Taekwondo Today March 2016

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MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY

british int. poomsae competition GB Poomsae puts on spectacular event in Crawley, Sussex

Plenty of prospects just over the Horizon

* A cut above the rest!

Rick SImpson’s Horizon 1-2-1 Competition shows plenty of talent

BSTF University Championships

Working hard for medals at the students’ competition in Worcester

Birmingham University seminar University students keep on Ki-cking in the Midlands as new sports facility nearly complete

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Photo courtesy of David Grey 4th Dan

Have a Taegerific Taekwondo Day!

Calendar of events

The Korean Martial Art of Taekwondo & Olympic Combat sport within Great Britain via the NGB

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TAEKWONDO TODAY Advertisement 10% discount on qoute to British Taekwondo Members

MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

Punctual, Clean and Tidy.

Excellent Job, 5 star Craig Daniels, Stockport

Andy takes great pride in his work, just like his Taekwondo. Always gives 100% with very neat work....

Master S. H. Blomeley

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BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

Foreword

TAEKWONDO TODAY Taekwondo Today

Bringing you all the official information about WTF Taekwondo in the United Kingdom

STEVE BLOMELEY 6th Dan Editor-in-Chief Contributors: Tom Stammer Brian Tilley Tom Mulroney Margaret Nolan Peter Johnson Michael McKenzie Derek Sumner Scott Coullie Phill Payne Mark Hayward Rick Simpson Bill Darlington Testimonial “Love it - congratulations. A fantastic job. Thanks and fab!!!

Will be advertising in next issue.

Kathy Hook - Ultimate Taekwondo

Practise “Taekwondo Today” with the National Governing Body

• Local Clubs • Training Tips

Foreword from the Editor.

• Instructor Profiles

Welcome to the third edition of “British Taekwondo Today” 2016, the Official Magazine for The Governing Body of WTF Taekwondo in Great Britain. The downloadable Magazine is for all United Kingdom WTF practitioners to receive information, news items, training tips, competition details and self-defence awareness from British Taekwondo, the recognised NGB. Fabulous February has closed off in this leap year with a few major competitions around the country, which were all extremely well attended. With live feeds to The British International Poomsae championship and the BSTF Student nationals, every WTF Taekwondo fan had a feast on the last weekend of last month. We also welcome our new CEO Mark Abberley, who takes up the reins at the beginning of March and let’s all hope, with the new personnel, new impetus from us all, things will look a lot brighter in 2016.

A lot of extremely hard work has been done by people behind the scenes, perhaps some tough decisions made and we should thank the likes of Ieda Yell and acting CEO Tom Stammer for all that they do or have done to bring us to this point. I once again encourage you the clubs or Instructors, to keep potential news articles, stories, results coming plus please consider advertising within, to help promote yourselves and sustain the magazine for future issues. It does take a considerable mount of effort and work to bring it to your screens. So, as the month which makes this a leap year has ended, why not take the plunge for the next issue and give it a go?

There’s been some great responses from fellow colleagues submitting material but there’s many more of you out there! Please encourage everybody within your Taekwondo family, to forward on the link to the magazine or send them the pdf version of it, which we hope will benefit your clubs and associations by gaining potential new students. More Taekwondo-More People-More Often!

The Editor-in-Chief Taekwondo Today

• Competition Dates • Results • Seminar Details • Seminar Reviews • Grading Dates • Grading Results • Student Profiles • Kids in Combat • Health Tips • Book Reviews • Product Reviews • Equipment Suppliers • Club Profiles

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CONTENTS YIN

Page 3 Foreword Page 7 Canadian Gold Rush Page 9 Taeger Time Problems Page 11 Ki-dz Korner Page 15 More Taekwondo Page 17 Coaches Corner Page 21 Quest in Germany plus Army MA Grading Page 23 British Taekwondo Club members pg Page 25 BSTF Student University Championships Page 27 Calendar of Events Page 29 Perfect vs Practical Poomsae Page 31 Managing the little Monstars!

CONTENTS YANG

Page 4 Birmingham University Seminar Page 6 Kicksister Chloe Page 8 Back the Brits Page 10 Book Review Page 12 Ki-Yong-Go Page 14 3 Steps to Learning the system Page 16 More Tkd, More People, More Often Page 18 British International Poomsae Page 20 Meet Margaret Page 22 No Payne-No Gain, A club growth journal 2 Page 24 Horizon 1-2-1 Competition Page 28 Raising the Roof in Rotherham Page 30 Taegers Colour Sheet

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MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

Birmingham University Taekwondo Seminar

t fell on an auspicious day renowned Istudents for lovers, but many University are also great lovers of the

Korean Martial Art too and so found the time on February 14th, to fit in a seminar with their group’s Chief Instructor. We were sure it wouldn’t be a St. Valentine’s massacre, but after the first fifteen minutes warm- up there was quite a few moans and groans!

All in good humour of course. Part of the warm-up consisted of some flow drills broken down into segments, which would come into play later on in the day. Lead Instructor David Grey assisted Master Blomeley in performing some of the drills which are designed to aid co-ordination and recognition to produce the right response for the attacks that would or could come from various angles.

strikes. This was to help the lower kup grades in attendance prepare for their March grading with their chief Instructor/Examiner. Any senior Taekwondoist also knows that one must maintain one’s basic techniques regardless of grade and it’s always good to revisit them, as it prepares you for higher level training later in the day. Also one of the challenges for University instructors is that they can come across many different level students from all around the country or abroad, as they are attending that particular University academically

nce the warm-up had been O completed with some S & C, the students performed some basic floor preparation kicking techniques to help ingrain the correct alignment for the execution of basic kicks, followed with basic stances and hand

in striking quickly and efficiently. A lot of training these days focuses on this with the kicking techniques for competition kyorugi but the seminar instructor also feels this is vital for the pure Martial Art side too. Once this was accomplished the students then moved onto striking and covering or avoiding the obvious counter strikes that would no doubt be returned to them with some vigour. By now everyone was thoroughly in the flow of things and ready to move on to some sequence kicking techniques on the paddles. he University students T were tasked with adding in a particular piece of footwork

he seminar began early T enough in the day to allow people plenty of time to get

home and prepare for their evening with loved ones, friends or family. On arrival, the seminar instructor could see how much the new sports complex that is being built at Birmingham University had progressed and Ki Taekwondo can’t wait to move into their new venue on campus with a view to one day perhaps hosting the University Taekwondo Championships, being so central in the country. The club is definitely aspiring to be involved in the future, in a big way. In the past they have hosted before for the BSTF plus had one championship a few years ago with official BT referees for University clubs.

ext the students moved on to some N paddle/mitt work but with hand techniques to help them attain fluidity

too. During the basic technique part of the seminar everybody covered 3-step fixed sparring in the various scenarios or methodology that our association has, which aids syllabus comprehension and sets a good foundation for reaching higher Dan grade level. It is a skill that should not be neglected purely for the sake of the sporting aspect of Taekwondo which can often be overlooked in clubs.

with a basic bread and butter kick commonly used in basic training and kyorugi training.

Bit chagi was the chosen kick and after executing a basic one and stepping back, they then added in front foot step bit chagi pull back, followed by angled step bit chagi slide back followed by switch step bit chagi slide back with the final move a 360 bichagi. All this was done in segments until they had the full sequence and many began to realise how tiring it is and how good top competition players are. To cap it off, the seminar instructor then made them all switch into a left foot back or open stance and repeat the whole process on their opposite side without the segmentation breakdown.

It was quite amusing in places but everybody was quite pleased they did complete it eventually! A ‘Big Thank‘ you to the Black Belts who were often called out to demonstrate and to their joy got it spot on under pressure.

Following this the students were then taken through how to implement their reverse turning kick fast from an initial....

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BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

first motion kick and then adding in a jump reverse to add even more dynamics to the whole process.

