The Universal Tae Kwon Do Academy hosted a tournament on Sunday 10^th July 2011 at their clubhouse at 113 Albert St Wickham as part of the 2011 NIB Hunter Festival of Sport programme.

 There were 50 competitors who travelled from Canberra, Blue Mountains, Sydney, Singleton to join competitors from Newcastle to compete in the friendly tournament. Clubs included Universal Tae Kwon Do Academy, Singleton TKD Academy, JAI Martial Arts & Magic Mountains Martial Arts. Competitors ranged from Yellow belts through to 4 Dan Black belts.

 Referees included Senior Experienced blackbelts with Mr Noel Whitaker aged 84 with many years of valuable Tae Kwon Do Experience. Master Ben, tournament director was pleased with the competitor’s performance and confident the students gained experience and friends which was the emphasis of the day.

 Events in the tournament included Free-sparring, Power & Technical Board breaking, One Step Sparring & Self Defence. Two special guests from Korea, Jaesun Jung & Jaehee Kim (senior black belts) performed a 5 minute demonstration for the competitors and spectators.

 The Hunter Academy of Sport is preparing for the annual nib Netball Tournament which will take place at the Maitland Federation Centre on the 13^th, 14^th & 15^th of July.

Teams from the Central Coast Academy of Sport, Far West Academy of Sport, Hunter Academy of Sport, Illawarra Academy of Sport, North Coast Academy of Sport, Northern Inland Academy of Sport, South East Regional Academy of Sport, Southern Sports Academy, South West Sydney Academy, Western Region Academy of Sport, Western Sydney Academy of Sport and Sydney Metropolitan will compete to take the title of nib Champions.

This event has been organised as part of the nib Hunter Festival of Sport for the past 21 years and has established itself as a premier event on the NSW Netball calendar.

Hunter Academy of Sport Chief Executive Officer Ken Clifford said “The nib Games has an excellent reputation as being a high quality tournament which offers young girls involved with Regional Academy of Sport squads an excellent opportunity to obtain match experience”.

Mr Clifford advised that the Tournament will attract approximately one thousand people to the City of Maitland during the three day event.

Other competitions taking place as part of the 2011 nib Hunter Festival of Sport include the nib Softball Games on the 9^th & 10^th July at Stevenson Park, Mayfield West, the nib Track and Field Competition on the 10^th July at Glendale, Newcastle District Golf School Boys Championships on the 4^th July, nib Academy Challenge in Rugby League on the 6^th July, Masters Swimming at Cessnock on the 9^th July, Junior Singles Round Robin Tennis Tournament, Netball Gala Day for juniors at Newcastle Netball on the 13^th July, Hunter Indoor Climbing Championships on the 16^th July at Pulse Climbing Adamstown, Topspin Tennis Festival on the 16^th & 17^th July, Head of the River Rowing Marathon on the 17^th July at Carrington, Newcastle District vs Central Coast District Golf Championships on the 17^th July and the Lawler Partners Winery Running Festival on the 17^th July at Pokolbin.

To find out further information on this year’s 2011 nib Hunter Festival of Sport refer to www.hfos.com.au where you will find the entire program listed or contact Tanya Brunckhorst on 4926 4892.

The 2011 nib Hunter Festival of Sport will be officially opened by nib at a breakfast function at Newcastle Harness Racing Club on Tuesday 5^th July 2011.

NBN Televisions Mike Rabbitt will interview some of the Hunter Region’s outstanding young athletes including Trampolinist Shaun Swadling, Netballer Claudia Russell, Triathlons Mikhele Rundle and AFL player Joseph Ferguson.

Each of these young sportspeople have been involved with the Hunter Academy of Sport’s talent development programs and they have done very well in their chosen sports.

Another feature of this year’s breakfast will be the announcement of the 2011 Hunter Region Sports Administrator of the Year.

This award is named after the late Paul Trisley and is sponsored by Northern NSW Football Federation. Previous winners of this award include Shirley Fitzgerald (2001), Phil Baird (2002), Wendy Archer (2003), Alan Gilmore (2004),Frank Barrett (2005), Leon Burwell (2006), Denis Broad (2007), Kellie Johnston (2008), Ray Nickerson (2009) and Trevor Height (2010).

The award is designed to acknowledge the outstanding work done by sports administrators in our region and to recognise the important role they play in the huge number of organisations that facilitate our sporting activities.

For further information on this year’s nib Hunter Festival of Sport contact Ken Clifford on 4926 4892 or visit www.hfos.com.au

The Hunter Academy of Sport together with the Newcastle Petanque Club will celebrate the commencement of the 2011 nib Hunter Festival of Sport by hosting a Corporate Petanque Challenge Event on Friday 1^st July, 2011.

Businesses from the Hunter Region are invited to put together a small team of two or three people and come along and have a fun game of Petanque and help celebrate the commencement of the largest nib Hunter Festival of Sport on record.

The Challenge is to be held at Newcastle Petanque Club which is located at Nesca Park, Cooks Hill on Friday 1^st July commencing at 3pm.

Petanque (sometimes known as boules) is a worldwide sport that has developed in many countries particularly those with a French heritage. Within Australia there are over 1,500 registered players and many thousands of ‘backyard’ players. The Newcastle Petanque Club is one of the largest clubs in Australia with over seventy members.

If you would like to put together a team for the Corporate Challenge, please contact Delys Brady on 0407 259 970 or Grant Threadgate on 4963 3731.

For further information on this year’s nib Hunter Festival of Sport please visit www.hfos.com.au to view the entire Festival program or contactTanya Brunckhorst at the Hunter Academy of Sport on 4926 4892