Lachlan Cook Kranjska Gora Millennium Team Cadet European Cup 2025 (Slovenia): 25 – 26 October
- Lochlan Cook fought in this event a month ago. He was pitted up against a German (who had beaten his Slovenian opponent in the first round) in the Round of 32 and fought very well, putting in good pressure with positive gripping, and attacks in standing and groundwork. At the halfway mark, he was a shido ahead and looking good. Shortly after he lost his grip during an ouchi / uchimata attack and was countered for a yuko score. He continued to dominate but couldn’t quite get back the score and this is how the match ended. Great experience and significant improvement shown in this match. The competition was followed by a 3-day camp in Slovenia where Lochie trained very well before moving to Hungary for another training block.
Gyor Millennium Team Cadet European Cup 2025 (Hungary): 8 – 9 November
- Having trained for 2 weeks in Hungary with the Cadet National team, Lochlan was well prepared to take on his second competition for this tour. In the round of 32 he was up against Damm from Hungary who had beaten Austria in his first round. Lochlan started well countering Damm with ura-nage in the first exchange for yuko. In the next exchange he attempted the same counter but this was squashed evening up the scoreboard. 1.5 minutes in and another successful ura-nage had Lochlan ahead 2 yukos to 1. A flurry of footwork by both athletes saw a good ouchi-gari from Lachlan for his third yuko. With just over a minute to go, Damm attacked with uchi-mata and unfortunately Lochlan reacted badly and attempted tai-otoshi but it was from behind his opponent and this warranted hansoku-make (disqualification). This was a real shame as he had taken a good lead with a minute remaining. Damm lost his next match putting Lochlan out.
Josh Katz and Clarissa Vumbaca Gold Coast Senior Oceania Open 2025: 1 – 3 November
- Josh and Clarissa were selected for this event. Although preparations were going extremely well for Josh and off the back of a very successful Pan-American Open in Peru where he won a Silver medal, Josh bent his foot at training only 3 days before the competition and broke his foot. He had to be satisfied watching the competition from the stands. Clarissa was in a small division of 7 athletes. Her quarter-final against Tournier (AUS) was very close with both girls attacking in standing and groundwork. At nearly 2 mins into Golden score, Clarissa attempted a drop seoinage attack and Tournier was able to secure a strangle for the win. In repechage against Kney (NZL). Clarissa was attacking strongly with ouchi-gari and deashi and at 1.5 mins scored yuko from a nice sode attack. Shortly after this she was tripped with deashi landing on her face but yuko was scored evening out the scoreboard. At 3 mins, Kney attacked with Harai and Clarissa clearly countered her but no score was given. One minute into golden score Clarissa’s ashi-waza was countered and this is how the match ended. Not the competition that Clarissa had hoped for but there are sure to be more.
Bianca Tandean and Nikola Dobric Podgorica (Montenegro) Junior European Cup 2025: 22 – 23 November
- Bianca: won her first match against Croatia. Fairly even at 1m30s, Bianca had a good gripping exchange and took the opportunity for a kosoto-gake attack scoring yuko. She followed up with newaza and won by submission with a strong clock choke. In her quarter-final against Skiljevic (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Bianca was down a shido and yuko from uchimata after a minute. Having difficulty finding her rhythm, by the halfway point she received her third shido. In repechage against Macovei (Portugal), Bianca started with tai-otoshi stumbling her opponent, who recovered and did the same thing but was able to transition to ne-waza and after 30 seconds secured an armlock in which she submitted but also hurt her elbow. Bianca would be disappointed with this outcome. She recovered well enough to participate in the camp in preparation for the next competition in Maribor (Slovenia) on 29 November.
- Nikola: Against Mesic (BIH), 40 seconds in Nikola almost scored with osoto-gari. Just past half-way, he defended ne-waza but was able to turn it into his own strangle – a good win. His R16 match against Babachev (Bulgaria) was fairly even, but at 1m 30s into the match, whilst looking to get his right hand on and a bit squared up, he was caught with ouchi-gari for ippon. Unfortunately, Babachev lost his quarter-final putting Nikola out. Nikola is participating in the camp in preparation for next weekend’s competition in Slovenia.
Junior European Cup - Maribor, Slovenia - 29November
- Budokan had the laptop and phones out at the Ryde Aquatic Centre during the Christmas party to push on our athletes in Europe from afar. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as well this time, with both players eliminated in their opening matches.
- Bianca didn’t find the rhythm of last week against her Croatian opponent. With a shido each at the half-way point, Bianca put on some pressure with a combination of attacks but allowed the deep right cross-shoulder grip and a strong high grip of her opponent a few too many times and got her second shido for stiff defence at the 3-minute mark. Shortly after, CRO attacked with a drop ouchi-gari scoring yuko. Bianca then had to defend in newaza after a sasae attack from CRO who eventually secured a hold-down for wazari. CRO lost her next match putting Bianca out.
- Nikola’s Serbian opponent started with a couple of attacks after dominating the grips and Nikola was given a passivity shido. Nikola responded in the next 2 exchanges with good attacks but on each occasion had to defend in newaza. In the second newaza exchange Nikola trapped his opponent’s leg and fought to keep it but his opponent kept working to release it and eventually secured a hold down for the win. Unfortunately, whilst his opponent won his next match, he lost the quarter-final putting Nikola out.
- Not the outcome they had planned but always lessons to be learned – another camp followed where they both worked hard and Bianca is now home whilst Nikola will stay in Europe before coming home in January for the senior camp in Melbourne. We wish him well on this part of his journey.
Bianca and Bernhard Tandean World Kata Championships, 9November
- Bianca and Bernhard Tandean participated at the World Kata Championships in Paris, France. Dale Keogh was the Coach and Franz Tandean the Manager. In the Ju-no-kata competition they placed 5th in their group with a score of 377.0, narrowly missing the final in a field of 31 world-class pairs. Congratulations guys.