Many junior grades completed this task admirably, never mind the Dan grades. After this the group was then instructed in how to perform codified techniques on the mitts or paddles to help with speed of thought and reaction time in processing what technique was required, when and by how many. It’s not an easy task when after an hour or so of training students are beginning to tire a little. You could normally do this when students are fresh but as it was a seminar it was more geared towards developing an understanding and introducing the various ways and methodology of training. Master Blomeley tried to emphasise that it is an important a skill as the actual sparring techniques being able to hold and use the paddles or mitts correctly to help students develop in different ways, whether it be for form, speed or reaction time.

into a three step-semi free mode but with a slight difference than the normal traditional mode of practising.

Master Blomeley explained that this is a way he incorporates or blends in to be able to cover their quite indepth syllabus but at the same time keep functionality for competition training. The students were paired up with partners and asked to perform various tasks or methods of practise with certain restraints or agreements put into place. This meant that they could cover aspects that they need to know for kup grade promotion but at the same time incorporate competitive skills required for scoring on the competition mat. It wasn’t long before even the lower kup grade novices were putting in some good quality timing and scoring techniques building their confidence and self esteem.

short break was announced A and during that time the senior Black Belts were taken through the

the body armour and begin to work on 1-steps which would emphasise correct alignment and body structure to be able to perform very basic skills of self defence. Too often

higher level poomsae that they need to be practising for their further development. Birmingham University is a Ki Taekwondo Association club which was established by Master Blomeley over 20 years ago and it’s good to get together with the senior Instructors and other Black Belts of Ki to practice together. Ki Taekwondo 4th Dan Instructor at the University, David Grey, was taken through Pyongwon and Sipjin at his request so that he could make sure he was up to speed on those patterns. They are a talented group at Birmingham University.

‘Lead Instructor David’ heads his own jazz band and has a show coming up soon in the city which is titled “ Wolves are People too!” It is an exciting blend of contemporary jazz, ballet and live illustration. The show runs from April 7th till the 9th at the Hippodrome. If you get chance why not go and see it and support a fellow Taekwondoist. fter a little recovery time and the A students feeling refreshed it was time to don the hogus. Time had

gone by very quickly and so the chief instructor decided to combine two elements into one to allow a little more time near the end of the session booking to practice some combatives and armed response drills or, in other words, the opponent or assailant is carrying a weapon. So, with the hogoos on the students were taken

MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY

o finish off the seminar the T students were taken back to the very beginning where they had

practiced some basic drills and once this had been revisited, the weapons were introduced. This was so, that they began to understand and formulate the skill sets required for effective, efficient practice. They quickly began to learn that it is a slow process, but a valuable one, to be able to begin to even think you could pull something like this off after a few short lessons.

The empty hand skills that are needed when the assailant

fter a good spell working on A various scenarios or themed sparring it was time to take off

students do not get beyond moving correctly to be in an advantageous position and are completely out of distance to perform successful counter

attacks.

has something in his hand need to be practised just as much as we do when performing kyorugi skills. They are two completely different ends of the spectrum, which encompasses that learning Martial Arts is a lifetimes study and more than just sport...

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TAEKWONDO TODAY Article

BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

Kicksister Chloe kicks her way to a Traditional Taekwondo class.......

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icksister Chloe has taken to the ladies’ ‘Kick to keep fit’ program so well that she had decided to take up the offer of training in the Traditional Taekwondo class too. She has completed a good spell in the Kicksister training and can be rightfully awarded her yellow belt status, having learnt and coped with the basic requirements needed for promotion to the 8th kup grade over the recommended time period set out.

Wanting to progress and learn even more to be able to give the traditional side of training a chance, she has attended the traditional Taekwondo College class in Stockport and found she enjoys it equally as well.

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hloe’s Instructor stated how she blended in straight away with the other girls at Kicksister when she first joined as they are a great friendly group of girls, who have fun but also train very well putting a lot of effort in. Chloe did state at first she was comfortable just attending an all ladies session but found Kicksister

is also a good stepping stone to taking it further and training with the mixed group of students for the traditional side. Most clubs are very family-orientated anyway and she has discovered it can be equally as much fun training alongside everyone in the club, males included and that everybody is generally very helpful and encouraging during practise. She has even donned a hogu and got into some of the sparring drills, depending on which class is on for that particular evening. Well done Chloe and we hope more ladies will follow suit. She still attends her Kicksister Class every week too. We think more and more ladies should take the plunge and get kicking their way to health and fitness, with some great self defence skills too!

With

Kicksister British Taekwondo

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MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY

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BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

Taekwondo Duo’s Canadian Gold Rush A

my Truesdale, former Para World Taekwondo Champion, completed her first step to compete in the 2020 Japan Olympics. She did this by securing a Silver medal podium place and ranking points in the Canadian Open Para Taekwondo G1 seeding event in Montreal Canada.

Amy travelled with her coach Master Peter Johnson, who also competed himself in the +61 years division forms section which completed a great streak of wins for the Stoke UTA Team.

on more power and analyse the match. On the plus side we did get ranking points and some good positives to work on.

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oach Johnson also went through to the final in the forms section and took gold in a solid

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his makes two International wins for Johnson already in 2016 and with the London International forms on the last weekend of February at the K2 Centre, Gatwick, the pressure remains on to deliver. Amy’s target is the Para European

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he competition was held at the Complexe Sportif Claude Robilliard Stadium, in downtown Montreal and was one of the biggest to date with over 800 competitors from all over the world, competing over three days. To add to the long journey Amy and Pete had to make, it was one of the coldest on record, with temperatures below -30 degrees forecast for the weekend! There was times we did not dare go outside as warnings of the risk of severe frostbite were broadcast on the television, so we did a lot of preparation for the competition within the hotel and its gymnasium!

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my went through to the final against French Para fighter Laura Schiel. Amy was by the far the better Technicial fighter and was hitting Laura with every kick possible but it was a draw by the end of the first round. In the second and third rounds, Amy got frustrated at the fact that she was throwing far more kicks but they were not registering on the electronic body protectors and lost at least two points on deductions for kicking low and it took the final to score 4-1 in favour of the French girl whose defence was hard to get through. Coach Peter Johnson was disappointed as Amy clearly outclassed her opponent but nothing was scoring, so we need to go back and work

performance, beating Canadians Sean Hayes and Hans Mecking, to take the top podium spot. “I was pleased with my performance” said Peter “and the hard training had paid off this year with my recent win in Lille France, which had given me a boost and made me more confident on the mat”. It would have been great if Amy could have completed the set of gold’s, but I think sometimes we set the bar too high for ourselves and this adds more pressure. We got two top podium positions with a team of two, so that can’t be bad and we have learned a lot from this experience.

Championships later on in the year in Warsaw, Poland. We have lots to work to do still but, ultimately, it’s the worlds for Johnson in Peru this year and Japan 2020 for Truesdale .

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TAEKWONDO TODAY News

BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

with

Kick

BacktheBrits BT News and Events in the UK.

B

ritish Taekwondo’s International poomsae event boasted over 500 high standard poomsae players from all around the globe.

The competition was completed over the weekend of the 27 and the 28th February.

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poomsae seminar by the Poomsae coach Grand Master Ik Pil Kang will be held in Yorkshire. Quote Master Kambiz Ali “We are very proud to host the 2nd International Poomsae seminar with the legendary Grandmaster Ik Pil Kang 8th Dan in Harrogate, Great Britain”.

This seminar will be over 2 days on 28/29 May 2016.

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ristiana Corsi will be sorely missed in the Taekwondo world.

She sadly passed away recently and many Brits knew her from the competition circuit. Our heartfelt condolences go out to her family and close friends.

K

angchul Academy are having a 3 hour competition training session on Sunday 27th March open to all clubs In Rotherham 12.003.00pm

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eam GB Taekwondo National Academy

athlete Andrew Deer recently kept himself busy by coaching Horizon players at their recent one to one competition

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ost, Gipsy Hill Federation (GHF) Primary Schools would love to have some Taekwondo Taster sessions as part of ‘Keeping Healthy Week’.

The GHF is a Pan Federation of eight primary schools based in South London.

Pauline Headlam, Futures Adviser for the Gipsy Hill Federation said “Part of my role is to prepare young people for a ‘Life Without Limits’; to expose them to experiences they would not necessarily have.

