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2004 ITFNZ National Award NomineesSee the full information submitted about each nominee Paul M Taekwon-Do Dan Student of the Year WebWorld Gup Student of the Year Nibun ITF Junior Student of the Year Epson New Zealand Instructor of the Year Martial Arts Apparel Club of the Year The President’s Award The information submited about each nominee
Russell Stuart Chris Fitzgerald Carl Van Roon After becoming the world champion Carl continued to help out with students and clubs showing a maturity that comes from someone much older than his 20 years. Carl still competes, teaches and is a role model and inspiration to younger members including helping out with the Development Camp and the New Zealand Development Team. Although Carl has traveled to Japan, trained and was recognized as the world champion he has not let it go to his head. He still sets goals of making the next New Zealand Team and trying to improve on what he did in Poland. While enjoying the victory he is still working towards being able to compete in two disciplines at an international level. Carl’s personality is that of someone who follows the tenets of Taekwon-Do in everyday life. Before going to Poland he was told that he could not win a medal as he was not the right kind of person. Carl did not allow this to get to him, he simply trained harder and achieved what others thought would be impossible. Jonathan Ormsby Major Achievements -2003/2004 Johnny has developed as a very enthusiastic and capable leader within
our club and the wider Taekwon-do community. Unless engaged on a regional
activity he can be relied upon to be at club training where he is both
popular and respected. Johnny is regularly called upon to teach sparring
techniques the success of which is shown by the number of medals club
members have won in recent competitions. He attends club activities held
outside of club training and is a regular Black belt assistant at gup
gradings. Thu Thach Reasons for consideration for ITFNZ Dan student of the year for 2004
include: WebWorld Gup Student of the Year Dianne Hinson Last year Dianne organised the travel and accommodation for the members of the Dunedin Club to attend the Regional Tournament in Nelson, and helped fundraise for the trip. She also played a role in helping with the running of the successful 2003 National Championships in Dunedin. She is always willing to instruct and help when requested, and is an important person in the running of Dunedin Club. She is well trusted and responsible and loved by the members. Her integrity, honesty, and courtesy make her an exemplary student and all students should aspire to show these qualities to the extent that Dianne does. Dianne is currently a devoted 1st Gup student, training not only at the Dunedin club trainings but also taking classes at the University Club and the Mosgiel Club as time allows, as she looks toward her I Dan grading at the end of the year. She devotes much of her own time to furthering her own learning as well, attending all of the extra activities outside of normal training that she can. She also endeavours to take individual training from seniors outside of these regular classes. This means that Dianne is training four to six times a week, not an easy task as she is a single working mother of two boys. Despite this Dianne still manages to perform to the very best of her ability at each training session, putting in maximum effort at all times, an exceptional feat, and is always friendly and helpful. Her calm personality, and wonderful attitude, toward training is an asset to the club. Dianne has put immense effort into each and every grading and is a keen participant in every tournament. Though Dianne rarely medals at tournaments, she is the perfect role model in Dunedin, and the South Island, in showing what perseverance and indomitable spirit in training can do. Dianne’s improvement over the years has been apparent to all who have trained with her. The Chief Examiner, Mr McPhail, and the Regionals Examiner, Mr Patterson, of ITFNZ have both commented on the remarkable improvement that Dianne has shown over the years, especially the past year, as she became a senior coloured belt. She has constantly pushed herself to the limit to be the best martial artist that she can be. She has steadily worked toward to each grading, overcoming each obstacle that comes in her way. In the definitions of the tenants given in the colour belt handbook, a quote is included for self-control: ‘according to Lao-Tzu “the term of stronger is the person who wins over oneself rather than someone else”’. Dianne embodies this very philosophy. She has identified her limitations in Taekwon-Do, and then has trained as hard as anyone could to break them. On watching her compete at the Regional Tournament this year we felt that she performed to the best of her ability, and showed great improvement from previous tournaments, winning over herself rather than her opponent. Her perseverance and indomitable spirit have set her apart, her dedication to Taekwon-Do, in physical and spiritual aspects, have been admirable. Dianne is the perfect example of all the tenets of Taekwon-Do, and the model student in her attitude to training. As such we feel that Dianne is an ideal candidate for Gup student of the year, and nominate her for the award. Daniel McMillan Trudie Malone Trudie is married to Mr Shaun Skedgwell, who uses