dempsey won gold while Byrone Coleborne & Lousie Port won gold in the senior divisions.

Nov - One of our largest Dan Gradings was held on the Gold Coast with Head Instructors Wayne Mahoney and Shane Hartmann attaining Provisional 5th Dan.  Ben, Daniel and Jo Harmann attained Provisional 4th Dan along with Instructor Peter Bunyan.  Others to Grade were Chris Lo, Sue Trewin, Aimee and Chris Lakerdis, and Dave Lewis.

Nov - Probably the most successful awards night was held at Springwood with Maurie McKenzie (Logan) and Billy Crean (Currumbin) taking out the major awards.  A total of 87 students were nominated with 76 turning up on the night to receive their awards.

Dec - As we go to print, the only events remaining are the gradings and end of year break up.  Good luck to all that are grading.  This year each club looks after their own break up party.  Next year we will be looking at going back to Wet N wild, or trying the new White Water park at Dreamworld.

All the best for the holidays and we look forward to seeing you all fresh for 2008 our Olympic Year.