Local Time:     Dortmund Time:

The 2005 ITF senior World Championships are to be held in Dortmund, Germany, Thursday 28th to Sunday 31st July, 2005.

Dortmund vs NZ times:
Do7am9amnoon3pm6pm9pmmidnight
NZ5pm7pm10pm1am4am7am10am

Tuesday - Singapore:
After a quiet bus trip from Dortmund to Frankfurt, several of the team headed for the trains and their various destinations. The homeward-bound have had a relatively uneventful trip to Singapore (apart from the computer in Frankfurt rejecting Mr Pygott's passport - after about 1/2 an hour of scurrying round by the staff, it then just decided he was OK after all...)
I have added Carl van Roon and Rene Kunz to the arrival list - (they had separate itineraries).

be there in 12 hours
nb

Monday:

Breakfast at 8 was very quiet this morning. The competitor's party was apparently a really good one last night.
One advantage of being at the stadium and not close to any other distractions - people stayed at the party, and got to know each other. 

Most of the kiwis were starting to throw it in by about 2am - although at least one coach (who shall remain nameless) didn't get in til about 5am according to his wife.
Clint King was the hit of the evening - take a look at the website pimpdaddy.com - check out the purple outfit! (appeals to the ladies - like moths to a flame!)

Everyone's packing up and checking out this morning, I've only got time now for this short note. There will be more in a day or so, when I get back and can get several hours at the computer - I have a heap of photos to sort through!

About 1/4 of the team are leaving for NZ today - the rest are scattering all over - Czechoslovakia, Netherlands, France, many to the UK.
Those due to hit Auckland 10.30 am Wednesday are: Campbell Gold, Rene Kunz, Chuan-Whei Lee, Toni Moki, Lipi Shukla, Cameron Snelling and Luke Thompson, Carl van Roon along with Mark Banicevich, Vince Pygott and Neil Breen.

last time to use this sign-off, saying good-bye to Germany,

Auf Wiedersehen

neilb

 

PS: Andrew tells me, that unofficially, it looks like NZ is in 4th Place.
So we've held close to our prior position - and if some of the old hands hinting at taking a shot at Quebec do so (not mentioning names like Gray and Lena) - who knows where we'll go in future!!!


Sunday: Pictures

Team Sparring.
Female:
NZ had a bye in the first round, and then faced Poland, who had beaten Romania.
Poland won the toss, and of course sent NZ in first.

Willie Van de Mortel is coach, and selects Amanda Cleland to go.
Amanda went on the attack, and had the Pole rapidly backpedalling more than once.
However, whenever there was an opening, the familiar barrage of attacks from the Polish fighters built up the points..
Decision to Poland
Renee Richardson is the next one up. This is her first senior champs, and she kept her head well under pressure. A few times she caught her opponent out, or held her off with a skilful defense, but greater experience told , and it was decision to Poland.

For the third round, Antje Hollander was selected.
One of the quirks of team sparring, is you can get lightweights vs heavyweights, as happened here. The lighter Pole moved faster, keeping out of the way, but coming back with punch/punch/kick combinations that got through and were clearly visible. If Antje had been at her best, it may have been different - but in this case:
Decision to Poland - and end of the match.

Mens Team Sparring:

Dan Jackson is up first.
As seems to happen a lot in team sparring - there is a *lot* of testing here, without much action - and then there will be a burst of kicks and punches. Dan kept cool, but the Poles have cool down to a fine art.
Decision to Poland
Next up - Campbell Gold:
Cam is a bouncing bean - radiating energy. He chases his opponent - the Pole gets a couple of Out-of-the-ring warnings.
Many of the Pole's kicks are no-where near the target, probably defensive to repel Cam's hi-energy approach.
However, he adopts the technique of charging in and slugging until the ref breaks it - and this seems to carry the decision - to Poland.

Carl van Roon is our next competitor:
Long reach, good natural timing, and being unusually quick for a heavyweight does it for Carl, and despite a late warning for doing a hi-5 run with the team before the ref had bowed them out:
Decision to NZ



Next up - Campbell Gold:
Cam is a bouncing bean - radiating energy. He chases his opponent - the Pole gets a couple of Out-of-the-ring warnings.
Many of the Pole's kicks are no-where near the target, probably defensive to repel Cam's hi-energy approach.
However, he adopts the technique of charging in and slugging until the ref breaks it - and this seems to carry the decision - to Poland.

Carl van Roon is our next competitor:
Long reach, good natural timing, and being unusually quick for a heavyweight does it for Carl, and despite a late warning for doing a hi-5 run with the team before the ref had bowed them out:
Decision to NZ
Clint King's turn, and it started with a few tentative kicks on both sides. They seem relatively evenly matched, and Clint delivered several attack with multiple techniques.
But the Pole managed to get more through and visible:
Decision to Poland: end of match.

Mens Team Power:
Carl took the punch for 6 points.
Rene took the knifehand for 6 points.
Luke demolished 4 boards with the sidekick - 8 points. Dan bounced on the turning kick Cam Snelling smashed his way through the reverse turning kick, and was the dq'd for the rear foot lifting.
Total of 20 pts.

This was 3rd= with Argentina. England and Finland were 1st and 2nd.


Female team power:
Amanda broke with the knifehand - 4 pts Rose's sidekick got cracked boards and 3 pts.
Cedar's Turning kick broke, but was dq'd for a lifting rear foot.

This gave 3rd= with Germany.
Argentina and Sweden took 1st and 2nd place.





Best teams were Poland Male and Female.
Best Country : Poland
After the medal presentations, a special presentaion was made by tournament organiser Master Weiler, to Greg Skinner. It was "most co-operative and best organised team manager".

There is a fairly solid rumour that a 5th dan patterns division is to be added for the 2007 champs in Quebec.


txt from Neil Breen 11.28 pm NZ Time:

Team Sparring: Both out vs Poland after first round after bye.

