Kickboxing Grading

White and Red kickboxing Grading not far away. 29th March.

AFBJJ Vics, Ballarat Kyokushin One Match, Fight Force Kickboxing Show

Competition in all the styles are only days away with FAFC members competing.Check out the Calendar and come along to support TEAM FAFC as your training partners step up to test themselves.

Dominance Round Robin Competition

Jason Dupont entered the recent Round Robin at Dominance and came away the clear winner in his weight division having four fights all won by submission.

Robert Drysdale Seminar

Robert Drysdale one of the worlds best BJJ competitors recently held a seminar showing some of his favourite ways of passing guard and submitting opponents. Some great points were learned. Seminars are a great way to pick up skills straight from the source and train alongside people from all around the world.

CLICK HERE TO RECIEVE NEWS AND UPDATES VIA EMAIL

Back to Full Timetable.

We are back on the full timetable with new classes that should improve training for everybody. We have a new seperate class for 4, 5 and 6 year olds in the karate. This class is called Wittle Wawwiors and will make it even more enjoyable for the younger ones while also improving the older kids Kyokushin classes.The Wittle Wawwiors will still get to train with the older kids in the Saturday class.

Adult Brazillian Jiu Jitsu classes have been split now to have a 6.00pm Beginner class. This class is for everyone that has not yet graded. This will make classes better for the new ones while also meaning we can work on more complex techniques with the more experienced members. The childrens BJJ has been transformed into an MMA class that will teach both BJJ skills along with some punching and kicking drills.The Junior members are still encouraged to come to open mats to work on their BJJ skills.

Adult MMA has also been introduced with a 6pm Friday class being added. Classes in January have proved popular with members getting a chance to mesh all their skills together.

If you have not yet made it back to training on 2010 we hope to see you soon with competition in all styles only weeks away.

 

FAFC END OF YEAR XMAS PARTY

5th December is the date of the FAFC Ball.This Semi Formal Occasion will take the place of the end of year party that is normally held at the FAFC and will also act as a Fundraiser for the Spain 2010 Team. The Ball to be held at Roseville Ballroom in Leake Street Essendon starts at 7pm and will be a sit down 3 course meal including Beer wine and soft drinks. There will be presentations including student of the year awards and demonstartions by several instructors as well as pleny af music and fun. There are only 200 hundred tickets available with tickets costing $65 for Adults and $50 for kids under 12. There is an early bird rate that expires 21st Nov that has a $10 discount of every ticket. This will be a great night, don't miss out tickets are available at recetion or call Maria 93044228.

WOMENS SELF DEFENCE SEMINAR

Maria is holding another Womens Self Defence Seminar on Saturday 28th November, Covering defensive techniques,tools and strategies over a two hour period from 10am.Bookings are a must. $35 per person paid in full at time of booking.All welcome, Group discounts are available. Phone Maria 9304 4228

VABL STATE BOXING TITLES

Yousef Alboswailim fought in his first Boxing fight on Saturday 14th November. After two gym spars and only a few months of training Yousef bravely stepped up to compete for a Novice State Title.This boxing fight was a first for the FAFC .Thankyou to Joe from First Rate who helped to set up the fight and have opened a new door for fighters from the FAFC.Unfortunately Yousef took Silver on the night but has another fight lined up for November 27th.

BLACK BELT GRADING

After years of sitting on 1st Kyu both Jason Eames and Josie Gibilisco graded to Shodan along with David Avola who after almost 20 years in Kyokushin and two National Titles graded up to Nidan. This was again a first for FAFC. The standard throughout the grading was high including Brayden Paterson and Peter Kougias who graded for 2nd and 1st Kyu respectively.It was a proud moment to see them finish the forty fights still fighting back. Congratulations on a long hard day.

FAFC CAMP

The FAFC Summer camp recieved glorious weather again as we spent the weekend drilling knife and gun disarming techniques as well as long weapon defence.It was a great weekend with swims in the river to wash off the pytrid swamp water from the commando course and ease tired muscles from the Sunday morning Hill Run and repeats of the notorious Lassiters Steps. The camp is always well worth the effort. Thankyou everyone for a great weekend.

