Saturday 8th June saw a pre-test for those looking to sit the next promotional grading later in the year. Thank you to guest examiner Master Denholm for overseeing the pre-test, which saw the candidates perform 9 nine patterns, as well as step sparring, self-defence, technical kicking & board breaking.  
They were also put through their paces with sparring against multiple opponents ranging from 2vs1, up to 4vs1 for those aiming to promote to 4th Degree. The senior grades were also given a new element to the testing, to teach and explain thoroughly a technical element of TKD to the other candidates, in this instance step sparring.

Results and feedback will be emailed out in the coming days

We held our second inter club competition of the year today, which saw 98 competitors take part in three disciplines; Pattern, Sparring and Special Technique. 

Our competitors aged 8 & under kicked it off first at 10am, after a short introduction and welcome from Mr McIlvaney, they got down to the business of striving to earn themselves some new medals competing against their peers. With the under 8’s finishing 20 mins ahead of schedule the umpires took a well deserved short break and a refuel of coffee, before commencing with the 9-13 age group. We must also mention Mrs Dickson who umpired all day today even though it was her “21st 😉 birthday” today!! We took the opportunity of course for a rendition of HBTY and a cake 🎂, before the second half of today’s competition, and finishing on schedule at 2.30pm 😁

Well done to everyone who took part today, it was a pleasure to watch you all perform to the best of your ability, whilst at all times encouraging team mates and new friends along the way. Whether you won a medal or not today you should be as proud of yourself and we as instructors are of you all. Top effort

We’d also like to thank our senior coloured belts and black belts who gave up their day to help out and encourage you all today. Big 🙌🙌 shout out to you all, as without everyone working together as a team events like these are not possible:

Mr. Andrew Chesworth, Mr. John Munro, Mr. Chris Dickson, Mrs. Kerris Dickson, Mr. Iain O’Hare, Miss. Megan Brown, Mr. Gary McAvoy, Mr. James Murphy, Mrs. Lorna Singleton, Ms. Des Athanasiadou, Mr. Scott Crooks, Miss. Donatella Fargnoli, Miss Jaimie Singleton, Ariana McCarthy, Sam Jones, Lennon McAvoy, Stuart Coombes, Stephanie Peden, Elle Weir, Nali Rahim and Kieran Farrell. Great Job!

And of course to our fundraising team of Lynne Hunter and Chelsea Graham for all your efforts today. 

Winners of the 100 square were:

• 1st Prize Sophie Hunter
• 2nd Prize Ella Jamieson

Congratulations!

Gallery can be found here.

Our Wishaw classes are off on Monday 6th May due to the closure of the VANL centre for the Bank Holiday.

All other classes are open as normal.

Those who wish to, can catch up the class in Livingston instead.

Livingston Timetable (Monday)

• Little Ninja’s 5.15pm – 6.00pm
• Kickin Kid’s 6.00pm – 7.00pm
• Taekwon-Do 7.00pm – 8.00pm

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

The McAvoy brothers head off to the World Championships, as part of the Scotland National Team this coming Monday.

Hayden and Declan, were chosen to represent Scotland at the 2019 ITF World Championships in Inzell, Germany from Monday 22nd – Sunday 28th April.

Hayden has been a member of the National Team for a few campaigns now, and will compete in his second World Championships in the following divisions;

• Junior Male 1st Degree Pattern
• Junior Male -56kg Sparring
• Junior Male Team Sparring
• Junior Male Team Special Technique

Declan is new to the National Team this year, with his first selection will be representing his country in;

• Junior Male -50kg Sparring

Over the past 7 months since their selection, both boys have been working hard, attending a number of tournaments both internationally and within the UK to develop and test themselves in the run up to the biggest event on the Taekwon-Do calendar. The build up has went well, with both boys medalling at every event to date.

Pictured alongside Mr. McIlvaney at their last class before the event, the boys received a final sponsorship, of new Doboks as well as financial support to cover some of their costs incurred.

We wish them and their team mates well in their bid to win Gold at the World Championships.

This World Championships will see 1234 athletes from 64 countries take part in this prestigious event. For those who want to catch some of the live-streaming you can follow this link: https://www.sportmartialarts.com/events-list/

GOOD LUCK SCOTLAND!!

We have our annual Easter Break this weekend. Classes will be closed as follows;

Livingston – Closed Friday 19th to Monday 22nd April.

Wishaw – Closed Friday 19th April to Monday 22nd April.

Classes re-open from Tuesday 23rd April. We hope you all have an enjoyable weekend.

We have an invite to the Goodwill Scottish Championships being held in Wishaw on 18th May 2019.

Please find below the application form and further information.

CLOSING DATE: 11th May

The first black belt grading of the year was held on Saturday 6th April, at our Livingston facility. The exam was conducted by the grading panel consisting of:

• Grand Master Tom MacCallum IX Degree
• Mr. John McIlvaney VI Degree
• Mrs. Gillian McIlvaney V Degree
• Mr. John Munro IV Degree
• Mr. Christopher Dickson IV Degree
• Mrs. Kerris Dickson IV Degree

The candidates exam was as always split in to two sections, with the first being their theory test. This was completed on Wednesday evening, with all successfully passing that stage, allowing them to go forward to the practical exam.

The practical exam began with nine coloured belt patterns for those looking to promote to 1st Degree, and six coloured belt, and three 1st Degree Patterns for the candidate grading to 2nd Degree. After the patterns were put through their paces with numerous bouts of 1 step sparring, free sparring, 2 vs 1 sparring, as well as self defence and kicking techniques. The last stage of the grading sees the candidates complete ten board breaks using a varying range of kicking and hand techniques, as well as a jumping technique or multiple target technique they have prepared in advance.

After the three and a half hour exam, we are please to announce the following promotions:

• Miss. Niamh Kellachan – 1st Degree
• Mr. Ben Melrose – 1st Degree
• Mr. Callum Gilchrist – 1st Degree
• Mr. Declan Laird – 1st Degree
• Miss. Despina Athanasiadou – 1st Degree
• Mrs. Lorna Singleton – 2nd Degree

After the grading the candidates along with the examination panel and those black belts who came along in support of the candidates had a traditional celebratory meal at a local Chinese restaurant.

The 2019 Scottish National Championships were held recently at the Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell. The two day event, attracted 464 competitors from 27 schools, and was the first inclusive national championships, featuring divisions for those competitors with additional support needs.

GMAC had 65 students taking part over the course of the weekend, with those 13 years and under competing on Saturday, and those 14 years and over on the Sunday, as well as our ASN competitors. Our juniors got off to a terrific start, led by our small team of coloured belt coaches; winning 17 Gold, 9 Silver and 12 Bronze on day one. The Sunday saw the team collect a further 22 Gold, 23 Silver, 15 Bronze, surpassing last years medal haul to once again become overall Scottish Champions.

TOTAL MEDAL TALLY: 39 GOLD – 32 SILVER – 27 BRONZE

Additionally we had two competitors become Overall Champion in their respective age categories;

Ava Millar – Under 7 years Female

James Watson – 18 -35 years Male

A full list of medals winners can be found here.