Some Changes to The Blog

With this being personally a busy year for me and with me not being able to get round all the clubs to get information etc, on speaking to Scott its been decided to divide the workload a bit. With this in mind a new "writer in residence" has join the fold. Welcome to Martyn Miller who will write up posts for the Kilmarnock club.

I'll still write for Prestwick & Ayr and I'm hoping that some kind helpful people from some of the other clubs under the Ayrshire and Glasgow umbrella will step-up and write for their clubs. If you're interested then please drop me a message on facebook and we'll get you started.

A Personal Look Back Over 2014

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

2014 September Grading - 27th & 28th

Hard to believe that its been three months since the last grading. This was when it was still light at 8pm and now the autumn air feels of chillier in the mornings and darker evenings are now upon us but this doesn't mean you can get into bed early...  No sir! If you've eligible to grade then hopefully you've been given your grading form and have it completed and back to your instructor by now, so with the last few sessions this week its time to put the final shine on linework, patterns... and don't forget the go through the theory!

I know I seem to repeat myself on some of these post but if you're grading for the first time or gradings make you nervous or scared then have a look here for some helpful hints and tips. Some information on grading preparation is here. Any questions then please direct them to your instructor.

Glasgow clubs grading is on Saturday 27th September at Western Baths. Start time is 5pm.
Ayrshire clubs are grading on Sunday 28th September at St Joesephs Academy, Kilmarnock which starts at 9am.

Remember, get to the grading well before time so you can get parked, get into the venue and get settled before proceedings start. Looking forward to see everyone at the Ayrshire venue on Sunday but wherever you are grading this weekend good luck folks!

Leaving TaeKwonDo

The subject is slightly misleading, but it did get your attention didn't it :) What I want to talk about here is that down feeling you get when something doesn't quite go right at training and that "I'm going to quit" feeling starts. Its probably happened to all of us at some point or another. For me it was a recent Monday night session where nothing went right. I've been plagued with an achillies tendon injury for about 10 months now along with a shoulder injury for the past year or so. The achillies problem seems to flare up quite often now. Some sessions I have no pain at all and I can do linework, patterns, sparring etc with no issues, but other sessions I can be just beginning in a class and it starts. This is what happened during the first 10mins in of a 90min class, I felt a familiar twinge of pain but I ignored it and kept going through padword and linework. It was into the latter part for the class when we started sparring that it really kicked in (no pun intended). Every time I was on the bounce, every movement, I had pain shooting through my foot so of course my brain says "stop moving", which I did... and of course this is sparring so I get lamped a good few times. What compounded it was next session I got exactly the same with the shooting pain and again in sparring I got lamped a few more times. Mr Chahal eventually pulled me out of the sparring line. I was really angry at myself but there wasn't much, if anything, I could do.

That night and for the rest of the weekend I was down about my performance, beating myself up about this injury and the "why me???" started. Wallowing in self pity isn't pretty and isn't something to do on a regular basis. We all get these doubts and worthless feelings now and then when things don't go the way we planned but what to look at is that you might have one or two bad sessions, but what about all the good ones? or the successes at competitions? or the enjoyment of training alongside the like minded people in your club? These good times more than outweigh the bad ones.

So if you get this sinking, quitting feeling, think back to what you've done and continue to do well at in TaeKwonDo, write it down someplace and keep it to hand in case you need reminding. As for me... well, I might never get past the injuries (being an auld man and all that) but I'll find a way to work round them and keep going. I know I'm never going to be a world class or even a club class sparrer but I'll still try it, even if it means yet again Mr Chahal pulls me out the line, sits me down and then gives me a stick (or just gives me stick) to hobble home with.

