[27 July 5.20pm] Hi everyone, "LET'S GO TUNNERRRR!!" was our tour guide's favourite saying of the day. He was an ex-guerrilla who extensively explained a series of vicious looking traps designed to puncture boots, legs, knees and other body parts in order that GIs would be incapacitated and easier to "neutralise". So anyhow, the tunnels themselves were pretty scary. For those that don't know anything about them, the Vietcong (guerrila fighters all over Vietnam) used a series of tunnel systems in a zig zag fashion with tiny entrances hidden in the ground that led to kitchens, bunkers, meeting rooms... everything. They hid down several levels in order to escape B52 bombers and napalm and we got to go through a genuine tunnel system. It was nuts. It was freaky enough as it was just in a tour group, but in the war, it would have been pitch black, and being tall myself, big americans carrying packs and heavy weapons would have struggled... It really brought what I had studied way back in highschool to life. People also got to fire all sorts of heavy weaponary at a firing range for 20 USD or so... my favourite moment was seeing a hyped up Nick Lourantos return from the range after firing a heavy assault M60... the kind they used to mount on tanks, armoured personal carriers, and choppers. He said he was still feeling the adrenalin from shooting this thing (which was so loud it hurt your ears even from 20m away) that he was still shaking and feeling buzzy 15 min later! Crazy. So, today I'm off to Cambodia, to go and see Ang Kor Wat. My final thoughts? 4 international tournys in 4 weeks? Waaaay too much. Peaking for one or two is enough of a challenge, let alone 4 and then returning to trial in another few weeks.... Bring on the training for 2011. My best regards to Nick and his team organising next year's World Championships in Wellington. It is a very exciting time for our organisation and country and I'm proud to say I am a part of it. Yours in the Martial Arts. CVR NZ won a total of 19 Gold Medals in total. Results of Day 2: 9 Gold Medals: All in Sparring Divisions Female Team Sparring 6 Silver Medals: All in Sparring Divisions 2 Bronze Medals: All in Sparring divisions [26 July 2.30am] Hey hey everyone Great day for NZ. But look, my hand is wasted from punching hong kong in the forehead in the semi so this typing is like a one handed t-rex going at it... So I'll leave the official results up to Mr. Lourantos or Mr Pellow perhaps? <nudge nudge> Some highlights for me were watching Clint flying side kick his opponent, then execute some sort of barrel-roll type kick to the face into and inadvertant scissor-leg take-down. Always entertaining bro. Also a great fight was between the Uzbekistani hyper and our hyper "big Mike" in the final of team sparring, were mike totally pushed himself to another level and really took control of the match. Great cross-step mike. Shot. Also thanks to ethan for letting me stink up his sparring gear and to trotts, yes, I owe you $5 for pulling off that sweet 360 downward kick. Good times. Ok, my hand is sore. Tomorrow, I'll write more! Ciao CVR Competition - Day 1 Results [25 July 2.30am Hey we had a big (half) day today, with New Zealand taking out many of the medal placings in each division. My personal highlights included the female team winning team pattern, Trotts and Brought-shorts prearranged and the final play off for 4th degree patterns contested by Rich and Trotts. Male 1st degree was taken out by Chris (Brought-shorts), and, being the dedicated patterns practicioner that I am, I somehow swung into the final with Japan and tried to take him on Juche Vs. juche. Alas, fail. Haha all credit to team Nippon. When we get official results, we'll be sure to post them up :D Tomorrow we have the sparring divisions, and while I'm not sure about the female divisions, I know that many of the male divisions have decent numbers with 8-12 competitors in divisions such as micro, light and heavy, so it should make for a few good fights on the way into the final. I'm also happy to report that I've been learning a little Vietnamese, which is really quite difficult to pronounce! As you may know, it is a tonal language, like thai, or Mandarin. I did some mandarin at uni, and lived with a chinese family as a tutor for 18 months, which is another story, but seriously Vietnamese seems much harder... The way they clip the syllables with consonants and the tones up down left right back to front (ok maybe not) makes for some difficulty in remembering... But it has been fun. So, today's Vietnamese phrase for us to use in the marketplace tonight is "Het bao nhieu?" = "How much?" If you're feeling in a more romantic mood? "Anh yeu em" = "I love you" as spoken by a man to a woman... I dunno how to say it as a woman... Anyhow, we are off to the night markets to get some sweet deals. Peace CVR Evening team - just got back from demo at the opening ceremony. So at this time you may be asking "what? WTF? Karate? Wushu?" and suprisingly, both WTF and ITF as martial arts are under the same banner here, with an organisation approved by the government called the VTF (Vietnamese Taekwon-Do Federation) leading both. The demo itself went well, with Trotts performing Moon-Moo towards the crowd of several hundred (maybe a thousand max?) and a panel of ITF and WTF