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| Andi Woods, Alex Gardner and Lindy Woods at the ITC 2010 |
Our annual trip to Las Vegas for the Chun Kuk Do International Training Conference and World Championship was a HUGE success! For starters, the classes were very informative and the Dunamis Karate instructors have returned with new insights to help our students be better practitioners of Chun Kuk Do.
In the ITC World Championship competition, Andi Woods won 1st place in 13 and under open forms and 1st place in 13 and under weapons and 3rd place in sparring. Alex Gardner won 3rd place in 16-17 open forms and 1st place in the 16-17 weapons and 4th place in sparring.
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| Alex Gardner - Jr. Grand Champion |
At this particular tournament, the winners from all the weapons and forms divisions compete again in the Grand Championship. That meant that Andi and Alex had to compete against each other and all the winners from the other Jr. Black Belt divisions. Andi and Alex, along with Team Hensley teammate Donald Smalls, II, were among the top competitors, but in the end it was Alex Gardner who walked away with the title of Jr. Grand Champion and the Jr. Norris Cup!! In 2008, Andi won the Jr. Norris Cup. Each year since then we have been trying to get it back to Dunamis Karate. This year, it was Alex who made our dreams come true! This victory was especially sweet because Alex won't have another chance to win the Jr. Grand Champion title. Next year he will be in the adult division.
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| Team Hensley - Fire and Ice 2010 |
The three of us also competed with Team Hensley (lead by Aaron Hensley from Premier Martial Arts in N. Augusta) in the demo team competition. The team, comprised of 21 members from 3 schools: Dunamis Karate, Martial Arts America, and Premier Martial Arts, performed very well and got great feedback from the crowd and high scores from the judges. However,the team was disqualified due to a technicality regarding props that were used during the performance.
On a high note, Team Hensley was asked by Mr. Aaron Norris to perform at his upcoming ActionFest in April. (
www.actionfest.com) This is a huge honor and the team will get to work preparing for this awesome event very soon!
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| Club Karate - School of the Year |
The 2010 ITC was a great success for Region 7 as a whole. Club Karate in Lady's Island, owned by Mr. Chuck Elias, our Region 7 Chairman, was awarded School of the Year. Mrs. Alice McCleary, from McCleary Martial Arts in Hiram, GA, who is also a Region 7 board member, was awarded as Instructor of the Year. And, Mrs. Astrid Fabian, 4th Degree Black Belt under Mr. Elias, won the Female Competitor of the Year.
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| Alice McCleary - Instructor of the Yea | | |
Other Champions this year: Doug Shaffer Sr. Fighting Grand Champion, Roy White Sr. Adult Forms Grand Champion, Shantell Dawson Adult Forms Grand Champion & Female Sparring Grand Champion (her 3rd time to be a double Norris Cup winner), and Steve Giroux Adult Sparring Champion.
Other awards presented this year include: Tommy Crouch - Male Competitor of the Year; Damien Saceda - Jr. Competitor of the Year; Most Inspirational - Carol Taylor, 72 year old Black Belt; Weiland Norris Award - David Gamble from Shadow Mountain Karate; 9th Degree Black Belt - Chip Wright; 7th Degree Black Belts - Javier Gacia, Tommy Crouch, Jim Chandler; 5th Degree Black Belt, Amber Ferguson; and Mr. Chuck Norris & Mr. Aaron Norris presented their mother with an Honorary Black Belt! After raising 3 boys, I think she deserves it!!
Other points of interest from the 2010 ITC: Haakon Pettersen became the first student from Norway to pass through the ranks from White Belt to Black Belt. The annual raffle to benefit KICK START reached a new record high raising enough money to sponsor 7 kids for an entire year! Also, this year Mr. Norris' twins, Danilee and Dakota, now 8 years old, participated in the training and competition. It was great to see our Grand Master walk around like a normal proud parent videoing his kids in the ring!
The next ITC will be in July 2011... start making plans now to attend with us. It's an event you will never forget!