Team Power - Both teams BRONZE.



Saturday: Pictures

I'm afraid from the point-of-view of WebPage updates, today has been a bit of a disaster.
We had a few hours gap this afternoon before the evening finals session, so a bunch of folk went into town. I decided to do another print run of the Messages page, and I must have left my little black book in the internet cafe - with all my notes on the mornings events.
So I must apologise for a shortage of detail here - I will try to speak to the coaches and reconstruct the info. But - problem #2 - the finals/presentations dragggggged on, we've just got back - it's 11.15pm, everyone else has dropped into bed... so that will be tomorrow.
(also, as I am one of the plague-ridden few, I don't think I can stay awake for the usual 4 hour editing stint)
On a bright note there - Master Davidson was well enough to attend the finals/presentations settings this evening, as were all the NZ coaches and umpires. Greg S responded fairly well to his (apparently) super-vile tasting medication, and has been on his spot with the video camera every day.)

Note #1: it's not actually a little black book, it's a red one with flowers on it, but the former sounds much cooler. (but the latter should be easier to find)
Note #2: When someone selling you something is speaking Xglish - in this case Germglish, (re printing prices), listen REAL carefully - I thought he said four sheets for a dollar, but it turned out to be "for a sheet, a dollar" (well, 50 Ecents) so when I had printed FORTY-FOUR pages of team messages - it cost me somewhere between 40 & 50$ :( :(

But do keep sending those messages folks :)

On with the serious stuff:

Saturday morning:

Today there was the middle and heavyweight sparring.

Carl van Roon was first up vs David Kerr of Brazil:
This guy is a prior world champ sparrer.
Decision to Brazil.

Sam Skinner vs Bosnia Hertzigovia:

They were relatively well matched.
End of the bout, ref brings them back in - and its a draw!

Straight into it for another minute.
Again - a draw.
Out come the flags (Very seldom seen in the tournament)
The BIH guy lands a kick - ref calls for the judges - no flags!
Three seconds later, Sam slips a kick through the guard - ref makes the call - 3 Red flags.
Decision to NZ.


Amanda Cleland vs Finland:
In the first round Amanda seemed to be trying to find her feet - probably not helped by being her first World Champs bout. Experience on the part of her opponent showed in the timing of attacks, and their accuracy. In the second round, Amanda came out on the attack - showing a gutsy streak which is a good basis for the future, but in this case:
Decision to Finland.

Sam Skinner vs Netherlands.
This was Sam's best match. He took the fight to the Netherlander, and controlled it.
He showed the attributes of a smart sparrer - creating opportunities and driving in to get the point.
Decision to NZ.


Sam Skinner vs Sweden.
The Swede was very good. (I believe he is a local European champ)
It was not a case of Sam being outclassed - but at this point in time his opponent was the better sparrer.
Decision to Sweden.

Antje Hollander vs Slovenia.
Antje seemed to have trouble getting her attacks going. There was a noticable difference in kick height and effectiveness. Admittedly the Slovenian must have been super-flexible, landing at least one turning kick to the head at close range (and Antje is tall!)
Decision to Slovenia.


Saturday evening:

Pattern Finals:
1st dan Steve Morris vs Japan.
Steve did Ge-Baek, and compulsory Hwa-Rang.
This was very hard to pick. The judges found it that way too.
A draw.
The tie breaker was Won-Hyo.
The decision went to Japan - Andrew's comment - definitely the best two 1st dans made it to the final - so congratulations Japan - who have not been to a world champs for some time.
I see the German Champs website has the finals up already (see the link on the right) - so I won't repeat them all here. A few of note - Julia Cross of Scotland took womans' 4th dan patterns (in which familiar face from NZ in the past Christine Young took bronze for England!), and Suska of Poland took the male 4th dan patterns.
Julia Cross was best overall female (individual events are finished), but there was no overall male - presumably a tie. (someone could figure that out from the results page - hint hint)
In the hyperweight sparring - Poland (a usual front-runner) was edged out by Slovenia (female) and Argentina (male). (although in the latter case you would have to admire the Pole for total coolness - he showed zero sign of stress the whole bout - while the Argentinian tended to drop his head and barge in a lot.)
Carl's Gold, Lukes's Silver, Steve's Silver, and Loz's Bronze were among the presentations.
At least they got the anthem right for us, poor old Ireland, they had three tries, I'm still not sure if we've heard the real Irish anthem...

During the long finals session - supporter Peter Casale made himself very popular by going out for pizza. (21 pizzas - took three people to bring them back to the venue).
The hotel food has been reasonable - but - after a while you notice that it is (I guess it can't avoid being) somewhat "mass-produced" to fit a budget, for a heap of team members (probably a couple of hundred at the Hilton, at least).. and there has become a "sameness"... (not "every-day-the-same" though, like last year!!) And I'm guessing they haven't cut the "Hilton service" to a budget. The staff are friendly and efficient, and treat you like you're a Hilton guest :)

Anyway - when Peter said "anyone want a pizza - he was mobbed. (a bit like the juniors hitting the first mall with a McD's after leaving the hotel at the end of the champs last year in Italy).
I though we might get tossed out of the venue - but no-one even noticed!

Every so often, competition would stop (it was all in #1 ring), and an entertainment troupe would do their thing. We twigged to it probably being ad breaks for the TV coverage. (which stretched our night out longer..., but maybe they had good sponsorship, or just felt the media exposure was worth it)

Tomorrow team sparring and power...

ZZZzzz...

until tomorrow (well, later today actually)
Auf Wiedersehen
nb






Talking to a few of our "old hands" at world champs, this tournament rates excellent as far as organisation. The core team of ITF tournament administrators are obviously vastly experienced - I certainly did not hear of any hiccups in the paperwork.
So most differences from prior tournaments are related to the "surrounding structures", the hotels, transport systems, communications (which again are excellent here in Dortmund). In some places in the past, such things as the electricity have been unreliable !!. (and you can drink the tap-water here!).

