POINT SCORE: Couper Wood in the blue scoring a point against his opponent.
ILYO CLUB: The team that travelled up to Nowra, (back left to right) Nicholas Sticotti, Hamish Dibden, Bradley O'Sullivan, Sarah O'Sullivan, coach Zoe Cooper, Cheryl Thompson, (middle row) Zayd Cooper, Emily Sticotti, Couper Woods, Colin Jack, (front) Hunter Dibden, Ry Dibden and Tea'-Rose Dibden.
SIZING UP: Bradley O'Sullivan in blue sizing up his opponent at the South Coast Open Taekwondo championships.
TILBA Taekwondo (TKD) travelled to Nowra for the South Coast Open on Saturday, March 9, hosted by Eclipse TKD.
And what an action packed weekend it was for the “ilyo” club members.
After a morning stint at the Seaside Fair the team packed their bags and headed to Lakeside Caravan Park at Cubmirrah for a relaxing afternoon of swimming and tennis.
Up early and off to Nowra the Tilba team walked straight into the fray with Couper Woods, the first competitor from ilyo TKD, sparring against a slightly taller competitor from Mas TKD in Sydney.
Couper showed great footwork and evasion skills against his opponent with a score of 4–1 in his opponents favour at half time.
In the second half, Couper found his rhythm and settled his nerves, making a strong comeback scoring two points to his opponents 1.
With another 30 seconds he could have had it! A fantastic effort with a bronze medal just missing out on a finals heat. Final score was 5–3.
With a short break it was Bradley O'Sullivan's turn to spar, fortunately gaining a place straight in a finals heat but unfortunately coming against a taller more experienced opponent.
He managed to settle his nerves quickly despite the ilyo TKD team jumping and cheering from the sidelines.
Bradley showed a lot of grit and determination scoring two solid points, never giving up and pushing his competitor to the limit.
With a final score of 12–2 Bradley came home with a well fought silver medal.
It was a family friendly day with entertainment provided by the creative poomse competition (pattern-work) and lots of sparring bouts, which supplied the team with plentiful and valuable experience to learn from for future events.
Camaraderie and good humour were the order of the day.
A big thank you to Eclipse TKD for hosting such a great event, which saw small and large clubs from all over NSW come together in the spirit of goodwill and friendship.
Taekwondo sparring is a mentally and physically challenging sport especially at a competition level and both Couper and Bradley are to be commended on their efforts in their first ever competition.
They both tried their best and represented the area and club with pride and good sportsmanship. Well done boys and thank you to the parents and friends who came along to support us.
The next competition is in early July in Canberra.
Ilyo TKD Tilba train on Tuesday and Thursday nights in Central Tilba, everyone is welcome, call 0402 749 593 or come and have a look.
The club spent a morning at the Seaside Fair selling lucky numbers. The $50 lucky number was won by Boon Lucas. Congratulations and a thank you to Nady, Nicole and Narelle from Bermagui Preschool and Annie Spires for helping out on the day.
Thanks also to all of the locals and tourists who dipped into their pockets to help raise $135 towards the club.
