Ishinryu Karate had a successful weekend on the mats at the Strathbogie Showdown.
Echuca’s Ishinryu Karate recently had another successful weekend, winning more than 20 medals at the Strathbogie Showdown.
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The tournament at Strathbogie was the latest round of North East Martial Arts Championships, which saw a total of 136 students competing across two different leagues, development and elite.
There were five different disciplines students could compete in, including highest kick, point sparring, traditional forms (kata) and the sword and flag karate competitions.
Ishinryu had a diverse range of ages competing across all disciplines.
“We encourage the kids to go in every event,” Ishinryu Karate founder and sensei Tamara Davies said.
“The reason why we do that is because in our mind, any mat time is good mat time; they're there, they might as well give everything a go, they might as well get out of their comfort zone.
“If they win a medal, that's awesome, if not, they gave it their best effort and it's more time on the mat and practice.”
The dojo had a total of 13 students competing in the championships, an increase from the eight who featured at the last round.
Among the 13 are students as young as six and Davies was proud of the growth they displayed.
“Some of my younger students, like my babies, one thing that I noticed with them is they're getting really used to the competition scene where I don't need to look after them as much, they’re listening, they're showing respect to all the black belts, they're reading the room,” Davies said.
“They're going, ‘okay, I’ve got fighting next’, so they'll go and get their fighting stuff ready by themselves, and these are six, seven-year-olds.”
Tamara coaching Keaon Nolan.
Davies was able to see her young kids compete for the first time at the last championships in Wodonga and, this time, father and son Damien and Orion Weeks shared in their own special moment.
The Echuca locals entered their first competition together at Strathbogie and earned medals.
Orion picked up a gold in his forms, a silver in the sword competition and a bronze in the flag competition.
Meanwhile, Damien, who was the only person at the tournament in his age group at the beginner level, was able to earn a bronze medal in the swords competition, impressively doing so against opponents who were all black belts.
He only started karate six months ago, being lured in by the opportunity to support his son.
“Orion had asked me a while ago if someone could work with him and he'd been doing karate for a little bit by that stage and I couldn't commit to it, but a couple of things have changed in my life since, and I was able to make the commitment, and it's good to be able to spend some quality time with him,” Damien said.
“You’re always watching from the sidelines, but being out there on the mat and actually participating with him, I think makes it a little bit more special.”
Damien, Orion and the rest of the students from Ishinryu will have the opportunity to compete again at the next championships in Albury-Wodonga on May 31.
The North East Martial Arts circuit has four rounds each year, each dojo hosting one in its town, and Ishinryu hopes to hold one later in the year, with dates to be confirmed.
The dojo also recently moved to a new space at Masonic Hall on High St, hosting core sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6pm-7pm, and kinder classes on Mondays from 5pm-5.45pm.
Later this year, from September 18 to 20, it will also host its annual super seminar at Rich River Golf Club, which includes two full days of training provided by six different instructors.
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