Oudsthoorn! and more!

Okay Wow.

This last weekend has been epic.
It  has been awesome!

Basically myself and the HUGELY gamungous Western Province team travelled up to the town of oudsthoorn to compete in the tra-angular champs! Just to give you a perspective, we had 3 bus's of 50 AND there were more driving up on there own. This was the biggest team I've ever traveled with!

The tournament was awesome! So well organised by SWD (south west districts) specifically Oudsthoorn. They even got a group of dancers to open the event. One of my friends from SWD actually sympathized with 'poor' Oudtshoorn saying, "Shame, they are trying so hard" (Successfully!)

(picture of the dancers)

The Champs was a great success. Nat winning Bronze for kumite, Taz winning Silver for kumite, Luke Romyne winning silver for kata and gold for kumite, Myself, double gold, Doug Graham, Silver for kumite, Bjorn Isaac winning Gold for kumite , Danika VB winning double Gold and Tiff VB winning double bronze!
Western Province did  so well that we actually took home the trophy, which was an amazing moment as all 150 of us grouped together, in our blue tracksuits, and celebrated the victory!

Here is a picture of my dojo and coaches with the trophy!

Now for the 'More' part...

My fundraiser!
Last night I had the 2nd Theatre Sports event at Kalk bay theatre and it went better than last time! (I know!, i didn't think that was possible) I'm sure many of you who were there had a good belly laugh and left with smiles on your faces, i know I did! But this smile that is stuck to my face even now, is mainly because I have such awesome friends and support that I am so grateful for!

So thank you!
For you have truly made these 2 nights a success and my trip to Australia possible!

I'm sure I have said this before, but if not, YOU ARE AMAZING!
Until next time, have a great holiday! and stay awesome!

(There is a video on its way of myself in the team event in Oudtshoorn!, so be excited!)
XxX

Update for everyone.

I would just like to give y'all a quicky update on my doings.

Firstly, the fundraiser is going so amazingly! I am so excited about all the awesome support I have received so far. However, there are still tickets available for both nights and I know there are a few people who want to come, but haven't booked yet. So, PLEASE book. You don't want to miss out on this, its so hilarious! And for those of you who are indecisive, decide to join us! Its THAT simple!

Also, myself and a few other competitors (whom I will list closer to the time), will be attending the triangular champs (Being Boland, South West Districts and Western Province-THE BEST OF COURSE!) this weekend in Oudswoorn. The top four of this tournament will qualify for the Western Cape team who will compete in regionals at the end of the year. Following a super awesome PE tour last weekend, my guess is that this tour will be fun fun fun!

Thats it for now! but dont worry! Just for your entertainment, I leave a video of, THE LEGEND (the other legend as Antonio Diaz is also 'the legend') Rika Usami doing a kata called Kosokun Dai. Enjoy!

PE NATIONALS...RESULTS!!

I must say, this tour was pretty Spectacular!
We departed on Wednesday, in the bus and drove for about 6 hours to Wilderness. We stayed the night at an awesome hotel and then drove to PE the next day.

Thursday, the seniors and veterans competed.

Friday- The cadets (14-15) competed and Tiffiny Van Boom got third place!

Saturday- The Cadets kumite (fighting) and Juniors(16-17) competed. Tiffiny winning a bronze medal. Natalie Faint winning a Silver medal. Tasneem Cozyn winning a Gold medal- Nat and Taz were in the final together. Myself winning a silver(kumite) and gold(kata) medal.Douglas Graham winning gold medal. And Dean Lotter achieving gold.

The Western Province did amazingly! We got something like 13 golds and a whole lot of other medals!

Also, the fact that a got gold at these champs secures my place in the wkf junior and cadets world champs in Malaysia. Which is a flipping HUGE deal! Now this is so exciting and I really wana go! basically my delima is matric finals are a week after the tournament. So I will let you know what i decide!

Once some photies have found their way onto the Karate Western Province Website and Karate South Africa Website, I will post them up here.

Until then, Hereis a photo of the venue before it was full. Because Province always arrives fashionably early.

PE Nationals

Firstly, I would just like to point out the AMAZING feed back i am already getting from all you spectacular people! So thank you! and keep it coming! Its gonna be AWESOME!!

Also, Myself and a few others will be departing (on a bus) to Port Elizabeth for the KSA(if you remember, that stands for Karate South Africa) National Championships! This is a rather gimongous (that's a mixture between ginormous and humongous- and yes, i did make it up) deal as the winners of these division will secure a place in the Junior world championships in Malaysia!

