Congratulations to Team Carlo’s Tom Afonczenko who yesterday won gold at the British Open Selections here in Melbourne.  Tom now has the opportunity to travel to Manchester in September to compete at the new arena for the 2012 Olympic Game.  This is a great opportunity for Tom who also has the opportunity to compete at a tournament that is currently ranked the highest WTF tournament in the world.  Given also that this is the next Olympic site, the best  players from all over the world will be there as part of their olympic preparation.  Well done again Tom on your achievement, you have worked extremely hard for this!

Congratulations also to Peter Tilley and  Steve Currie who competed in yesterday’s event. Both players had some tough matches but fought very well.

The following Timetable will commence from Monday 12th July 2010 to Thursday 16th September 2010 — please download the pdf copy below…

2010 Timetable (Term 3) (68kb pdf)

The parting words from Carlo at our last Melbourne training were “use Steve Currie’s World Championship spirit to fight at the weekend”. And that’s exactly what our team did, with amazing performances by everybody.

The team of 40 arrived at Broadbeach on Friday and met for a briefing session on Nutrition and Code of Conduct. Then it was off to the beach for a final training and recovery session in the sand and water. The team met that night (those that weren’t dieting!) for a team dinner and a few laughs before heading back to the hotel for an early night.

Our supporters, coaches and athletes dressed in their team uniforms met our tour bus at 7.30am for the first day of competition. All senior Black belts and 14 – 17 year olds competed on day one — Tom Afonczenko, Daniel Russo, Alana Pozzebon and Matthew Miles. It was a typical day at the office for the fighters – some good calls, some terrible calls, some wins, some losses.  Everybody did an amazing job with a special mention to Alana Pozzebon who won gold in both Junior and Senior divisions which won her a $100 voucher.

Day two was all about our junior fighters — Will Afonczenko, Shanra Clemmet-Kennedy, Terry Damjanovic, Michael Damjanovic, Joshua Fox, Georgia Kamolins, Samantha Lazenkas, Carly Mancuso, Emily Michelides, Todd Radge, Kyla Tabone, Cleo Talarico and Jesse Talarico. Our junior team were equally amazing, with everybody winning medals. It was a long day for the athletes and there were some great lessons learnt and experiences gained.

We were extremely proud of our athletes and supporters on the weekend and Team Carlo were awarded the Active Participation Award by the organising committee.

These competitions are selected to specifically give our developing athletes the best exposure and experiences they can get. We hope all our athletes and parents/supporters learnt something new this weekend which will help them to develop even further.

We must also thank our coaches and support staff that assisted and gave up their time over the weekend – George Afonczenko, Tina Santucci, Katrina Iacobucci and Murray Silver.  And look out for the photographic coverage around the club, compliments of Dennis Krake!

Thanks for a great weekend!

Our junior athletes after competition

The Team Carlo tour coach brings us home after a long day at comp.

Beautiful technique by Gold Medalist Kyla Tabone

Congratulations to our Poomsae team that competed at the Victorian Open Muye Championships Saturday 22^nd May. 

This competition was judged differently to how some of our athletes would have competed before.  It was a great competition in terms of 1-on-1, rather than the traditional format, as it was a little more entertaining to watch.

Our Poomsae Athletes
Yvette Dietrich (Div 2-Black, Female, 30-35) – SILVER
Clara Sultana (Div 4-Red/Blue, Mixed, 36+) – BRONZE
Sarah Ma-Lang (Div 2-Black, Mixed, 14-18)
Ariana Magliozzi (Div 2-Black, Female, 14-18) 

All the divisions were tough and much larger compared to normal.  All competitors had 5+ competitors in their divisions. Sarah Ma-Lang ended up in a mixed (Male/female) division that had a very large number of competitors.

Congratulations to all of our team who entered – poomsae trainig/competition takes great skill and concentration.  A special thanks also to our dedictaed Poomsae coach Yvette Dietrich. 

Dear Friends,

As you may of heard I fought well, first defeating Russia then Finland.  Both competitors were inexperienced and this helped me to comfortably win with about tens points in front.  The final was against Iran, a very strong taekwondo country were it is a national sport.  After the first round we were tied on points and then in the second I  gained my rhythm to take a lead.  My competitor fought hard in the third round though I held him off to comfortably win the first “Para Taekwondo Gold Medal” for Australia.

A special thanks goes to Carlo my instructor for offering a great training program (specifically this year were the program has given the fighters the best environment to maximise their training and development) and to Henk Meijer, who without his exceptional couching I not so sure I would have won.

Talk to you all soon.

Cheers Steve

Steven Currie receiving his gold medal in St Petersburg

Congratulations to Team Carlo’s Steven Currie who was this morning (Australian time) crowned Under 80kg Para Taekwondo World Champion!  What an amazing achievement for Steven who last year won a bronze medal.  This is a first for Australia and we are so very happy and proud for Steven.  We are yet to hear from Steven who is still in St Petersburg but have been able to retrieve his fight scores.

In his first match Steve drew the home country Russia but won convincingly 14 – 5.  In his second fight he beat Finland easily 18 – 6.  In his final against Iran, again Steve blitzed the scores 15 – 9.

Congratulations Steve on your amazing result and we look forward to hearing all about it when you return!

Team Carlo’s Steven Currie will today compete at the 2nd WTF World Para Championships in St Petersburg, Russia.  After a motorcycle accident 5 years ago, Steve was left without the use of one of his arms.  With absolute determination, Steve has risen above his disadvantage and is a very competitive athlete.  Today, he will hope to improve on his Bronze Medal performance at last year’s Para World Championships.  We wish Steve all the best today!  Watch this space for his results!

Steven Currie - World Para Championships 2010, Russia

The following Timetable will commence from Monday 12th April 2010 to Thursday 24th June 2010 — please download the pdf copy below…

2010 Timetable (Term 2) (35kb pdf)

Congratulations to all Team Carlo Black Belts on their wonderful efforts this weekend at the Victorian Sparring Championships.  Overall our team results were amazing with half of our total competitors winning gold.  The most noticeable victory however was the growth and maturity shown by our players, especially amongst the junior ranks.  As with any competitionour players walked away having gained new skills and a determination to improve even further.  We would also like to commend our athletes, coaches and parents on their conduct off and on the court.  

Medal winners:

Gold – Alana Pozzebon, Tom Afonczenko, Kyla Tabone, Chris Caserta (x2), Petar Klenkoski, Will Afonczenko
Silver – Madeleine Bove, Kyah English, Samantha Lazenkas, Peter Tilley, Abed Al Razzaq Al
Bronze – Carly Mancuso, Michael Damjanovic, Vincent Papandrea, Alana Pozzebon, Daniel Russo