| 2004 UKTA British Championships |
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| Congratulations to all the students who attended the British Championships in Cardiff this weekend. They all represented Bolton Taekwon-do school brilliantly and the club can be proud of their acheivements. A few were unlucky with bad draws or bad decisions but most seemed to enjoy themselves.
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| It was a day of firsts on Saturday. For our three 8th Kups, Jamie, Hannah and Matthew, it was their first ever competition. In the patterns Jamie was unlucky with the draw coming up against the eventual Silver medal winner in the first round, but for this, she too may have come away with a medal. Hannah was drawn with someone who appeared not to know what was going on and started his pattern very late. This left Hannah thinking she was in the wrong making her very nervous, so much so that she forgot the pattern all together. Matthew always knew patterns were never going to be his strongest event and he was right!!! |
| In the sparring things were very close. Jamie narrowly missed out after a very good spar losing 2 to 1. With Matthew things were different, he came up against a girl who belong more to chorus line than a Taekwon-do school. With the bout started his opponent began can-caning her way round the ring and Matthew picked her off several times with precise kicks to the body. When it came down to the decision, the umpires showed 2 to 1 with 1 draw in favour of Matthews opponent. I believe he was very unlucky not to win that one! Unfortunately after her bad experience in the patterns Hannah decided not to take part in the sparring but did say she'd be back in February. |
| For Andrew, Tom and Miss Henry it was their first competeing in new categories. Both Andrew and Tom had moved up an age group with Andrew now competing in the 13-17 group and Tom now with the big boys in the adult group. Miss Henry made the big step for colour belt to Black Belt competition. |
| Andrew had the worst of times with only just being 13 he found most of his opponents bigger than himself but fought strongly only narrowly missing out on a good win. |
| For Tom it was business as usual battling hard winning his first two bouts comfortably. He found the adult stlye of sparring more than relaxed and laid back than previous competitions. So in the final, in his words, he got 'bored' and didn't spar at his best and only picked up a Silver. (All of our Black Belts will be making sure he never gets 'bored' again!!!) |
| It was always going to be a big challenge for Miss Henry but with only 4 competitors in her group she was guaranteed a medal. It was a good first spar with Miss Henry trying to pick off her opponent but with lack of practice over the last few months Miss Henry did not have the speed or precision to beat her opponent. She has now promised to be at training more often! |
| Finally we come come to the bash brothers, Aidan and Keiran. Aidan had not entered a competition since that terrible accident in Edinburgh with the chewing gum. His hair now fully restored it was back down to business. His group was very strong and it was difficult for him to make headway. With his return not as triumphant as he wanted it to be Aidan vowed to be a winner at the English championships in February. |
| For Kieran, like Tom, it was business as usual. After an amazing spar in the first round against a girl twice his size Kieran found himself in the smei-finals. Unfortunatley he must have been still tired from his first bout as his opponent came out the winner, again only with a 2-1 victory. |
| I would like to thank all those who entered and represented our club and congratulations to our 3 medal winners; Miss Henry - Bronze, Tom - Silver, Kieran - Bronze. I hope you all enjoyed it enough to want to go again, the next competition will be in February. I would also like to thank everyone who came down to Cardiff, supporting those who entered and helped out on the weekend either driving, filming or just looking after the competitiors. |
| Thank you all once again |
| Mr Lewis. |