“We at the GHF believe that children exposed to a world of possibilities will be able to make better educated, more informed and considered choices at school and throughout their future lives.” With this in mind, The GHF runs ‘Keeping Healthy Week’, at its schools over the following dates: 16 May 2016, 23 May 2016 and 13 June 2016.

During these dates, the schools would love Taekwondo to be integrated.Pauline is looking to organise

qualified Taekwondo Instructors to visit and deliver sessions across these 8 schools. As well as being part of a brilliant initiative, this offers a fantastic chance to grow your club membership, and relationship with the local community.

If you are interested in deliversing sessions, please contact Pauline at this email adress: pheadlam@ghf.london

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arly on at the beginning of the year Master Peter Johnson and Para athlete Amy Truesdale headed for Canada to compete in Kyorugi plus Peter in the Poomsae. Both came back successful and you can read about it inside the mag. Mind you it did sound a bit chilly out there!

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ritish Taekwondo has teamed up with new partners Sponsorise.Me, so if you have a project that you need funding for give them a check out to see if they can help get it up and running!

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emember that there are more Dan grading dates as it is more regionalised now for Black Belt promotion.

Check out the calendar on British Taekwondo’s website.

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n May there is a North west seminar with Bianca Walkden and the hosts are UTA’s Jeon-sa Taekwondo.

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he London Taekwondo Development Plan Research Project require a sports engagement strategist/officer to conduct research and analysis and develop a detailed report of the opportunities and areas to develop Taekwondo in London, opportunities to get more people doing Taekwondo more often and ideas to engage with the local community.

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port England’s flagship Sport Relief Events!

Sport England have teamed up with Sport Relief to create three amazing events across England. Participants can walk, run, swim or cycle to raise money for disadvantages people in the UK and abroad!

London, Norwich and Sheffield will see events open for people of all ages

PAGE 9 MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

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TAEKWONDO TODAY Article

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MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

Health and Fitness in the Martial Arts Book Review: by Steve Blomeley last month I received a new book titled “Health Jbyust and Fitness in the Martial Arts”. I was sent the book an old friend, Mike of Mona Books, to review it for

his bookstore. Mike deals with mainly martial art books, both old and new, and has a vast array of goods on offer. As the book’s inside sleeve states “Martial Arts have a variety of valuable uses and they can provide an interesting form of fitness training. The Martial Arts offer an often effective method of self defence and pragmatic philosophy. With the obvious title the book is not about the how to do techniques or a historical account of a particular art or art. It is a very good general approach to all the components that make up our health & fitness whilst practicing or the reasons why we should take it up in the first place. he book covers very nicely, without too much technical T jargon, basic nutrition for practioners, the way our bodies work and also delves into psychology and training

children. It covers respiration and the effects of exercise, our circulation, our muscles, skeleton and joints plus the nervous system and glands. Overall I think it is a very good book that can be aimed at, not only coaches and instructors but also more so for our younger teenagers and young adults who are just starting out on their Martial Journey. It is a great easy reference point for them to gain a much better understanding of the whys and whats without having to undertake a medical degree to comprehend. It is another nice add to my collection and vast library, many of which I have purchased from Mike!

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TAEKWONDO TODAY Fun & Entertainment Hey Kidz here’s one method of How to Tie your Belt!...

Click the image below to watch the Taegers performing their 4Direction punch & block basic pattern

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BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

Ki-dz Korner

dopted Brit Colvin Caldwell, who began his Taekwondo education here in Cheshire, Great Britain and left for the USA as a yellow tag, has carried on and achieved his Yellow Belt back home. His family were at the 2014 Grand Prix in Manchester and his favourite was Jade Jones. Good choice Cole. The club he began his training at here in the UK were informed within minutes of him being promoted. Well Done ....Colvin.

Keep on Ki-cking and wow you’ve grown since leaving England! It’s about time Dad did his now and Mum was an original Kicksister too.

The Taegers of Taekwondo C Steve Blomeley 2016 TM

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MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY

Ta

! a D

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BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

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TAEKWONDO TODAY News

Ki-Yong-Go!

What’s the score Referee?

BRITISH TAEKWONDO 2016 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS SEEDING SYSTEM INFORMATION As in 2015, the British Taekwondo National Championships shall be seeded using a league system in all Cadet, Junior and Senior Advanced groups. Players will build up league points in named qualifying events in the UK, in the year prior to each National Championships.

Each year shall always include the previous year’s National Championships (for example, in 2016, we shall include results from the 2015 Nationals) plus a number of UK Open Championships which shall be named at the earliest possible opportunity. This list of events may be added to during the year and announcements will be made by British Taekwondo should any events be added or removed.

Players shall gain league points in the weight group they are entered and points shall not be transferable to other groups. The points to be gained shall be as follows: (1) Groups with 2 or 3 players - the winner only to receive points (12 points).

(2) Groups with 4-7 players - Gold and Silver Medallists to receive points (12 & 8 points).

(3) Groups with 8-15 players - Gold, Silver and Bronze Medallists to receive points (12, 8 & 5 points).

(4) Groups with 16+ players - Gold, Silver and Bronze medallists plus losing quarter- finalists to receive points (12, 8, 5 & 3 points).

Please note the following: (a) Should a “points gaining” position at any qualifying event be taken by an overseas player, the British TKD members will not move up the ranking at the event – points will only be awarded for the actual finish position of the British TKD member. (b) Should a player find themselves being merged into another group, they will only gain points in the group they are merged into. (c) Players could feature in more than one league if they enter and finish in a ranking position in more than one weight group (for example if they enter one weight group at one event and another weight group at the next event).

For the National Championships, there will be a maximum of 4 seeded players in each group, dependent on the number of entries in the group, and these shall be taken by the top 3 players in each of the weight group leagues, with the 4th place seed position being awarded to any GB academy player entered into the event.

This applies to senior groups only, with cadets and juniors having the 4 seeded positions decided from the league standings. In the event of a tie between more than 1 player in any weight division, the seeding shall be decided using the following method: (1) Firstly, the player with the highest number of 1st places shall gain the higher seeding.

(2) Should there be a tie on the number of 1st places, then the player with the higher number of runner up placings shall gain the higher seeding.

(3) Should there be a tie on the number of 1st/2nd places then the player with the higher number of losing semi-final places (3rds) will gain the higher seeding.

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TAEKWONDO TODAY Advertisement

Ki-Yong-Go!

What’s the score Referee?

BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

Continued....

(4) In the event of a tie in 1st/2nd/3rd places, then the player with the higher number of losing quarter final places shall gain the higher seeding.

(5) If there is a tie on all ranking positions, then the player who beat the other in matches shall gain the higher seeding and should this also be tied, a count back on points shall be the deciding factor with the higher points difference being the deciding factor.

The leagues shall be published at the end of May, June, July & August and the final ranking/seeding positions shall be published one week prior to the National Championships.

Ranking Events for British TKD 2016 National Championships The following events shall be used as ranking events for the 2016 National Championships; 2015 British Taekwondo National Championships Ultimate Taekwondo Championships (Sunday 20th March 2016) Yorkshire Open Championships (Sunday 17th April 2016) Liverpool Open Championships (Sunday 24th April 2016) The Dome Open Championships (Sunday 19th June 2016) NTC Open Championships (Sunday 3rd July 2016) Scorpion Open Championships (Sunday 24th July 2016) 2016 Scottish Cup (August – Date to be confirmed) Seeding at the 2016 National Championships Seeding at the National Championships shall be based upon the number of entries in the group. They will be as follows: 2-4 players (2 seeds) 5-7 players (3 seeds) 8+ players (4 seeds) Seedings shall be awarded in order of ranking to the first 3 players from the league for that weight group. The 4th place seed position shall be taken by any entry from the GB academy (Seniors only). In the case that GB Academy does not make an entry in that weight group, then the 4th place position shall be awarded to the player ranked 4th in the league for the weight group. Please note that this 4th place seed position shall only be awarded should there be sufficient entries in the group to justify 4 seeds. Should GB Academy enter more than 1 player into a group, they will be awarded 5th, 6th 7th etc seeding position.

