Archives 2016

The 2016 West Lothian Open took place on Sunday 22nd May, once again in Armadale Academy.  The event saw not only competitors from across Scotland take part but groups from the North of England (TAE), and North West Spirit (Liverpool) also compete.

330 competitors took part ranging in age from 4 years old to 73!  Congratulations to Mr. Baxter from MWBA, at 73 years young,  taking Silver in the Pattern category for +36 years Male Yellow Belts.

This year saw a record 68 participants from GMAC take part, wining 27 Golds, 23 Silver, and 40 Bronze between them.

Congratulations to our medals winners:

Gold

Adrian Lewicki (Pattern), Cailtin Hughes (Pattern), Hayden McAvoy (Pattern), Jason Munro (Pattern), Desi Anthanasiadou (Pattern), John Rafferty (Pattern), Mhairi Crookston (Pattern), Lawa Rahim (Pattern), Robert Parsons (Power), John Melrose (Power), Jaimie Singleton (Sparring), Ethan McEwan (Sparring), Cailtin Hughes (Sparring), Christopher Nicol (Sparring), Gareth Robb (Sparring), Iain O’Hare (Sparring), Kiana Munro (Sparring), Kaity Weir (Sparring), Dylan McMaster (Sparring), Madison Brown (Sparring), Jaimie Singleton (Special Tech), Kyle Gemmell (Special Tech), Lauren Watson (Special Tech), Caitlin Hughes (Special Tech), Megan Docherty (Special Tech), Madison Brown (Special Tech).

Silver

Leaha McLelland (Pattern), Christopher McChesney (Pattern), Nali Rahim (Pattern), Megan Brown (Pattern), Iain O’Hare (Pattern), Kerris Dickson (Pattern), Gareth Robb (Pattern), Marcin Puzio (Pattern), John Melrose (Pattern), Megan Docherty (Pattern), Ethan McKenna (Power), Kerris Dickson (Power), Marcin Puzio (Power), Adrian Lewicki (Sparring), Lauren Watson (Sparring), Jay Jervis (Sparring), Kian Lambie (Sparring), Megan Brown (Sparring), Robert Parsons (Sparring), Gray Nisbet (Sparring), Josh Dunsmore (Sparring), Ethan Massey (Sparring), Nathan Bowman (Sparring), Ethan McKenna (Special Tech), Kieran Farrell (Special Tech).

Bronze

Jaimie Singleton (Pattern), Robert Parsons (Pattern), Gary McAlister (Pattern), Jacolin Brown (Pattern), Robin McChesney (Pattern), Kiana Munro (Pattern), Kyle Lynch (Pattern), Josh Dunsmore (Pattern), Kinga Jaffke (Pattern), Matthew Docherty (Pattern), Kiegan Munro (Pattern), Jay Jervis (Power), Gareth Robb (Power), Robin McChesney (Power), Sophie Hunter (Sparring), Donatella Fargnoli (Sparring), Leaha McLelland (Sparring), Nali Rahim (Sparring), Hayden McAvoy (Sparring), Anton McMenemy (Sparring), Gary McAlister (Sparring), Desi Athanasiadou (Sparring), Marcin Puzio (Sparring), Megan Docherty (Sparring), Steven Hughes (Sparring), Jack Robertson (Sparring), Kinga Jaffke (Sparring), Declan Bowman (Sparring), Stewart Roy (Sparring), Kieran Farrell (Sparring), Matthew Docherty (Sparring), Declan McAvoy (Special Tech), Robert Parsons (Special Tech), Robin McChesney (Special Tech), Kiana Munro (Special Tech), Gray Nisbet (Special Tech), Dylan McMaster (Special Tech), Matthew Docherty (Special Tech).

As always great team spirit shown throughout the day, encouraging each other, and helping the younger students, or those who were new to competition.
We look forward to the next one.

Bank Holiday Schedules

The following closures will be in place over the holiday weekend.

Livingston – Closed Monday 2nd May

Wishaw – Closed Monday 2nd May

Uddingston – Open as normal.

Should you wish you can catch up in any of the remaining weekly classes.  Please see our timetables for full class schedules.

