News
Updated: November 21st 2011
Competition success
Congratulations everyone who attended The UK Open on November 12th 2011.
It was a smaller group this time however the outcome was brilliant as usual.
Results:
bronze Mr Alex Aquino 4th kup- sparring
silver Miss Karen Smith 3rd Dan - sparring
silver/gold/gold Mr Johnnie Chan 5th Dan - sparring/patterns/power
Congratulations to everyone!
Looking forward to seeing more of our members at the next competition
Congratulations to Grand Master Paul Cutler
During the Celebrations of the 4 Nations event on the 29th October 2011, First Grand Master Rhee Ki Ha made Taekwon-Do history
again by promoting Senior Master Paul Cutler to IX Dan - Grand Master.
First Grand Master Rhee Ki Ha & Grand Master Paul Cutler
Grand Master Paul Cutler IX has been practicing TaeKwon-Do for more than half his life. He started training in 1973 and has since instructed
and pioneered TaeKwon-Do across the world. Known for asking General Choi pressing questions he has dedicated his life to furthering knowledge
and understanding in the application and the art. Those who have met him will also appreciate his ability to teach and
inspire students in the art and application of TaeKwon-Do.
Students from Huddersfield have trained with Grand Master Cutler at his summer camp in Ireland, learning a great deal not only about
the practice, but also the spirit and culture of TaeKwon Do held within the oath and tenets.
Here is a link to Grand Master Cutler's website so that you can learn more about his life in TaeKwon do:GMC
This is a link to his Facebook Page where you can see messages and pictures:GMCutler Facebook
If you scroll down this page you will see information on a previous trip to the summer camp in Ireland.
We would like to express huge congratulations to you sir!
First Grand Master Rhee Ki Ha retires from the ITF
On October 29th 2011 First Grand Master Rhee Ki Ha tendered his personal resignation to his 45 year membership of the ITF.
He was the the first person to be promoted to IX Dan by the founder General Choi,
and also the person who brought TaeKwon Do to the UK.
Click on this link to read more about First Grand Master Rhee Ki Ha:FGMR
Click on this link to read the official UKTA statement:UKTA home
You can also find out more about First Grand Master Rhee on this Facebook page:FGMRTaekwondo
The U.K.T.A. Would like to publicly announce that our position as members
of the ITF, un-broken since our formation in 1967, remains unaffected.
Congratulations to Scotland for Winning the 4 nations
Coach : Mr. Dougie McFarlan IV Dan
Team : Mr. Peter McAnna VI Dan
Mr. John Reilly V Dan
Mr. Kris Thompson IV Dan
Mr. Alan Rafferty IIIrd Dan
Miss Pelvi Nanda IInd Dan
Mr. Loyd Rafferty I Dan
Pictured here with Grand Master Rhee Ki Ha
The Next Competiton
For those interested in participating in the next competition it is coming up very soon:
Saturday November 12th is The UK Open Championships in Guildford
You must be 8th Kup and above. We have a good history of success at UKTA competitions.
There is a fantastic atmosphere and it is a chance to test your skills outside the club.
If you are interested just notify Mr Chan.
Here is the UKTA competition website link:Competition
October 2011 Grading Success
On October 2nd students from Leeds, Huddersfield, Manchester and The Wirral attended a regional area seminar and grading with Senior Master Miller.
The event was extremely well attended. Following the black belt seminar there was a colour belt seminar and junior colour belt seminar. A lot of students from Huddersfield successfully passed their grading. The following promotions where achieved at Huddersfield:
Arun Vijayakumar - 9th Kup - Yellow Tag
Nathan Gibson - 8th Kup - Yellow Belt
Richard Broadhead - 7th Kup - Green Tag
Alex Aquino - 4th Kup - Blue Belt
Matt Jones - 4th Kup - Blue Belt
Alan Haigh - 4th Kup - Blue Belt
Liz Dobson - 1st Kup - Black Tag
Congratulations to everyone on their success!