Should a seeded player not make weight at the National Championships, or be entered into another group, they shall lose their seeding.

Should a player move groups from the one entered at the National Championships, they will not qualify for any seeding, regardless of their ranking in the group they move to.

Taeger cuddly Referee toy from the Manchester Grand Prix 2015 some still available!

Brian Tilley British Taekwondo Games Chairman 20 JADE WALK, CHILTON, FERRYHILL, COUNTY DURHAM DL17 0QL TEL +44 (0)7900 605905 E-MAIL brian.tilley@britishtaekwondo.org

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TAEKWONDO TODAY Article

BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

Traditionally, beginning students practice our three step sparring methods, but is this method of training sadly neglected for more sport orientated methodology? or can we incorporate both and kill two birds with one stone! ow many of you can honestly H say you persevere with practicing the very basic system of

Three Step fixed sparring regularly with the viewpoint of what it was primarily designed for?

Is it something you brush over quickly or even ignore completely? What was it intended for and what is the psychology behind it? Many of the old traditionalists will tell you it is practiced to learn to apply the blocking techniques of Taekwondo and the very mention of the term blocking conjures up the image of stopping something coming towards you or trying to hit you. Is this the correct way to percieve the methodology and is it practical in the fast paced scenario of competition fighting? Why does it generally start from the attacking opponent with right leg back and in long stance? Hopefully many of these questions can be answered for the beginning student and they can begin to acquire and formulate some decent combative skills from them. Also with modern day thinking out of the box, there is a limitless source of potential systems or scenarios that the inspired coach/instructor could deliver! Taekwondo or any Martial Art for that fact was not primarily designed for winning medals, it was and still should be a source of practical self defence skills for the protection of oneself and ones family, as it was back in the day. The lesson being here, help your students develop a strong base or foundation to build upon and perhaps sometimes take a step back from where you are now and see where they want to be. raining in Taekwondo can be a paradox but there is also a system TThebuilt into it and one which many of the old masters adhered to. challenge for modern day is to find a method which could satisfy

the pure Martial side but also one that could enhance the sporting prowess of the student. Basically it all boils down to what are your primary reasons for training along with what your objectives are?

There are some great training programs out there today and with a little imagination you can easily adapt and develop the fundamental principles to reach your desired outcome as an instructor or for the student. Of course much depends on the level and ability of the student that your teaching/coaching but again that is partly the reason you became a teacher isn’t it? There are so many principles involved in acquiring the necessary skills and going back to the image of blocking that is conjured up, one should be really looking at how you receive the attack! This changes the concept entirely and it is one that I was brought up on that all blocks are in fact strikes! Strikes to where one may ask, but that is where the study comes in and the

development of the practice. Each component should complement the other in regards to training and that includes poomsae. Poomsae done correctly whether for competition or the pragmatic use of disabling techniques to incapacitate an attacker should teach you how to plant your stances correctly to be able to deliver efficient power which again can be transfered to the step sparring scenario. iming is key in anything you undertake and the delivery of effective Thowblocking tools is no different. Too many students don’t comprehend to remain within their own structure, which if effectively practiced

can reap dividends in free sparring. This can help with your movement patterns for competition sparring too, once the principle is understood.

Back in the old training systems students weren’t allowed to free spar until they had acquired a reasonable level of proficiency in the step sparring methods which helped them ascertain the many angles of attack that can come from an opponent. Modern day we tend to only see the very basic obverse punch to mid or high section being used yet there are so many more tools that an attacker may use. When practicing try to learn to cut the angles and receive the attacks more readily and easily, learn to flow with them and gradually increase the speed of delivery with an agreement from your partner or when the coach stipifies it as your level of proficiency increases. This method of training can also encompass many different levels of students at the same time if the coach has made a good lesson plan, knowing what students he has at that particular time.

MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY

PAGE 15

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TAEKWONDO TODAY Article

BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

In case you missed it last issue

MORE TAEKWONDO MORE PEOPLE MORE OFTEN In School!

T

aekwondo in Schools is continuing! Following on from the Grand Prix legacy where five Instructors were employed to go into Manchester Schools to deliver Taekwondo sessions, others are now following suit and looking into the prospect of offering our Martial Art as an alternative PE session. PE staff from various schools all raved about the sessions that they had for their children during the initial Phase. Now Marple Hall School has trialed it separately, after hearing about it and sourcing the local instructor, they have now added further sessions for their year 10s.

Marple Hall PE Staff with thumbs up for the Taekwondo in their School

It would boost the participation of children being actively involved in an activity keeping them fitter and healthier, plus it may end up boosting the Instructor’s own club membership.

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he Ki-dz at Marple Hall School have all been really engaged by the Taekwondo and the various things it has to offer, boosting their confidence and self-esteem. Inevitably with large class numbers there’s bound to be the odd one or two students of the school who are actually already Taekwondo students too, somewhere. This is great as they become a real asset during some of the sessions and take great pride in showing their class mates what they can do. The PE staff are also loving the fact that the nature and structural style of the training in Taekwondo helps to instill selfdiscipline within the children too.

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he basic idea they had was that the Taekwondo can offer an alternative for their GCSE grades to those children, who perhaps don’t take to the more traditional team sports that you get on the school curriculum. Fully qualified instructors within British Taekwondo can offer this service to the schools in their area and of course, it is hoped many of the students having a go at the art would then decide to join their local BT club. Generally the club they join, would be the one that the Instructor has who is delivering the sessions to the school, as it’s his or hers local area.

M

any of the schools could take advantage of the new initiative

by British Taekwondo at the moment (which is to register a brand new club for £1.00 and offer a discounted annual membership of £10.00 to their students). What this means is that if the local instructor has time to run an after school club, where he has already been delivering the PE sessions, then it would boost the schools objective of being able to offer more sports to the children.

nterestingly one staff member of the school commented on the fact that the ki-dz love the methodology and teaching style, as they do like to know what the boundaries are. The classes that have been conducted so far with various different class sizes, have all resulted in a very positive attitude and outlook from the students. They have shown their appreciation of the lessons by being polite and courteous and have been coming up to the coach to thank them, even though they are on a time schedule to get to their next lesson. A great credit to their school and community.

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MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

MORE TAEKWONDO MORE PEOPLE MORE OFTEN Funding How to Raise Money!£££

ith a few exceptions, most taekwondo clubs have to work to raise W money to support their activities. Whether you need a few hundred pounds for new club kit or many thousands of pounds for a major capital project, the same basic principles apply.

Fund-raising is time-consuming and requires commitment from a number of people. Although there is a vast range of possibilities, the most important skill is selecting an appropriate and realistic funding method for the project that matches the available workforce and expertise. Think about: • • • • • • • •

the size of your club the range of people who are members and supporters the need for a fund-raising coordinator or coordinating group your club’s location and catchment area your knowledge of grant-making bodies/organisations the amount of money you need to raise the type of project for which you need funds the expertise, resources and time available.

Grant Applications and Loans Each grant-making organisation will have its own reasons for awarding grants and it is likely that these will be closely linked to the aims and objectives of that organisation. You may be wasting your time if your purposes do not fit with those of the organisation and you should build up your information base so that you can match the purpose of your project with the purpose (or aims and objectives) of a grant-making body.

Each application will differ. Some organisations provide a standard application form for completion. At first sight, many of the application forms may appear to be complicated and detailed. However most grantmaking organisations, County Sports Partnership staff and local authority sports development teams are happy to help you to complete the forms and will advise you at an early stage about the suitability of your project and your chances of success.

Sponsorship Sports sponsorship has become a big business over the last few years.

Sponsorship is a business deal between two parties, where both parties benefit from the arrangement. Your club does not have to ask for a financial donation - sometimes skills are what you need. Consider trading the company name on your team kit for some marketing advice, a new website and a membership database system.