The venue is ideal - 7 rings no problem, plus generous warmup areas, and mega-seating, plus room for concessions (drinks, food etc).

New Zealand has three officials officiating at the tournament.

Master Davidson spent one day as a patterns judge, and one as jury-master on one of the sparring rings.
He noted that despite different languages etc, with experienced officials, refs and judges, things ran very smoothly.

Messrs Vince Pygott and Mark Banicevich were also pattern judging. Mark B has been sparring judging, but Vince P was off sick yesterday. Today he was one of the assisting officials at a sparring table.

I believe Master Davidson has been the latest to succumb to 'bugzilla' - and was spending today in bed.

Both Master Davidson and Mr Pygott attended the ITF congress yesterday afternoon.

It was decided to combine the Junior and Senior champs in 2007, Quebec.

The big one for us was the decision on the location of the 2009 World Champs, for which NZ made a bid.
The result was apparently far from one-sided, only a 5% majority. Argentina have the advantage of having done it before, and this would reflect in their preparations for this bid.
Decision to Argentina.

It may well be that NZ will try for the 2011 Champs. I believe one significant issue was having a venue chosen (4 years in advance), and fully documented, with a plan showing how the requirements of this tournament would be catered for therein.
Another issue would be clear analysis of how entry visa applications would be handled, given the wide range of countries that would want to attend.
Also, the ITF headquarters is moving from Austria to Germany.

That's our lot for this morning.

We are due back at the stadium this evening for finals, which will be Steve Morris in patterns.

 

A note or two from the congress:
  the 2009 champs were awarded to Argentina.
  after the Honduras junior champs, combined senior/junior champs will be trialled in 2007 Quebec.
  all ITF executive etc were re-elected.
  the ITF headquarters will move from Austria to Germany.

 

 

Txt from Mr Breen 9.50pm  NZ time

Sam win Netherlands
...loss to Sweden

Antje loss to Slovenia

Txt From Neil Breen 8.00 pm NZ time

Sparring:
Carl and Amnda out first round.
Sam win against Bosnia, next round: Netherlands


Quote from the Coach "Special technique: Four events - three medals - Kiwis Can fly!!"

Friday: Pictures My thanks to Rose Cherrington for some of the photos.


The good weather continues. It does now get quite hot in the stadium - in the spectator area.
Fortunately out in the competition area it's comfortable enough.
There are drink bars, and an ice-cream stand. Oddly they don't sell bottled water. Would reduce the trade in the more expensive stuff I guess.
Some of the drinks here are not quite what you expect. I've grown fond of their Fanta - which is much more like mineral water than we're used to. Some of the team have made trips into town to the little supermarket near the train station and stocked up, and some of course fell into that little trap where your bottle of water goes 'hsss' when you open it. Not so good for a fast thirst breaker.
The Germans look at you funny if you want plain water in a bottle. They all prefer the gassy stuff.

The ice-cream guy was making a killing when he came through the bleachers with a chilly-bin full. (rember when they used to do that at movie theatres :)

Some of the team have seen themselves on the German TV sports channel. We believe over Saturday and Sunday they will be televising the tournament on a European wide sports channel.
Today the Micro, light and hypers were on - as well as the team special techniques.

Male sparring:
First up this morning was Cam Snelling, vs Jamaica. There was quite a bit of checking each other out - then there would be a brief burst. The jamaican threw high kicks. With calls of "Go up, Cam" he started jumping, punching down. The Jamaican may have been better at making his follow-ups clearly visible. In the end the decision went to Jamaica. Judges were called to the table, which might indicate it was close.

Mark Trotter vs Slovenia.
Mark looked good here - but he was up against the reigning champ. If Mark left any openings at all, the Slovenian was in there.
A few points up at the end of the first round, same pattern in the second round, so not a total shock when the decision went to Slovenia. Slovenia has gone right through to the final.

Steve Morris vs Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong guy came out full of energy (I recall the ref had to caution him that he hadn't actually started the fight yet). Not sure if the guy simply ran into it, but Steve introduced him to the realities of World Champs sparring within about 10 seconds, with a punch to the head that left him staggering. This bout became quite a photo-op, Steve was able to get through and deliver a good variety of techniques.
(I believe this is Hong Kong's first champs)
Decision to NZ.
Steve Morris vs Slovakia.
The quite young looking Slovakian again came out straight into the attack.
I clearly remember Steve just "swaying with the breeze" - smoothly moving out of the line of attack, picking his target and scoring through the gaps.
That's cool to watch.
Decision to NZ. Woohoo, we're going places.
Steve Morris vs Poland - 1/4 final.
Ah, you know it's going to be a tough one when it's Poland.
There wasn't the size difference that I remembered being common with the Poles at the Italy Juniors, but this guy really knew what he was doing.
There was some circling as they sized each other up. You could see the eyes fixed on Steve, and he was very fast to use any opening.
Second round, Steve came out immediately taking the inititative, but wasn't able to overcome the man in red.
Decision to Poland. Poland has gone right through to the final.
Female team special:
This went on while the males were sparring. Poland were at the front with 4 pts.
Antje Hollander missed the high kick, Estie Speirs got the 2 pts for the flying side kick, then Renee Richardson hit the flying turning - but was disqualified as she was in the individual. This time an explanation was given. Renee approached the target head-on, they felt that the ball of the foot would only contact if one approached at 45 degrees. Poland and Finland were tied for first.
Six teams were tied on 2 pts for third. Ireland, Germany, England, Canada, Romania, and NZ.
The tie breaker was to be the turning kick.
They all missed - except Renee - coming at 45 degrees.
2 pts - and Bronze for NZ.
(and redemption for Renee - some of these rules are - just - obscure and infuriating)
Female Sparring:
Lipi Shukla vs Greece.
This whole bout had a lot of circling, with the occasional flurry of techniques.
The Grecian tended to be the one pushing Lipi back - but the observers felt Lipi's counters were scoring more consistently.
There was some frustration in the team when the decision went to Greece.
Suzanne Main vs Argentina.
This was Suz's first champs as an individual sparrer, and in Argentina she had drawn an opponent from the "big 3". She put up a good effort, but was simply overwhelmed by the Argentinian.
Decision to Argentina.

