Grading Day - 9th June 2013

A wee change of venue of this grading. Instead of St Joe's in Kilmarnock this was at Kilmarnock Academy games hall. Never having been there before (and having been warned by Mr Chahal not to be late!) we left home at 8:15am and got there at...... 8:35am.... at least we weren't late sir! Oh, and before anyone asks... no I wasn't nervous or anything. I've learned a lot about myself in the past year, and one thing is to trust in my abilities so if I can do it anyone can! Part of my new found confidence I'm blaming on all of you Phoenix instructors and students, nothing to do with me :)

Theory seems to be the bugbear of a lot of people (remember the previous post folks!! I'm not writing these for the good of my health you know!) but like the practical its all a matter of preparation. Mr McRoberts was doing the green belts questions this time... I knew something was going on when he and Mrs Harley had wry smiles on their faces as I was called up. "Name all the main body parts, footparts and handparts in Korean" he asked.. I was about to launch into this when he said he as joking and what was the meaning of Won Hyo. <whew>... I know footparts and handparts and head so maybe next time Sir? :)

One thing that's interesting is that none of the kids seem nervous, they all seem chilled and out to enjoy themselves, and they do! Its great to see them "do their thing" no matter what grade they are. Its just us adults that seem to fret and worry over things like "is my linework double punch right"??? Not looking at anyone in particular... Heather... Gill... :)

Practical part of the grading is the part we've all spent 3 months (sometimes 6 months) training for. Linework, patterns, 3 step and 2 step sparring and for some, a free spar as well. Its great to watch the beginners throwing themselves (not literally mind) into this part with their linework and patterns. My son was grading this time for his green belt, apart from a wee error with one of his patterns the rest looked pretty good. My own practical grading went reasonably well too, even my 3 step sparring worked out well.. number 10 has been my own person demon for weeks but this time I nailed it!

Its good to watch everyone grading after you. For one it gives you an idea of what work is involved for your next grading but its also good manners as they've had to wait and watch while you finished your grading so remember you 1st tenant, "Courtesy".

Everyone did fantastic and I mean EVERYBODY! It can be a stressful event, I've seen someone so deep in concentration that another student finishing their pattern first and kiaping shocked them out of their focus, put them off and made a mistake.. so it happens. Remember you're putting yourself and what you can do out there for the examiners and spectators to see so sometimes these things happen.

So another grading on a beautiful sunny Sunday, great to catch up with everyone again and look forward to seeing you all in another 3 months time.... as a quick parting shot, Mr Sawyer and Mrs Harley were pleased to report that my rising block was so much better than it had been previous gradings but my L-Stance is now so short that they said that one of the 6 year old yellow tags stance was longer! There ain't no pleasing some people!!

For those of you doing the World Championships, the best of luck to you! I won't be able to join you but never fear, Sara MacKellar has offered to do a report on this competition for the blog.

Club World Championship T-Shirt and Hoodie

Sara MacKeller has been asked me to post this up regarding t-shirts and zipped hoodies for the 2013 World championships. So if you're planning on competing (or just want to look super cool!) please get in contact with Sara by messaging her on Facebook, leaving her a message on the Phoenix Facebook Page or texing her on 07860572118 to arrange this.

T-shirts are £10 and zipped hoodies are £25.

9th June Gradings - Change of Venue

Some information regarding the a change of venue for the West Coast grading on 9th June. Anyone grading on this day please take note.

Due to a last minute problems at St Josephs Academy the location for the grading on has been changed do the following:

Kilmarnock Academy
15 Elmbank Drive

Kilmarnock
KA1 3BS 

Please be there for 9am and DON'T BE LATE!!

TAGB Welsh Open 2013 - Full Results

Club Results - Welsh Open 2013

Ayr & Prestwick

Ayr & Prestwick Club Results:

Connor Mulgrew - Green belt - boys lightweight - Gold individual and Gold team sparring
Karina Chahal - Black belt - girls lightweight - Gold team sparring
Mikey McDowall - Green belt - boys peewee - Bronze team sparring
Teagan Harley - Red belt - girls peewee - Bronze individual sparring
Iain Harley - Green Belt - mens - Bronze patterns

A great, fab, AMAZING result for Ayr & Prestwick club....not that I'm bias :)

All Prestwick/Ayr competitors

Pollok

Pollok club results:

Andrew MacDonald - Blue belt - boys middleweight - Silver individual sparring, Silver tag team
Craig Dalziel - Blue belt - boys middleweight - Bronze individual sparring, Silver tag team
Louise MacDonald - Blue belt - girls lightweight - Bronze individual sparring, Bronze tag team

Brilliant work guys... can't wait to see what you bring back from the World Championships in July!

 Kilmarnock

 Kilmarnock club results:

Scot Wright - Green belt - boys middleweight - Gold team sparring
Breagh MacKellar - Red belt - girls lightweight - Gold individual sparring and Silver team sparring
Sarah Poole - Blue belt - girls peewee - Silver individual sparring
Ty O'Donnell - Blue belt - boys middleweight -Silver team sparring
Paul Monahan - Green belt - mens heavyweight - Gold team sparring
Natalie McMillan - Black belt - Cadet Girls - silver individual sparring and Bronze team sparring.
Hazel Bracken - Black belt - ladies heavyweight - bronze individual sparring and Gold team sparring
James Reed - Black belt - mens middleweight - Gold individual sparring and Silver team sparring

It was the noise of all this metal we heard clanking away over the border back to Scotland.. fab results!

Auchinleck

Auchinleck  Club Results:


Lennon Yancouskie- Black belt - boys peewee - Gold in individual and Bronze in team sparring
Dylan Baird- Red belt - boys heavyweight - Gold individual
Shannon Collins- Green belt - girls lightweight - Bronze individual

Fantastic stuff guys, the hard work is really paying off!

<photo to be added later>

 Irvine

Irvine Club Results:

Marc Williams - Red belt - boys peewee - Gold individual sparring and Gold patterns
Steven Frew - Red belt - mens welter weight - Gold individual sparring
Greg Dunlop- 2nd Round
James Campbell- Green belt - boys lightweight - Silver individual sparring, Gold team sparring
John Love- 1st competition at mens yellow belt heavyweigh

Great work all, good too see someone else at their first competition as well. Hope you enjoyed it John!

<photo to be added later>



Now maths was never my strong point and I'm quite happy to stand corrected, but collectively of the twenty eight Phoenix competitors that went down, this was the medal haul they brought back:

Gold - 14 medals
Silver - 9 medals
Bronze - 10 medals
Overall - 33 medals

Looking forward to seeing how the tally increases before the year is out as there are still a few more competitions to go!