Companies sponsor sport for a number of reasons:

• Publicity - promoting the company name • Corporate image - matching a company reputation or image • Public relations/community involvement - investing in the future and welfare of the people it serves • Direct marketing - using sponsored events as a sales outlet • Endorsement - providing free goods to a successful club or individual • Educational sponsorship - influencing your members and their parents to build long-term affinity with the company. Banks are good examples of this type of sponsorship • Client/corporate hospitality - showing the sponsor as a global player • Target marketing - direct access to a specific group of committed potential customers in order to sell a product or service • Community development - looking to extend their company influence into local communities

Fund-raising Events You are only limited by your own imagination with this one. From silent auctions to quiz nights, kicking competitions to sponsored car washes.

Ask your members for ideas on how they would like to raise money - you’ll be surprised with what they come up with! Check out the Club Matters website for ideas on how to raise money.

Income from Membership Raising additional funds from your membership is an easy, but often controversial method. Here are some suggestions: • Raising membership fees • Putting a small levy on match fees • Asking members to make donations • Introducing social membership • Increasing the size of the social membership

Crowd-Funding Crowd Funding is a way of funding a project by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet and giving back something to every investor in return.

Your club may want to raise funds to send a student to an overseas competition in return for individual investments you may offer each investor an incentive based on their contribution: • A signed postcard for donations up to £5.00 • A free club training session for donations £5.01-£20.00 • A signed club t-shirt for donations £20.01-£50.00 • An opportunity to train with the student and have photo taken for donations £50.01-£100

For more information and ideas on raising money for your club, check out the funding pages on British Taekwondo’s website.

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MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

Educational

THE C

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TAEKWONDO TODAY Article

OACHES ORNER!

LEVEL 2 COACHING COURSE

Can Taekwondo be completely Risk-Free?

Totally safe or risk-free situations do not occur in Taekwondo because it involves practical activities involving movement, often at speed and in confined areas shared with others. The risk continuum identifies the acceptable range of risk within which instructors and coaches make decisions every day. Occasionally, we have seen serious injuries where the level of risk involved has gone beyond this acceptable range, reaching much higher levels of risk or danger. This is when harm is likely to occur. These high-risk situations usually arise when the level of forethought, anticipation or planning has been inadequate.

On the Level 2 Certificate in Coaching Taekwondo Award course, we discuss how Taekwondo involves providing students with challenges within acceptable levels of risk. Individual instructors and coaches, through policy and practice, decide to set and accept varying levels of risk according to the circumstances of particular teaching situations. It is good practice to regularly review the risk assessments processes and discuss injury situations or near misses and discuss current practice in relation to accidents, incidents or emerging patterns of cause of injury. Developing a habit of considering risk management in a structured way helps to address safety issues thoroughly and to a suitable and sufficient standard. This is often described as reasonable forethought.

Factors Influencing The Level of Risk FACTOR 1. Issues relating to the people involved in the session - Instructors, Coaches and other adults: • Have a duty of care for those they are working with (i.e. a responsibility for their safety) • Have 3 basic legal duties • To know and to follow policy and guidelines for health and safety • To pass on information regarding any health and safety concerns to their line manager • To do whatever is within their power to prevent further harm arising from the reported concern • Need particular competences to be responsible for groups: • Expertise (qualifications, experience, competence) across the range of activities they teach in terms of technical knowledge about the activities, progressive practices, safety and knowledge of rules in order to officiate stringently • Observation and analysis skills in order to identify anything that is potentially unsafe and respond to it • Class management/organisation/control in order to immediately stop an activity if it is deemed to be potentially hazardous • Need to have sufficient knowledge of the students’ medical and individual needs.

Students should: • Be involved in their own safety • Develop competence in movement, techniques, skills, tactics and choreography • Be confident in their movement activities • Behave appropriately so as not to create risk situations • Be appropriately supervised as they undertake assistant instructor roles or progress towards more independent activities.

FACTOR 2. Issues relating to the context in which the activity takes place - Facilities should: • Provide hazard-free surfaces • Be of a sufficient size to meet the demands of the Taekwondo class • Be regularly maintained • Be used appropriately Equipment should be: • Of an appropriate size to suit the age and ability of the student • Regularly maintained • Inspected annually

• Regularly checked for wear and tear • Checked before use • Stored safely • Disposed of effectively when condemned • Used for the purpose it was designed Procedures need to address: • Safe practice • Risk assessment • Regular and approved practice • Accidents and emergencies • Portfolios of records such as medical, individual needs, assessment and attendance • The process of informing pupils and parents of essentials organisation issues FACTOR 3: Issues relating to the organisation of the activity - Preparation involves: • Detailed and differentiated session plans • A clear lesson structure • Adequate warm-up based on safe exercise principles • A knowledge of students, including their performance potential Teaching, class management and organisation should ensure that: • Tasks match student capability • Methodology is appropriate to the risk issues within the activity • Progressive practices enable improvement to occur • Students are involved in the learning of these progressive practices • Students are matched according to size, experience, ability and confidence • Regular and approved practice is followed.

Taekwondo is an exciting activity, sport and art to teach and experience. There is an increasing amount of hard evidence of the benefits of participation in these areas. The slight possibility of someone getting hurt, or the rare instance of an allegation that the instructor has not matched expected professional standards, should not deter anyone from teaching or participating in the context of appropriate challenge and acceptable risk. Responsible adults should remember that addressing what is deemed to be good practice is the positive outcome.

For more information about the Level 2 Certificate in Coaching Taekwondo Award course, check out the Coaching Pages of www.britishtaekwondo.org

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email: steveblomeley@gmail.com

MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

BRITISH POOMSAE International COMPETITION

he championships were the most successful and biggest ever produced in the UK for Poomsae.

520 athletes with 18 participating countries, from as far as Australia, Korea and Russia. There were 78 clubs including 277 dan grades and 244 Kup grades with almost a 50:50 female to male ratio. Also 12 Para Athletes, the biggest entry of Para, entertained and commanded the upmost respect by all. Our Para advisers, Ian Murphy and Sue Fairhurst, gave up their time to have a meeting with Poomsae chairman Derek Sumner as well as the Para athletes coaches and parents. They also gave one to one meetings to give advice and help with classification .

Ki .

S

ome of the best Judges in the world were brought over by our Judging Coordinator GM Shin. For the first time ever in Europe we had live streaming, where the world could watch and listen to our Championships.

Commentating were Mark Yell , Mathi Ghupta ,Taylor Parkins ,Sydney Craven and Guntur Dweirmain giving an informative and a light-hearted view on the Poomsaes being performed, with a huge amount of appreciation around the world.

H

undreds of volunteers provided refreshments,transportation, and hall preparation and thanks go to Livingwell Taekwondo , Yong Gi TKD, the British National Squad, including reestyle was the biggest entry friends and family. The Poomsae s e c t i o n committee and inspired had worked on everyone. Also “The Championships were this event for an impromptu months, the most successful and many demonstration day and night, freestyle biggest ever produced in along with the by Peewee Technical Team the UK for Poomsae�.

Nino from from Northern the IOM had Ireland, Master the audience Glen Culburt, thrilled .

Master Thomas Needham. and Youngest player competing was Thomas McGuiness who worked Leo Aayemang of Nomad TKD, and closely with the Poomsae Committee the oldest was Master Graham in UK. Jones aged 75 from Bluewave Tkd. eda Yell was present, representing Seventy Eight World and European British Taekwondo and observed Champions were performing and the perfect opportunity for our GB Players the full-on 12 hour day of top quality to start their years selection process . Poomsae. Thank you to Ki martial Arts Germany took the top Honours with for their support, Cruisers Coaches, France and Holland close in contention Oakwood school (mini buses) and , GB entered as clubs with Livingwell Driscolls landscaping. once again leading the best Poomsae club in GB closely followed by Premier

F

I

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TAEKWONDO TODAY Article

FEBRUARY 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY

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BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

TAEGEUK 1

TAEGEUK 2

TAEGEUK 3

kORYO

kEUMGANG

TAEBAEK

PYONGWON

TAEGEUK 4

TAEGEUK 5

SIPJIN

JITAE

HANSOO

CHEONKWON

TAEGEUK 6

TAEGEUK 7

TAEGEUK 8 ILYO

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MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

t e e t e r a arg

M T

he lady who is creating our policies and action plans are to ensure our

opportunities for everyone to working, and if they are not working organis ation well we need to ask ourselves “why?” lives up to participate and do something to put it right.

