Our kickboxing students took to the mat at the WKC Scotland International Open at the Braehead Arena on 26th & 27th August.
With 15 students taking part and 23 medals bagged it was a great success once again.
RESULTS 5 7 11
GOLD’S
Sarah-Louise Cole (Continuous), Lewis Cuthbert (Continuous), James Vickers (Continuous), Stuart Thomson (Continuous), Aaron Thomson (Points)
SILVER’S
James Vickers (Points & Points Grand Champion), Aaron Thomson (Points Grand Champion), Keira Thomson (Continuous), Oliver Crooks (Continuous), Chloe Coles (Continuous), Josh Inglis (Continuous)
BRONZE’S
Stuart Thomson (Points & Points Grand Champion), Aaron Thomson (Points), Keira Thomson (Points & Points Grand Champion), Oliver Crooks (Continuous), Faith Inglis (Continuous x 2), Saif Taleb (Continuous), Camelia Taleb (Continuous), Ewan O’Mahoney (Continuous).
Not medaling this time round, but showing great effort and unlucky to narrowly miss out on medal placings were: Alfie Crooks, Taylor Smith and Aiden White.
It’s not often opportunities arise to train with legends in Taekwon-Do right on your doorstep. But this past august TKD Events gave that opportunity with Grand Master Bos visiting Scotland for a book signing with his brand new ITF Taekwon-Do Pattern Manual, and a one off Master Class Seminar in Wishaw.
A number of students & instructors from GMAC were there, learning from one of the best in ITF Taekwon-Do, the session was jam packed full on fun warm up drills, technical drills, as well as Pattern & Sparring fundamentals.
From start to finish everyone has a smile on their face, and a look of awe at GM Bos and his exceptional flexibility & strength skills he demonstrated throughout the session.
GMAC co-hosted this North Lanarkshire Open 2023, with our sister club Integrity Martial Arts Scotland last weekend with 26 clubs attending, our school placed second in the medal table with 18 Gold, 13 Silver & 16 Bronze medals.
Again another impressive list of results for our team in the first competition after the short summer break. We now look forward to the preparations for the next Taekwon-Do competition at the end of September the Claymore Cup.
Results
GOLD
Izaak Bridge (Sparring), Robert-George Girdwood (Sparring & Spec Tech), Abhiram Rao (Pattern), Oliver Crooks (Pattern), Keira Thomson (Pattern), Jakub Krug (Pattern), Ella Park (Pattern & Sparring), Lorna Ferguson (Power & Spec Tech), Emilia Singleton (Sparring), Ren Smith (Sparring & Spec Tech), James Vickers (Sparring), Declan McAvoy (Sparring & Spec Tech) and Jaxson Burns (Spec Tech).
SILVER
Freya Korycinska (Punches, Sparring & Spec Tech), Alfie Crooks (Pattern), Sarah McIlvaney (Pattern & Sparring), Ren Smith (Pattern), Oliver Crooks (Sparring), Keira Thomson (Sparring & Spec Tech), Jakub Krug (Sparring) and Ethan Massey (Spec Tech).
BRONZE
Robert-George Girdwood (Pattern), Romani-May Girdwood (Pattern), Izaak Bridge (Pattern), Jaxson Burns (Pattern), Tyler-Jay Russell (Pattern), James Vickers (Pattern), Jaxson Burns (Sparring), Alfie Crooks (Sparring), Freya Korycinska (Sparring), Abhiram Rao (Sparring), Tyler Russell (Sparring), Julia Krug (Sparring), Aaron Thomson (Sparring), Kyla O’Conner (Sparring), Poppy Thomson (Sparring), Sarah McIlvaney (Spec Tech) and Karen Smith (Pattern).
Our team of competitors embarked on a 800 mile round trip over the first weekend in July, first travelling to Cardiff, Wales to compete at the ITF Open Welsh on Saturday, before heading back on the road to make it to Birmingham for the ITF Union Sparring GrandPrix the following day.
First up was the ITF Open Welsh hosted by Mr. Neil Ernest VI Degree and NE-Sport Taekwon-Do Club at the Cardiff House of Sport, an event which had twice been postponed due to covid, everyone was excited to get on the mats for the hotly anticipated event. We had 14 competitors from GMAC making the journey to Cardiff, and all returned with medals, no mean feat for the standard on display at the event. With some gutsy performances over the course of the day, everyone gave their all on the mat, and we couldn’t have been happier with the results. As well as all the students medalling, our small travelling team took 4th place overall club, in amongst some exceptionally larger clubs, and teams.
ITF OPEN WELSH RESULTS
GOLD’S x 11
Abhiram Rao (Sparring), Ren Smith (Sparring), Oliver Crooks (Sparring), James Vickers (Sparring), Declan McAvoy (Sparring), Karly Rodger(Sparring & Special Technique), Emilia Singleton (Sparring & Special Technique), Ella Park (Sparring) and Jaimie Singleton (Sparring).
SILVER’S x 7
Alfie Crooks (Pattern & Sparring), Owen McIlvaney (Sparring), Oliver Crooks (Pattern), Declan McAvoy (Pattern) and Sarah McIlvaney (Sparring & Special Technique).
BRONZE’S x 5
Ren Smith (Patterns), Oliver Crooks (Special Technique), Mhairi Crookston (Patterns) and Lorna Ferguson (Pattern & Sparring).
As well as the individual results noted above, two of our youngest female competitors won Joint Overall <7 years Female Competitor on the day, with 2 Golds each: Karly Rodger & Emilia Singleton.
Thank you also to our Umpires: Master John McIlvaney VII Degree, Mr. John Munro V Degree, Mrs. Lorna Singleton III Degree and Mr. Lennon McAvoy I Degree, who helped make the tournament the success it was.
On to day two of events, with a 200 mile hop further up the M6 to Birmingham for the ITF Union Grand Prix, which was predominantly a sparring event, with all competitors having the chance to take part in sparring leagues (everyone spars everyone in the division), meaning the winners were the best of the best on the day. Again each of the competitors who took part earned medals to bring back to Scotland with them, after a long day of competition.
ITF UNION GRAND PRIX RESULTS
GOLD’s x 6
Ren Smith (Sparring), Oliver Crooks (Sparring), Jaimie Singleton (Sparring), Declan McAvoy (Sparring), James Vickers (Sparring) and Lorna Ferguson (Power).
SILVER’s x 4
Alfie Crooks (Sparring), Lorna Ferguson (Sparring), Sarah McIlvaney (Sparring) and Owen McIlvaney (Sparring).
BRONZE’S x 2
Abhiram Rao (Sparring) and Emilia Singleton (Sparring).
Overall the club came in 3rd Best Club with 11 competitors taking part in the event.
This past Saturday we brought our development competition’s back to our regular annual schedule. This event was to promote and develop the skillset of our youngest competitors, in taking their first steps into a competitive martial arts environment. All those taking part were split into groups of similar grade and ability, to compete for medal placings against the other competitors in the divisions. This allowed for each person taking part the opportunity of more than one bout within small leagues, with all participants winning medals for their efforts.
We were very encouraged to see so many of our youngest students standing on the mats and showcasing their skills in-front of not only their family members but also their peers. As with all competitions there is a wealth of experience on show, and again those who had a little more competitive experience showed great skill and sportsmanship to adapt their own bouts to that of their opponents, to continue encouraging them in a friendly and supportive environment. Very humbling to see from so many of our young students.
Congratulations to all who took part. A huge thank you to the black belts who umpired at the event.
A full gallery of pictures can be found on our Facebook Page
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