ULTIMATE KICKBOXING PROMOTION

Luke Keane fought his first Kickboxing bout at the recent Keilor show. Luke started in fine form but smelled blood after landing a few heavy hits on his opponent and went into a frenzy of hard hits.His opponent was tough and took the hits well staying on his feet even avoiding an 8 count and continued to pick away at Luke who's energy was spent. While it was a very tough fight Luke did not get the decision but learnt bundles from the experience and is also fight on the upcoming Hoppers Crossing show.

ONE MATCH

The Geelong Kyokushin one match tournament saw four FAFC fighters matched on the night with all of them winning decisively. Brett Carter, Gloris Smith,Josie Gibilisco and Ben Lyon. Bens win over well respected middle weight Dean Hinch also prompted investigation into including him in the World Cup Team for Spain 2010. After being raised with all the AKKA Branch Chiefs and Head of the organation Hanshi John Taylor Ben was invited into the Team and will now be traveling along with the other three fighters from Glenroy Dojo. Glenroy Kyokushin really is looking very healthy at the moment and the experience gained by the fighters can only add to the depth of the club, not to mention all the hard training to get them there and how this will lift not only the level of the fighters but also the rest of the club members.

GYM SPAR

Well done to all those that had a bash at the Sunshine gym spar. The Gym Spar is a good place to get some directives about where you are at and what you should be working on to improve your fighting ability.

PAN PACIFIC BJJ COMPETITION

The Pan Pacs wer held on 16th and 17th October with several FAFC members entering.Entering the competitions is important to continually test yourself and while we didn't have many wins on the day, I'm sure we all learnt from the experience.The Pan Pacs was loaded with great fighters from not only All around Australia but also from overseas.

TRIVIA NIGHT

Saturday night 10th October was a great night with the fundraising committee putting on a fantastic Trivia night that raised a considerable amount of funds to assist the team from FAFC to get to the Kyokushin Karate World Cup 2010 in Spain.

The night was well supported with 100 participants on the night all getting in the spirit of the night and sponsoring businesses donating some great prizes for the games on the night. The way trivia nights are run everyone on the table is bound to know something about something so contribute to the tables overall knowledge and noone is asked individually so it has a relaxing atmosphere that can be enjoyed by all. Thankyou to all those that supported the night including those that won the auctions of memorabilia. Thankyou to Sensei Steve Hardy who supplied the memorabilia for the night. I will add a list of the supporting businesses soon.

RIVERINA CHAMPIONSHIPS-GRIFFITH NSW

A busload of FAFC members and their families travelled to Griffith NSW to compete in a growing tournament in the beautiful country town of Griffith. Known for its wines oranges and infamous underbelly links Griffith is a long drive from Melbourne but has been holding tournaments supported by fighters from all around the south eastern states and is always a good weekend.The Hired 25 seater bus was expertly driven by our own Sempai Gloria who handles the bus likes its a mini. We were met up there by more FAFC members and spent the weekend under the watchfull eye of the prison wardens running the Motel.

With only a handfull of FAFC Juniors competing this time we got to watch them all fight in truly impressive style. Some managed to make it through to the finals while others did not, but every one of them fought well showing an increasing knowledge of timing and footwork . The Full Contact was great to watch with some powerful hits from the girls stopping their opponents and Ben giving long time champion Dean Hinch a tough fight in the semi Final.

Non Contact Results

Sarsha Kassab 1st Under 10

Nedim Julardzija 2nd Under 12

Reyne Ilves 3rd Under 18

Yip Lee 2nd Under Yellow Adults

Full Contact

Gloria Smith 1st Female Light Weight Open

Josie Gibilisco 1st Female Middle Weight Open

Ben Lyon 3rd Male Middle Weight Open

Eddie Kassab 2nd Male Under Green Belt

WILL- MACHADO NATIONALS AND RIGAN MACHADO SEMINAR.

John Will ran another successful tournament at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre. A very long day with a few hundred competitors. TEAM FAFC had 5 competing in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Unfortunately no one got through to the finals this time. However Mamara and Dale both made it through to the second round both with brilliant first round fights. Mamara's first fight was against Marco from Gellong an extremely athletic competitor that almost finished the fight in the opening seconds with a flying armbar. That fight was possibly the most exciting fight all day with both nearly submitting each other and both sneaking there way out of near impossible situations. In the juniors David Rich entered his first tournament and fought well also getting out of near armbars buthis opponent proved too strong. It was great to see the higher ranks fighting first to a full house rather than at the end when most people had gone home..

