Sutton Coldfield took 9 members, their biggest entry yet, to
the GTUK British championships, held in Coventry on 28th September
and brought back a total of 11 medals – 7 of which were gold!
Their youngest competitors were aged 6, but they took
students across a variety of ages and belt groups to this tournament.
The first medal of the day went to Fred Newman, who only
started Tae Kwon-do after trying the martial art at last years’ Sutton Coldfield
Community Games. Fred was unlucky to be drawn first round against the eventual
silver medallist in his patterns category, losing on a split decision. However,
he more than made up for it with a very convincing sparring performance to
claim the bronze medal in his category. He also demonstrated his agility
prowess, making it to the final five in the special technique in a category
dominated by black belts!
Up next was Ibrahim Rafiq who recently moved up into the
ages 11+ category. Ibrahim performed brilliantly under the pressure of his
first competition to achieve double silver across the patterns and sparring
category.
Hannah Elton was also competing again for the club. She has
competed ever since starting Tae Kwon do over three years ago and definitely
shown how much her competition experience and hard work can pay off as she took
a convincing double gold in her category – making her the best overall junior
female colour belt at this event.
Also competing were instructors Mr & Mrs Collett. Alex
put in a strong performance to gain a gold in individual patterns and then lead
his team to a thrilling silver medal in the tag team event. Emma had one of her
most successful tournaments to date, claiming a whopping 4 gold medals across
the team sparring, individual patterns, individual sparring and destruction
events, Mrs Collett’s efforts earned her the overall best adult female
competitor award at this event.
Also competing for the club were pee wees Stanley Newman,
Louis Lycett, Kieran O’Connell and Rebecca Welch. Mr & Mrs Collett had this
to say about the clubs’ performance: “As a club we have gone from strength to
strength and we couldn’t be prouder of everyone who competed. They all
conducted themselves in the true spirit of Tae Kwon-do and should be very happy
with their performances”.
