GTUK British Champs April 2017

Sutton Coldfield Tae Kwon do took 5 members to last weekend’s GTUK British Champs, held in Coventry on the 29^th October. Between then they managed to bring home a strong haul of 5 medals, 2 gold and 3 silver.

First up was little 7 year old Kieran O’Connell. Having trained at the club for 2 years he just lost out on a medal in patterns securing himself 4^th place in patterns. Undeterred, however, he rose to the next challenge showing true indomitable spirit to get a silver medal in his sparring category.

Next was 15 year old Hannah Elton, who again had to settle for fourth in patterns. However, after being merged into a category of older girls she put in a very strong sparring performance to secure herself a silver medal.

The clubs next member, Michael Gilmore, put in a good performance unfortunately finishing just outside of the medal positions in sparring. He also put in a strong showing in the colour belt destruction, breaking with a variety of techniques to finish joint 3^rd.

Both Mr and Mrs Collett (the insctructors at SCTKD) took part in the half time demonstration of tag team sparring – a 4 minute furious event which gives the crowd a good spectacle of the fast paced kicking this martial art is renowned for. Mrs Collett’s ladies team managed to gain the gold medal in this event, after a thrilling final that went to extra time due to a tied score at the end of normal time.

Mr Collett also competed in patterns. This was particularly nerve wracking as he had only moved up into this category after passing his grading earlier this month. “This is a big step up for me” said Alex, “I’ve got improvements to make but I am looking forward to the challenge”.

After a wobble in the final of her patterns category Mrs Collett had to settle for silver, however, it was business as usual for the world champ winning her sparring division to retain her British Champion status for the 3^rd consecutive year.

If you would like to know more about the club or training with SCTKD please check out their website sctkd.co.uk or send Mr & Mrs Collett an email to sctkd@hotmail.com.