her for sparring and one step/self defence demonstrating purposes, and also for his partner at the self defense section of the BB grading, but this is not the main reason I am nominating her either, although this alone should earn her recognition as Mr Skedgwell is not small! Trudie has also recently qualified herself as a judge and actively participates all day at tournaments and at club events. She has accompanied club members overseas twice and assisted in organizing events and helping where ever she can. Again this is not the main reason I am nominating her. Last year when I set about organizing the National Juniors Camp, Trudie was the first person I turned to for help. Along with Shaun, she was responsible for 99% of the things that happened at the junior camp. She shopped, she made lists, she organized, she designed, she printed and she put up with my hundred thousand emails or so that it takes to organize a camp. The eggs that the children had to carry everywhere with them were made by her. I can remember her gleefully pulling the arms and legs off many small dolls in a creative fit of destruction. So I ask that, although many do not know Trudie, they accept her as most deserving of this award in recognition of her huge effort over the last year or so. Trudie is a very modest and humble person, she is also a perfectionist and nothing is ever any trouble. She is someone that will be more and more an asset to TKD in NZ and someone that we will hear great things about as she is also immensely talented in her TKD. Renee Richardson Renée has been selected to represent Auckland North in both patterns
and sparring at the 2004 National tournament, and to represent New Zealand
in sparring at the Junior World Championships in Italy in July 2004. Renée also takes the opportunity to attend other ITFNZ events when the opportunity arises. For instance, she recently attended Mr Rocky Rounthwaite’s breaking seminar at Meadowbank club (where she successfully broke four tiles with a downward knifehand strike), and attended the 3 day Mr Willy van de Mortel’s sparring seminar as a part of her training for the Junior World Championships. Renée is a fine example to other students, both at her own club, and at other clubs where she regularly trains. She is dedicated to the sport of ITF Taekwon-Do, and perseveres to achieve the standards and skills asked of her. She is pleasant to deal with, invariably cheerful, and unfailingly gives her best at all trainings. I have no hesitation in recommending Renée for the award of Gup Student of the Year. Tim Murray Tim’s strongest events would be sparring, power, and patterns,
in that order. For someone of his size and with the disabilities he faces
I think this is an impressive achievement. Tim has a very focused attitude
towards his training and overcomes all barriers put in front of him. He
trains very hard and does a lot of extra training outside of club to achieve
his goals. Tim has also been happy to help out with any regional business as required. His services have benefited not only my club but the region as well. I foresee this to be an ongoing thing in contributing to the running of our TaeKwon-Do organisation. Sharlene Clark Reasons for consideration for ITFNZ Gup student of the year for 2004
include: Nibun ITF Junior Student of the Year
Over the past year Campbell has won the following medals: South Island Regionals 2004: Epson Under 18 2004/1 Epson Under 18 2004/2 2003 National Championships Campbell, through his own hard work, has become a student who regularly wins at tournaments, and does well at gradings, but these are only a small reflection of his contribution to the Dunedin club and the South Island Region. He is an involved member of the club and has not fallen into the ‘superman’ mould that occurs so often when people start to become big performers in the ring. For example, at our last regional tournament he performed excellently, but he still saw it as his duty to contribute by picking up the pen and paper for some corner judging, as well as seconding other competitors, not only from his own club but from other clubs as well. These are attributes that set him apart from others of a similar ilk. He is a student who actively tries to portray what being a senior member of the club is about. He is keen to learn, and if there is ever any problem with protocol etc., no matter if it is his own or someone else’s then he will observe or take it on board and try to improve his own character in line with the tenants of Taekwon-Do. He takes to heart the tenants of integrity, honesty and courtesy, and demonstrates all three when dealing with each person he encounters, junior or senior, inside or outside the do-jang. Campbell has it all in front of him and still retains the desire to learn all aspects in Taekwon-Do. Not only does he have this desire to learn, but he is always ready to teach what he knows to all others who ask it of him. It is not uncommon for Campbell to be the last one at training, either helping someone else out, or doing his own training, often until the lights get turned out! For these reasons we nominate Campbell Gold for Junior Student of the Year. Cori-Jean Topia Carlos MacDiarmid Robert Page - At his first Epson Under he entered he came second in Special Techniques
and was competing against black-belts, some of whom have been on the New
Zealand Junior World Champs team. He was only a yellow-stripe at the time.