The Scottish National Taekwon-Do Team travel to the 2016 A.E.T.F. European Championships, held in the Finnish city of Tampere on Tuesday 26th April.  As part of the 22 strong team, three members of GMAC will represent their country next week.  Miss Megan Brown (19), Mr. Iain O’Hare (19), and Mr. Jay Jervis (15), will compete against the best athletes in Europe over four days in multiple events;

Miss Brown – Senior Female 1st Degree Patterns, Senior Female -56kg Sparring and Team Power Test.

Mr O’Hare – Senior Male -70kg Sparring, Team Sparring and Team Power Test.

Mr Jervis – Junior Male -68kg Sparring, Junior Male Power Test, Team Pattern, Team Sparring and Team Power.

We wish them and their team mates the best in the endeavours, and look forward to following their progress on our social media page as well as the National Team Page over the next week.  We are sure Mr. McIlvaney, who is also attending as Team Manager and Coach, will keep us all up to date with pictures and posts.

Dear Grandmaster, Master’s and Instructor’s,

It is with great pleasure that you and your students are invited to West Lothian Open Championships on Sunday 22^nd May, in Armadale, Scotland.

This competition is open to all grades, in the following categories; under 7 years, 8-10 years, 11-13 years, 14-17 years, 18-35 years & 36 years plus.

Please take the time to read the following information. If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us at the following address info@gmacmartialarts.co.uk

We look forward to seeing you and your students at the competition.

Yours in Taekwon-Do

West Lothian Open Tournament Committee

WLO2016 Invitation

WLO Individual Entry Form2016

2016 WLO School & Spectator Applications

On Friday 18^th March, three members of ITF Scotland travelled to St. Petersburg, Russia at the invite of ITF St. Petersburg, and the Russian Taekwon-Do Federation to the Northern Palmira Cup. This was a two-day event held in the new Nova Centre, in St. Petersburg town centre. The competition had over 900 entrants, across two days with a Grand Gala Final on the Sunday evening.

On arrival in St. Petersburg, the warmth of the hospitality and professionalism of the organisers, already overwhelmed us. Along with members from Israel, Ireland, Greece and Uzbekistan, we spent Saturday with Master Lazaros Tsilfidis and other distinguished guests on a sightseeing tour of what is an amazing city, full of so many wondrous and historic sights.

On Sunday we arrived at the arena and the level of professionalism was clear to see; a futuristic, state of the art venue with electronic scoring across all rings, four huge TV screens showing all events, and to top it off there was the Gala Final in the evening, with many special guests in attendance.

First competing was Miss Megan Brown, in Patterns, winning Bronze. Sparring saw her dominating, and taking Gold in a convincing final against Uzbekistan.

It was then time for the Gala Finals, and we were certainly entertained with many great fights, and a spectacle of shows in between bouts.   Mr. Iain O’Hare fighting in the first of the finals, and after a strong performance took Gold against a formidable Russia opponent.

Both competitors showed their skill, and took their wins convincingly. A great event and experience for both competitors in preparation for the European Championships in six weeks time, in Finland.

After the competition we were treated to a wonderful Russian banquet, and party, with some dancing, speeches and great friendship.

I would like to extend our thanks to Master Tsilfidis and his amazing team of young enthusiastic people he has on board. On behalf of my team, and ITF Scotland I thank you for the warmth, friendship and hospitality shown to us over the weekend. If your looking for an international event to gain experience, this should be a must on your calendar, 900 competitors, 2 days, very high standard, easy and affordable to access. We will be back for sure.

Mr. John McIlvaney

ITF Scotland Team Manager

All GMAC schools will be closed for Easter on Monday 28^th March and will re-open again on Tuesday 29^th March.

We hope that you all have an enjoyable Easter holiday with family and friends.

GMAC will host a series of three Interclub competitions over the year.  These competitions are to focus on developing our junior students, and giving them a head start in competition, in a safe and friendly environment.  The competition will be against their peers, with small age categories, ensuring each student is given the best opportunity to learn and gain confidence in their abilities.

The competitions will be held over three dates, those who win medals will be given points, and the competitor with the most points over the three competitions, will be crowned series champion, and a special trophy given at the awards evening in November.
The first competition will be held on 20th March.  Timetable & Schedule to follow.  Please note the closing date for entries is the 14th March.

Good luck!

GMAC Competition Entry Form