CSPAN awards 2016

CSPAN awards 2016

Awards night 27.01.2017

Last year Mrs Collett won the Sutton Coldfield Female Personality of the year and this year we found ourselves not only nominated but shortlisted for 4 different categories. Wow! Those shortlisted were:

 Mrs Collett - Adult Female category - after winning a cracking 10 medals this year - 8 of which were Gold – as well as being promoted to GTUK Ladies Assistant coach.  

Mr Collett - Adult male category - after winning his first national title this year he has really come into his own and is now UKGT British sparring champ, GTUK British sparring champ, European sparring silver medallist and GTUK British patterns silver medallist.

Miss Elton – junior female category – Hannah has only been training for a relatively short period of time (about 18 months) but this year she became a double British Champion and earned herself 2 silvers too!

SCTKD club - club category – This year our students have earned 3 gold medals and 4 silver medals at national level championships. As a club we have maintained our 100% grading pass rate, as well as achieving a total of 7 A passes. As a club we have been involved in several community invents including the Sutton Coldfield Community games were we gave over 750 children a taste of Tae Kwon-do.

So combined with nominees and proud parents and grandparents we headed off for our table of 12 at this year’s event, held at the Ramada hotel. We were greeted with a drinks reception where laughs were soon shared at Mrs Collett’s expense when it was discovered she was wearing odd shoes! In her defence they were very similar – except for the heel height…

Once seated we were treated to a lovely 3 course meal. Having a range of dietary needs on our table I have to say that the Ramada catered for us very well and efficiently. During courses we were treated to a future singing talent from Arthur Terry school who thrilled us with a variety of songs.

Then came the awards. It is staggering just to realise the amount of talent in this town! Most categories featured an Olympian/Paralympian or international medallists. This high level of prestige is what makes this event so inspiring and humbling. Unfortunately, we didn’t win any awards this year but anyone that has got into sports just to win has entered a life changing activity for the all the wrong reasons. To just be nominated, and then shortlisted amongst a plethora of talent was honour enough for us. And it certainly didn’t stop us having a wonderful evening.

We are very proud of our club, and of all of our students.

GTUK British Champs - October -Hannah Elton

The GTUK championships were held in Coventry on Saturday 15^th October 2016. Hannah was competing at her second GTUK event that year. The day started with a big honour. She was chosen with a fellow student to read the competitors oath in front of the hundreds of people that had gathered to support, compete in and officiate these games.

Hannah’s was competing in the junior female green belt to blue belt category and her first event of the day was patterns, where students perform a pre-determined set of movements to gain marks for aspects such as power, stances and breath control. She progressed through her early rounds of this with ease, being a very technical practitioner. In the final, however, she was against an older girl who had been moved into her category.  Despite the age difference Hannah put in her usual sterling performance but unfortunately on this occasion she was denied the gold medal by a very close judges’ decision.

Next came sparring, which saw a chance to prove she wasn’t going to just settle for silver. Again she progressed comfortably through the rounds until meeting the same girl she has come second to in patterns. History did not repeat itself in sparring however. Hannah gave it her all, dominating the fight and won by a unanimous judge’s decision to take home the gold and once again become a GTUK British champion!

Grading - March 2016

They’ve done it again! Sutton Coldfield Tae Kwon Do (SCTKD) has had their fifth 100% grading pass rate in a row.

The members of SCTKD were put through their paces at the grading took place on Friday 18^th of April under the supervision of Mr Andrew Holmes, fifth degree black belt. They were tested on all aspects that they had learnt so far in their training including patterns, pad work, self-defence, sparring. With Tae Kwon Do being a traditional Korean martial art the children were even tested on their knowledge of Korean words, with students as young as four being able to count to ten in Korean.

Proud instructors Mr and Mrs Collett, who both represent England for the GTUK, commented that “all students have trained hard and put in a fantastic performance at the grading. We couldn’t be more pleased with their achievements so far”.

But the hard work doesn’t stop here. Next month is the GTUK British championships where SCTKD members are hoping to add to their success for this year.  The tournament will be held on the 2^nd April in Coventry and is a great chance for students of all ages to test their skills and make new friends from all over the country.

If you would like to learn more about how to join SCTKD contact Mr and Mrs Collett at sctkd@hotmail.com or check out their website at www.sctkd.co.uk. 

UITF Euros - 2016

Alex and Emma Collett flew out to Poland last weekend to represent England in the first ever UITF European Tae Kwon Do championships. Between them they managed to bring back three silver medals. Mr Collett was the first of the pair to compete in the gruelling 33 degree weather. Although he didn’t achieve as he would have liked in patterns, he managed an impressive silver medal in men’s heavyweight sparring. This is particularly impressive as Mr Collett has only been a black belt for 5 years, compared to the near 15 years of some of his fellow competitors.

Next up was Mrs Collett, who has been training in this martial art for 15 years herself. After making a slight mistake in the final she narrowly missed the gold in patterns and had to content herself with second place. She managed to control her disappointment, however, and refocused herself to earn a silver medal in the ladies middleweight sparring.