I foresee Robert being a future Junior World Champs member. Robert: Robert is a down-to-earth person with a placid nature. TaeKwon-Do has become a major focus for Robert and I’m sure we will see more of him in the future. Samuel Skinner
Epson New Zealand Instructor of the Year
Neil is always striving to further his own knowledge of Taekwon-Do, constantly reading the Encyclopaedia of Taekwon-Do, and introducing new and interesting things into training. At the end of last year the whole Kettings family dan graded; Neil and his wife Helen, along with their oldest daughter Nicole, 16, gained their II Dan’s as well as their younger daughter Natasha, 13, gaining her I Dan. Two of the members of the Dunedin Club, Campbell Gold and Nicholas Eley have been selected to be members of the Junior World Champs Team this year in Italy. The drive and constant perseverance shown by these two students in the pursuit of this goal can be credited to the inspiration of their Instructor. Neil also spends a lot of his time assisting with the fund raising activities of Nick and Campbell, allowing them to have more time to prepare for the upcoming competition. Although unable to compete at the South Island Regional Tournament this year, due to illness, Neil always leads by example entering and officiating at tournaments. At this years Tournament Neil spent a large portion of his time officiating, ensuring that the competition ran quickly. At the 2003 National Championships last year Neil not only competed, helped with officiating, but also helped with the organising of the event. This attitude to help out has passed onto his students who are also seen to regularly help out at events. Neil uses his training as a Police Officer to offer a different, and more realistic and practical, approach to self-defence, unique in the South Island. He has a pre-planned scenario that he has a group of students carry out on a group or person who doesn’t know the situation to see how they will interpret it, and what they will do about it, showing that some situations are not always what they may appear. Neil teaches this in a fun environment, but keeping the realism involved, and showing different ways to defend yourself, that are not always physical. Neil recognises the importance of the social aspect of Taekwon-Do and therefore has organised several social gatherings for members and their families of all the local clubs in Dunedin. Neil organised an end of year barbeque function for the local clubs out at Brighton Domain, with a traditional ‘golden gumboot challenge’ of cricket. Neil organised a social camp and training at Bucklands Crossing at the beginning of this year, which involved a fun, but hard, training including some line drills along a nice cold river! Neil has also welcomed students to his home for a number of social gatherings and the ever-popular theory nights. It is this feeling of family and friendship that Neil brings to the Dunedin Club that instils such a unique sense of inspiration and motivation to its members. All of Neil’s students greatly value the time and effort that he puts into the Club, and the individual attention and knowledge given to all. Ask any member of the Dunedin Club about Neil and they will tell you that he is enthusiastic, motivational and friendly, while at the same time maintaining a disciplined training environment. For the reasons above we nominate Neil Kettings for Instructor of the Year. Kim Bull I didn’t get to meet him until much later, at the regionals I think. I didn’t know what to expect from Kim as I haven’t been too impressed with the Australians I had met previously in TKD. Well, well, well, to be honest I was blown away. His standard was superb, and it still is. Mr Bull is one of the best exponents we have in the region, and excels in all aspects of TKD. However it wasn’t until Mr Rimmer, Myself, Mr Cotter, and Mr Skedgwell made a visit to Gisborne to conduct a seminar to give Kim some help and encouragement that I was truly impressed. What a club, is all I can say. They play hard and train hard. Mr Bulls club is one of the most isolated in NZ, certainly in Midlands. He is 5 hours drive from Tauranga, the nearest club. Consequently he doesn’t get many visitors! Mr Bull has a roll of over 30 now, and 29 graded at the may grading round. He started with all white belts, not a single colour and with the last grading round he now has at last some blue belts. He does not have an assistant either so he has had to do all the work himself, and we all know how valuable an assistant instructor is. He was also a member of the Poland World Champs Team. At the regionals Mr Bull competed, winning sparring, coming 3rd in patterns and winning speciality and destruction. He also seconded almost every student of his, quite a feat. However it is not this that makes him a terrific instructor, it is his clubs loyalty to him and the enthusiasm that they have. A club will only ever be