masters including the head of the Asian Taekwondo (notice the spelling) Union which leads the WTF in asia, GM Tratjenberg, Master Alfred Yu who leads the ITF in Asia and several other distinguished guests. How unusual a situation I thought... The last time such unity was seen in Taekwon-Do was before the creation of ITF in 1966 and WTF in 1972... Yet again, I digress... Back to the demo. For the finale of our demo section Trotts and Brought-shorts put together a pre-arranged by effectively doing a "Doctor frankenstein" in combining sections of their past winning pre-arranged routines from nationals and worlds... Once again, the crowd was very pleased and it was nice to notice the approving smiles of the ITF masters in the VIP stand. So the opening ceremony and demos were taped for national Vietnamese TV, and I got some footage too courtesy of gravy baby (matty). Shot matt. Just been practicing team-pattern 10 mins ago, preparing for tomorrow, with the tournament starting at 2pm. Ok! Goodnight :D CVR [23 July 10 pm] Xin chào NZ Coincidentally, on the same flight as me were the Japanese team, who we just saw earlier this month in Jamaica and the states. You should have seen Lee Sung Bong's face (the Japanese coach for the Asian Champs), he thought I was just kidding when I said I was flying through Japan for another tournament and a side trip to Okinawa to meet Mr Miyagi. Guess it's one of those "you had to be there moments though..." So we just got back from weigh-in and checked out the arena. A group of us hit up the sauna this morning, so finally being ushered through to the scales was a welcome moment which heralded a collective sigh of relief and the traditional team pig-out, that just has to be done following the process. We're just chilling out back at the hotel now. Mr. Brought-shorts (Chris) is on my right and we're systematically working our way through various supplies we liberated from the local convenience store....One local drink of note, is "revive" kinda like a fizzy version of powerade. So far, the others have mentioned visiting the "Cu Chi" tunnels which the Viet-Cong created as an extensive means of both transporting weapons, hiding and ambushing G.I.s during the Vietnam war. But I digress... Tonight we are putting on a short demo (although not the most prepared we could be!) at the opening ceremony. We just saw the indian team arrive on mass before and we've also seen a large contingent from Hong Kong, Vietnam and a few Uzbekistani's and the like floating around. Until later tonight, all the best from Nam. CVR PS. Everyone keeps going on about how amazing the prices are, just to give you an idea - $1 US for a pair of CK boxers, 10c US for the latests DVDs, $5 for a fake LV bag, $3 for Adidas t-shirts etc... good shoes, well known brands Nike, Puma etc $20 USD, sometimes less... From Estelle Speirs July 22 at 10:12pm
So far a mixture of us went to the cu chi tunnels yesterday and the boys fired ak47 guns at pictures of cows. Today we all went to the war museum which we all found very sad seeing lots of pictures of people that were affected by agent orange in the war after that some of us went to look at the reunification palace, the post office and veitnams version of the Norte dam. Tonight most of us are just relaxing as weigh in is tomorrow (Friday) most of us are within 1-2 kgs of our divisions. Opening ceremony is tomorrow night where mark and chris are performing there pre-arranged in front of around 5 thousand spectators. We received this US Open update: Michael Onland, Shane Black, Ross Black and Corey Hunter traveled together and their results were as follows: Michael Onland [1.30pm, July 11] Afternoon everyone. A beautiful final day here at Disneyworld in Orlando and the lads and I are just settling down to watch the FIFA 2010 World Cup final. Go the Netherlands! Yesterday was another action packed marathon with Trotts and Gravy Baby (aka Gravy Baby) competing in the same AA Black belt traditional Korean forms (patterns) division. Alas, while the boys competed valiantly (as I mentioned yesterday) I think they just needed to scream a little more… Be sure to ask Gravy about his rendition of Choong-Jang too… Good work guys. Following the forms, Kane “BayGent” Baigent took on one of the top point fighters in the under 154 pound AA blackbelt division in his point fighting debut. His opponent had incredible footwork which made him very elusive and while Kane caught him a few times in the corner with some good hands, his opponent would take the match with a combination of absolutely class consecutive lead leg sliding kicks and acrobatic counters including one or two cartwheel flip type kicks and even a downward kick executed from a one handed hand-stand… can’t imagine it? If you know what a break-dancing / capoeira L-kick or K-kick is you’ll kinda get an idea of what this guy was capable of doing. Epic. In the evening at the night of champions, I would have my chance to fight Jamaican heavyweight Kenneth Edwards in a match broadcast on ESPN. Being backstage was an exciting experience, particularly considering the talent of those performing on the night. Just ask any of us on our return and I’m sure you’ll get an enthusiastic summary of just how incredible some of the performers here are. The first time we attended the US Open Night of