Picture of all black belts will be posted here soon
September 2011 Welsh open
On Sunday September 25th Mr Chan (V dan) attended the Welsh Open Championships in Cardiff. He won a Gold medal in the category: Adult Male black belt power
17th ITF TaeKwon Do World Chapmpionships September 2011 in North Korea
Mr Chan (V dan) in North Korea
In September 2011 Mr Chan participated in this extremely prestigeous event.
Mr Johnnie Chan V dan, in Pyongyang City North Korea
Here is a link to the photographs of the England team. Selected images of Mr chan will be posted under the pictures tab soon
Mr Chan and the rest of the England team in North Korea
Story to follow soon
July 2011 London open
On Sunday the 10th July four members of Huddersfield Taekwondo school travelled to London to participate in the 2011 London open
Along with our instructor Mr Chan (V dan), who also competed, Karen Smith (3rd Dan) came as support, coaching and photography. The London open attracted people from all over the country and even some foreign competitors. Many friends and family members came to support the competitors and the atmosphere on arrival was buzzing with excitement with the feeling of anticipation in the air.
Archisman and Alex competed first in patterns. Archisman performed excellently and won a bronze medal, just below Alex who won a gold medal after a superb performance. The patterns were followed by sparring. Elizabeth fought gallantly. She injuring her knee in the final round, but pushed past the pain to finish the fight and to win a silver medal. Alex also fought excellently and won a bronze medal. In the evening, Mr.Chan competed, performing excellently showing amazing skill, perception and endurance. He won gold in power as well as silver in heavy weight sparring
Overall Huddersfield Taekwondo School performed excellently to win many medals leaving everyone proud. We congratulate all our competitors
Elizabeth Dobson, 2nd Kup (Silver in sparring)
Alex Aquino, 5th Kup (Silver in patterns and Bronze in sparring)
Archisman Banerjee, 8th Kup (Bronze in patterns)
Richard Broadhead, 8th Kup
Mr Chan, V Dan (Gold in power and Silver in Sparring)
Seminar by Master Miller VIII
Master Miller VIII gave a seminar in the Wirral, organised by Mrs H Bennet, IVth Dan, and supported with lottery funding. Hudderfield TKD joined the seminar with 7 of its students and had a good time. Master Miller taught mostly the colour beld in self-defence, sparring and special techniques. A demonstrations was also orgnaised for the spectators.
Huddersfield dominant at the UK open 2010
The UK open this year was hosted by Wales at UWIC (cardiff). Both Liz Dobson and Alex Aquino walked away with gold medals in their sparring divisions to become UK champions. Alex also progressed through two rounds to win bronze in his pattern division.
UKTA Four Nations 2010
The atmosphere was electric at the four Nations held at the Thistle Hotel Glasgow on 16th October. Wales put in a strong performance in patterns, beating England fair and square in the Final. In the first round of sparring the Scottish fought well against the English securing the first two wins, but the English lions clawed their way back to win the next three and hence go through to the final. In the meantime Ireland comfortably beat Wales in the first round of sparring to go onto the final against England. Despite a solid Irish team, the English secured victory comfortably with three straight wins. Over to the final event of the night; power! Each team had to decide on a number of boards and tiles per technique, before the event, which made tactics all the more important. Traditionally power is always close and this year was no exception, in the end England won by one point! In a cliffhanger moment Mr. Chan’s forefist punch on the brick gave the Scottish false hope as the initial judgement was called, no break, but on closer inspection it was clear that the brick was in two pieces. Well done to all teams involved for putting on an impressive display of national pride, especially well done to the England team for bringing home the Rhee Ki Ha cup. James Diley I, Tom McCabe II, Carl Davies III, Greg Bagwell III, Ricky De-Winton IV and Johnnie Chan V.