as good and enthusiastic as their instructor. Gisborne attend everything they can, distance seems to make little impression, they just get in a couple of minivans and travel. Mr Bull is grading to 2nd dan in May, and he has had very little extra help with his training from the region simply due to distances. All this as well as running the club. The last I heard he had half the Eastern Bay rugby team in his club as well. Kim’s dad is also one of his students, another complication for him, but you would never know it. Mr Bulls results and achievements speak for themselves. To attend the world champs, take a group of white belts and turn them into accomplished students all on your own, grade yourself, and start, run, and grow a club in the isolated East Cape has to be the role for a superman instructor, no doubt about it. Kane Raukura Andrew Niven Andrew is also very active in the Auckland North region and has only recently stepped down from the Auckland North Regional directors role so he can focus on his clubs and coaching. Andrew is an inspirational leader whose enthusiasm and passion for Taekwon-Do passes on to his students. The students who train under Andrew consistently achieve high success at regional gradings and tournaments. Many Nibun students have also represented New Zealand at International Tournaments. Most of his students see Andrew not only as their Taekwon-Do instructor, but as a close friend. Because of Andrew, the Nibun Taekwon-Do clubs are regularly visited by other Taekwon-Do students and instructors wanting to train. Occasionally there are up to 20 black belts training at the Nibun Mt Albert club. Following the success of the Senior World team at the 2003 World Championships, Andrew was selected to coach the Junior World Team. Andrew has a great conviction and belief that New Zealand can compete against the best in the world – and win. Andrew continues to improve his own skills by attending sports coaching courses and Taekwon-Do seminars. Ian and Lena Walton Reasons for consideration for ITFNZ Instructor(s) of the year for 2004
include:
I didn’t get to meet him until much later, at the regionals I think. I didn’t know what to expect from Kim as I haven’t been too impressed with the Australians I had met previously in TKD. Well, well, well, to be honest I was blown away. His standard was superb, and it still is. Mr Bull is one of the best exponents we have in the region, and excels in all aspects of TKD. However it wasn’t until Mr Rimmer, Myself, Mr Cotter, and Mr Skedgwell made a visit to Gisborne to conduct a seminar to give Kim some help and encouragement that I was truly impressed. What a club, is all I can say. They play hard and train hard. Mr Bulls club is one of the most isolated in NZ, certainly in Midlands. He is 5 hours drive from Tauranga, the nearest club. Consequently he doesn’t get many visitors! Mr Bull has a roll of over 30 now, and 29 graded at the may grading round. He started with all white belts, not a single colour and with the last grading round he now has at last some blue belts. He does not have an assistant either so he has had to do all the work himself, and we all know how valuable an assistant instructor is. He was also a member of the Poland World Champs Team. At the regionals Mr Bull competed, winning sparring, coming 3rd in patterns and winning speciality and destruction. He also seconded almost every student of his, quite a feat. However it is not this that makes him a terrific instructor, it is his clubs loyalty to him and the enthusiasm that they have. A club will only ever be as good and enthusiastic as their instructor. Gisborne attend everything they can, distance seems to make little impression, they just get in a couple of minivans and travel. Mr Bull is grading to 2nd dan in May, and he has had very little extra help with his training from the region simply due to distances. All this as well as running the club. The last I heard he had half the Eastern Bay rugby team in his club as well. Kim’s dad is also one of his students, another complication for him, but you would never know it. Mr Bull’s results and achievements speak for themselves. To attend the world champs, take a group of white belts and turn them into accomplished students all on your own, grade yourself, and start, run, and grow a club in the isolated East Cape has to be the role for a superman instructor, no doubt about it. Taekwon-Do Cubs During this last year the Cubs have: One of the things I personally enjoy most about the club is the friendly,
family-focused atmosphere. Some of the activities arranged outside of
training include: I am not someone who would normally have been interested in starting TaeKwon-Do, but after having the chance to see for myself the Cubs training and the atmosphere within the club I soon joined and I haven’t looked back since. I look forward to many more years with Cubs. Please consider our club for Club of the Year 2004.
