On Monday 10th October a team of 9 travelled to Budapest, Hungary for the 6th ITF World Cup.  This was to date the largest recorded competition in the ITF’s history.  The event which is open to competitors aged 12 and over, Blue belt (4th Cup) to Black Belt (6th Degree) had over 1800 competitors from 58 countries taking part in competition over 5 days.

For many of the students travelling this was their first experience on the international stage, and for all their first World Cup, and what a stage it was to start on.

After arriving in Budapest on Monday evening the team headed straight to their accommodation for the week, and settled in before heading out for a quick bite to eat, well those who weren’t trying to make weigh the next morning did.  Tuesday morning was registration and weigh-in at the venue.  Mr. McIlvaney and Mr. Munro completed the registration process first thing, which the team to the opportunity to train (in the living room area of the apartments no less – very novel approach).  After training they gathered and headed to the official weigh-in, where everyone made weight first time, with kilo’s to spare.  Great effort all round after months for training and nutritional management.  Promptly after weight check they headed off to re-fuel and prepare for the 5 days competition ahead.

Wednesday was reserved for individual pattern events, with all our competitors taking to the rings throughout the day.  The youngest member of the team at just 13 years old Jaimie was first to compete against Sweden, followed swiftly by Ethan vs Norway , Anton vs Italy and Jay vs Norway.  All 4 competitors performed well, with very narrow margins in the results, but did not process past the first round.  Hayden was the last of the juniors up for pattern, beating Ireland in the first round, and unfortunately going out to Norway in the next.

Our only senior competitor Jason, had a pattern division of 63 persons, and was drawn first round against Argentina.  He got off to a flying start winning convincingly, followed by strong wins in the next rounds against Spain, Canada and then Poland, before losing out to a Spanish opponent in the Semi-Finals.  Well deserved Bronze medal for him.

Wednesday was also Hayden’s 15th Birthday, after the competition had finished there was time for celebration and cake to share.

Over the next three days the sparring events and special technique took place
In Sparring Jaimie drew Belarus, winning convincingly before losing out to Poland in the second round.  Jason progressed past Argentina in the first round, before losing out to Ireland.  Jay also drew an Argentinian opponent in the first round, winning 4-0 to meet Russia in the next.  The Russian opponent then progressed to the next round by the narrowest of margins.
Ethan fought well against a strong experienced Polish opponent, holding his own.  Hayden had an Argentinian opponent in the first round, sparring well throughout, he unfortunately lost out and the Argentinian then went on to win the division. Anton also sparred well against Uzbekistan in the first, but sadly did not progress further. All competitors showed great skill and determination in their respective bouts, and we look forward to developing and progressing for future sparring events.
Finally in Special Technique Jaimie and Ethan both scored points but not enough to progress to the medal rounds.  Anton made it into the Bronze medal playoffs but did not score enough points to be placed.  Hayden was unlucky with both the special technique events scoring no points.
The team all learned from the experience and will put into practice in their training going forward.  There’s no rest however with another two competitions looming before the Christmas break.  A number of them are heading off to the Italian Open in a few weeks, and the last competition of the year in Newcastle towards the end of November.

TEAMGMAC

Coaches: John McIlvaney, John Munro & Lorna Singleton

Competitors: Jason Munro, Ethan McKenna, Jay Jervis, Hayden McAvoy, Anton McMenemy and Jamie Singleton

A gallery of pictures from the trip can be found on our Facebook page;  Link to Gallery Here

With only weeks to go to our annual awards night we are already preparing the event. The students choice awards nominees have been announced (please see gallery). And student of the year nominees ready to be announced at the beginning of next week!

Are you ready for the best night out of the year?
Are you ready to celebrate the years achievements?
Are you ready for a full nights entertainment with your GMAC family?

Have your best dress/suit/kilt looked out?

Ready to let your hair down for the evening?

For those who have already purchased tickets, and paid the balance in full, tickets will be passed on at your next classes.

WE ARE HAVING A PARTY!!

Our Halloween Party this year will be Sunday 30th October 4pm – 6pm at the Livingston Gym.

Tickets can now be purchased from your instructor – cost £1.  We also ask that you bring along a small plate of themed food / treats to share on the evening.

