I'm acutely aware I've been ignoring my writing responsibilities recently. I use the word "recently" in its loosest context as basically I haven't written anything taekwondoy at all for months. I had also hoped to have submitted an article to MAI on the 2014 Scottish Open but unfortunately other things got in the way although I might be able to get back to it soon. The lack of me putting anything up for you to read isn't for that I don't have decent subject matter, I could write a book on each and every one of you after a bit of research. No, as I said, its been a lack of time to sit and put fingers to keyboard/touchscreen to get my thoughts and observations down.
With Christmas just a few weeks away the, and the final grading of 2014 nearly here, my thoughts are turning back to whats happened over the course of the year. As with anything being practised and worked on constantly, there is improvement and a rise in confidence levels. None is more evident than in some of the kids who diligently train each week at the clubs. I'm sure this hard work will shine through at the gradings on 13th and 14th December. We certainly have some rising stars and it will be great to see how far they go as they get older
2014 was also a fantastic year at competition. With the Scottish Closed moved to earlier in the year the attendance was well up. Having been to the previous two Closed this was, in my opinion, the best one to date. It was also where I won my first (and only) gold medal which takes pride of place in my modest collection. Prestwick and & Ayr TaeKwonDo fielded the largest competitor entries we'd ever had at this event and the quality must have been good as by the end of the competition we'd managed 3rd place on the overall standings. Which just goes to show that Mr Chahal...... has a great bunch of attentive listeners/learners ;) oh.... and hes not a bad instructors is he folks?? :)
The English Open was a busy one, maybe a bit too busy for such a small venue in Worcester and while I personally didn't come away with anything the usual Prestwick & Ayr suspects (yes Connor Mulgrew, I'm looking at you!) took some of the silverware. Must remember to ask Bryan Mulgrew when hes building that extension.. for all Connors trophies and medals!
In May we were back down south and west this time to sunny Cardiff and the Welsh Open. I've a bit of a soft spot for this competition as it was my very first back in 2013 and my first ever medal win. While I didn't score any medals this time, it was great to catch up with a now good friend, Sam Holme, who I'd met at the 2013 Scottish Open. He's so far always pipped me to higher placed medal each time we've competed together but I'm determined that it'll be me one day.
With us Scots being the next to host an Open we all traipsed off to Ravenscraig Sports Facilities. This was one of the busiest Scottish Open's I'd been to in the nearly 3 years being with the TAGB. Again I met up with me old mucker Sam and also met a competed with a new Sam... Sam Robertson who trains under a good friend Brian Anderton. Sam (Holme) and I, and the rest of our division, watched as Sam (Roberston) blasted out one of the best performances of Toi Gye I've ever seen and raised the bar very high for the rest of us. Ultimately that bar was too high and Sam (Robertson) got a well deserved gold with Sam (Holme) getting silver and I tagging myself another bronze. This event also saw the first ever Junior Squads team event between Northern Ireland and Scotland which showed off the cream of young TAGB talent from both countries.
2014 also saw the first ever West Coast Fight Night which was well attended by competitors and supporters alike. We were treated to some great fights all through the ranks with some superb performances in point stop bouts from the young kids through to some fiercely fought continuous from the young to older adults. The resounding cheering section blasting out "Lets Go Kuli! Lets Go!" while Gary O'Brian and Kuli Chahal were battling it out in the last match is still ringing in my ears! I'm already looking forward to the next one, and Grant Addison... remember what we discussed?? :)
I had hoped to make it to every Open this year but Team Harley had to give the British a by. This was due to Karen and Teagan going down to Bristol to sit their 2nd and 1st Dan gradings respectively. I'm immensely proud of them both, especially Teagan as I remember back to her first few gradings when she started training 5 years ago and there were tears and panic (no, not from her, from me!). The fact she went all the way down to Bristol and put herself in a stressful situation and came out with a pass is a huge win in my book. I'm sure Karen and her will be looking forward to a bit of a rest over the Christmas holidays. I'd like to thank Mr Chahal for all the extra time he spent preparing them both as the hard work really paid off.
Talking of the British, I need to mention that a slew of medals came back over the border including more from Connor Mulgrew getting British Champ and tag team champ along with 2nd in the Junior international event. Darrin MacDowall (SilverFox) 2nd place in sparring and patterns as did young Dylan Nutt. Gill Blackwood battered her way to 2nd place in sparring while Jordyn Finlay and Karina Chahal got 3rd place in individual and tag team sparring respectively.
Over at the Westend club Ian McGarry and Christopher Hagan won 3rd place in their sparring divisions. Heather Andrews won British Champion for sparring and Kirsty Hacking came away with a 3rd place also in sparring. Finally, Kim Boney teamed up with Kirsty and Heather and they became the ladies blue/red belt British Tag Team Champions.
World Champion, James Reed, added another British Championship trophy to his collection but this doesn't mean he can buy the Type R!
From Pollock, new 1st Dan, Chiara McIntyre, hit the gold and became British Champion. Hazel Bracken (now 2nd Dan) won British Champ in her division and Louise MacDonald (also a new 1st Dan) won 3rd in the girls lightweight.
And I've just been reminded that Adeline Collins from the Auchinleck club won British Champion in her ladies blue belt sparring division. Sorry for the late entry Ada!
With this short look back over 2014 the attention now turns to the goals of 2015 and like a few others the buildup to the last quarter of the year will be a busy and possibly stressful one. For the red belts going for the last grading of 2014 this could be their last colour belt grading ever. This is also true of some of us who will be grading in March 2015 (if our instructors think we're up to grading that is). This puts us squarely on the path that says "Road to Black" and the journey of the years comes to a close. But this doesn't mean that its over and done with. I remember an karate instructor I used to know many years back saying that "obtaining your black belt doesn't mean the end, it means your instruction is only really beginning". So getting to and passing 1st Dan isn't really closing a door, its an opening to new opportunities.
Right... I think I'm getting way too philosophical now! Time to wrap this up and talking of wrapping, I better get some Christmas presents done to. Wishing you all a peaceful time over Christmas and a rockin' party at New Year!
Iain
