All Aussie Kids Karate Clubs are due to re-open for 2012. It promises to be a big year. Most branches have their first training  session in the first week of February. Please call me on 0438 111 423 for further infoirmation.

 The 2011 Australian Renbukan Karate Association National Championships were held in Toowoomba on the 20th November. Contestants travelled to the competition from the Gold Coast, Roma and Warwick Dojos to take on the hosts in Toowoomba. First events on the card were Kata which was divided into three divisions - peewees under Brown belt, Brown belt peewees and Seniors. Results were as follows:

U/brown belt peewee - 1st Danielle Wilkins(Toowoomba) 2nd Wilson Cochrane (Toowoomba) 3rd Sam Wilkins (Toowoomba)

Brown Belt peewees - 1st Mitchell Ryan (Toowoomba) 2nd Luke Levitt (Toowomba) 3rd Brad Henson (Toowoomba)

Seniors: 1st William Hodgen (Toowoomba) 2nd Cory Brett (Toowoomba) 3rd Sam Taylor (Toowomba)

The kumite sections comprised two sections for the Peewees, a Junior Kumite and a Mens Kumite event. The standard was particularly high and all contestants fought with a high level of ferocity and aggression but no serious injuries were recorded. Results below:

Peewee Div 1. - 1st Luke Levitt(Toowoomba), 2nd Wilson Cochrane(Toowoomba), 3rd Sam Wilkins(Toowoomba), .

Peewee Div 2. - 1st Brad Henson(Toowoomba), 2nd Kyle Webster (Warwick) 3rd Hayden Levitt (Toowoomba),

Junior Kumite - 1st Sam Taylor (Toowoomba), 2nd Zave Bradshaw (Toowoomba).3rd William Hodgen (Toowoomba),

Mens Kumite - 1st David Webster (Warwick) 2nd Troy Jennings (Gold Coast) 3rd Steve Lawler (Roma)

The last Aussie Kids Karate Championships for 2011 was held in Toowoomba today (20.11.11). Sixty competitors took part representing Highfields, Darling Heights, Wilsonton, Rangeville, Mater Dei, East Mt Lofty, Cambooya, Gatton,Glennie,Westbrook, Pittsworth, Warwick, Allora and Dalby. Champion Club based on the results from the day was Gatton who took out the Title for the first time. Wilsonton team members recruited a few ring-ins from Darling Heights to form an invincible combination and defeated Rangeville in the final.

All  members are invited to an Aussie Kids Karate Competition to be held at Mt Lofty High School Gymnsium in Toowoom ba on Sunday 14th August starting at 10am. Please see your intructor for further details and the application form

Aussie Kids Karate is now on Facebook. For the very latest news and the most recent photos please go to the site. It also contains video of gradings, classes and competitions.

REPORT ON 2011 DARLING DOWNS KARATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Over 100 karate enthusiasts met in Toowoomba on 15/5/11 for the staging of the 2011 Darling Downs Karate Championships. The annual event, now in its 29th consecutive year continues to attract athletes from throughout the South East Queensland region. The tournament was made up of two parts with an Aussie Kids Gladiator tournament held in the morning and an open traditional competition for adults and advanced students held in the afternoon. Both competitions produced some exciting action for the large group of spectators gathered to witness the event.
The morning events culminated in the Wilsonton Club being named as the Champion Club at the tournament while Highfields retained its position as the number one Club in the Star Wars Team event after overcoming a strong challenge from a Brisbane based club in the final.
The afternoon's agenda consisted of Kata, Points Kumite and Koshiki Kumite and, with a large contingent from Toowoomba present, the local Club was expected to do well. They did not disappoint. Of the 7 Kata divisions, Toowoomba won four with Kathy Levitt winning the Kyu Grade Ladies event, Daniel Luker taking out the Mens Black Belt division, Dylan Sheppard victorious in a hotly contested 10-12 year old section and Luke Levitt achieving top honours in the Boys 8-9 year old division.
In the Points Kumite events, Toowoomba was again successful with Dylan Sheppard taking out first place in the Boys Division while in the Koshiki Kumite Section, Kala Brett won the Girls 13-14 year event and newcomer Danielle Wilkins showed great potential with a win on the Girls 8-10 years event.