Rigan Machado ran a seminar on Sunday at Dominance MMA. He took us through the history of BJJ techniques as they developed and became more complex to counter each new style as they developed. Most techniques were fairly simple but it was good to reinforce some simple ideas and see how someone of Rigans standing moves. Also a few good ideas sprang from the drills we were doing. Any new tips will be passed on to you all in the classes over the next few weeks.

David Rich with BJJ Legend Rigan Machado

VKKA Victorian Non Contact and Kata Championships

Newtown YMCA hosted the Victorian Kyokushin Non Contact Tournament in Geelong on Sunday 13th September. A massive turn out saw people from all over Victoria compete for the Vic Title including many of the Full Contact fighters. TEAM FAFC had 30 competitors enter with some great results.

Let me start with 7year old Lucas Granieri who placed 2nd . It was great to see Lucas following in the families footsteps and taking home a medal. Sarsha Kassab followed up her recent win at the Nationals to win the Vic title now making her both the Sate and National Champion. Sarsha's Roundhouse kicks to the head are phenomenal with great technique and control all with lightning speed. Amber Pace at 10 years old won her sdivision making it her third consecutive Victorian Title. That is a massive achievment of consistency. Congratulations Amber.(I'm sure Dad's proud). Nedim Julardziya also won his division of the males having to take out another of the FAFC members along the way in Luke Sultana in the third round. Luke lost out to Nedim but picked up 3rd place in the Kata. On the other side of the draw Tristan Keech fought through to take out the third place medallion. Reyne Ilves who has recently moved into the full contact arena where he took second in the colts at the Nationals again took to the noncontact and won his division again having to take out another of the FAFC members. Benedict Hobart lost to Reyne in the second round but fought extremely well after having just returned to training after years away. Well done Benny! Eddy Kassab again won his division making the second gold medal for the family on the day.This was despite a last minute decision to have no thigh kicks scored for this division only. Ben Lyon showed he still has the ability after many childhood non contact titles he returned to non contact winning the mens Black Belt division. Good Job Sempai Ben. Peter Kougias capped off the day with a great display of fighting gaining 3rd in the Masters Division. A division which I think will continue to grow in popularity with already enough competing to make a solid division.

Congratulations to everybody who competed. Non contact is a very hard format to fight under with charging fighters sometimes getting awarded for their lack of skill and causing contact and decisions don't always tell the whole story of how you went on the day . Those winning sometimes getting a lucky break and those losing sometimes being hardly done by. It is certainly true that the more competitions you compete in the better you train on a weekly basis and the better results you start to accumulate . So continue training hard so we can all enjoy such great results.

Kata is always hard to Judge and is especially difficult with different styles, affiliations,dojos and ranks.Josh Granieri 2nd Place,Kathy Keller 2nd, Luke Sultana 3rd Place,Shannon Warnecke 2nd Place, Yip Lee 1st Place.Well done to everybody that competed.

Fundraising

A fundraising committee has been formed to raise funds for the 2010 Kyokushin World Cup . We have three TEAM FAFC members who made the team and now need to support them to get them over there,There are plenty of fundraising projects underway so please contribute however you can so the fighters can just concentrate on fighting.

GYM SPAR

Hammers Gym in Blackburn was host to another gym spar Sunday 23rd August. These Gym spars give students a great opportunity to face the nerves of competition without the contact and can be used as a great stepping stone for those that want to fight full contact. Bouts can be Boxing ,Kickboxing, Muay Thai or anything in between and can be light or semi contact with or without a decision. So there is really no excuse to not enter. Everybody enjoys the experience and Hammers gym was great location with his full size ring and Meznine seating.Team FAFC entered just two competitors this time . Peter DeIoris was the first to fight in a semi contact Kickboxing bout , against a student from Mark Catagnini's gym. Peter faced nerves and a slippery floor in the first round but found his feet in the second giving them one round each. Well done Pete. Yousif Al Bosawilim was the next from the FAFC to fight and fought a student from Big Bens Boxing. Yousif had all the goods in his first round but ran out of steam in the second, again giving us a draw. Both guys fought really well and now know what they have to work on for the next one. Don't miss out on the next Gym spar.

