Sunday 16th June GMAC held an Umpire training course to update on the new ITF Tournament Rules and aid in preparation for the tournament on the 23rd June.

The course kicked off at 10am with an introduction to the ITF Tournament and Umpire Rules from Mrs McIlvaney with some visual examples of Pattern, Sparring, Special Technique and Power whereby the participants could score and give a result on the video examples they were shown.

This part of the course also allowed for questions from the participants which were answered in full, and examples given where appropriate.

After the presentation on the updated rules, we advanced to the Dojang for some practical application of the rules ran by Mr McIlvaney.  All participants were taught the correct way to start each event, the correct terminology to use throughout each event, and the correct way to give warning’s & fouls during a sparring bout.  Each participant was then given the opportunity to be Jury Presidents, Pattern/Sparring Judges as well as Centre Referee’s for the afternoon and put these newly acquired skills into practice.

All those taking part had an enjoyable course, and went away with skills required to further their refereeing knowledge.  We all look forward to putting them into practice at the next tournament.

Saturday 8th June saw GMAC’s last graduation prior to the school summer holiday take place.

We are pleased to announce the following results;

Promoted to 9th Kup:  Ben Melrose & John Melrose

Promoted to 7th Kup:  Andre El Masrour, Callum Gilchrist, Natalie Pennycook, Susan Morrice & Jade Morrison.

Promoted to 6th Kup:  Patrick Gamble, Harry Gamble, Josh Miller & Dominic Dobias

Promoted to 1st Kup:  Ross Strathearn

The next grading will take place in August, details to follow

Saturday 8th June saw the latest graduations for our kids programmes before everyone the summer.
The day began with our youngest group TKD Tigers who tested for new belt stripes.  All those on the floor started with their Taekwon-Do terminology, some even second guessing the examiner, rhyming off all their words without hesitation.  Great to see at such a young age!  They all continued to impress on their technique and pad work.

We are happy to announce the following results;

Yellow Stripe:  Lewis Hunter, Gabriella Lawrie & Zoe Boulter

Green Stripe:  John Boulter & Casey Core

Blue Stripe:  Alyssa Davis, Tyler Shand & Jacob Rowan

Black Stripe and promoted into our Little Ninja’s; Sophie Hunter.

Next up it was the turn of our Little Ninja’s & Kickin Kids withGrand Master MacCallum joining Mr McIlvaney as guest examiner.  The students put on a good show on the floor to succeed in receiving their new belts as follows;

Nifty Ninja;  Sophie Freckleton & Miles Anderson

Speedy Ninja;  Gray Nisbet

Super Ninja;  Lee Dunn

Ace Ninja;  Lennon McAvoy, Poppy Lord & Ryan Hentges

Champion Ninja;  Conor Linkston

Quick Kicker; Kelbie Mabon & Danielle Zeilins

Speed Kicker;  Lachlan Clark

Cool Kicker;  Callum Bruce

Super Kicker;  Finlay Alexander & Neave Kirkland

Top Kicker;  Lewis Gilchrist, Lauren Rea & Jon Rafferty

Premier Kicker;  Declan McAvoy, Jack Durie, Ben Snodgrass & David Aitchison

Champion Kicker;  Glen McLean
All photographs have been posted on Facebook

Please ensure you bring a copy of the following with you;

2013 ITF Umpire Rules & Regulations – Index

2013 ITF Umpire Rules & Regulations

The course starts at 10am, please wear tracksuit and Dobok.  A pen and writing pad are also required.

Venue: GMAC Livingston, Craigshill Road, EH54 5LU.

Cost is £10.00

Please advise GMAC HQ on gmactkd@sky.com of your participation.

Weekend of 17th/18th May saw two events being ran by Mr Condie and his group Taekwon-Do UK,  firstly a seminar by World Renowned Taekwon-Do competitor Stephen Tapilatu and second the 3rd Goodwill Championships both being held in the Kelvin Hall, Glasgow.

On Friday evening students and instructors from GMAC attended a two hour seminar with Mr Tapilatu which covered sparring drills and techniques.  The first session for kids ran from 6pm – 8pm and worked on simple sparring exercises and kicking, the adults session ran from 8pm – 10pm and again worked on sparring exercises building up to the use of complicated kicking drills and how they are implemented in sparring competition.  Both sessions were very informative and for those who have never been on one of his seminars many new ideas were taken away, and we hope to see some of the techniques learned put into practise in the Dojang.

After the evenings seminars finishing at 10pm it was a late night for everyone, however an early rise the next morning was on the cards for the competition.  12 competitors from GMAC took part on the day.

Results as follows;

Bethan Turner;  Silver Sparring

Carson Aitchison;  Silver Pattern

Hayden McAvoy;  Silver Pattern

Jaimie Singleton;  Gold Sparring

James Hilley;  Bronze Pattern, Silver Sparring

Kieran Cain;  Silver Pattern, Gold Sparring

Megan Brown;  Silver Sparring

Skye Russell;  Silver Pattern, Silver Sparring

Photo’s can be viewed via our Facebook page

A reminder that all GMAC schools will be closed on Monday 27th & Tuesday 28th May for the Bank Holiday weekend.  Classes will resume as normal from Wednesday 29th.

We hope you enjoy the long weekend.

Sunday 19th May saw the latest grading for our Taekwon-Do students, congratulations to the following students on their promotions;

Promoted to 9th Kup;  John Gregg.

Promoted to 7th Kup;  Jacob Ciantar.

Promoted to 6th Kup;  Dylan Ferguson, Shelby Bennett, James Hilley, Steven Miller, Luke Miller & John Callear.

Promoted to 5th Kup;  Declan McCourt, Sonnie Scade, Daniel Brown, Martin McGahey, Craig Struthers & Jaimie Singleton.

Promoted to 4th Kup;  Holly Duncan & Hayden McAvoy.

Promoted to 3rd Kup;  Lauren Watson.

Promoted to 2nd Kup;  David Ferguson & Luke Bryden.

Congratulations to the following Little Ninja & Kickin Kids on their recent promotion’s.

Little Ninja’s

Promoted to Nifty Ninja (Yellow Belt):  Kieran Farrell, Sophie Hampson & Kinga Jaffke.

Promoted to Speedy Ninja (Orange Belt):  Christie Bell & Zara Bell.

Promoted to Cool Ninja (Green Belt):  Lewis Watson, Robbie Watson, Joshua McCart, Hayden Gilmour & Lois Lord.

Promoted to Super Ninja (Blue Belt):  Callum Houston & Aidan Collinson.

Promoted to Top Ninja (Purple Belt):  Connor Fyfe.

Promoted to Ace Ninja (Red Belt):  Isabella Anderson & Connor Hall.

Kickin Kids

Promoted to Quick Kicker (Yellow Belt):  Josh Morrison.

Promoted to Speed Kicker (Orange Belt):  Lucy Moffat.

Promoted to Cool Kicker (Green Belt):  Kane Paxton.

Promoted to Top Kicker (Purple Belt):  Erin Bell & Fraser Morrison.

Picture’s will be added soon.  The next graduation will take place in June.