Male Team Special: after a long wait - one of the last teams to do special - our guys went in.
Carl van Roon took out the high front kick.
Dan Jackson hit the flying reverse turning - but it was disallowed. An "angle of the foot" thing.
Cameron Snelling had a clean hit in the flying turning.
Clint King missed the mid-air kick.
Rene Kunz wrapped it up by taking out the flying sidekick.
This left us tied with the Brazilians.
The breaker was a mid-air kick. The Brazilians got it, then Andrew called up Carl van Roon. (The Brazilian coach looked somewhat perturbed and approached the officials, he felt the same person had to repeat the technique.)
Carl took out the mid-air kick.
Next breaker was flying reverse turning.
Brazilians miss it.
Andrew calls Carl. Brazilian protests. Jury says "he can use anyone he likes on the specials team!" Carl Aces the kick.
GOLD medal for NZ.
So we were done for the day - at about 12.30 Team special medal presentations would take place at 1.30 - so some sitting time.
(It's an underrated little pleasure - sitting. This press pass I've got is great, I can wander anywhere in the rings area while the officials are chasing out the plebs, taking photos, making my notes. BUT it means I don't really have an excuse to sit in one place on the bleachers and let my zoom lens do the walking. Clearer (still) pics without zoom you know.)
Ooh - thunder and heavy rain out there just at the moment (11pm)
I digress.
While we were sitting, the women's sparring semi-final with Scotland's Julia Cross vs Argentina started. The Argentinians have a big team (one of the very few bigger than us) and they were putting out some heavy chanting. Scotland has 6 competitors, a small supporter base.
This wouldn't do - so the kiwis adopted Scotland on the spot - and went into opposition.
It must have helped - Julia is into the final - and wants us back again tomorrow :)
The ITF Congress has been under way today. Including the location for the 2009 Champs (for which NZ is making a bid). Master Davidson is attending, with ITFNZ Secretary Vince Pygott. We haven't heard any outcome as yet.
Tomorrows sparring (Saturday):
Amanda Cleland vs Finland Antje Hollander vs Slovenia Carl van Roon vs Brazil Sam Skinner vs Bosnia & Herzegovina Female team vs winner from Poland/Romania Male team vs winner from Poland/USA In the evening session - individual sparring and patterns finals.
So far for us this includes Steve Morris - patterns.
There seems to be a bug working it's way round the kiwis. Fortunately (sort-of, cough cough), it doesn't seem to have affected any competitors. After Van M and Greg S, now Neil B, Jenny C and Andrew N are starting to show signs :( until tomorrow Auf Wiedersehen
nb

Txt from Neil Breen: 10.30pm NZ time:

MENS TEAM SPECIAL TECHNIQUE - GOLD

Sparring - Lipi Shukla and Suzanne Main out in first round


Txt from Neil Breen: 9.30pm NZ time:

Womens Team BRONZE in Special Technique.
Mark Trotter and Cameron Snelling out in round 1 of sparring.
Steve Morris lost to Poland in round 3, quarter finals.




GOLD for Carl van Roon in mens Special.
SILVER for Luke Thompson in mens Power.
BRONZE for Lawrence Mantjika in 4th dan patterns.
Silver/Gold for Steve Morris in 1st dan patterns final.
Thursday - first day of competition. Pictures
(as the day (evening!!) finished quite late, this will be quick (relatively speaking!) - I will try to fill in the gaps more during our 1/2 day off tomorrow.)

The day started well. The sun was out, for a start.
The micro and light sparrers were off shortly after 7 to the weigh-in.
The rest of the team headed down after breakfast, at 8.15, to see if we needed to start walking.
Fortunately, the shuttle bus system has settled down, and they can get about 30 people across every 15 minutes'ish. No throngs at that time, so we get there fairly painlessly.
We find that the weigh-ins went without a hitch.
At 9am, the individual patterns start.
2nd dan Richard Lavin is up first, vs Romania. Optional Juche, then Kwang-Gae.
The opinion is that Rich was neck and neck - if not even better in spots, from the NZ viewpoint.
However it is inevitable that subtle changes in the style expected in Europe can occur, and there is always that slight unpredictability in the result.
Decision to Romania. (and Romania went all the way through to the final). Romania and Finland are in the final.
3rd dan Toni Moki fell foul of the same problem - vs Russia, Choi-Yong and Sam-Il.
Balance was good, power and speed were appropriate. However good it looked to our eyes, the judges did not see it that way. Decision to Russia.
Scotland and Canada are in the final.
3rd dan Dan Jackson vs USA - Yoo-Sin and Sam-Il. Decision to USA definitely raised eyebrows in the NZ camp - BUT - USA went on winning through 4 rounds. My point is that whatever the judges were looking for, this competitor had it. USA and Poland are in the final.
2nd dan Lipi Shukla vs Scotland - decision to Scotland who showed signs of more experience, and a little more power..
Argentina and Canada are in the final.
1st dan Chuan-Whei Lee vs Slovenia - decision to NZ. Ge-Baek and Po-Eun.
Then vs Poland - who had a very crisp and snappy style, longer stances, decision to Poland.
Poland and Germany are in the final.
1st dan Steve Morris vs Kyrgyzstan - Ge-Baek and Toi-Gye.
This was very close - it may have come down to breathing and speed combinations taught at last year's IIC.
Whatever - decision to NZ :)
Steve then worked his way through the Czech-Republic, then Canada, and USA - to go through to the final on Saturday. This will be against Japan. (This was the "drought-breaker" - the team is always on tenter-hooks - waiting for that first medal.
Note picture of very happy coach in the photos section).
4th dan Lawrence Mantjika vs Finland. Loz was a very nervous chap this morning. However he used Yong-Gae and Ul-Ji to defeat the Fin.
In the next round he won against Uzbekistan.
Now he came up against Poland, in the formidable form of Suska.
At this level, mere mortals like myself have difficulty picking the subtle differences between excellent and superb - but Loz was superb. The judges would also appear to have been split - it took some time, and an observed separating of score sheets into two piles - and the decision was to Poland.
Loz did his country proud - and will have a Bronze medal to remember it by.
Back to the Hilton for lunch, then return to the stadium at 3pm for the opening ceremony.
Somewhat more fun than earlier years (apart from people fainting during the President's speech).
More on that tomorrow - back to the serious stuff:

