Gold Coast Open, May 2010

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