Spartan and Lions Challenge

Solis Ortus conquered the Spartan and Lions Challenge at the Portuguese Hall, Turffontein, Johannesburg; the past two weekends.

The Club entered a team of 18 karatekas to compete in the Spartan All Styles event. A total of 9 karatekas competed in their first All Styles event. Solis Ortus was also represented by 2 team Kumite groups who fought like champions. The junior team just missed the gold medal. The cadets came out on top in their group with a deserving gold! The team earned 12 gold, 9 silver, 2 bronze and 8 participation medals = 31 in total (excluding the team events).

Savannah Hauser had tough a few ladies competing against her, but did not stand back and took the punches (and gave a few strong one’s) like a champ! Well-deserved gold in Kata and silver for Kumite.

Tiaan Uys fought like a warrior in the senior male division. Not only did he crush his competitors, he had the whole Solis Ortus club behind him during each fight. First fight in 10 years, Tiaan, well done!!! Your silver medal was well deserved.

The Solis Ortus team walked away proudly and this event is surely one to remember!

New to the coaching team with Sensei Lillian was Savannah Hauser and Darius Peenze who had their first coaching opportunities. Still lots to learn, but enjoying every moment of being with the kids!!

At the Lions Challenge, a variety of competitors entered. Some newbies who competed for the first time, some with more experience and then our frequent competitors. Solis Ortus made history and entered the youngest competitor of the tournament; our very own 4 year old tigress who competed in a division where her competition was much older. She stood her ground and bravely won a gold medal in kata.

Competition in the more elite divisions is getting tougher. Most of our karatekas medalled and out of 13 competitors we achieved 13 medals; 5 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze medals.

Solis Ortus is overjoyed to see how the youngsters grow and succeed in their karate journey. Solis Ortus stand proud to witness each karateka grow as an athlete and also as an individual.

With the outstanding support from the Solis Ortus parents and our Sensei and coach, we had a very successful Spartan and Lions Challenge.

Solis Ortus came out victoriously with a total of 17 gold, 12 silver and 7 bronze medals; a total of 36 medals out of 26 participants in both tournaments.

Congratulations to all of you….well done!!!

Written by: Leazill Peenze & Heilethe Calitz

A champion in the making – Hannelore Constable

Hannalore Constable, Lolly as we know her in class has been selected to be part of the National karate team of University Sports South Africa (USSA).

Lolly was preliminary selected for the National team in October 2017 at the USSA competition held at the Tshwane University of Technology’s (TUT’s) Shoshanguve campus. The final selection took place on 17 February 2018 at TUT’s campus in Pretoria.

The USSA National team participated in the 2018 International University Sports Federation World University Karate Championship, 19 – 22 July in Kobe, Japan.

She competed in the U61 kg’s Female kumite category and was the only South African who made it through to the second round. Winning the first fight 4-1 to Switzerland and losing the second fight to France by only one point, gave her the lifelong experience to excel and focus on her strengths. The standard of karate at the tournament was unbelievably high.

She stated that Japan is a beautiful country and the people are very polite and friendly. She also mentioned that the trip would have not been the same without her fellow team mates. They had loads of fun together and even got lost in Osaka, the second largest city in Japan, for 3 hours.

Solis Ortus congratulate Lolly for her achievement and wishing her all the best of luck for her future karate endeavours. We are extremely proud of her, train hard, stay focussed and believe in yourself.

“All women were created equal,

then some learn

KARATE.”

Written by: Heilethe Calitz

 

 

Sensei Marina Valassopoulos

She is an elite athlete, 6th Dan, a Podiatrist, devoted about helping and healing people, a perfectionist and passionate about her karate.

She also had the honour and privilege to grade in Japan.

Solis Ortus had the pleasure to train with Sensei Marina in the beginning of August.

Her focus was plyometric drills, strength, endurance, muscle fatigue, legs and speed. Muscle fatigue is mostly our enemy. She focused on low stances and how to overcome weaknesses and replace it with endurance. Her philosophy is not to give up when your legs are tired but to overcome it with endurance and built strength into your legs. She cleverly combined plyometric and kata training to build strength and speed. Most of her techniques were built around Empi.

Because her passion resides more to kata, she especially helped the older generation to improve their way of applying their kata with more meaning. She indicated that if you are not fast, at least do your kata with feeling….fast is fast and slow is slow…do not rush.

Her patient, methodical, helpful way of teaching was an inspiration to improve ourselves in our karate journey. Class was hard and we definitely received a full body workout. Our senior class really appreciated and enjoyed a well-planned, hard class with Sensei Marina and we look forward to inviting her for another training session.

She admired Sensei Eugene as a top athlete and as an enthusiastic instructor; and complemented Solis Ortus as a well-organised dojo with good vibes.

We, as Solis Ortus karatekaswant to thank Sensei Marina for her dedication and contagious love for karate, and the honour to have trained with her. Thank you to Sensei Eugene for the opportunity to train with such incredible senseis.

Written by: Heilethe Calitz

Solis Ortus and the Voortrekker Monument

This year the Voortrekker Monument commemorate the 80th year of laying the cornerstone of the monument. Solis Ortus took part in this celebration at Woodlands 18-hole Peter Matkovich designed golf course, where several businesses and organizations took part to contribute to the restoration of the Monument.

Solis Ortus setup banners and distributed pamphlets at the club house and sponsored the 9th hole. The person who managed to land their ball closest to the 9th hole won a free month karate for a family of four.

There were 80-90 players of which one of our Solis Ortus fathers from Solidarity also participated. Mr JG de Waal from MVB Registered Accountants & Auditors won the bet closest to the 9th hole and will shortly join a free month of karate for his family.

How fortunate are we to form part in such a countless endeavour to help renovating our National Heritage Site, the Voortrekker Monument. As we are on the brink of celebrating our own 40th year legacy of Solis Ortus, we can only appreciate the efforts of the Voortrekker Monument, Freedom Park and the Department of Arts and Culture to conserve the beautiful heritage sites in Tshwane by involving communities in a sustainable manner.

Solis Ortus would like to thank management of the Voortrekker Monument for the opportunity to be part of such a historic moment.

Written by: Heilethe Calitz

Solis Ortus Parents-Kid Training

Kids are blessings, they are our future and everyone have unconditional love for kids because of their innocence and cuteness. All this is so true in our dojo. They are tomorrow’s treasures.

Solis Ortus parents are the greatest. As we all know, children are great imitators, so give them something to imitate. Last night roles changed.

Solis Ortus hosted a fun training session where kids invited their parents to train with them from the minis up to our senior belt group. How great is that! The atmosphere in the dojo was vibrant, full of joy and laughter. Both parents and kids had so much fun. It was so precious to experience the little ones trying to tell mom or dad how to stand, how to oss and of course to kiai. It’s adorable to see the unconditional love between parents and their kids. To experience how obedient the parent is in their kid’s territory and of course to the sensei. Precious moments!

Today we are living in the fast lane and this opportunity formed new memories and bonds of love, mutual respect and most of all positive involvement and time invested in their lives. Times like this are the ultimate joy of play in a child’s life.

Solis Ortus will definitely repeat this successful event in future. Both parents, kids and instructors enjoyed it immensely. We all trained hard, built positive new memories and shared with our children what they enjoy.

We salute all our brave parents who joined us, and invite all other parents who missed out to watch this space and join us next time.

“Your children only gets one childhood. Make it MEMORABLE.”
Regina Brett

Written by: Heilethe Calitz