Emma and Alex are part of the England GTUK Tae Kwon Do team, who between them brought home a very well deserved 24 medals (8 gold, 11 silver and 5 bronze). Alongside their national training Mr and Mrs Collett also run a club in Sutton Coldfield. To find out more about how to train with them check out their website www.sctkd.co.uk or email them at sctkd@hotmail.com

GTUK British Champs April 2016

Sutton Coldfield Tae Kwon Do club has achieved a wonderful 5 medals at the GTUK British Championships last weekend.  The club took 4 competitors, including instructors Mr and Mrs Collett to this year’s championships which were held in Coventry.

First to compete was Thomas Elton who at age 10 was competing in the pee wee category, who bagged silver in patterns and lost to the eventual gold medallist in sparring. He also pulled in an impressive 7^th place in the Special Technique event, which involves using impressive kicks to hit a pad that was well over Thomas’s head height.

Next up was his older sister Hannah Elton, who at age 14 was fighting in the junior category. She managed an impressive Gold medal in patterns. However, because of lack of numbers in her belt category she was moved into a higher group and fought courageously against girls who were four belts higher than herself. Despite the difference in experience levels she put in a remarkable performance to earn a silver medal.

Unfortunately there were no medals that day for Mr Collett, who was in a tough category. When discussing his own performance he said “I’m not too disappointed. I fought well and it is through failures that we often see the path to our improvements”.

Sutton Coldfield’s other instructor Mrs Collett, however, managed the expectations and pressures on her given her status as GTUK Ladies Team Captain and Assistant Coach to secure a Double Gold in patterns and sparring.

Mr and Mrs Collett shared their thoughts on the day’s achievements after the event. “Sutton Coldfield Tae Kwon do is a relatively new club as it opened less than two years ago, to already have produced British Champions was beyond our own targets for the club but is a testament to the hard work of our students, and the guidance from us. This is the first time we have entered children into these events and are exceptional proud of their performance today. No one had an easy ride into medals today and the future is very promising. We have lots of talent within the club and now we have our first medallists we hope it will inspire others to come along next time”

If you are interested in training with Mr and Mrs Collett they always welcome new members regardless of age or experience level.  You can contact them for more information at sctkd@hotmail.com or check out their website at www.sctkd.co.uk.

GTUK British Champs October 2016

Seven competitors from Sutton Coldfield(5 students and 2 Instructors) went to the GTUK British Championships on Saturday 15^th October. Between them they brought back an impressive 8 medals, 5 of which were gold.

First to medal was 11 year old Rebecca Welch who took a silver medal in her patterns category with a very strong performance, narrowly missing out on gold after a close judge’s decision.

Next up was Hannah Elton who was competing at her second championships this year. She also put in a solid performance to earn herself a silver medal in patterns. She then went on to beat older girls to gain a convincing gold medal in sparring.

After a pause for lunch, and a superb demonstration from the GTUK international black belts, Sutton Coldfield’s newest member Michael Boyle was up. Despite only learning his patterns this week he put in a confident performance but unfortunately didn’t place in the patterns event. This was not the case in his sparring event however. Even though he was much older and less experienced than his competitors he managed to hold the final to a 2 -2 nail biting draw until in the dying seconds he landed a clear punch on his opponent to win the match.

SCTKD’s other two competitors, Kieran O’Connell (age 7) and Michael Gilmore (age 25) unfortunately didn’t place this time after losing to the eventual winners of their categories in the early rounds. However all showed the true spirit of competition of accepting their losses, knowing it will lead to their improvement and went on to support their team mates in their victories.

It was business as usual for Sutton Coldfield Tae Kwon Do’s female instructor Mrs Collett, who is captain of the GTUK ladies team. While she might feel the pressure performing at this standard it certainly didn’t show in her performance, winning gold in both her patterns and sparring category. Speaking later she said, “It is never nice to face a team mate on the mats (her final was against the Ladies team vice-captain Amy Ridgard), but I think I responded well to the pressure of today’s event.”

Emma’s husbands and co instructor Alex Collett was last of the SCTKD crew to compete. He put in a fantastic performance in patterns, but lost in the final after making a mistake in his moves. Next came sparring and a chance for retribution as his first opponent was the same person he had just faced in the patterns final. Needless to say Mr Collett was motivated and progressed comfortably through his rounds until the final. The final was exceptionally close, and following a draw in the judges’ decision it came down to technical marks – who had fought the more cleanly and obeyed the sparring rules. Mr Collett came out on top of that and was awarded the gold medal.

His weekend didn’t stop there, however, as on Sunday he took part in the Birmingham Half marathon and completed the course in a personal best time of 1 hour, 38 minutes and 44 seconds.

Speaking after the competition on Saturday he said: “I’m thrilled with mine and everyone from the clubs performance today. The club is going from strength to strength and win or lose all of our members conducted ourselves well today and should be very proud of themselves”.

If you are interested in joining Sutton Tae Kwon do please contact Mr & Mrs Collett by email at sctkd@hotmail.com or check their website for further information www.sctkd.co.uk