Champions in 2007, I was blown away. In particular, Raymond Daniels, considered by many to be the greatest sport karate point fighter ever, left a truly lasting impression on me. It was a surreal experience to end up fighting at the same night of champions as him three years later here in 2010. Simply youtube.com search “Raymond Daniels Highlights” and you’ll get the picture. So, last night following the fight night, we hung-out and celebrated with some of the other teams pool-side here at the resort and basically marvelled at the events of the last 10 days both here and in Jamaica. Myself, I’ll be flying solo to Japan early tomorrow morning via Washington DC. The leg from DC to Narita (Tokyo) alone is an 18hr straight killer. Good times… So the plan is to spend 9 days in the land of the rising sun before meeting the others in Vietnam on the 21 July. I’ll be making a short pilgrimage down to train in the birthplace of Karate, in Okinawa, before competing alongside another NZ Team at a Martial Arts tournament in Fukuoka, which is known as Auckland’s Japanese “sister city”, in the south of Japan. Until then, thanks for tuning in. I look forward to catching up with everyone on our return from Vietnam in early August. Much love and enjoy the world cup final. Go the Netherlands! Carl [Midday July 10.] 2nd day of competition at US Open. With my supersonic hearing I’ve heard people (particularly family members, loved ones and friends) holding their breath for updates… my bad. Chris B and I are currently sitting outside the Disney World Business Centre using their WIFI just down the hall from the competition venue. Today is the second day of the Martial Arts tournament on steroids event that is the US Open Martial Arts World Championships. Yesterday, ITF representatives pretty much dominated the continuous sparring divisions. For those that are unfamiliar with the sparring rules used over here, continuous sparring is the closer of two main rule systems that resembles ITF sparring in that the match is not stopped (in a Karate-esque style) every time a valid score is completed. Argentina, in particular had a very good run yesterday, winning 4/4 divisions they competed in. It was similar to the near clean sweep as that seen with Poland in the individual sparring in Jamaica. In yesterday’s continuous sparring, Chris B had a bye and then fought the Polish lightweight winner of the Jamaican event. Chris scored well with his left sidekick, which threw off the Polish southpaw who was determined to land his trademark overhand right (wondering what I mean? Just watch Toni Moki, I’m sure she is gonna get me for this but… it’s her favourite, and only, punching technique!) In the end the decision went to the Pole, which I believe in part was due to the scoring system used here, which sometimes rewards aggression over actual effectiveness in landing clear blows. Just ask anyone when they’re home about the kind of brawling that goes on here, and you’ll understand. So what about today? Well, Trotts will be doing his patterns and our middle and heavy (Kane and DJ) will be fighting in the point sparring shortly. It is a difficult situation at times being judged by those with such different backgrounds, and different interpretations of what is ideal in terms of both sparring and kata (patterns) are a big factor. Extremely low stances at 90 degree knee angles or deeper while performing drawn out blood-curdling screams seem to be the winning flavour here at the US Open… But, no doubt, there are also some incredibly well conditioned, explosive and dedicated athletes that compete here and surely inspire a lot of people to take their training to the next level. Tonight, starting at 6pm, is the night of Champions, where elite competitor’s performances are broadcast on the US sporting channel ESPN who I’m sure most of us are familiar with. They’re currently rehearsing the line-up for tonight’s show, which is about 3 hours long. Some of the events on the card tonight are; traditional Karate forms, extreme (acrobatic) forms, creative forms, point fighting, Sport Jiu Jitsu (stand-up and groundfighting), submission grappling, power breaking (ice, concrete, wood etc) and continuous fighting… which is where I come in. Tonight, I will compete with Kenneth Edwards, the Jamaican heavyweight, at around the half way point of the ESPN broadcast. Top ITF referee Kurt Otteson of Canada and four International Masters from Poland, Germany and England will judge the fight. No pressure. Haha. Morning, 9 July Morning :) Sending this from wifi at the ft lauderdale airport lobby. it's currently 10am local time and we're just waiting for our bus to arrive... Still another 4hrs to spend on the bus ride to Disney world, before the each platoon of sleep deprived foreign competitors can crash for a mid Arvo siesta. Midday, 6 July First off, my apologies for taking so long to put through this update as we’ve been without online access during some of the travel we’ve done since the completion of the tournament. It’s an absolutely stunning day here and we’re currently stationed in the town of Negril, touted by some of our Jamaican friends as Jamaica’s top beachside getaway. Negril is pretty much as far from Kingston as possible, but still not too far considering the size of the Island. The trip took us about 4.5 