“One of the responsibilities I have at British Taekwondo is to ensure that we promote equality across all areas of our work” said Margaret Nolan, Development Director. The most popular question I am asked is: “does my gender, religion or race really matter?” And the answer should be “No, it shouldn’t affect your involvement in Taekwondo whatsoever. However unless we collect information and check our own practices, how will we know if our offers are fair?”

M

argaret goes on to give us an example. We wouldn’t dream of planning an event for 25th December. However can we honestly say that we give consideration to other important religious days and festivals during the planning stages?

An event taking place during or just after a fasting period will affect a student’s ability to perform but what dates do we need to recognise?

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e are very privileged that our Taekwondo community is diverse. We can see that at competitions and events and we want to offer opportunities to take part in as many events as possible.

The challenge is that we don’t have any of this information on which to base our decisions - so we end up doing the same thing we did last year, and the year before because that’s the way it has always been.

S

o how do we change it? First we start by collecting feedback from you, our members. We then use the information to monitor what we do, what we offer and who is affected. The purpose of monitoring is to enable us to examine how

O

ver the next few months, you will see changes to our membership forms and we respectfully ask members, parents, instructors and coaches to complete the information as fully as you can. The more accurate information we have, the better we can serve your needs.

We are committed to promoting opportunities in Para Taekwondo.

However we don’t actually know how many members could take part in these events, because we don’t have the data. So how do we promote opportunities to our membership if we don’t know who we need to be telling? Oh yes, we tell instructors and coaches, and some are great at passing information on to members, others aren’t and people could be missing out on life-changing opportunities.

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e asked Margaret some very specific questions about this area of work:

Q.

Why is monitoring?

British

Taekwondo

A. British Taekwondo wants to celebrate the diversity of the membership and ensure that we are providing equality opportunities across different groups. We can only do this if we monitor who the membership is.

Q. Is monitoring an invasion of my privacy?

A. It may be perceived this way, but monitoring is always confidential and member details will not be made available to unauthorised people. Such data will only be used

its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy.

Q.

Why

bother?

N o t h i n g c h a n g e s anyway?

A. We need to ensure equality is a reality and any failings in the past must not prevent us from striving to get it right. Effective monitoring helps us make sure that as many members as possible benefit from the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy.

Q.

What difference does it make?

If you practise equality, it shouldn’t matter what I am?

Q.

When will British Taekwondo have some baseline data available?

A. It will take us at least 1 year to gather some baseline data from our membership, because we have a rolling membership system. We can then assess whether we are providing a fair and equitable service.

Q. What happens if members decide not to complete the form?

A. It shouldn’t and that is what we are working to overcome. We all have a heritage and different personal circumstances that affect how they perceive the works around us and how it perceives us. These perceptions, real of otherwise, can become barriers to us. Monitoring is the best way of removing these barriers.

A. The information provided by our members will help us provide better support, products and services at the right time, in the right place.

Without the information, progress will be slower and we may lose members because they do not feel that our clubs or British Taekwondo value their individuality.

Q. When and how will information

M

be collected from the membership?

A. The new membership form will include collecting equality information. The new forms will be available on the website and distributed to all Instructors to pass on to their members when their membership is due for renewal.

The forms will be returned to our Membership Services Team for inputting.

argaret’s final comment was “Our actions can only be as good as the information you give us. All we ask is that you help us to influence a change for the future.”

A copy of the Equality Policy is available from the downloads pages from British Taekwondo Website.

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TAEKWONDO TODAY Article

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MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

Team of 18 head to Germany to compete in Europe and bring home some silverware!

Quest for medals in the Rhineland

T

he 21st Children’s International Taekwondo Championships was held at the Glaspalast Sindelfingen Germany on the weekend of 6th and 7th February. The competition is hosted by former British Taekwondo President, Grand Master Park Soo Nam 9th Dan, and many athletes have launched their international careers at this event.The event includes WTF sparring, Poomsae and a family event. Held under the auspices of the Children’s Taekwondo Union a number of Gold medallists get selected to go to an international competition this year to be held in China/Korea.

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he organisers had listened to feedback from coaches and used PSS and the standard 12-point gap rule rather than the lower option that had been used in previous years to prevent young children being put off if facing a strong opponent. Quest Taekwondo had a team of 18 players aged between 6 and 13 years A and B class. The team took 3rd place which was a great achievement with so many countries and teams attending.

(Quest were the only non-German team on the podium). Liam Burdock and Caden Cunningham were selected for the all expense paid trip to Korea/China after winning Gold medals in impressive style.

Army Martial Arts Grading

F

ebruary saw the WTF Army Martial Arts Association have a week of training and grading at the Aldershot Garrison Sports Centre. The students had an amazing week, practicing with other Army recruits and RAF personnel from Cyprus who had come over especially. They have all new targets and goals to achieve and none other than Miss Lucy Farmer who took it up for fun and fitness who has now achieved her 1st Dan Black Belt. A big congratulations from British Taekwondo to those who were promoted at the designated grading exam. Masters Phil James, Mark Hayward and Gary Sykes were in attendance to help teach, guide and examine.

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ne young recruit commented “Never been prouder! Firstly to achieve my 1st degree black belt in WTF TAEKWONDO but more importantly to stand besides 3 of my students while they graded for their black belts!

Thank you for the expert tuition from the Army taekwondo team and predator taekwondo. To stand next to friends old and new and grade was amazing. Master Mark Hayward “your instruction is world class and you have improved my tkd 10 Fold”. Most impressive was the performance of Miss Lucy Farmer who took up martial arts for fun and fitness and now has achieved her 1st Dan! Congratulations to all that passed their grading today

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!

MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY

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BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

No Payne A Club Growth No Gain Journal 2...

By Phill Payne

M

y name is Phill Payne and I am a British Taekwondo coach/ instructor. I currently run two full-time martial arts centres while doing a little coach mentoring for West Yorkshire Sport and finishing off my Sports Coaching Masters degree.

“Print media are dead, long live online marketing”

a great response from leaflet drops, advertising in local community magazines, adverts in the Yellow Pages and local newspapers too. Every now and again I retry these marketing methods and each time the return on investment gets worse.

Recently I even tested advertising as part of a voucher pack delivered by Royal Mail to 35,000 local homes. Although our leaflets were sent out along side some big name brands (such as a popular southern fried chicken company) the response rate was still poor.

hile I will concede that print media are not totally dead in the water, it has seen a steep decline over the last few years. When advertising our Taekwondo classes in the past, we have had

he marketing of your martial arts club will cost you either time or money or both. There is only one sin greater than wasting resources on bad marketing and that is continuing to waste

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hile writing my personal top five marketing methods, I did feel a little squeamish. I have read many marketing/ business books, attended workshops/courses, invested £1000s testing different m a r k e t i n g methods and spent hundreds of hours thinking about how to get our service in front of our target audience and now I am giving this information to everyone free of charge.

Here are my personal top 5 marketing methods.

“The marketing of your martial arts club will cost you either time or money or both!”

T

W

T

here is a marketing saying that suggests, that you should forget about trying to find the one method to bring in one thousand customers and focus on a thousand methods of obtaining one customer. While I agree with the approach of using multiple methods to get new customers through the door, not many Taekwondo clubs have a team of people to plan and implement their marketing activity. If you can muster ten to twenty different methods for your marketing campaigns, you are doing much more than your competition.

valuable resources on bad marketing. Please, please, please remember to ask people where they heard about your club when they enquire. If you don’t do this, you have no idea of which marketing is working and which isn’t.

When we opened our Leeds venue in 2014, I placed a test advertisement in one of the local community magazines.

We only received one or two leads from a half page advert going out to 30,000 households. After the poor response, I rang around 3 other businesses advertising in the same magazine to see what their response rate was like. I was surprised to find that two didn’t track where the leads came from and the other one didn’t even answer the phone! Replicating either of these mistakes can be costly.

1.

Internal referrals 2.

Organic search

engine traffic 3.

External signage 4.

Leaflets through schools 5.

