Team MBS 2010 has capped off a successful year by winning three Overall
titles and numerous places at World-level competitions in the USA.
In 2010 Team MBS, the natural bodysculpting team trained by Michael
Tabban Personal Training, comprised about 35 figure, sports model and
bodybuilding athletes from MBS Gyms in Melbourne and Michael Tabban
Online Training clients from Victoria and Queensland.
The year began with the WNBF NSW Championships and WNBF Victorian
Championships in September. After the Qld WNBF show was cancelled the
online group of Team MBS competitors (trained by Jasmin Higgs) had to
put forward their competition preparation by two weeks in order to do
the NSW show, and despite this they managed to pull off the Overall
titles in Ms Fit Body and USA Figure (Mel Reynolds) and Women's
Bodybuilding (Sandra Lang) as well as three other 1st places, four 2nd
places and a 3rd place. The following weekend when the MBS-based group
competed at the Vics Jane Watts took out Overall Ms Fit Body, Jodi
Sheafe won Overall USA Figure, Shemarrah Davis won Overall Best Body
Swimsuit and Vicky Turner won Overall Women's Bodybuilding. There were
five other 1st places and numerous 2nd and 3rd places.
Jane Watts (trained by Areti Anagnostellis) continued her winning
streak, taking out Overall Figure titles at the ANB Victorian
Championships and INBA Victorian Championships and Overall USA Figure
title at the WNBF Asia-Pacific Championships, and didn't slow down when
she hit New York.
We were fortunate to have such a strong group of athletes this year, as
the WNBF/INBF World Championships and FAME World Championships fell on
the exact same date - 13th Nov - on opposite sides of the USA. Thanks to
the large number of athletes and the success of team fundraising events
at the 1000 Steps, Comedy Club and last but not least Waterfront Venues
at Docklands were able to take two teams of seven, one to New York for
the WNBF/INBF and one to Las Vegas for FAME.
In New York there was tough competition with up to 17 athletes in some
divisions, but the the yankees didn't stand a chance against Jane Watts,
who won both the INBF Ms Fit Body Overall and INBF USA Figure Overall
titles. Her wins entitle her to a Pro Card, enabling her to compete on
the WNBF Pro circuit (in Australia there is the one federation, WNBF
Australia, for amatuers whereas in the US the WNBF is the Pro federation
and the INBF is the amateur federation).
Meanwhile Anita Nicolaou (trained by Michael Tabban, and who earned her
Pro card in 2009) performed strongly as always to win Overall WNBF Ms
Fit Body and 1st place in INBF Figure Tall. Novice athlete Chelsea
Thomas (trained by Haytham Bakri), who had won a string of 1st places in
Australia, continued to do well on the INBF World stage, taking out a
2nd in USA Figure Tall, 3rd in Ms Fit Body Tall and 4th in Best Body
Swimsuit. Vicky Turner and Samantha Draper took 2nd in INBF Women's
Bodybuilding and INBF Ms Fit Body Short respectively. Lesley Maxwell put
in a stellar effort to get up on stage despite being quite unwell on
the day, and managed a 4th in Ms Fit Body Tall. Paulo Freitag fought
hard but missed out on a placing in a tough men's Bodybuilding lineup.
Over in Las Vegas the FAME experience in fact began the day before
the competition, with the Bodyproud Showcase. At this event almost every
athlete takes two minutes to stand up in front of their fellow
athletes, promoters and judges and tell their story. It was amazing to
hear the obstacles some had overcome, such as losing over 100lb or
escaping extreme poverty, and after hearing these stories it meant even
more seeing these athletes on stage. Some of Team MBS had their own
difficult stories to tell, and all wowed the audience with their Aussie
accents.
On comp day Jodi Sheafe succeeded in a year-long goal by winning
Advanced Fitness Model and being granted a FAME Pro card. In Open Figure
Jodi took 2nd place, followed by Lia Wassel in 3rd and Mel Murdolo was
close behind. In Open Fitness Model in a tough class of 14 competitors
Lia made being a pirate look sexy and took out 3rd, while Mel who
doesn't do dresses or pink actually did pink - albeit in a boxer's
costume - and we have the photos to prove it. In Swimsuit Model the
gorgeous Tamsin Coles placed a close 2nd. In Fit Duos Jodi Sheafe and
Tyler Hope performed a camo-cross-Mr-and-Mrs-Smith routine and took 3rd,
after only finding out the day before that their routine had to be 2
minutes rather than 30 seconds! In bodybuilding Tyler put in a solid
performance but was out done by bigger guys (he'll be back with more
muscle in a year or two to settle the score). Meanwhile Di Irving and
Sue Kamphuis did their team proud in a very tough Masters Figure lineup,
and Di strutted her stuff in black lace as a pirate in Masters Fitness
Model. While FAME includes the traditional Figure and Bodybuilding
divisions there is also a big emphasis on model-type divisions, where
the top athletes not only have great physiques but also strong stage
presence and charisma.
Congratulations to all Team MBS 2010 competitors: Angela Norbury, Anita
Nicolaou, Brad Sadler, Chelsea Thomas, Di Irving, Dorathy Galapi,
Dragana Tanasic, Elise Thompson, Elsa Lim, Jane Watts, Jodi Sheafe,
Kelly Mickelakis, Leah Ware, Lesley Maxwell, Lia Wassell, Marcia
Sussich, Maricel Watt, Marielle Athanatos, Mel Reynolds, Mel Murdolo,
Michaela Tsorakidis, Mira Henery, Paulo Freitag, Rina Carbone, Samantha
Draper, Sandra Lang, Sandra Puljak, Shemarrah Davis, Sue Kamphuis,
Tamsin Coles, Tyler Hope, Vicky Canavan and Vicky Turner.
