Sport
29 April, 2025
20 years of Caboolture Open
MORETON Bay local Carlos Lakerdis is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the renowned Caboolture Open Taekwondo Championships, along with 26 years of his own studio, Lakerdis Martial Arts.
When Carlos first launched the Caboolture Open, it was a small local event.
Today, it attracts competitors from across Australia and overseas.
“Over the years, we have had the PNG national team compete at the open, we have players who regularly come back from New Zealand and the United States,” he said.
Carlos said he originally created the event to address a shortage of competitions in the region.
“Twenty years ago, myself and my team were travelling, we’d often to the south side of Brisbane, the Gold Coast and so forth, and there was really no event being run on the north side of Brisbane,” he said.
“I took up the challenge of hosting an event back on day one and it was successful as we had 150 competitors attend.
But we’ve grown a lot from then.
Last year our event had just shy of 350, so it’s doubled in size over the years.”
Carlos bought the business, then known as Tiger Lee Taekwondo, 26 years ago when the previous owner intended to close it due to declining enrolments.
Since then, the business has developed a strong reputation within the local sporting community.
“In 26 years, I’ve promoted upwards of 200 to 300 black belts to various ranks from first to fifth dan,” he said.
“I’ve had about 3000 students locally come through my doors.
I don’t have a really big club — at the moment we have about 70 members.
We have a small portion of our athletes that compete in the state circuit that runs from Bundaberg and Gold Coast Open, and some even travel across Australia.”
Mr Lakerdis said generations of martial artists have now trained at his academy, including his own family.
“From the beginning, I’ve got members that have been with me, apart from my own children, who were with me from pretty much day one,” he said.
“My eldest daughter has been with me since day one.
I’ve got some students who are still currently training that have been with me for 17 years.
I’m now teaching three of my original students’ kids, and some other kids from students who trained up to 17 years ago with me.”
The Caboolture Open will be held at the Morayfield Sports and Events Centre on June 22, starting at 7:30am.
Spectators are very welcome to attend.