MAI This Month & Some News Updates

Getting time to write up something has been quite hard recently. Over the summer months with the good weather this year, I used free time to get out on the road on my bike (pedal power rules!) to try and improve my stamina and conditioning. Currently my cycling runs are taking me on a 30 mile round trip, which is about the equivalent distance from Prestwick to Glasgow. Just need to remember that taking water only on a longish ride is bad idea and that some food intake is needed as well be it fruit or some kind of energy gels. Live and learn! Maybe I could have written something about supplementary training outwith TaeKwonDo?? Foresight is a wonderful thing. With the start of the Autumn months I'll probably get less time on the bike and this might give me more time to write... time will tell... although I have this cycling turbo trainer so I can do some "standing cycling" in the house. Every turn of the pedals count :)

Just before the European Championships in March, the national team coach, Luke McGown, got in contact with me with a view to doing a piece on the TAGB Scotland Squad training and buildup to this competition. Originally this article was to go on a blog or the TAGB Scotland website but after doing the interview with Luke and the Squad it was felt it might be a good idea to submit it to MAI and see what they thought. Next thing I know I'm hearing from fellow scribe, John Clark, to say the article was in the September edition. Hope you enjoy the article as I had great fun working on it. I've already said this in other places but many thanks to Luke and the girls and guys in the squad for taking time out to answer my interview questions and  pose for photos.

In other news.... September is going to be a busy month for Ayrshire and Glasgow clubs with the Scottish Open on Saturday 6th and then the coloured belt grading weekend on 27th and 28th September. I'm planning on attending both and it will be good to catch up with everyone else face to face rather than on the realms of Facebook for a change.

For a few people from the Prestwick & Ayr club there is a blackbelt grading on the horizon. I'm speak of Kiran Chahal and the two leading ladies in my life, Karen and Teagan Harley. Kiran and Karen are both going for their 2nd dan and for Teagan this will be her grading for 1st dan. All three are working hard under the watchful and critical eye of Kulwant Chahal which means they are in good hands. Dates for the diary for the black belt grading at the Bristol Academy is 17th & 18th October.

Also have to say a big well done to Karen Harley and Mark Sawyer who were down at the Bristol Academy for their Instructors Course Part 1. Both passed and are now certified assistant instructors. Well done both, but we all know you've been "certified" for years! :)

I'm still hoping that some of you from any of the Ayrshire and Glasgow clubs will come forward with your own TaeKwonDo stories. Anything will do and it doest have to be a novel, so get your thinking caps on! Failing that you're going to have to put up with my inane rambling for a bit longer... which maybe sooner than you think :)

Guys and Gals... its your turn

Its been a year since Scott McMillan asked me to start writing articles for Ayrshire and Glasgow Tae Kwon Do and you know something, its been (and still is) a lot of fun. It can be frustrating at times when I get an idea, start with it and get a block on how to get the middle and the end to work with the beginning of the article. There are times though when I batter out (no pun intended) paragraph after paragraph for hours at a time, so much so that Karen doesn't see me apart from to take away the cold cups of coffee which I know where hot when she brought them up to me. The 2013 Scottish Closed article I did for MAI was a bit like that.

However, while its all well and good me giving my thoughts and feelings on all things Tae Kwon Do from my perspective, I would like to hear from you guys. We all train in the same style so we're on the same path, just different journey's. So tell me about your journey. Maybe you've had a blinder at a particular competition? Or a really memorable training session? A grading that stuck in your mind, be it coloured belt or 1st, 2nd Dan etc etc? Someone that's had an big influence on you while training? I don't care if you're 8 or 80 either. So get your thinking caps on and drop me a message on Facebook either on the Phoenix Page or Prestwick and Ayr page or send me a message directly. It can be as short of long as you like, but if you want to tell me about your journey as a white belt all the way to black I'd be happy with that as long as its not getting to the length of War and Peace or Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.


Quick note:

•  Kids, please ask permission from your parents/guardian before you submit anything to me
•  Parents, please ask permission of you kids before you submit something which may embarrass them

June Gradings

I'm acutely aware that I haven't written too much recently on the blog. I've been really busy at work and at home so putting fingers to keyboard hasn't been something I've had much time to do. However, the June grading is less than a week away! This time next week it will all be over and I know that those eligible to grade this time round will have pulled a blinder (as you always do!) and be the proud owners of shiny new belts. I'll not be joining you this time round, I've another three months to go and I dont even know if I'll be able to make it along to St Joesph's in Kilmarnock but I wish you all, Glasgow and Kilmanock graders the best of luck. Glasgow gradings are on 7th June and Ayrshire are on 8th.

If you're grading for the first time then please have a read through this article which will give you an idea what to expect at a grading. Remember don't be scared, you know your stuff, time to show it off! You can also have a look at this article from last year on grading preparation which has some tips on learning theory.

Good luck!