Gradings

Local Grading - 5th December 2011

Students who graded The beginning of December saw the final local grading of the year take place. For some of the students this was their first experience of grading and many were understandably very nervous. However, this didn't stop them from demonstrating the hard work they had put into refining their techniques and learning their theory. It was particularly pleasing to see a number of students show clear and significant improvement on areas which they'd struggled with in the past. This showed an admirable dedication to their own development which will benefit them as they progress to the senior grades. Congratulations to everyone.

On this occasion the grading award went to Alfie Hatchard. Since his first lesson, Alfie has worked extremely hard to learn his theory, perfect his movements and behave impeccably at all times.

Alfie with grading award Matthew Bates - Promoted to 5th Kup (Blue tips)
Andrew Smith - Promoted to 5th Kup (Blue tips)
Jack Beaumont - Promoted to 6th Kup (Green belt)
Cameron Leid - Promoted to 7th Kup (Green tips)
Samuel Doughtery - Promoted to 7th Kup (Green tips)
Ethan Meredith - Promoted to 8th Kup (Yellow belt)
Scott Murphy - Promoted to 8th Kup (Yellow belt)
Alfie Hatchard - Promoted to 9th Kup (Yellow tips)
Joshua Rochester - Promoted to 9th Kup (Yellow tips)
Evan Walker - Promoted to 9th Kup (Yellow tips)
Owain MacArthur - Promoted to 9th Kup (Yellow tips)
Matthew Bluff - Promoted to 9th Kup (Yellow tips)

Area Grading - 22nd October 2011

Before the seminar commenced a number of students stepped up in front of Senior Master O'Neill with the hope of promoting to the next grade. With a large number of students grading it was a busy morning, particularly for those promoting in the senior grades. Despite the obvious nerves all students were able to show what they were capable of and were successful in promoting to the next grade. The junior members of the school are eagerly preparing for the beginning of December when the next local grading is due to be held.

Congratulations to all the students who graded!

Kiera Seabrook - Promoted to 2nd Kup (Red belt)
Emily Kinchlea - Promoted to 2nd Kup (Red belt)
Tyler Hiscock - Promoted to 3rd Kup (Red tips)
Steven Murphy - Promoted to 5th Kup (Blue tips)
Harry Hiscock - Promoted to 6th Kup (Green belt)
Jessica Meredith - Promoted to 6th Kup (Green belt)

Local Grading - 17th May 2011

Local Grading - May 2011 Tuesday 17th May saw the first local grading of 2011. With a number of Tidworth Taekwon-do members from both the senior and junior classes ready to promote it proved to be a long evening. Congratulations to everyone who attended, all members performed well on the day and were successful in promoting to the next grade.

Particular congratulations go to Samuel Dougherty who performed all his grading requirements to a high standard and won the grading award trophy.

Mr Storton has already confirmed that he will be holding another Sam Dougherty - Grading Award local grading in September so students need to work hard to make sure they're eligible to grade.

Lorraine Ryall - Promoted to 2nd Kup (Red belt)
Tyler Hiscock - Promoted to 4th Kup (Blue belt)
Matthew Bates - Promoted to 6th Kup (Green belt)
Steven Murphy - Promoted to 6th Kup (Green belt)
Andrew Smith - Promoted to 6th Kup (Green belt)
Jessica Meredith - Promoted to 7th Kup (Green tips)
Harry Hiscock - Promoted to 7th Kup (Green tips)
Jack Beaumont - Promoted to 7th Kup (Green tips)
Cameron Leid - Promoted to 8th Kup (Yellow belt)
Samuel Dougherty - Promoted to 8th Kup (Yellow belt)
Scott Murphy - Promoted to 9th Kup (Yellow tips)

Area Grading - Senior Master Taylor - 12th March 2011

Congratulations to those Tidworth Taekwondo members who successfully graded at the March Seminar.

Emily Kinchlea - Promoted to 3rd Kup (Red tips)
Kiera Seabrook - Promoted to 3rd Kup (Red tips)

Blackbelt Grading - 4-6th March 2011

Martin at Blackbelt Grading It was the second consecutive visit to Glasgow for Mr Storton as he accompanied Martin Smith on the Blackbelt Grading weekend. For Martin, this was his second attempt to make the trip, his first ending when he succumbed to a back injury last September. No such problems this time around though as both set off for Gatwick at 4am on the Friday morning to catch the ridiculously early flight to Scotland. With training not due to commence until 6pm, there was plenty of time to relax and familiarise ourselves with the route to the training venue and surrounding area. Accommodation was once against at the superb Glasgow Guest House. The proprietor, John, is a superb host and the location is excellent, easy to find from the airport and only a short drive to the City centre or the train can be taken from Drumbreck, just a few minutes walk away. Despite the normal check in time of 3pm, John had rushed to get the rooms ready for 10am! A leisurely lunch was taken at the Sherbrooke Castle Hotel before a few hours sleep in the afternoon to catch up on the early start.

The first session of the weekend was to start at 6pm. First Grandmaster Rhee was to conduct the weekend’s events and was assisted by Snr Master Paul Cutler, Snr Master John Williamson, Master Derek Blackburn and Master Sean Cattanach. The weekend training was going to be very intense with 3 hours on the Friday evening followed by 7 hours of training on the Saturday. All aspects of Taekwondo were covered, patterns, pre-arranged sparring including foot technique sparring and power test, in preparation for the grading on Sunday. The training also covered releasing movements, stretching and self defence from unusual positions i.e. sitting and lying. All in all the training provided an intense and varied workout in all aspects of Taekwondo and allowed all students the opportunity to make final refinements to their movements ahead of the grading on Sunday. At the end of Saturday, everything that needed to be checked had been and there was nothing left but to get a good night’s rest in preparation for the big day ahead. Martin & Mr Storton headed into the City Centre for the Khublai Khan experience. A hearty meal of Zebra, Kangaroo, Springbok, Wild Boar and Game was sure to be the perfect recipe for a good night.

Martin with Grandmaster Rhee The Sunday morning arrived and with it Martin’s nerves, which until this point had been non existent. No matter how hard you’ve trained and how confident you are, nothing can really prepare you for performing for blackbelt in front of the world’s foremost Taekwondo Grandmaster and his panel of Masters from the Masters’ Council. The nerves grew as the grading start time of 10am got closer and closer. Martin had been training for this moment for over 5 years and knew exactly what he had to do and once the grading got under way, the nerves disappeared as he focussed on the job in hand. The grading lasted several hours with all members applying for blackbelt required to perform patterns, sparring and power test including breaking the house brick, along with the theory test.

At the end of the grading all those successful were announced and presented with their blackbelts and certificates. It was with great pride that Martin stepped forward to receive his blackbelt from First Grandmaster Rhee, just reward for the hard training and dedication Martin has shown over the years. Very well done Martin!