Paid online advertising

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hile non or these methods are new, it is in the delivery of these methods where new students/customers are won and lost. In the next article I will go in to a little more details on the use of these methods. For more club development and coaching articles, follow @martialartscoach on twitter.

Editor’s note: One major driving force behind the “British Taekwondo Today” magazine is that it is a specific product aimed at getting our service in front of and to a specific target audience, i.e the Membership, who we want to forward it on FREE to their friends, families, colleagues and even fellow practitioners of a Martial Art. We are encouraging our clubs to advertise inside the magazine to help sustain it and to provide a source where their product or service is noted by potential new or even old existing students.

It is commonplace in the advertising world that customers after seeing an advertisement a few times, then begin acting upon it. Don’t think short -term, think long-term, to hopefully reap the rewards by getting new students into your dojang.

British

TAEKWONDO TODAY CLUBS AND ASSOCIATIONS British Taekwondo Club Members Page

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MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

Plenty of talent on show at the horizon 1-2-one Early February and Bradford Bound Players leaped into action at the Richard Dunn Sports Centre..... “ Host Rick Simpson has been putting on regular competitions in the Bradford area for quite some time and quickly following the Barnsley 1-2-1, his group Horizon hosted another competition for players to gain experience at on Sunday February the 21st.

Horizon had former GB athlete Andrew Deer coaching for them.

Other clubs there were:

ALL STARS, NTC, BSB, CHI, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, CUMBRIA, EAST LANCS, EMPIRE, K.T.A, HORIZON, IL DAN, JAKEUN BAL TKD, JEON-SA, K.B.B.A, KINGS, KANG HAN, The Yorkshire 1 on 1 match time KORYO, LION, LIVERPOOL, LLANTWIT event is aimed at grass roots level MAJOR, OLYMPIC TKD CLUB BONN, competition sparring and gives first PREMIER, QUEST, SCORPION, SPEAR, timers the opportunity to have a SWAT, TKD ACADEMY LIVERPOOL, sparring match against a similarly TEAM TKD, TEAM ULTIMATE, WLM, skilled opponent. It also provides WTA ALL STARS, WALTERS FAMILY the more experienced competitors SCHOOL TKD, TAEKWONDO TIGERS to get some match time ahead of important competitions coming up, There were some great matches for such as the Ultimate Championships the spectators to view and plenty of in Barnsley or Yorkshire Open back up-and-coming prospects to watch here in Bradford. There were 297 out for, displaying their talents on the competitors from 32 clubs. The mat. There was even a visitor from event had 4 sparring courts.Each Germany competing at the event. competitor was awarded with a The tournament scene finished off medal and participation certificate. February’s leap year with two major The largest team was fielded by competitions on the 27th and 28th hosts Horizon Taekwondo Academy as we move on to more in March.

You can read the other reports inside with 48 competitors “British Taekwondo Today”!

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MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY

email: steveblomeley@gmail.com

BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

British University Championship 2016

By Tom Mulroney - Vice Captain Birmingham University Ki Taekwondo Club

O

n the, 28th and 29th February, University Taekwondo clubs from across the UK travelled to the University of Worcester Arena to participate in the British Student Taekwondo Championships 2016. This was the 30th Anniversary of this competition.

Registration and weigh-in for WTF events opened at 11:00 after ITF events had been earlier on the Saturday. As the weighingin progressed a typical sight emerged as competitors were observed skipping and jogging in an attempt to rapidly drop into their preregistered weight categories.

Once the kukki patterns events began spectators gathered around the three matted areas designated for beginner, intermediate, and advanced poomsae demonstrations. In each division competitors were required to perform a predetermined pattern to qualify for further consideration and were permitted to perform a pattern of their choice if successful, typically three times over in elimination rounds. Judges would have had a hard time distinguishing between some very sharp poomsae especially in the advanced classification.

I

t was an early start for clubs that did not have accommodation in the Midlands on Sunday morning, as the WTF rules sparring was scheduled to begin at 9:00am. After meetings with Club Captains, Coaches, and Officials for the day ahead, draw sheets were displayed and competitors crowded to find their fight numbers for the day. The warmup area was immediately populated and the

typical display of skills started with gusto as fighters sized up their opponents and began their preparations for the ring. Despite a large number of participants, it is quite common to meet the same opponents in this studentonly competition. Certain rivalries between clubs were well-remembered from the Imperial College Open Kyorugi Tournament last November, another WTF style competition attended by students nationwide vying for

their friends compete in the ring and this competition was no different. Screams of “Headshot!” and “Come on, Ref!” were the usual ringside comments. This comes from a passion that we have for taekwondo that is well-demonstrated in these competitions and is hard to find in other martial arts.

A

fter some excellent fighting, including some KOs, the attention of the crowd was directed to the centre ring as the finals of the advanced class began. This year’s BSTF National Championships was a qualifying tournament for selection into the Universities European Games, available for Finalists in the advanced class, which made the atmosphere even more intense than usual. What followed was some truly inspiring taekwondo with some very close matches between athletes, some of whom are taekwondo national champions from their respective nations overseas. Observed in most photograph courtesy of Gege Hu finals was Excellent footwork was observed in most finals and there was the kudos of being University champions. some very fast kicking that was scored by tiring but enjoyable day ensued as electronic PSS and judges’ decision. fighters gave their all for a medal in the largest student competition in the he medals were awarded after competitors UK. As usual, competitors were divided by and spectators helped to take away the weight and ability pitted against each other ring mats in an expeditious competition according to WTF rules. Single elimination clear-up. Some sporting rounds of cheering fights consisted of two rounds of two minutes accompanied the winners as they limped each, separated by a thirty-second break with forward to accept their medals and pose for registered coaches. All fights were recorded a photo, after which Cardiff University were and rings 2 and 3 were made available announced the overall winners of the BSTF online for the enjoyment of those who were National Championships 2016. unable to attend on the day. It is common that fights at these student competitions are loudly attended by club members watching

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email: steveblomeley@gmail.com

BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

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MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY

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MT

International Events

MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY

email: steveblomeley@gmail.com

BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

British Events

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

6th March Dome 1 to 1 in Doncaster.

Sunday 6th March BT Tech Seminar, Nottingham Trent University 12-13 Mar 2016 Dutch Open Eindhoven Netherlands 10-11th March Pan Am Olympic Qualifying Event in Mexico 19th/20th BT March Dan Grade Promotion Venue TBC London/South region 19-20th March Belgian Open in Lommel 20th March Ultimate Open in Barnsley 28th March Chungdokwan GB Open in Bracknell 7-10th April ETU President’s Cup in Bonn, Germany April 15-17 Alicante, Spain

Spanish Open 2016 17th April Yorkshire Open in Bradford April 20-21 Manila, Philippines Asian Qualification Tournament for Rio 2016 Olympic Games 4th Asian Taekwondo Poomsae Championships G-4 2nd Asian Para-Taekwondo Championships 23-24th April Liverpool Open April 22-24 Hamburg, Germany German Open 2016 April 23-24 Manila, Philippines 22nd Asian Taekwondo Championships (Kyorugi) G-4 30th April/1st May BT Dan Grade Promotion Nottingham Trent Univesity

Sunday 8th May BT Technical Seminar Speenymoor Leisure Centre 11th/12th June BT Dan Grade Promotion, Spennymoor Leisure Centre

Welcome to

No, not the destination of this Summer’s Olympic games but cheeky ‘Rio the Taeger Cub’, designed and created by Steve Blomeley to help delight, entertain, inspire and educate the fun-loving people of Taekwondo. Of course, he will be cheering on the Olympic athletes during their trials and tribulations in the party capital of Brazil.

With Mahama Cho securing a fourth Olympic Qualifying slot for Great Britain’s athletes, he will have plenty of home interest too to get excited about. Go Go Go GB! Let’s hope that, with a bit of Taegerific luck, we will achieve the desired outcome and everyone will be a Winner!

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MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

Kangchul hosts two seminars in quick succession in Rotherham

Raising the roof in Rotherham

S

aturday the 6th February saw Master Derek Sumner conducting a Poomsae seminar hosted at Kangchul Black Belt Academy in Rotherham by Master Scott Coullie. The seminar ran really well and was very informative and useful to all, covering up to date Poomsae requirements. Giving a better understanding of what is expected.

