Karate comp attracts 168

HOLDING a black belt can be irritating, as Sam Vallance and Leatham Robe discovered at school."Everyone used to say 'do a karate move on me'," Leatham said. "It's not what they think."You wouldn't use it in street fighting."An appropriate place for Funakoshi karate was Emmanuel College hall on Saturday.Sam and Leatham were two of 168 participants from as far as Ballarat and Mount Gambier at the South West Games competition.The duo battled during the afternoon in the 15 to 17-year-old fourth KYU for black belt category, with Allansford's Leatham prevailing."We fight against each other all the time," he said. "It's pretty even."I used to always win but then he got huge."The towering Sam has been involved in the sport for nine years and in that time has earned a first Dan black belt while Leatham holds the same belt after a decade.There are nine higher black belts the teenagers can hold.They will aim to get their second Dan in April.And don't think it's easy ."You have to do a written essay which is 20 pages long to show that you understand everything," said Leatham, who added there was a physical component as well.When asked if they thought they would ever get their 10 Dan, the boys immediately shook their heads."There's no chance," Sam said. "Not many people in the world have it."Our (Warrnambool) instructor (Frank McKenzie) is only up to his fifth," Sam said.While Leatham takes classes at Warrnambool Funakoshi Centre, Sam runs a Nirranda club with state champion Sonia Morey."We do it twice a week and get about 15 people," the Nirranda resident said.The boys - who both play footy while Sam also plays cricket - conceded they raised a decent sweat on Saturday as they also competed in the open male section.Co-ordinator Shane Keogh revealed it was a record number of entries for the South West Games competition. "I think we've got a reputation from year to year and the set-up is pretty good," he said.