hours yesterday, in a shuttle bus with the Japanese and Canadians. Kinda been like the United TKD Nations, with everyone speaking French, English, Japanese and the local Jamaican slang, which might as well be another language. Mind you, they probably find the same thing, listening to my clipped “Flight of the Conchords” accent. When we arrived, we were greeted by flags from each nation flying at the front of the stadium entrance. Before being escorted to the New Zealand locker room we were shown the arena. A raised centre stage complete with lights, flags and giant posters with mug shot fighting poses of some of the tournament’s top competitors from each team. The entrance where later, each team would be escorted out to the competition area and introduced to the crowd, was framed with pyrotechnic flames which set off in time to the music as we came out. It looked like something from the successful reality TV series “The Contender” or possibly, a professional wrestling event. The competition area was closed off with the kind of fencing commonly scene at fight nights in other combat sports. It was an impressive sight and definitely put everyone in an excited mood. The Jamaican crowds were very animated and added to the electric atmosphere. Team Jamaica received standing ovations from the local crowd by winning the first event for the day, defeating three teams in succession to win the “ISKA World Continental Gold Cup” team sparring title. After a short intermission in which local hip-hop artist “iOctane” performed some of his better known songs, the individual categories began. Trotts was up first fighting, once again, against Maxime Bujold of Canada. The fight was close, with both fighters landing several good techniques. Trotts landed a particularly clear counter jumping punch at one point, with both fighters hustling for distance with their lead side kicks from closed southpaw stances. Just toward the end of the fight Bujold landed a authoritative turning kick, but still, I thought Trotts had it. Alas, it was not to be and Maxime advanced on, winning the next match and going into the final against Amit Batra of Poland, who won the division. Poland also went onto win the lightweight division, where Chris B had a rematch with leading competitor Estani Serrano from Argentina. Chris fought well, but it was not to be, with Serrano taking the match and advancing to the next round. Our representative in the middleweight division, Kane B, did well to secure bronze in his division, after a well-contested fight with a tall Canadian opponent which left him fighting for third place against Japan. Kane dominated this last fight, and took 3rd place. In the hyper weight division, DJ had a bye in the first fight and went on to compete with Canada in the semi. Here he countered the heavier Canadian well with his mobility, setting up several well placed dodging back kicks. After falling and landing on his injured knee however, he was unable to continue into the final and take on ex-world hyperweight champion Darius Idikowski from Poland, who won the division. At this point, Poland had won four out of five of the individual divisions. The final division of the night was mine, heavyweight sparring. First, I took on a friend of New Zealand’s, Taizo Suguya, who trained and lived in New Zealand for around 4 years. Having won this match with a decisive 360 high turning kick, I advanced to compete against the home-crowd favourite, Kenneth Edwards. I had competed against Edwards before. It was in my first match of the 2008 World Cup in Italy, where he had been victorious in our first encounter. The fight was very enjoyable, and the crowd was passionate and animated. We both played up the action and had a lot of fun fighting hard. In the end, I took the decision and advanced to fight my rival and winner of my division at the last world championships, Jonathon Batista of Argentina. The final fight went similarly to that contested in Mar Del Plata, Argentina until I managed to land a step in counter reverse turning kick. This sealed my victory in the final, so at least the Polish, for all their skill, didn’t win every division! We returned to the hotel around 1030pm, chilled out for a little with the lads and prepared to depart for Negril the next morning early, at 8am. Which was yesterday. At this point, on behalf of the team I’d like to thank the people of Jamaica for their hospitality, the Jamaican Taekwon-Do association and sponsors such as Busta Cola (Jamaican beverages) for this opportunity. The whole trip has been surreal. On a more personal note, on behalf of the lads, I’d like to express our gratitude to the ever dedicated Mr. Steve Pellow, our coach, who has been working to prepare us for this event since the beginning of the year. His open-mindedness, experience and passion as a Martial Artist has been a grounding force for us. Thanks Steve. Finally, thanks to the boys; Trotts, DJ, Kano (BC) and Brought-shorts (Chris). Your support as brothers in arms was and always is invaluable to me. It has been an honour sharing this adventure with you. Much love. Carl VR 5 July 8.30 pm (NZ Time) Txt from Carl: Nz 2nd overall of 6 countries. Pol 1st overall: 4 indiv gold of 5. Kane brnz. Dj injured winnin semi. Me gold vs arg. haka well received. Jamaica won team sp. 4 July 10.30am |
