It was wonderful to see such a good turn out for our first Sunshine Coast Tournament of the year. Lots of new competitors, lots of the old regulars, competitors from Gold Coast & Blue Mountains too.

Tournaments take a lot of work both behind the scenes and on the day: compiling entries, preparing event draws, setup, table officials, referees, event marshals, canteen/BBQ and lots more. As always we’re very grateful to everyone who steps in to give so freely of their time, without your help, these events would not be possible.

This tournament also coincided with a visit from Miyazaki Sensei (7th Dan, Kyoshi) from Japan. Miyazaki Sensei spent 4 hours on the Saturday before the tournament working with our seniors to help with our referee development. It was a great day of learning and a really good opportunity to learn from a very good referee. On the day of the tournament, Miyazaki Sensei also assisted by refereeing all day and continued to offer feedback and advice to both referees and competitors.

Supporting the small team of competitors from the Blue Mountains, Mark Snow Sensei (5th Dan, Shihan) & Adam Macdonald Sensei (3rd Dan) refereed all day. And supporting the Gold Coast team, Adam Higgins Sensei (3rd Dan, Shidoin) also refereed all day. Plus other seniors from all dojo many of who were also competing.

After the morning session of competition, everyone was treated to kata demonstrations from Miyazaki Sensei and Mark Snow Sensei.

It was great to see everyone competing with great enthusiasm and spirit, whilst still demonstrating good manners. It was a real testament to the hard work that everyone is putting in at their respective dojos.