Team patterns was somewhat disappointing. However they may have otherwise looked, some unfortunate flufs on both teams sealed their fate.
The male team lost to Italy, female team to Canada.
Special Technique:
Carl van Roon - twice World Champion! Argentina had set the bar, only dropping points on one technique.
Carl soared through to a perfect score, giving our first confirmed GOLD.
Renee Richardson made a great effort, thwarted by disqualification rules. While not quite getting the high kick, a hit with the turning kick was disallowed due to angle of foot, while a break with the flying sidekick was disallowed, we think for an issue involving contact with the holders... (I will try to get that clarified, it's just a wee bit late to go calling the coach, at 1.30am :( Power:
Luke Thompson powered his way through all five techniques, for a 100% score.
Poland, Russia and Romania did so too.
The tie-breaker was a 4 board reverse-turning kick.
They all got that - but Poland was dq'd, he spent a long time staring at the board before making the kick, we suspect it exceeded one of the rules.
Next technique was a knifehand. Luke broke 2 and cracked one, for 5 points.
Romania broke all for 8 points, Russia did not break.
SILVER for Luke.
Rose Cherrington missed the knifehand, powered through the sidekick, but dq'd on the turning kick when her back foot left the ground.
Tomorrow, Friday, will be micro, light and hyperweight individual sparring, and team special.
That will be Mark Trotter and Lipi Shukla in micro, Steve Morris and Suzanne Main in light, and Cameron Snelling in hyper.
(no opponents sorry - coach has draws, see note above)

The ITF Congress will be held in the afternoon - we get a 1/2 day off...

until tomorrow (well, later today actually)
Auf Wiedersehen
nb



10 pm Thursday NZ time (midday in Germany):
Just received a txt from Mr Breen:

Individual Patterns:  Richard Lavin loss to Romania, Toni Moki loss to Russia,  Dan Jackson loss to USA

Steve Morris win and through to finals on Saturday. (SILVER or GOLD)
Chuan-Whei Lee: win over Slovenia, loss to Poland

Lipi Shukla, loss to Scotland
Lawrence Mantjika, BRONZE medal, (win, win, loss to Poland )


 Female team will be up against Canada.

 

Wednesday 11.30pm:
Coaches have returned, the decisions on competitors without cards are delayed til tomorrow.
However, hints were made that they wouldn't be too tough about it.
The draw will be formally handed out tomorrow, Andrew and Gray grabbed what they could tonight.

For tomorrow:
Individual patterns: (if something seems missing, it will be due to Byes)
1st dan: Steve Morris vs Kyrgyzstan, next round from Slovenia vs Czech-Republic.
Chuan-Whei Lee vs Slovenia.
2nd dan:
Richard Lavin vs Romania, next round USA.
Lipi Shukla vs Scotland, next round from Australia vs England.
3rd dan:
Dan Jackson vs USA, next round Ireland.
Toni Moki vs Russia, next round Germany.
4th dan:
Lawrence Mantjika vs Finland.

Male Team Patterns:
Italy, next round from Germany vs Sweden.

Unfortunately, the female team draw is not in the sheets they got tonight.

Individual patterns are before lunch, teams after lunch.


Wednesday evening: Pictures
Greg S returned from a trip to the doctor, with a bunch of antibiotics for a viral/bacterial plague of some sort. He'll be spending the rest of the day in bed, vowing to be up and at'em for the first day of competition tomorrow.
Vanessa M has been a bit under the weather also - but it hasn't grounded her yet.
Alan Gillon has been doing sterling service massaging the kinks out of assorted team members.

After a fun workout in the pool this morning, the boys did a haka practice in a tiny courtyard at the back of the hotel.
"came into the 2nd floor rooms loud and clear" we were told.
The haka is apparently listed on the official program for the opening ceremony!
More supporters are starting to arrive - Alison Roma, Thu Thach, Erin Boschier and Devon Pitman.
The Waltons are also in town.

Lunch today was roast chicken, greenbeans and wedge chips. Very tasty, again.

At 1.15, we had been promised a bus again for the trip to the practice hall.
Like yesterday, it didn't show. Grrr.

I've timed it now, it's 25 minutes at a gentle pace from Hotel to Stadium.
Today the sun actually came out - and we had a taste of real summer.
We stopped in to see the stadium with the rings set up. 7 rings do look impressive, with plenty of space around them.
Turned out there is a practice area at each end of the stadium, behind all the big flags you can see in the photos. We were allowed to use that today - being asked to keep off the main rings in the meantime. We were the only team out in force, so plenty of room. It was pretty hot inside.
The theory come up with was that others would think "those crazy NZ'ers are the only ones who would be out in the middle of the day". Ah - but in the cooler parts of the day, it will then be so much easier for us !!!

