On Sunday 5th July, we held a friendly Team Shiai event, bringing in friends from our branch dojos across Sydney for a super fun, high energy day!
The event started off with a tense teams tournament between our 2026 and branch beginners – teams of three showed off their best kihon waza to win the favour of the judges. Although certainly a frightening and intimidating experience, the beginners put their all into it, showing us amazingly strong kiai and energy! The final showdown between “Team Ervin” and “Team Fabian” was thrilling, but ultimately the members of Team Ervin claimed the overall win. Congratulations!
Team Ervin: Consisting of Sally, Jason, and Victor!
Despite the freezing weather, things were heating up in the dojo as six teams consisting of mixed grades, ages, and backgrounds battled it out in a high-spirited, intense tournament! While the pools winners from each of the three courts proceeded to the semi finals, Team Kelvin (Team Kenseikan!) were saved from defeat and had the chance to join them as the fourth opponent! And in a surprising turn of events, they fought their way through to the finals, where we saw a rematch between Teams Fabian and Kelvin – a fierce showdown between old rivals on Court 3! In an insanely exciting and thrilling ippon shobu final, Team Fabian ultimately claimed the final ippon that secured them as today’s champions!
Congratulations to not only today’s winners, but to everyone who participated and came to support this event, particularly our branch members from Kenbukan, Kenseikan, and Dundas dojos. Thank you again to our coaching team and executives for organising and facilitating this event, and thank you to all our participants for their contributions in fundraising for our UniSport Nationals members.
We closed off today’s event with a fun BBQ potluck (albeit away from the grill due to the rain), which was full of good food, chatter, and new friends from other dojos.
I hope you all enjoyed today’s event!