Highfields were convincing winners at the first Aussie Kids Karate Championships for 2011. 67 young karate enthusiasts competed at the tournament which also attracted competitors from Dalby Gatton Warwick Allora Cambooya Pittsworth as well as Toowoomba. The children competed against representatives from other Clubs in six "Gladiator" games as well as the more traditional Kata and Kumite events. At the completion of the program, the Highfields Club was the overall Club Champions with six gold medallists - well clear of their next rivals. In the hotly contested Star Wars event, each Club competed as teams in sudden death elimination until Highfields and Dalby faced off in the final. Although clearly smaller in size than the Dalby representatives, Highfields put their more experienced exponents to good use to take out the coveted team trophy as well. Most outstanding competitor on the day was Danielle Wilkins who was unbeaten in every individual event and was also a vital part of the Highfields Star Wars team.

Happy New Year to one and all. The 2011 calendar has been completed so please check it out to see when your local club re-opens. Dates have been set for all competitions and gradings this year so mark them on your Calendar to ensure that you are available to grade and/or compete. Children involved in the Aussie Kids Karate Progam will have the opportunity to compete on 4 occasions - (6/3/11,15/5/11,14/8/11 and 20/11/11)For advanced students we will be hosting both the Darling Downs Karate Championships (15/5/11) and the Renbukan Championships (20/11/11). It would be great to see you there.

Report on 2009 State Koshiki Karate Championships

Ten representatives of the Aussie Kids Karate program on the Darling Downs traveled to Brisbane on 25/10/09 to contest the 2009 Queensland Koshiki Karate Championships.  While Koshiki mainly emphasizes the use of head and body armour to allow contact blows to be delivered without the fear of serious injury, the style of competition was also extended to points sparring and Kata(Forms) competition as well.  The team returned to the Downs with a haul of 10 first place trophies, 8 seconds and 8 thirds.

Most impressive of the local athletes were 7 year old Luke Levitt of Highfields who was entering his first Open Competition. Luke demonstrated what a huge future he has in the sport  when he earned first place in both the Koshiki and  Points Sparring events as well as a respectable 2^nd place in the Kata event. Although Luke has been involved in Karate training for over three years, he has recently developed the Karate bug seriously and is now training up to four times per week to try to achieve his goals.

Another honorable mention also goes to 15 year old Alfred Hunt, also from Highfields who stepped up to the 16-17 year old Division to seek a higher level of competition. At times conceding up to 20 kg in weight, Alfred fought with great determination and courage to place 3rd in both the Points and Koshiki Sparring and Second in the Kata event.

Over 60 members competed in the Aussie Kids Karate Championships held at Toowoomba East State School on Sunday 16th August, 2009. The tournament was well supported by the local Toowoomba Clubs and athletes also came from Gatton, Dalby, Warwick, Allora, Cambooya and Stanthorpe. All events were very hotly contested with the eventual overall winning Club being the Highfields Dojo. Highfields is the oldest and largest of the Aussie Kids Karate Clubs on the Darling Downs but despite this, they  had not won the Title since 2004. Well done to Declan Woods,Lachlan Harry,Luke and Haydn Levitt,Abby and Dylan Sheppard, Thomas Cochrane,Jack Cartwright and Connor Jenkinson who formed the winning team.

The Star Wars event was also well fought. The final saw  Gatton matched against Allora. Allora students used their reach advantage to overcome the strong challenge from Gatton to take home the Star Wars perpetual trophy for the first time. The Star Wars event has,of late, been monopolised by Clubs trained by Wilf Sim and people are starting to wonder what is his secret.

It is time to get ready for the next Aussie Kids Karate Championships which will be held at East State School Hall in Arthur Street Toowoomba on Sunday 16th August 2009 commencing at       9 am.  The Warwick Club is the current champions in Star Wars and Dalby were overall the No 1  Club at the May tournament.  C'mon  Toowoomba, Gatton and Stanthorpe. It is time to make your presence felt on the tournament scene. An entry form is available on this web-site or from your instructor.