AKKA Nationals.

The Australian Kyokushin Karate Association held their National Championships in Sydney on 8th and 9th August 2009. Team FAFC sent up a troop of fighters along witha great support crew and managed come home with quite a few placings.

The Saturday saw a huge turnout for the noncontact divisions some divisions with close to 40 competitors ,thats alot of rounds to eventually arrive at the final. Nasar Kassab from Glenroy was one that did make it through the rounds but lost out to a member of the Davies clan from New Zealand. Sarsha Kassab also fought through many rounds and did win the final making her the current Under 10 Australian Champion . Congratulations Sarsha. Sarsha's roundhouse kicks were incredible score with them continuously. The other team members all fought well but were unable to make it through. Well done Peter,Allan ,Brayden, Reyne and Tanisha . I'm sure you are all better off for the experience.

Sunday, we were again in the same venue at the Sydney Uni Leisure Centre, In my oppinion a better venue than the previous year. The large area and stadium seating giving everybody a good view of the fights with access to the fighters but still keeping the fighting area and administration areas clear to ensure the day ran smoothly which both days certainly did. Team FAFC had 8 Full Contact Fighters and each was in with a realistic chance of making it through to the final. Eddie Kassab was the first to fight and looked to have the fight won before recieving a second warning right on the bell meaning the judges must award the fight to his competitor. A very frustrating decision at the time but the referees decision has to be accepted . Bad luck Eddie, well fought.

Reyne Ilves fought his way through to the final of the Male light weight colts with hard hitting low and middle roundhouse kicks and place second on the day.

Simon Lejcak won his division and looked very relaxed picking off the inside and outside thighs making him the Green belt Midlleweight Champ for 09.

Gloria Smith fought well and showed some phenominal skills really looking good with a roundhouse ,back spinning ,roundhouse combo chasing her opponent right off the mat. She fought hard in her second fight but lost in the extension round after copping a hard face punch to the cheekbone. Glorias strong sharp technique will be great to watch as she picks up some more experience on the mat. Equal 3rd, Womens Lightweight Open.

Josie Gibilisco's Full Conatct debut was a beauty. With two Australian Champion Sisters and one of them also a World Champion everybody was eager to see if Josie also had the "right stuff".She certainly did with her first kick taking her opponent by surprise ,the front kick taking her right of her feet. The fight then continued briefly before Josie landed a roundhouse to her opponent head taking her down for an Ippon. A great start for Josie but she was then lined up against the current World Champion Shannyn Johnson-Ward. The two fought it out till the bell but Shannyn's experience and hard punches were too much getting her the win on her way to win the final. Josie Equal 3rd Womens Middleweight Open.

Jason Eames lost his first fight by decision and was out of the comp. Jason has quite a bit of tournament experience now but needs some new angles to get back in the winners circle.

Ben Lyon won his first fight convincingly with an upper roundhouse kick giving him a wazari and continueing to dominate until the finish. Ben then fought well known fighter Jason Baltov who always manages to do just enough to get the decision, a quality used by many of the great fighters over the years. Good fight Ben. Ben has plenty of potential and an unusaual abilty to kick from any position, I have no doubt we will see plenty of Ben in the future.

David Avola had probably the worst preparation for this tournament you could dream of but still managed to come through to take second place in the Heavyweight Open. Running two businesses, a preganant wife in hospital, a stolen gi,belt and even groin guard ,Influenza you name it, It takes a tough man to still step up and take on the likes of Robbie Vack. Good Job Dave.You are a lucky man to have the continueing support of your wife to still fight despite all the turmoil.

The best result from the day was the phone call Sensei Maria recieved the following day from Hanshi Taylor to say that David Avola, Gloria Smith and Josie Gibilisco had been selected to be offered the oppurtunity to fight in the World Cup 2010 in Spain. Of course they all accepted.Yeeah we're going to Spain.

Thankyou to all the supporters , Instructors,Fighters, training partners,family and friends that made this all possible and a special thankyou to the A.K.K.A and Hanshi John Taylor for inviting us to participate.

