A long day at the office today! A little disorganised tournament and some of the category choices were a bit off, especially sparring. Lexi and Renee in same group for patterns, where Renee got bronze (pattern mistake in second round), but Lexi took Gold! Amelie has finally got her black belt Gold for patterns! She is totally over the moon with it! I got token bronze having had to compete against two twenty year old kids. These were the only competitors doing sign wave, everyone else did hip twist patterns.

As for sparring, Lexi was placed in with Renee, (fortunately they didn’t meet). Lexi took a hit from a bigger girl to the ribs and was upset, after some stoppage time she opted to drop out, it was the right choice. Renee, took on 4 fights, a bloody nose, and almost knocking someone out, to get another gold! As for Amelie, it took some persuading to get her up, she had a go, but this age group 15-17 are savages, the four punch rule did not exist in this tournament, they were battering each other, so we were all relieved Amelie lost her first fight! Myself, a bit frustrating, won my first then lost a second round and a bronze fight. I’ve decided point stop is not for me, even Joleen said point stop doesn’t suit me 😂 (check out the seasoned spectatorpro!)

Marcus Yalland Team Coach