Later the German team arrived, and started practicing in the main rings, followed by Japan, so we headed out there as well. Our guys' team patterns are looking pretttty sharp - watch this space.
(All patterns, individual and team, are tomorrow - Thursday).
Back to the Hilton, and a couple of hours til dinner. A lot of the team go underground, and head for the big city (population 590,000 in Dortmund, way smaller than Auckland - how come they have a sports complex like NOTHING anywhere in NZ :( Any way - they all trek back into the hotel as dinner is starting at 6.30, just in time to avoid a real downpour. (the weather forecasters were sortof right - we did get thunder, fortunately it only lasted about 1/2 an hour - hopefully won't happen tomorrow morning, especially if we end up walking again.)

Dinner was Veal and pasta (Ugh, some with Worlds experience will say - but NO - this was Thick, Juicy, TASTY veal, and the pasta was an interesting "potato pasta" - I guess it's made like pasta, out of a potato-flour. Not something I'd like too often, it's quite heavy - but interesting once) - and cauliflower.

Team meeting after dinner - the schedule for tomorrow morning: some folk need to be at the venue at 7.30 am for weigh-ins. Others will be there before 9 for the start of competition - to support the individual patterns people. So breakfast by 8 - then we will have to hope that it is made clear if buses will be coming, else it will need to be decided when to play it safe and start walking...

Coach/managers meeting at 8pm. Andrew and Grey are going (Greg is still laid low - literally sweating it out to see if he can make it tomorrow morning).
While waiting in the lobby to find if transport has been laid on, Andrew hears that the competitors ITF cards have to be handed in at the meeting.
Tears back upstairs - fortunately about 20 of 22 competitors are within cooee, to find those who hadn't yet given their cards to Greg. A few problems - one brought a photocopy instead of the real card, one now very uncheesy person with the wrong card, and a couple who haven't received their ITF cards. This happens to recent gradee's, and should be ok. A slightly unexpected cliffhanger this one - hopefully the coaches won't come back with a "sorry - no card, no compete".

I will now await the coaches return with the draw - I will get at least tomorrow's posted tonight.

nb




The Team Messages - a reminder of family and friends,
a connection to home. :o)
Keep it up folks!



Wednesday morning:

Down to 24 hours to start of competition. The team is getting really focused now.
Weight control measures seem to be on track, this is always cliffhanger #2 :
Mark, Steve and Amanda are within a few hundred grams.

The officials' meeting is 8pm tonight, so it will be fairly late when they come back with the draw... (cliffhanger #1).
It's nice to think there will be folk out there going "Oh no, we're up against NZ in the first round!".

The past top contenders are all here, Argentina, Canada, Poland, and of course the home team, Germany, will be one to watch..
The Polish team arrived last night - the story is told of seeing just the top of a black cap bobbing its way through the tall forrest of red in the lobby, then Mark T emerges ... :)

 First training today, at 10.30, is in the hotel pool. Aha - "photo-op" I say..
Some apprehensive looks - but I have my policy, no embarassing photos on the page (unless they *really* deserve it :)
(or volunteer..)

(not to say that I might not be able to retire early on the proceeds of what I've got After the tournament :)

on that happy thought
til tonight
Auf Wiedersehen

nb




Tuesday. Pictures
The Hilton is humming :)
Teams have been arriving all day.
The lobby is continually thronged with a multi-hued melange of uniforms.
Master Weiler and his team in the orange shirts are hard at it registering people.
(definitely a good idea to have officials-who-are-surrounded-by-crowds in fluorescent shirts!)

In the morning, a small group of us took on the underground train system, going in search of a shopping centre. Very efficient trains here - one about every 5 minutes, all automated ticket machines, so as long as you are on the right side of the tracks, (Doh#1) it took all of about 15 minutes to get into town. (of course, we had to figure out the ticket machine first. An "all day pass for 5 people" seemed pretty reasonable at 7 euro (12-14 $NZ)
Then no-one asked to see the tickets anyway - no conductors that we saw...

Out of the underground in central Dortmund, "Kampstrasse" - we thought we should note a landmark to find the same train station again - a nice big church.
First on the list - a wireless modem card to solve my internet woes. Into a "Saturn" store - 3 floors chocka with the sorts of stuff you would find in Noel Leemings or Dick Smiths (except you could fit about 3 Dick Smiths on each floor!)
For once the gods smile, and although everything else is as or more expensive than at home, they have a deal on wireless cards at half what they are in NZ :o)

We then wandered around for about an hour, ticking off the items on Andrew's list of directions to find a supermarket. Rather ironically, we finally got a concrete instruction from the driver of a World Champs Official car, carrying Rocky & Trish Rounthwaite, who spotted us at an intersection!
Rather more ironically - when we came out the other side of the building the supermarket was in - we were in front of our original church landmark. Doh#2!!!

After that - Mr Niven went to collect the 22nd member of the team - Mrs Niven (and son William)
while others went hunting music CDs, combs and cheap electric fans (see below).
By pure chance we all ended up on the same U-train back out to Westfalenpark (where our Hilton is).
I don't think I mentioned yesterday how cruddy the weather has been.
It poured down on and off yesterday, *on* when the team was heading over to the stadium, and there were predictions of thunderstorms today. Fortunately so far the German weather forecasters have proven about as good as ours, no thunderstorms. It has been overcast and threatening most of the day, but has held off. We are torn - because it's probably better for us for it to be cooler, and inside the rain won't hurt - but hey it's supposed to be summer (shades of Auckland :)
I haven't heard of any competitor team members suffering from the rain - ironically, Greg Skinner is suffering flu-like symptoms, but I think he brought those with him...

Apparently they are saying it's going to get real hot over the next few days. (so maybe those thunderstorms will show up after all...)

The organisers here have done very well by having us in the Hilton. It has that "manicured" feel to it, the rooms are very pleasant (and DO have aircon and a fridge) and especially the mod cons like the internet access, in the lobby and in the rooms (if you have the right gear).
There is even a rather nice pool complex in the basement.

