Five students attended the STA junior tournament on 29th April, in Armadale.

Congratulations to those who took part, between them they took home.

2 Gold, 1 Silver and 5 Bronze.  Placing 8th overall from 26 clubs in the medal standings.

Congratulations to our medal winners;

Lauren Watson – Gold Sparring, Gold Special Technique and Bronze in Pattern

Ethan Massey – Silver Pattern, Bronze Sparring, Bronze Special Technique

Sophie Hunter – Bronze Pattern & Sparring

Congratulations also to both Adam & Kaity Weir who didn’t medal this time round, but took away lots from the event.

Our Wishaw school will be closed for the Bank Holiday on Monday 7th May, due to the VANL building being closed for the holiday weekend.

All other schools will be open as normal.  We apologise for any inconvenience this change may cause.

Those who wish to, can make up the class at our Livingston gym that evening instead.

Congratulations to both Mr. Chris Dickson and Mrs. Kerris Dickson who successfully promoted to 4th Degree (Sabum) on Saturday 21st April, at the Senior Degree Grading held by ITF Scotland in Montrose.

The grading was held over two days, where the candidates were put through a rigorous exam process both practical and theoretical, this also involved a number of pre-grading sessions over previous weekends, as well as their official pre-test last September.

As well as congratulating both Mr & Mrs Dickson, we’d also like to congratulate Mr. David Lupton who promoted alongside them to 6th Degree, and thank the grading panel of Grand Master MacCallum IX Degree, Master David McNairn VII Degree, Master Jamie Campins VII Degree and Master Robin Blair VII Degree.

After Black Belt promotion, the next biggest step as a black belt we all hope to achieve is 4th degree, Sabum, or earning our stripes as we say in Taekwon-Do.  Chris and Kerris certainly earned theirs, and we are extremely proud of their efforts.  Once again congratulations from all at GMAC!

Our April grading’s were held over Friday 6th & Saturday 7th. We’d like to congratulate the following students on their promotions:

LITTLE NINJA’S

Promoted to Nifty Ninja:  Jamie Glass

Promoted to Speedy Ninja:  Daisy Howie, Alastair Howie and Nathan Daly

Promoted to Ace Ninja:  Jane Marshall, Carson Marshall and Conolyn Lynch

Promoted to Champion Ninja:  Harry Murray and Jayden Keay

KICKIN’ KIDS

Promoted to Cool Kicker:  Innes Hamilton, Alexis Shaw and Raif Brown

Promoted to Super Kicker:  William Graham

Promoted to Top Kicker:  Ryan Sneddon

Promoted to Ace Kicker:  Charlotte Daly

Promoted to Premier Kicker:  Isa Haq and Roshan Haq

TAEKWON-DO

Promoted to 9th Kup:  Jack Harkin

Promoted to 7th Kup:  Courtney Murphy, Tina Crookston and Allan Farrell

Promoted to 5th Kup:  Ellie Weir, Pauline Penrice, Shaun Murphy

Promoted to 4th Kup:  Charlie Harkin, Nathan Cowan, Junior Bett, Kaity Weir, Gary McAlister and Mhairi Crookston

Promoted to 3rd Kup:  Gray Nisbet, Sam Jones, Lennon McAvoy, Scott Crookston and Kyle Lynch

Promoted to 2nd Kup:  Stuart Coombes

Eight of our elite Taekwon-Do students were selected for the National Team to represent Scotland at this years AETF European Championships in Slovenia.

Our athletes set out yesterday morning, some with some changed travel plans after a strike with Germany airlines on Tuesday.  But after a 5 minute panic Monday afternoon, plans and flights were re-booked, and the competitors made their way to Slovenia.  Somearrived earlier in the afternoon, having a chance to train at the one of the most famous gyms in Europe; Sportni Centre Barada, training facility of Master Tomaz Barada, then on to relax, and take in a little of Maribor.  Those on the afternoon flight, arrived in Maribor late in to the evening, so after a quick check in, it was straight to bed before an early start this morning.

