For the month of August this month should go down in our sporting Calander as one to be remembered. Two of our junior athletes, Sophie Innis a student of Shotokan Karate, and Lachlan Burnett, a paddler in the junior Outriggers, will be representing their country at international level ln their chosen sport.
For Sophie this comes as a result of her winning the gold medal in her division at the recent Australian Championships. Prior to this Sophie had, while representing Australia, also won the gold medal at the Oceania Karate Championships: achievements which have now seen her ranked 18th in world ratings.
On 11 August, Sophie left for China where she will compete in top international tournaments in both China and the Philippines.Under the guidance of Karate Noosa head sensei Bryan Dukas 6th Dan, “Her achievements are the result of consistent and hard work, never missing even a single training session.”
Karate Noosa will host their annual Karate Tournament on September 13, thus giving the students the opportunity to gain experience as well as building their self-confidence. Then, because of the success achieved by Bryan Dukas Sensei, at the 2023 World Shotokan Karate Federation Championships, they will on the 25 September attend an international training seminar, as well as the World Championships in Tokyo. We wish Bryan Dukas and team all the very best at the Tokyo titles.
Noosa Outrigger Canoe Club has their first junior paddler to ever represent Australia: this will be in the U16 V1 Division, at the upcoming Word Marathon Championships in Rio Brazil in August. He is 15 yr old Lachlan Burnett. At 10 years of age when he joined the club, he got serious about competing in the single craft races-and just two years ago, he really got the bug.
Since then, he has been part of the Noosa Outrigger canoe program: a program that began nearly eight ago. This has continued to grow ever since: with a fun environment for junior to learn to paddle on the river, and to race at events in south Qld area and beyond. The World Championship journey began a year ago. This occurred when Coach Flea White mentioned to the juniors that were eligible in age to have a go at working towards qualifying.
Regarding this Lachlan said, ‘’I knew that if I worked hard, I could have a chance to represent Noosa and Australia in Brazil.’’ The qualifications were held in April on the Gold Coast and Lachlan qualified in the U16 Boys V1. Coach Flea said, “The training program is to build Lachlan’s speeds, technique and endurance ability to its very best. He is new to elite training and at 15 years of age, the focus is much more than anything he has yet experienced in life.”
The competition will be fierce from Hawaii, New Zealand, USA to Tahiti and all the nations in- between. We have set challenging, but achievable training goals, and Lachlan is achieving them every week.” Lachlan agreed. The training schedule was tough at the start to balance between year 10 studies at Sunshine Beach High School and working part time. The early morning starts in winter are hard but, the Noosa sunrises are the best on the water. Our club have four people selected to go to Rio, so there has been group training sessions which make it fun.
Lachlan trains on the water four times a week, plus five gym sessions at Integrated Rehabilitation Centre in Tewantin. I can’t wait to get to Brazil and to represent Noosa and Australia: I am going to do my best and hope I make everyone proud.”
The cost involved to make it to Rio are completely self-funded. Only very minor support comes from the governing body of the sport. Coach Flea mentioned, “Lachlan comes from a single parent income household: the financial battle to get him to Rio is real. His mum Nicola is super resourceful and has set up a raffle with paddling prizes for the paddling community to enter into and also a Go Fund Me page for friends, family and any kind members of the community who wish to help with travel expenses.
With only four weeks to go, Lachlan is 75 per cent there: so, if you would like to support Lachlan don’t hesitate to do so. One of our communities who is doing us proud.
Rugby League.
Massive weekend for Pirates at Pirates Park when they celebrated Ladies Day on Saturday. Big thank you to all the ladies who help run the club, play for the club and volunteer for work around the grounds. This is why Pirates are going strong both on and off the club: and the growth of the girls game is indeed a massive plus.
Most of our seniors had a successful weekend. Big win in the A grade beating Caboolture 26-4. This cemented their spot in the top 4. Next weekend a bye which will give them a chance to refresh their weary bodies as they head into the final series. Reserve grade also came out on top with a 28-6 win over Caboolture. Sitting 5th on the ladder they face big one up at Gympie on Sunday. Open Ladies went down to Caboolture 16-0 so a big effort will be required in Gympie for them to make the finals.