 

Brown Singlet Grading

Peter Adams, Neil Power and Alan Paterson all successfully graded to Brown singlet in May. It was good to see their fitness shine through as they pumped out hours of punching and kicking routines. I hope to see them continue to thrive under the pressure of expectation, they all certainly lifted a level in preparation for this grading.

ANZAC DAY

On Saturday 25th ANZAC Day if you're not involved in the ANZAC day Marches please feel free to enjoy the day with us for a BBQ. We will be relaxing in the park from 10am. All family and friends are welcome to join us. Bring a chair,barbecuing food or sandwiches, balls bats or whatever you like,sunscreen etc and enjoy what I'm sure will be a beautiful sunny Autumn day . More details at the club. UPDATE Sure enough it was a great sunny day with quite a few of the Karate crew turning up. Great food,kick to kick,a fantastic way to spend ANZAC day.

 

MG NO GI COMP

Saturday the 18th Dominance Mixed Martial Arts hosted a MG (More Grappling) No gi competition. A great format where you get to fight round robin win or lose so you get plenty of experience even if your not winning.Jason Dupont from the FAFC entered and won his division with 1 loss on points then 3 wins,1 by choke,1 by armbar and 1 on points. Congratulation Jason that was a great follow up to the Silver in the Vics.

AKKA Victorian Championships

Saturday the 18th was also the Victorian Kyokushin Full Contact Championships held by the VKKA. This was the second of two Victorian Championships held each year held by two different factions of Kyokushin.Team FAFC was represented by six fighters all coming away with a trophy.

David Avola 1st Mens Open Superheavyweight. Great back spinning kick knockout in the second round.

Gloria Smith 1st Womens Open Middleweight .Powerful hook punches

Jason Eames 3rd Mens Open Lightweight. Jason really stepped up the intensity of his strikes .

Todd Pantland 1st Mens Intermediate Heavyweight. Todds first fight in a longwhile, good win.

Ricky Gorlin 3rd Mens Novice Middleweight. Rickky came alive in the final to win decisively

Daniel Carubba Fighting Spirit award.

Keep up the hard training. More comps are just around the corner.

Board Breaking

Congratulations to everyone who broke boards at the recent Board Breaking class. Those that broke for the first time experienced the exhilaration of smashing something that at first seems too hard. In these classes we start with the simplest of breaks and each time you break we move to a strike that has added difficulty. The next Tamashiwari (Breaking Technique ) Class will be 30th April .Boards are $3 each.

Gym Spar.

Well done to everyone who fought at the recent Sunshine Gym Spar. We had a dozen back to back fights so we could get up to Ballarat for the One Match. Thanks Ben for putting us all together. Everybody from the club fought well for their level. We do not get fussy with match ups at these events because it's hard enough getting everyone a decent match up as is. Many of the guys were up against more experienced or heavier fighters doing both Boxing and Kickboxing and did extremely well. I don't think the decisions necessarily portrayed how well you all actually did. The next one is Sunday 17 May at Hammers Gym - 3/198 Whitehorse Road, Blackburn Vic 3130.   Again the weigh-in will be between 11:30am - 12:15pm.

One Match

The Ballarat One Match was a Kyokushin Rules Fight Night held on one central mat. With booming music setting the mood fighters of all experience levels face off against a similar opponent for a two round Full Contact fight. The whole night was extremely well run with great organization and great bouts all surrounded by the strict etiquette and discipline you expect from Kyokushin. Fighters from all the South Eastern States were competing including several others styles testing their metal under Kyokushin Full Contact rules.