Master Scott Coullie thanks Master Derek Sumner for doing the seminar and the clubs that supported it.

S

aturday 30th January saw GB team coach Stephen Jennings running a seminar at Kangchul Black Belt Academy hosted by Master Scott Coullie. The seminar was very well supported and was a huge success, not over crowded giving a better quality of training. The seminar focused on up to date training ideas and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you, Stephen Jennings.

New CEO Appointed by BT

F

ebruary has ended and at the beginning of March British Taekwondo’s newly appointed CEO takes the reins to help steer us to better governance, more funding and greater participation of the Martial Art and Olympic Sport. Mark was the CEO of the Amateur Boxing Association of England and Executive Director of GB Boxing from 2011 to 2015 and has previously held senior executive positions within Olympic National Federations, London 2012, international sport event planning and the commercial sport and leisure sector. Mark’s career in sport management spans over 20 years and he is also currently completing a Master’s Programme in Sports Management.

As we all saw at the Excel Arena in London 2012 GB boxers delivered medals just as our Taekwondo did. It was the first time that Women competed in the Olympics for Boxing, and just as our own Jade Jones gave a memorable performance, so did her counterpart in the ring for the Ladies Boxing delivering another Gold Medal for Team GB.

J

ust as the new CEO comes to the helm, British Taekwondo has also gone into partnership with Sponsorise.me to help boost all our efforts in securing more funding and participation. Since their launch in 2013, Sponsorise.Me has grown into a global company with offices in London, Miami and Paris and have helped over 700 clubs, athletes and organisations from across the world find funding for sports projects.On the platform, teams and athletes can raise funds from their fans, friends family and local community for transportation equipment, and competition fees, amongst other projects.

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MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

ith the culmination of the British International Poomsae Championships W being completed on the last weekend of February, this may be a good opportunity to explore two very different outlooks on how to perform them.

Neither is wrong and both have their place in Taekwondo. It all depends on what the practitioners objective is! whether it’s to gain maximum points for technical performance or whether to understand some of the combative applications that can be, or are contained within them. Poomsae is a Mnemonic, a memory aid, or in other words tells you a story. How you interpret that story can give you an even greater depth of understanding as you perform them. t is our hope, to be able to bring to you in future issues, some practical Iexplanations, tips from Poomsae competition coaches and the alternative combative from Masters who study this side of the art. The subject can

be so diverse and many students will have differences of opinion about them, but this is all good and healthy. We hope these explanations will inspire, educate and enlighten, plus open up a whole new outlook for you the practitioner. One that may get you to look deeper at both sides of the coin, improving your performance of the patterns, whether it be for gaining medals, passing gradings or just incorporating good, sound, common sense martial applications from the moves. hy was Poomsae created in the first place? As we said it is a W Mnemonic, a story that you the practitioner can take away with you and be able to practice your Taekwondo, whilst away from your Master/

Coach/Instructor. It was a method to help you retain the techniques and combatives necessary for successful self defence, should the need arise. Ask yourselves questions or seek out someone, who you may be able to glean helpful information from. It all helps and through practice, a student can take the bits that he needs or likes to add to his arsenal. Proper study of Poomsae can help you obtain the correct body mechanics and structure to be able to deliver power, plus focus correctly. Attending Poomsae seminars with the likes of Grand Master Shin or other competition coaches, can help you greatly.

any students don’t like practicing the patterns, as they prefer M just to spar for the competitive arena. They can tend to skim over them for the sake of being promoted to the next grade. If you look deeper

and question, why are my hands in certain positions at the start and end of the pattern, you may find that you begin to enjoy doing them more, as you discover a new found meaning or concept. I like to have at least three interpretations for particular moves, also to field test them, to see if those concepts can be applied. An example could be the opening move of Taegeuk Oh Jang. The Poomsae competition Coach will of course want you to perform it with as much perfect form as possible, making sure you are in the perfect long stance, as you execute the low block and pull back to execute the correct circular movement to engage the hammer fist. Whereas the combative performer will question what is actually happening and how do you make it effective. Is it at the correct distance, timing and target?, or am I way out? if I take the general thought process, “that is is a low block defending a kick towards you”, then if you study and think about it, you will find that your hammer fist is way off target and too far away for it to be practical! Is there another possibility? Yes, there is! and one that applies the rules of combat, to deal with assailants being up close and personal. Try to picture your right wrist being grabbed (which in the period when a lot of these techniques were created would be your weapon hand) How can you utilise the low block,to ensure you release yourself from, perhaps a very strong grip, and from someone who has the complete intention of stopping you from drawing that weapon?...

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MARCH 2016 YEAR OF THE MONKEY BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

tAEGERS COLOUR ME IN SHEET The Taegers of Taekwondo

C Steve Blomeley 2016 TM O PRINT OFF AND COLOUR ME IN Ki-DZ

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BRITISH TAEKWONDO TODAY

by Master S.H. Blomeley email: steveblomeley@gmail.com Tel: 0161 456 1976

g n i g a an

M The Little

monstErs! Behavioural Management in your little Monstars, Kickstars or Tiny Taegers Childrens Class

By Mark Hayward

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s an instructor, teaching kids can fill you with dread.

Somebody once described it to me as trying to keep all your maggots on one plate! These hyper-active, easily distracted, un-coordinated bundles of joy can really challenge us. So I have devised a checklist for keeping children engaged and focused.

The message. It’s a proven fact that children hear the message if 5non-verbal they like the messenger. If you are giving off subtle but obvious communication cues, don’t be surprised if they are picked

up by your younger students. Adopting the ‘friendly but not friends’ approach will set firm, understandable boundaries. Try smiling and being open: not all Taekwondo instructors need to have the thousand yard stare.

Don’t let the devil make work for idle little hands. A consistent Use humour. The use of humour allows people to understand that 1minds. routine for coming to class is vital to occupy little mischievous 6 you are approachable and open. Remember though there is a fine Have a job or two prepared, so that behaviour and motivation line between fun and ridicule, particularly with kids. can be managed as soon they enter the room. E.g pairing up the paddles or wombling (picking up any bits of rubbish) reward this positive behaviour with a special spot in the line for most helpful student etc.

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Use older children to assist you. Tomorrow’s instructors are today’s students. Incentivise senior graded children to set good examples by encouraging children to line up, kick pads for warm up etc. There participation in junior instructor duties can be rewarded at gradings with special mentions.

and sanctions Display rules clearly around the dojang.

7to Rules Involve kids in a ‘behaviour in the dojang’ contract. Allow them set the sanctions. If sanctions are required ask them ‘what do

you think should happen’? This allows you to remove any personal vendetta that might formulate in a disgruntled mind.

Make it fun. Kids like it when it’s fun! Having just the right 8 amount of fun doesn’t invariably cause problems! Your job is to plan just the right amount of fun!

Catch them doing good. I have yet to meet a child who 3 deliberately wants to sabotage your session. Remember, this is 9 times out of 10 a voluntary participation or a place they choose to

be. But as a developing personality in their own right, the way they show they like and trust you can leave a little to be desired. Standing too close, constantly asking nonsense questions and generally not doing as they have been asked can be a pain. Instead of calling out the child who is doing it wrong, try drawing everyone’s attention to the kid who is doing it right (or at least giving it their best shot).

Children thrive on positive engagement and you are rewarding the behaviour and effort you want rather than chastising the behaviour you don’t.

Choices. Allow even your youngest children to make choices. Not 4 necessarily decisions. When giving out instructions always have two options available. E.g would you like to do this first or that? This

encourages kids to own the choice and gives you a chance to engage when either choices are no longer being followed. Suggest to the child that this is what they wanted to do, so why are you no longer doing it? Remember that questioning a child with open questions can lead to a win-win for instructor and student, arriving at the conclusion of the child’s choice rather than barking a load of stuff at them that you both already know! Holding back can also allow that ‘silly’ behaviour to disappear as quickly as it arrived.

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