Impact at Top Ten tournament

Just one week after the under 18 tournament, on the 25th of March - a familiar group of martial artists dressed in bright red hoodies walked through the door of the Auckland Netball stadium.

6 of the 9 Impact members competing warmed up for patterns at about 9am - Erica was first up in her patterns division and progressed through the rounds to secure the first Gold medal of the day.



Next was Carolina who also cleaned up her division - winning the female dan patterns.



The male dan patterns followed and Mark and Jeremy battled through to the final from opposite sides of the draw, optional patterns were Mark: Moon-Moo tul, and Jeremy: Juche tul. This made for an exciting display as both require good balance and leg control. Designated pattern was Eui-Am tul, with four reverse turning kicks in the pattern this also came down to who could hold their balance better... Win to Mark and 3 of 4 of the patterns divisions are taken out by Impact.

Next up is sparring - everyone is entered. Ben is up first, Impact's most junior competing member at yellow stripe, and it's his first tournament experience. The training has obviously paid off and Ben bobs and weaves his way to the final, where he takes out a big green belt who had about half a foot on him - Gold for Ben!
Erica had a close defeat in the colour belt middle weight final, out-muscled by a bigger competitor in the second round.
Tess 'n' Jess met in the 1st-4th gup hyper weight division, Tess coming out on top in the all-impact final.



Estee fought well against a heavier competitor but unfortunately, even though she was out-scoring her opponent - warnings took their toll and the decision went against Estee.



Carolina was next up, straight through a couple of bouts and into the final- although being pushed around the ring as she was charged with barrages of punches, Carolina was easily outscoring her opponent with well-timed counters including a couple of nice head kicks. A controversial decision against Carolina brought us another silver.



Mark was up next, lots of side kicks kept his opponent at bay – this guy was a very good mover, and got in a couple of times scoring nice punches from Mark’s blind side. Mark adapted and landed nice, clear turning kicks to the body. A big head kick put Mark on top and gave him the decision – Gold medal.



Jeremy was back from the previous weekend’s tournament, his opponent didn’t throw much the whole fight, a couple of head kicks followed by some sturdy punches left the other competitor stunned several times, this resulted in a few stoppages due to a couple of standing 8 counts. A big rear hand from Jeremy found his opponent unable to continue and, as the rules state, if a competitor is unable to continue due to an illegal technique, then his opponent must be disqualified. This technique was deemed illegal due to ‘excessive contact’, and thus, Jeremy was disqualified. An appeal from the opponent’s coach led to the decision being reversed – putting Jeremy into the final with rival Shane once more, an injury led to Shane pulling out from the fight and Jeremy was announced winner – Gold in men’s dan Middle Weight.

Last up for Impact, and for the Tournament, was Carl – he put on a spectacular demonstration in his first fight complete with 360 turning kicks, downward kicks and one particularly good back kick, this fight showed Carl relaxed and at his best. The final was against a heavier opponent, who stood as solid as a rock, unmovable. Carl let loose a couple of powerful back kicks and side kicks, but soon found that head-high downward kicks and turning kicks were more effective at stopping his opponent. Carl worked well on the inside too, out-boxing his opponent, utilizing the blind side. A big reverse turning kick from Carl left his opponent unable to continue and unfortunately, this technique was also deemed ‘excessive’, thus an illegal technique, once again resulting in a disqualification. Silver for Carl.

This was a huge day for Impact, securing lots of Medals in both patterns and sparring.

Those competing from Impact were:
Mark Trotter, 4th dan
Jeremy Hanna 2nd dan
Carl van Roon 1st dan
Carolina Dillen 1st dan
Estee Speirs 1st dan
Erica Germain 2nd gup
Jessica Lewis 2nd gup
Tessa Gyde 2nd gup
Ben Slocombe 9th gup

The leader board is up here. Impact lead in 3 out of 4 of the areas: Mark leading the male dan section on 6 points (Jeremy following closely on 5), Carolina leads the female dan section on 5 points, and Erica leads the female colour belt section also on 5 points.

More of Doug's pictures here

Impact Medal Count:
7 x Gold
6 x Silver