Dragons Spirit Papatoetoe Dragon spirit club should be considered for the award for club of the
year as this club has a high discipline level and everyone is always focused
and trains hard at every training. the club is considered as a family
as everyone always helps and encourages each other in anything and everything
they do. Dragons Spirit gets involved with a lot of fundraising and community
activities i.e BMW marathon, raffles and demonstrations etc. Whenever
members are chosen to represent at the national tournament or world champs,
the whole club helps and gets behind them to help in anyway to get them
to the tournament/champs. Dragons Spirit club always has high numbers
at all tournaments and came close to taking out the regional tournament
this year, At all tournaments, students who attend always have a lot of
supporting parents friends and family. The club is always willing to help
out with anything asked for and overall it is just an awesome club. Club First: Two students selected for the New Zealand Junior Black Belt
team to compete at the Junior Worlds in Italy, July’04. Dunedin Taekwon-Do Club During its time Dunedin Taekwon-Do has produced some of the best Taekwon-Doin in this country including four Junior World Champs Team members, firstly Mr Daniel Kerr and Miss Nicole Kettings. This year the two further members, Nicholas Eley and Campbell Gold, were selected to be members of the Junior World Champs Team to Italy. The way that they club supports these members in every aspect of their preparation for the tournament has been incredible. The two boys organised a garage sale to help raise funds, and the club donated items to sell at the garage sale. The club has also organised a quiz night, for their two members, that the club and their friends and family are supporting. At the 2004 South Island Regional Tournament this year the Dunedin Club came second for best club, and third for best mens team, and they had the best overall Blue, Green and Yellow Belts. Also during the tournament the club provided a high proportion of the officials, contributing greatly to the efficient running of the tournament. At the end of last year the whole Kettings family dan graded; Neil and his wife Helen, along with their oldest daughter Nicole, 16, gained their II Dan’s as well as their younger daughter Natasha, 13, gaining her I Dan. Dunedin club is a unique club known for its spirit, discipline, and the members’ loyalty to their instructor; they are a tight nit club with the feeling of family and friendship. Theses characteristics allow the make the club welcoming to new and visiting members and encouraging members to work with each other to strive for personal. Nibun ITF Mt Albert Mr Albert is a close club and members enjoy getting together for events such as Regionals, Round the Bays, and other fundraisers. Members of the club have held or do hold some important positions in ITFNZ both regionally and Nationally. Positions such as Regional - Director, treasurer, Marketing Director, Coach and New Zealand Coach. You will also find members training at other clubs around the region. The club is always friendly and welcomming to visitors. Mt Albert members are also active outside of the club. It is common to find some of them on the paintball field or or a go-kart track. They compete well together and have won the last 3 regional tournaments. Mt. Albert is the main club of Nibun ITF and is an example to other clubs. The President’s Award
Well, where to start..? Gray is nominated for this category for 2003/2004
because: Gwyn Brown Gwyn is currently the Midlands Regional Director. This position requires him to keep in touch with various people and attend out of town meetings representing the region. He hardly ever misses a training at the Tauranga Club and is regularly called on by his instructor, Mr James Rimmer VI Dan, to assist with instructing classes. He has also assisted with instructing at the Rotorua Club, which recently opened. He works well with the kids and is respected by his peers. He regularly attends and officiates at Regional, National and Epsom Tournaments and ran a judging and Umpire Seminar in New Plymouth last September. In 2003 Gwyn decided to organize the first ever Junior National Camp which was held in November. With the help of a few volunteers he spent hours organizing and planning. The camp was a huge success, which has inspired many young TKD students from all over the country. He is already planning the next Junior Camp at the end of this year. Many of last years participants have shown interest in attending again. While organizing last years Junior Camp he was approached by Mr McPhail to manage a team that went to Australia. This team competed in Brisbane at the Open Tournament in October 2003. He willingly took on the job. Not only did he arrange accommodation and look after the team but had to liaise with the organizers of the Senior Black Belt grading which 5 of our senior Black Belts attended and passed. The New Zealand team brought home more than it’s fair share of medals and everyone who went had a great time. This was largely due to Gwyn’s efforts. He has