Prizes for best costume & best carved pumpkin.

Fun and games for all ages.  We look forward to seeing you all there!

Our last Interclub competition of 2016 took place on 9th October, as well as our GMAC Schools we were again joined by students from Mr. Penman’s I-Kick Martial Arts School and Mr. Lyon’s Chimera TKD.

The day started off at 10am (after a brief technical issue, with Mrs McIlvaney’s printer deciding to give up before the draws were printed).  The first age categories up were the under 6 years, and 7 & 8 years.  At 12.30pm we moved on to our 9 & 10 years, 11 & 12 years and 13-16 years competitors.

We had 88 competitors take part, all of whom competed in Pattern, Sparring and Special Technique.  As our inter club competitions are about development, we use a pool system in sparring, meaning all competitors spar each other in a league system, with the winners decided through the highest score over all their respective bouts.  This makes for a greatly competitive day.

New would like to take the opportunity to thank all our black belts and assistants who have helped not only at this event, but over the previous two competitions also, without them these events would not be possible.  Thank you also to the team who set up and dismantle the hall before and after each competition.

Attached you can find the full results from this competition.  Well done to all students who have taken part throughout 2016, we look forward to taking working on and developing the inter club tournament series for 2017.

RESULTS

2016 interclub Series 3 – Club Rankings

2016 Interclub Series 3 – Division Results

Photos can be found here.

Congratulations to our Little Ninja & Kickin’ Kids students who graduated on Saturday 1st October.

Little Ninja Promotions

Promoted to Nifty Ninja:

Xander McLean, Kayla Walker, Jaiden Atkinson & Eva Johnston.

Promoted to Speedy Ninja:

Copper Wood, Isla Harper, Kayden Hutchison, Adam Murray & Harry Murray.

Promoted to Cool Ninja:

Ethan Massey, Stewart Roy, Jakub Krug & Harry Kirk.
Promoted to Super Ninja:

Brooke Cowan, Jonathan Maciver, Declan Bowman, Nathan Bowman & Arron Spiers.

Promoted to Top Ninja:

Scott Jennings & Connor Shepherd.

Promoted to Ace Ninja:

Jaime Coombes & Charlotte Daly

Little Ninja’s – 1st October 2016

Kickin’ Kid Promotions

Promoted to Quick Kicker:

Zara Sattar, Ryan Sneddon & Kenzie Hailstones

Promoted to Speed Kicker:

Sally Moffat & Aiden McDaid

Promoted to Cool Kicker:

Dante Strock

Promoted to Top Kicker:

Jack Penrice, Dylan Rodden, Kinga Jaffke, Kiana Munro, Keigan Munro & Lewis McIlvaney

Promoted to Ace Kicker:

Megan Docherty, Josh Dunsmore, Mhairi Crookston & Chloe Jervis

Promoted to  Premier Kicker:

Kaity Weir & Ruben Pearson

Kickin’ Kids – 1st October 2016

A full gallery of photo’s can be found here.

The next ITF Kids Grading will take place on Saturday 8th October @ 11.15am.

Those testing have been given invites.  Good luck to all those taking part, we are sure you’ll do an awesome job!

The third, and last in this years Inter Club series takes place this coming Sunday the 9th October at GMAC Martial Arts in Livingston.

The following schedule is in place for competitors;

10am – 12 noon:  8 years & under

12 noon – 2pm:  9 years & over

All black belts should be in attendance to umpire, assist and support our junior students on the day.  Please wear your GMAC Umpire Polo’s and black trousers.
If you haven’t already entered, don’t worry theres still time to do so.  Please complete an application form and return it to your instructor by Thursday evening to take part!

We look forward to seeing you all on Sunday!!

Our competitors have certainly been busy over the past few months, attending a number of TKD & Kickboxing tournaments across the UK.  Congratulations to all who travelled and took part.

Results are posted below.

ITF England Championships – Coventry.  9th July.

WKU Scotland International – Kickboxing.  14th August.

STA Junior Tournament – Armadale.  21st August.

WKU Kickboxing – Kilmarnock.  28th August.

North East Challenge Cup – Aberdeen.  3rd September.

Scotia Interclub – Wishaw.  4th September.