The FAFC had a few fighters matched up on the night and again every body fought well doing the FAFC proud.Sam Kehayias fought Jeremy Lumbo from MBK in his first full contact bout. At 16 years old he fought another colt and won by decision after scoring a wazari with a middle roundhouse kick .Peter Kougias fought Ray Babus from Werribee in a tough fight going the distance and into an extra round before eventually being outdone. Peter has returned after a twenty year layoff and has revived all his previous skills to again stand proudly as a good quality brown belt. Andrew Cain fought his first Full Contact bout against Tim Andrighetto from Riverina and thrived in the adrenalin pumping atmosphere. Andrew truly took the fight up to his very strong opponent and fought to the end losing on points with his opponent having the upper hand of better balance and kicks. Great Fight to watch, the punches could be felt in the stands. I was smiling from ear to ear to see Andrew pounding away. Sempai Gloria Smith came up against Michelle Harford and dominated her fight with enormous power,technique and fitness, Sempai Gloria truly has the makings of a champion. We are looking forward to see her fight in the coming AKKA Victorians. Sempai Ben Lyon also fought on the night fighting Luke Bryant from Ashihara and despite a far from desirable preparation due to schooling commitments fought a very entertaining fight with plenty of high kicks and hard hits. Another good win for Ben. Thank you to the organising committee for the event the One Match Format is a fantastic way to get fighters into the full contact arena.

Under 18s Martial Arts Fight Off

March 28th was the Under 18's Martial Arts Fight off with more competitors than ever before. The whole night ran smoothly finishing on time. The two mats showcasing two different sets of competition rules. The Continuous fighting a non stop action filled style of competition with all the high and spinning kicks allowed along with axe kicks and the more basic but realistic thigh kicks. The Continuous fighting follows Kyokushin rules but without the contact. The rules award good roundhouse head kicks to encourage high kicks and to prepare fighters for contact fights where a kick to the head could be a knockout. Fighters from allover Victoria competed with some great technique from our future Full Contact stars.

Continuous Fighting

Under 8

1st Sarsha Kassab

2nd Lucas Granieri

3rd Sara Gurkavak

Under 10

1st Nasar Kassab

2nd Dimitri Lambris

3rd Georgia Panopoulos

Under 12

1st Nasar Kassab

2nd Nedim Julardzija

3rd Costa Zygorodimos

Under 14

1st Ilana Oppedisano

2nd Holly Ilves-Ware

3rd Dimitri Blasis

Under 16

1st Bree Ward

2nd Holly Ilves-Ware

3rd Kirk Fuller

Under 18

1st Ryan Collins

2nd Reyne Ilves

3rd Rowena Fuller

The Point Scoring Division is an explosive fighting style that increases the competitors speed and accuracy with the first in accurate technique scoring the point. This also gets competitor used to executing and defending head punches.The Point Scoring can be an addrenalin packed spectator sport as scores are leveled and the time ticks down.

Point Scoring Results

Under 8

1st Sarsha Kassab

2nd Lucas Granieri

3rd Brayden Jones

Under 10

1st Nasar Kassab

2nd Taylor Roach

3rd Amber Pace

Under 12

1st Costa Zygorodimos

2nd Nasar Kassab

3rd Devin Gurkavak

Under 14

1st Brayden Paterson

2nd Ilana Oppedisano

3rd Holly Ilves-Ware

Under 16

1st Kyle Reese

2nd Josh Nicholas

3rd Sarya Taha

Under 18

1st Reyne Ilves

2nd Andrew Nguyen

3rd Rowena Fuller

The kickboxing division was short on numbers with the gymspar having been held the week before.The lightweight match was a good exhibition of light contact kickboxing with plenty of skill in attacking blocking and moving.

Kickboxing

Lightweight

1st Connor Roach

2nd Devin Gurkavak

Middle weight

1st Brayden Paterson

2nd Holly Ilves-Ware

 

AFBJJ Victorian Competition.

Congratulations to Jason Dupont who fought through a big division to take Silver in the Novice Under 79kg Gi division. Jason won twice by choke and again by armbar before losing on points in the final on the Saturday.Ilhan Aktoy also competed in his first Grappling competition and thouroughly enjoyed the atmosphere. Peter Rich was awarded Silver in the Purple 91kg Gi and No Gi divisions despite losing in what was a dissapointingly small division .More competitions are coming up and the boys are keen to compete again. Well done guys.

Ultimate Kickboxing Promotion Hoppers Crossing

Chadie Halou fought his first Kickboxing bout on the Hoppers show. The fight was action packed with Chadie losing on points after three rounds. Chadie learnt alot from the experience and is keen to train up and jump in again. Sam Kehayas also fought on the night.This bout was originally to be an ametuer underage bout but a change of competitors ended with it being a demonstration fight. Sam fought well looking to be in control for most of the fight. Some great experience for both young guys.