Well done to all our members who attended the England ITF Grandmaster seminar hosted by the T-UK in Stratford Upon Avon, great support and enthusiasm from the club as always.
The seminar was led by Grandmasters Ellis and Nardizzi. The seminar was broken down in to two halves coloured belts followed by a black belt only seminar. Each seminar consisted of a technical deep dive into all aspects of TKD.
When it comes to personal safety, the difference between vulnerability and security often lies in your ability to recognise threats early and respond effectively. By combining strategic frameworks like the OODA Loop, Cooper’s Colour Code, and Concentric Rings of Disturbance, you can cultivate a dynamic and layered approach to self-defence.
The use of martial arts as a means of physical fitness is popular but more importantly as an effective form of self-defence. Among the myriad styles available, International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) Taekwon Do stands out for its comprehensive approach to self-defence, rooted in its historical significance and practical applications. This blog explores the effectiveness of ITF Taekwon Do, particularly highlighting its use during the Korean War, its adoption by specialist police squads in South Korea, and the personal growth benefits it offers to practitioners.
I see many posts on social media in my area asking where to go for self-defence training. From this you get a lot of people giving their opinion and what is often suggested is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) . However I feel that this advice respectfully is coming from people with little or no expertise or experience of physical altercations and violence!!
BJJ and Judo are both highly respected combative sports that emphasise grappling and ground techniques. While they are excellent for sport, competition and fitness, there are several reasons why they are not effective systems for self-defence in real-world scenarios.
Elsa Klegg from our Warwick club has recently been selected for a place at the FA Emerging Talent Centre for football, on top of playing for both Coventry City Girls and her school team. She will take a 6 month sabbatical from TKD to concentrate on her football.
This is no surprise as since Elsa joined the club 3 years ago has developed in to a very mature young lady who hasn’t always found Taekwon Do easy but has become a role model for other junior members.
2023 saw a very successful year for our clubs, new promotions to black belt, exceptional A pass results from each of the coloured belt area gradings, multiple world champions from the T-UK British Championships.
This made choosing the adult and junior students of the year very difficult.
In the end the Instructor team landed on the most deserving members. The criteria for the award is predicated on attendance, effort, attitude, overcoming challenges, taking on instruction and applying it, being a role model.
Due to illness pre and post Christmas our student of the year awards were delayed.
However I’m pleased to be able to announce the successful recipients:
I am please to be able to formally announce the appointment of Eva Neale, 2nd degree black belt, as the newest member of the Assistant Instructor team at WLTKD.
Eva will join the existing excellent team line up as part of the junior member development team working along side established and very experienced instructors Molly and Jack Rowe to strengthen this part of the club.
Eva works as a Senior Town Planner for the County Council and is also a mother of 2 young boys. This appointment will bring further strength and depth to this part of the club and the instructor team as a whole.
Last weekend Warwick & Leamington TKD attended the T-UK Association Central Region coloured belt grading, the last one for 2021. WLTKD entered 31 students from the club having attained the right standards to qualify to be tested for promotion.
I am very pleased to announce that all our students passed and 9 of them with an A pass standard.
Well done all of you for your excellent preparation and performing at an exceptionally high standard:
One of our WLTKD Instructor team, Mr Jack Rowe (right of picture), competed at the PUMA British University Championships at the weekend.
I'm very pleased to announce that he won gold in the black belt sparring event. This rounds off an excellent month of achievements as he also successfully graded to 3rd degree black belt this month, well done Jack demonstrating the high standards of the club and being an excellent role model.