Liz and Alex join Master Cutler VIII summer camp
Over the August bank holiday weekend, Alex and Liz attended a TaeKwon-Do training camp in Ireland put on by Senior Master Paul Cutler VIII degree.
The weekend included a lot of different types of training and you can see some of what was done in the photos. It was attended mostly by black-belt adults, but some colour belts and children also attended the course. It was a deeply inspiring experience. At summer camp was ended with an exam at which Liz was promoted to 4th kup. Congratulations!
Friendly competition, July 11th 2010, Wirral
Mrs H Bennett (Wirral) organised an open friendly competition this year. It was well attended by clubs from different Tae Kwon Do organisations (UKTA and GATB). Over the years, the UKTA and GATB have diverted in the details of the Tae Kwon Do techniques. This became clear during the pattern competition, where the difference in styles of UKTA and GATB was clearly visible. As the competition was organised by UKTA and thus refereed by UKTA judges, this put GATB competitors at a clear disadvantage. During the sparring competition is distinction was less pronounced, although the semi-contact rules were differently interpreted by many GATB competitors. In spite of the differences, the atmosphere was generally friendly and the competetion was an excellent example of how the increasingly splintered Tae Kwon Do in the UK can work together. From Huddersfield, Alex and Lars competed. Lars won gold in patterns. His solid performance in Choong Jang gave him advantage of his competitors who all attempted the ever-difficult Juche pattern. Regretfully, Lars (with the blue guards in the photo above) lost his first fight in sparring, in spite of his more accurate techniques and generally uncontrolled and below-the-belt attacks of his opponent (red guards in the photo). Alex performed well in his pattern, but came across a strong opponent in the semi final and went home with bronze. He also did well in his patterns, where Alex reached the finals and obtained silver.
Seminar and Grading, June 20th 2010
Congratulations Huddersfield students who were recently promoted at the North West area grading hosted by Wirral UKTA on Sunday 20th June, by Senior Master Gary Miller VIII Degree.
Alex Aquino 7th Kup
Liz Dobson 5th Kup
Adam Hall 9th Kup
The blackbelt and colour belt seminar was thoroughly enjoyed by all and Master Miller seemed to be in jovial mood despite the long drive!
Photo (left to right): Adam, Alex, Senior Master Miller, Mr. Chan, Lars, Liz
Medals at the Welsh Open, May 16th 2010
Huddersfield TKD were out in force at the Welsh championsips 2010 held a UWIC Cardiff 16th May.
Matt fought well in heavy weight sparring after having a long break from competition. Liz won gold in her sparring division then picked up a silver in yellow and green belt pattern. Alex reached the final of veteran colour belt sparring and fought well against a more experienced red belt to come away with silver moving on to win another silver in yellow and green belt pattern division.
Mr Chan reached the final of heavy weight sparring and walked away with a silver then picked up a bronze in 4th dan pattern loosing to former European champion Ricky De-Winton.
Well done to everyone who attended, the northern contingent was small but we came away with a respectable clutch of medals!
Photo (Left to right): Liz, Mr. Chan, Matt, Alex
Success at Scottish Open, April 17th 2010
Liz and Alex were successful at the Scottish Open Championships held in Glasgow. They came back with no less than 3 gold medals. Alex (Yellow belt) steadily worked his way up in the pattern competition and was so relaxed he was somewhat surprised when he found out he just won the final. In sparring, Alex was moved to a higher weight class as his class did not have enough competitors. His match against a blue belt with fast and strong head jabs proved too much for Alex. Liz (Green belt) also performed confidently in her patterns and deservedly won gold. Her speed and accuracy in sparring served her well in the competition and she walked away with gold.
Photo (Left to right): Liz, Mr. Chan, Alex
June 21st 2008
Alan Haigh, Johnnie Chan, Alan Jeuken and Alex Richards all attended the Scottish Open Championships held in Glasgow in June. The long trip north of the border was well worth it, and a more in-depth story with photos and video is coming very soon!