An interesting oddity with German beds - they seem to commonly have a bottom sheet, but a sort of "duvet wrapped in a sheet-like case" on top.
Doesn't quite work when it's too hot for the duvet, but just cool enogh that you would otherwise keep a sheet on... (just have to juggle with the aircon I guess)

Making use of the lack of both rain or hot sun today, the team trained on the outside area behind the competition stadium.
The "Westfalonstadion" is a massive sporting complex.
The map implies there are about 10 venues.
Our one is one of the smaller - and I paced the area the rings will go at about 75 metres long, by 25 wide.
There will be Seven rings in place. (two of those for destructions)
It is the one with the green A-frame bits, with the team in front, in the photos.
I couldn't get it all in the photo, having left my wide lens at the hotel :(
Tomorrow will be another mix of rest and training - the officials have their meeting, and there the draws will be handed out. So tomorrow nights missive will be one you might anxiously await.

It will be interesting to see the dining room when it is filled with teams.
Tonight I put practicality ahead of curiosity, and arrived early (so I could get away to this asap, u see)
So it was just the Coffeys and me, and the Swedish team. (shades of a certain TV commercial :o)
By the way - if you see in any of the photos "Sverige" - that's the Swedish team.

Another comment on the food - main course Turkey tonight - and very nice turkey it was! (no "Beef-chicken-turkey" this year, it's top tucker :)

time to say Auf Wiedersehen
nb


Monday : Pictures
Pleasant breakfast this morning at the Amsterdam Eden Hotel, three courses if you wanted - cereals, sausages and scrambled eggs, and fruit salad.
On board the bus at 10.30, NO Incidents! We're off for tour of the city, then a visit to a cheese factory. Very informative guide - admits he hasn't handled a groups of kiwis before - so a few stumbles - (trying hard to convert kilometres to miles, and degrees Celsius to Fahrenheit, until we re-assure him we do use the metric system. (yesterday's guide warned us off trying to ride bicycles, "these aren't mountain roads you know" (??? maybe Ed Hilary's the only kiwi he had heard of..)
We learn much about Amsterdam's past - some canals were built for defense 4 or 500 years ago. Most were used to deliver goods from big boats on the Amstel river to merchants houses along the canals. (Amsterdam is named from the original site being a Dam on the Amstel river. ) They call them dykes rather than dams, and he mentioned how high maintenance the Dutch dykes were...... (causing bursts of hilarity from the team - hmmm!)
(And by the way - it is wrong to refer to the country as "Holland" - that is just a province of "The Netherlands". Zeeland is also a province)

Leaving Amsterdam for the country - there is the occasional windmill to be seen.
We arrive at a farm where cheese and clogs are
made. Step out of the bus into a very farmy smell. "Makes me feel like home" say a few of the team. Phew! We then get a rundown on the process of farm-made cheese, from a young lady whose family has been doing this for 400 years, and she rapidly picks Rene K as the smart.ss of the team. "There's one in every tour" she says.
She then proceeds to grate half a cheese into his hand, for handing out for tasting. Hmmm.
They do the round ones, about 15 cm across, in a thick red or yellow wax coating.

Moving on to "the farmer" - who makes the clogs. Apparently they are mainly made from poplar. He is most surprised when asking if anyone lives on a farm, and about 4 of the team respond. Very few tour groups have farmies these days apparently.
He proceeds to demonstrate taking a rough block and in a couple of minutes, shaping a clog - a very efficient operation. Apparently they are still popular for some activities - he mentioned gardening. His daughter prefers wearing them in the cheese factory - she demonstrated why by having one of the team drop a cheese round on her foot - the aged rounds are rock-hard. Clogs are cheaper than steel-capped boots! Most are sold as decorative items though.

After that, some time is spent in the farm shop, where folk buy up on souvenirs.
It's about 12.30 when we get away, and hit the road for Dortmund Lunch at a roadside cafe close to the German border.
Then 1/2 an hour down the road - we apparently crossed the border, there was no sign or ceremony. Just another advantage of the European union - easy currency, and no mucking round moving from one country to another.
So we leave the Netherlands, which the guide had pointed out was a "very young country", founded in 1600 and something, and was at a disadvantage with a small population of "only 60 million". Hmmm.

Incident free couple of hours later (well - someone else had an incident, which slowed us up for 15 minutes) we arrive at the Dortmund Hilton, 4pm.
Met at the door by Master Weiler, the tournament organiser. Looks like we are the first foreign team to arrive.
Very pleasant park-like surroundings - although nothing commercial in sight (like a dairy or any other sort of shop - so stocking up on coke at not-hotel prices is going to require a train trip I think).
Its about 15-20 minutes walk/jog to the stadium, and the team walks/jogs there for an orientation plus exercise.
(But hopefully buses will be laid on for competition days).
It is an indoor track and field stadium - tons of space.

Back to the Hilton - quick shower and it's tea-time.
Nice but definitely simple fare for dinner - it would appear the catering is a special arrangement for the tournament. Although it may not be the a-la-carte that one might think of at a Hilton, it certainly tastes like quality.
(Curried chicken, Salmon, rice and what I thought was pasta but turned out to be white asparagus. )

Most will probably get a relatively early night again tonight. (Aided by a lack of anything likely to be a distraction in the vicinity.)
Two relatively free days before Thursday's start of competition.
Tomorrow some of us will brave the train system to find a shopping centre.
(Including me find a wireless modem for the laptop - there are pros and cons with the Hilton's internet. They have wireless, which will make my life easier late at night! but it's not exactly cheap. Still - better than Amsterdam.)
Tonight - I hope I can transfer all this to Andrew's laptop, and that we can make it talk to the network.

Until next time - Auf Wiedersehen.
Sunday:
Arrived at Amsterdam at 6.30 am Sunday morning, ahead of schedule.
Coming down through the clouds, first impression was the massive amount of industrial warehousing we crossed - then large numbers of waterways (not specifically canals) out in the suburbs.
Of the other Dutch stereotypes - windmills and fields of tulips - nary a sign.

The usual wait round a carousel for the bags to appear, but passport and customs were really quick.
(everyone just walks through the "nothing to declare" door, and you're out!)