Wednesday’s already off to a great start with all our competitors from GMAC making weight successfully.  The rest of the Scotland squad who are present have also made weight, with a few team members still to arrive later in the afternoon due to further flight delays.

The competitors are now off to refuel, and then a light training session this afternoon.

The competition officially starts tomorrow, we will update our Facebook page and Instagram later this evening with time schedules.  You can follow the GMAC competitors directly on their instagram page here or via our Facebook page here.

Competing as part of ITF Scotland National Team are:

Jason Munro 3rd Degree – Individual 3rd Degree Male Pattern

Iain O’Hare 2nd Degree – Individual 2nd Degree Male Pattern & -70kg Sparring.

Megan Brown 2nd Degree – Individual 2nd Degree Female Pattern & -56kg Sparring.

Kieran Cain 1st Degree – Individual 1st Degree Male Pattern & -63kg Sparring.

Hayden McAvoy 1st Degree – Individual Junior Male 1st Degree Pattern & -50kg Sparring.

Jay Jervis 1st Degree – Individual Junior Male -68kg Sparring.

Lauren Watson 1st Degree – Individual Junior Female +65kg Sparring.

Lauren McKay 1st Degree – Individual Junior Female Power & Team Power.

Our gyms will be closed on Monday 2nd April for Easter holiday.

We hope you all have an enjoyable weekend with friends and family.

In a break from tradition we celebrated our awards night, and the success of 2017 a the end of last month.  The event was held for the first time in West Lothian, at Livingston Football Stadium’s Almondvale Suite.  The night saw 250 students, parents, and family members come together for an evening of celebrations, starting with a drinks reception on arrival, and family photographs with Jason from Photography by Jason Kimmings, and an opportunity to mingle amongst company.

Before the evenings official presentation of awards we were treated to a beautiful 3 course meal, as well as entertainment from Magic Pete, who kept all our younger students, and those young at heart on their toes with some light hearted fun and games, as well as a magic trick or two!

After a short introduction from Mr. McIlvaney, it was down to Mrs McIlvaney and Mrs. Dickson to officially start the awards ceremony with the Students Choice Award Winners 2017, these were presented by Mr. John Munro.

We were honoured also to have Grand Master MacCallum as guest of honour, to present awards to the lucky recipients of Students of the Year 2017.

Next up were the competitor of the year awards presented by head coach; Mr. John McIlvaney.  These awards are based upon a points system, with each competitor receiving a point for entering a competition, and further points for each medal won (3 for gold, 2 for silver and 1 for bronze).

The final presentation of the evening saw certificate presentations for those who passed their black belt promotions this past year.  Presentations were made by Grand Master MacCallum to Mr. Angus Rhoney (1st Degree) and Mr. Kyle Gemmell (1st Degree).  Also to Mrs. Gillian McIlvaney (5th Degree).

As Mr. McIlvaney gave a closing speech and thanked everyone for their efforts throughout the year, and on the run up to the event.  A special thank you was given to Mrs. Lorna Singleton who organised this years event, and Mrs. Dickson for her efforts on the lead up to it, and on the evening also.  A small token of appreciation was gifted to Grand Master MacCallum on behalf of everyone at GMAC too.

But that wasn’t it, in a surprise ambush by the black belts, who secretly organised a gift as a special recognition of the effort that goes into GMAC by Mr. and Mrs. McIlvaney, and a last presentation of the evening a Quaich was gifted to both as a memento of this and the 10th anniversary of GMAC’s founding in 2007.

A final thank you to Stephen at The Funky Booth, for supplying the Photo Booth and props, as well as prints on the evening.

All that was left was to party and celebrate into the small hours of the evening.

Full list of award winners can be found below.

And all the photos from the evening, can be found on our Facebook page.  However a small selection have been published below.

We have updated our calendar of events, with more being added all the time.

Please check regularly for whats on, and coming up in the near future by clicking here.