always had a positive outlook that has inspired many a student. Always willing to host additional training at his home when tournaments or gradings are near. I am proud to say that I know Gwyn, a humble person who is a true asset to our organization. I have no idea how he finds the time to take on so many responsibilities within TKD as well as run his own business and spend time with his wife and kids. He has selflessly given so much to TKD that I believe he is a worthy recipient of some recognition. It is for this reason that I gladly nominate him for the award of Dan student of the year. Greg Skinner Greg successfully applied to be the manager of NZ Junior Team to Italy and began the preparations for this. He has gained the support of other Corperate companies such as the Apple Computer Company, and has raised thousands of dollars to help the junior team. Greg has taken on many causes for ITFNZ. Although not a training member is of the foundation he is currently an interim director of the coaching and selections sub- Committee and is working through the setting up process of this committee. For me all of this pales next to one main accomplishment. SPARC! It may not have sunk in for some people, but because Greg took it on his shoulders, with Executive approval, to try to convince SPARC that ITF Taekwon-Do WTF were two different sports we gained a meeting to put our case forward. Greg then flew to Wellington to spend time talking it though with them. The result... ITFNZ is the only Taekwon-Do to be recognised as an official Sporting body. This means that all clubs will have more access to funds as a lot of trusts require that we be SPARC recognised before we even apply.
Sue Breen Kris Herbison Dunedin, and indeed, the South Island Region, has come to rely heavily on Kris for organisation of tournaments, camps and seminars. He often acts as a spokesperson for Dunedin and the South Island, and strives to ensure that there is a good level of communication across the largest ITFNZ region, and that training is maintained at a high level. He has been the team manager and coach of the South Island Nationals team for the last four years. Kris has established himself as a expert in fundraising, writing a comprehensive guide on how to obtain community funding for his III Dan thesis, which has been recommended reading for every instructor, team or event manager; Kris has also written articles for TKD Talk on the topic. Kris has raised a total of $70,340 over his years as an instructor, to go toward equipment and travel for his club and the region, and the running of the 2004 National Championships. He has also taken up the Role of Regional Treasurer at the start of 2003, and has prepared the appropriate and correct accounting statements for the Region, which will allow the Region to apply to more funding authorities who require these statements with applications. These accounts show that over the past year Kris has increased the Members Equity (net worth) of the region by $16,614 in 2003 and $3,911 in 2002, mainly in the form of fundraising for equipment, such as safety mats and special technique and power test holders, bringing the historic cost of equipment of the Region to a total of $23,060, of which $18,515 of that was raised in 2003. As a member of the Tournaments sub-committee he has contributed a lot of time giving Judges and Refs seminars in Dunedin, Greymouth, and Christchurch over the past year, with the help of Geoff Ward. Kris’s work in this area has had a marked impression on the South Island Region, with the level of the tournaments noticeably higher with regard to organisation and running of the events. Also as people learn what it is that judges and referees are looking for in tournaments, the standard of sparring has improved in the South Island, with students having a better understanding of what is expected in the ring. Kris also introduced a new format for the team events at the Regional Tournament, with only 3 members in a team, to allow clubs with smaller numbers to get involved in the event, and allowing multiple teams from each club, making for some great friendly competition. Each team could choose which of the events that they wanted to participate in, rather than making all events compulsory, allowing for teams to enter without having to do events such as power, meaning that more people could be involved without the fear of having to do a particular event. At the South Island Regional Tournament this year, Kris stepped up to assist with the running of the tournament when asked, although it was in Christchurch, as there were some problems at the last minute with the organisation. Kris also transported enough mats to Christchurch, a five-hour drive with a trailer, and a special techniques holder, to ensure that the tournament was run at the highest standard possible, and ensuring competitor safety was maximised. As well as competing in the Regional Tournament, in all 5 events, Kris was also the Tournament Arbiter and the Chief Recorder, he was also a Patterns Judge for half a day, and was a Jury for a substantial portion of the tournament. He also managed to second