So much for the summer heatwave - we kept waiting for the "air-conditioned zone" to end as we passed out of the terminal, but it was still quite cool outside. Admittedly, this was 7am'ish, but maybe this year's trip isn't going to be a sweat shop after all...

All aboard the coach, with our guide for the 20 minute trip into town, "Bo".
He supplied assorted useful information - such as the tax deductibility of Redlight district visits, and how to avoid the worst effects of, hmmm, "smoking what coffee shops in Amsterdam sell".
(this WAS somewhat tongue in cheek - he did suggest that, of course, team members would not be partaking). Next best suggestion is to visit museums - which may be the only thing open before midday.
Amsterdam at 8am on a Sunday morning is bizarre - it is almost totally deserted.
We arrived at the Hotel Eden - over the road is a canal - (as we later find - there are several canal round the central district - and they're usually between you and where you want to go)

No rooms til 3pm! So we have to unload our bags into the hotel baggage room.

Mark T nearly became the next victim of the "I can't find ...." gremlin.
The bus was out of sight, the horrible thought was there was a wallet disappearing in that cloud of dust.
But like the Wallace and Grommet episode, it was a case of "the wrong trousers".

We then get called back in, to move all our bags - cos the hotel just worked out that the OUTGOING guests needed to stash their luggage...
Then everyone scatters to the four winds - 9am, 6 hours til the rooms are available.
It's the ol' "tough out the jetlag" routine. One day of gradual descent into sleepiness, hold it up til 8 or 9pm, then crash!

You walk along a Sunday morning street in Amsterdam - and all you see are bicycles.
Hundreds of 'em. All chained up, mostly really old - as a few folk commented, a lot of the padlocks were probably worth more that the bikes!
It's such a flat city, and the streets are narrow - everyone and their kids and grandparents get around on bicycles.
But not on a Sunday morning - streets are deserted but for those mounds of chained up bikes.

There is the very occasional cafe open - so - making best use of continental cuisine, we have bacon and eggs for breakfast.

They have museums for everything here!! (and I mean EVERYTHING - several of the photos of which I WON'T be publishing!!! )
I ended up, with messrs Skinner (snr) Gillon and Pygott touring the Heineken museum.
(which may mildly amuse those who know me). Learnt much about grain mash and fermentation temperatures and other such valuable information. Free beer at the end as well.
Fortunately they had pepsi on tap as well.

Returning to Hotel Eden mid afternoon - Amsterdam has livened up considerably.
Streets and cafes are crowded, there is a festival of some sort going on over the canal - "save the whales" seems to figure centrally.

Towards the end of the day - the effects of it being 4am back home are starting to show. We go out to dinner at a restaurant overlooking a canal (of course), where one or two folk have trouble keeping eyelids propped up.

I also succumbed - I fear these notes were meant to go out last night - but it turned out the hotel internet station had neither floppy nor USB to load onto.
So off to an internet cafe in the morning...

Our Monday morning, it will be onto the bus - a few hours seeing the Amsterdam sights, then another 3 odd hours to Dortmund. I will get more organised there with the photos - so come back tomorrow :)

The team flies out from Auckland on Saturday 23rd July, (at 2.10pm, so will disappear through the big doors at about 1.30).

Returning to Auckland on Wednesday, 3rd August, at 10.25am. (Flight SQ285, Singapore Airlines)

Dortmund is in the west of Germany - about 400km west-sou-west of Berlin, about 200km south-east of Amsterdam.

Time in Dortmund is 10 hours behind NZ. When competition starts at 9am there, it will be 7pm in NZ.
The 1.30pm lunch break will be NZ 11.30pm. Competition ends 8pm-9pm, i.e. 6-7am NZ.

Monday - 10AM - Amsterdam
A real quick note, I have a report on Sunday - but I fear the jet lag got me last night before I could stagger out to the internet cafe :(
- and this morning I find the iCafe is not open - who knows when..? and we're on the bus in an hour.
So I'm using the hotel connection at an extortionate rate, ($NZ40 per hour!!!! so this is real quick typing) with no floppy or USB connection for me to copy my laptop report across, so the bigger report will have to wait til we get to Dortmund tonight.
Anyway - I can report that Rene K arrived from Spain, all are still in one piece after a day of exposure to all (well, some) of what Amsterdam can offer (and you might be surprised at what's on offer), and somewhat more rested after an early night.

Time's almost up - so cheerio til tomorrow - things will be more organised (they always are in Germany :) I remember from last time :) (and there will be photos) nb


Sunday 1AM nz time (yawn...) - we've made it safely to Singapore - the kids behaved (XXX oops - wrong trip) the team behaved themselves really well - no embarrassing incidents so far (boring...)

nb

3am - Waiting to board for Amsterdam.

Well - now some more stories to tell :o)

I guess it's obligatory for SOMEONE to lose their tickets or passport!
And who was the heroic person who volunteered to get it out of the way EARLY in the trip so we could all rest easy?

(Well - hint - wandering back towards the gate we came across Greg S - pacing....... )

Sam was missing one passport and boarding pass...  After some analysis, when last senn - all that sort of thing, the suspicion was that it was winging its way back to NZ on our last plane.  (Andrew blames Renee !? but we think he just likes to do that)

I was racking my brains re the procedure for getting emergency travel docs when - Salvation - an announcement over the PA - "Mr Samuel Skinner, report to .-.-.-".  That was either what a very grumpy parent might call there offspring - or someone was reading a passport..   Shortly thereafter spotted Sam and co looking much less haunted. So twas good news.


Now - apparently, for the team, "junk food" is off the menu - Verboten!
So - when the niven tribe were coming out of Burger King - they are sure that the neat about turn, on the run, executed in front of them by one Daniel J, means he was just doing point-to-point sprints, purely by coincidence in front of a Burger joint :o)

ciao

nb