I will keep a running comentry on how everyone is doing. The tournament runs over Thursday (seniors) friday (children up to 15 years) and saterday (14, 15 years kumite and lastly, as always, my division).
I'm Pretty sure we will, if you dont mind me saying, 'kick ass'! Go Western Province!

Untill then, i leave you with a video of me getting ended! because its hilarious. Look at my dad in the background-in the blue top. He wants to attack this girl who hits me!

On a side note: I got accepted to Rhodes University! booya!

Stay awesome

I need YOUR Help!

As i mentioned in my 1st blog, i have been selected to attend the Commomwealth karate champs in Austrialia aswell as a Tournament in New Zealand. Now, as you can imagine, this makes me very excited indeed but unfortunitly (or fortunitly) I need YOUR (YES! YOUR) help in getting me there.

But, lets be honest, I'm not just gonna stand at your doorstep and beg, no, I've decided to make this fun for everyone. So this is the plan...

Have you ever heard of Whose Line is it Anyway? (If not seriously, click here). Well there is a an amazing group called Improguise who do the same thing and BOY, is it HILARIOUS! So I managed to arrange two nights where you can all have a delicious dinner, some wine and laugh until your belly is sore while watching these Improguise.

Here is the invitation with the details.

If you cant see any of the writing click on the picture and I think it will enlarge. If that still doesnt work then you can either comment or email me at thouartbrittany@hotmail.com

Click here for directions to the Kalk Bay theatre. (which is where it will be held)

I hope to see you all there! Trust me, it will be such a jam!

My Busy Week :)

Woweee! this week of mine has been incredibly full with fun activities!
Fun Activities? yes indeed very fun and exhausting...but enough with the adjectives!
Ok so lets break it down...

Shian Nikki Pillay has been down from Durban for the week. Who is he? you may ask...well he is a 7th dan Inoue-Ha Shito-ryu Karateka. He has visited Japan numerous times and trained with Hayashi himself (the founder of my style) aswell as other countries including Botswana, India and many more where he has really "expanded his horizon" (If i may use that incredibly over-used saying)

Anyways, throughout this week I have been training with him everyday while going back to basics. I must say, it has been extremely eye-opening! It is so enjoyable to be learning from someone with so much knowledge.

As well as training with this Shian (Higher than a sensei), myself and a few other people have been grading. This is when he observes our level and hopefully advances us to the next level. I will hear the results in a few weeks! So cross your fingers for me!

Here are some of the other students who were grading with me.

Tomorrow we will be attending a friendly tournament in Shian Nikki's honour!

Will let you know how that goes!

Until then have a great day!

Competition karate Break down..What is it exactly?

Ok, so... for those of you who don't quite understand the significance of "the all-styles" karate circuit, i have decided to do a break down of what this includes and HOW one can compete. (For example, it ISNT a competition to see who can break the most wooden boards with their karate energized pinky fingers.)

Lets start by pointing out that karate isnt just ONE form of martial art. There are thousands of very different styles! literally! From JKA (Japan Karate Association) and Shukokai to Inoue-ha (my style!). All of which are created or moulded from a variety of backgrounds and therefore some are almost uncomparable. They all have their own world champions and obviously all believed that their styles, were the way to go!

So now they have created an "all styles" semi-contact curcuit where all the styles can compete together. Each competitor falls under one of the 4 general style groups; Shotokan, Goju-ryu, Wado-ryu and Shito-ryu. (thats mine!). And every referee should be able to ref these general groups of styles!

Now that we have established that..the question arises." But what DO you guys to?"

There are 2 things...

1st, its the 'fighting' called kumite. (pronounce it like..koom-it-ay) This is where we where super light gi's (those white karate suits we all wear) and try to score points on eachother. 1 point for a punch to the head (no contact!) or to the chest. 2 points for a kick to the side. and 3 points (this is a big deal) for a kick to the head or a take down! The person with the most points at the end of the time limit, wins! Its that simple!

Here is a super cool selection of kumite fighting best moments(3 pointers!) that just gets me so excited!

Secondly, there is KATA! Now this is a sequence of karate movements that are practised to show to the referees at a tournament. One has to know at least 7 different sequences! Each competitor will perform they kata and the the refs, using a red or blue flags, decide who they thought did the best one! I really love this one!

Here is an example of the current world kata champion (the legend, Antonio Diaz!) doing a kata called Annan.

And thats it!  Hope this quicky overview of what competition karate is sheds some light on the matter.

If i havent clarified anything enough just pop a question in my comments box!