some of his students for bouts, and even re-assessed officials qualifications during the weekend. At the end of the first day he also managed to run a regional meeting, the first one the South Island has had in a couple of years. The very successful National Tournament was run and organised by Kris in collaboration with Mr Hayden Breese. Kris took the role of Event Manager very seriously, and the 2003 ITFNZ National Championships, held in Dunedin, was regarded as the best tournament this organisation has seen. Kris strove to run the tournament in the most professional manner possible, whilst retaining the spirit of camaraderie and goodwill that is characteristic of tournaments in the South Island. Kris secured the best possible venue for the event, and arranged for sponsorship for the venue and many other aspects of the tournament, including getting funding to assist officials with their costs for the first time in ITFNZ history. The securing of such a good venue meant that Kris was able to get a lot of commercial sponsorship and media coverage, notably TV3 news and Sportzah, that otherwise would have been impossible. This media coverage led to a greatly increased profile for ITFNZ Taekwon-Do throughout New Zealand, and attracted hundreds of spectators from Dunedin to the event. Kris also managed to secure enough funding to ensure that the all four rings at the tournament would be matted, as well as arranging to have new Special Technique and Power holders that enabled these events to be performed away from the walls for the first time, making the event a much more integral part of the tournament, rather than a small part that was away in a corner somewhere. Kris also arranged for there to be a computer network across all the rings with real time updating of results, which were displayed on a large multimedia screen, as well as who was due to compete in which ring for the next several bouts, as well as live action. As well as this display, Kris also had a communication network between ring marshals, and other officials, allowing competitors to be paged quickly if they were late to a ring, as a result there were no delays to the tournament due to this. During the tournament Kris also was the Team Manager and Coach of the South Island, and even competed in Patterns, winning a bronze medal. Kris also secured $13,500 in grants funding and $3,000 in sponsorship, in addition to lot of product sponsorship; the tournament also made a surplus for ITFNZ of $1473. On the weekend of the same event, Kris’s club, Otago University ITF Taekwon-Do, was presented with the Club of the Year Award. Kris has also been responsible for raising the profile of Taekwon-Do, especially in the Dunedin area. He participates in trainings at all Dunedin clubs and often instructs at the Dunedin and Mosgiel clubs. Kris established a beginner’s course at the Otago University’s Clubs and Societies Centre to attract new members to the art, and was also asked by the School of Physical Education at the Otago University to teach a course in Taekwon-Do to the students as part of their degree. This course is now part of the Physical Education Bachelors Degree at the University of Otago. This year Kris had four of his students accepted to attend the 2004 Development Camp, although only 2 could make it to the camp, showing that he still manages to teach his students well. Kris also stepped in at the last minute to make sure that the Level 1 Instructors Course in Dunedin went ahead as no arrangements had been made to host the event until the week of the course. Kris is very aware of how isolated the South Island is, and when he discovered that ITFNZ could not manage to give Dunedin a Stripes on Tour this year he arranged with Mr McPhail for Mr Salton to come to Dunedin and give a seminar to ensure that the members of the South Island in Dunedin did not fall behind the rest of the country. Kris also arranged to have Mr Niven instruct an additional techniques seminar in the Dunedin, as so many people could not make the one in Christchurch. As the South Island Team Coach Kris also runs extra training sessions every week for the Team members to ensure that they are ready for the Nationals. Kris also manages to keep up with his own training, managing to get an A-Pass to his III Dan in 2002. Kris is also someone who leads his students by example, attending every event that he can, and competing in every tournament. In the past year Kris has won the following medals: 2003 National Championships: 2004 South Island Regional Tournament: Kris has established himself as an irreplaceable individual in the South Island; he has contributed so much in so many areas of Taekwon-Do for both his club and the region. He still finds time to train at his own club, as well as the Dunedin and Mosgiel clubs, at the same time devoting time to his roles on both sub-committees, and still working on his own degree and outside work. He is polite, wise and respected in the TKD community, and is a great example of the tenets of Taekwon-Do, and we nominate him as an ideal candidate for the President’s Award |
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