Seven competitors from Sutton Coldfield(5 students and 2
Instructors) went to the GTUK British Championships on Saturday 15th
October. Between them they brought back an impressive 8 medals, 5 of which were
gold.
First to medal was 11 year old Rebecca Welch who took a
silver medal in her patterns category with a very strong performance, narrowly
missing out on gold after a close judge’s decision.
Next up was Hannah Elton who was competing at her second
championships this year. She also put in a solid performance to earn herself a
silver medal in patterns. She then went on to beat older girls to gain a
convincing gold medal in sparring.
After a pause for lunch, and a superb demonstration from the
GTUK international black belts, Sutton Coldfield’s newest member Michael Boyle
was up. Despite only learning his patterns this week he put in a confident
performance but unfortunately didn’t place in the patterns event. This was not
the case in his sparring event however. Even though he was much older and less
experienced than his competitors he managed to hold the final to a 2 -2 nail
biting draw until in the dying seconds he landed a clear punch on his opponent
to win the match.
SCTKD’s other two competitors, Kieran O’Connell (age 7) and
Michael Gilmore (age 25) unfortunately didn’t place this time after losing to
the eventual winners of their categories in the early rounds. However all
showed the true spirit of competition of accepting their losses, knowing it
will lead to their improvement and went on to support their team mates in their
victories.
It was business as usual for Sutton Coldfield Tae Kwon Do’s
female instructor Mrs Collett, who is captain of the GTUK ladies team. While
she might feel the pressure performing at this standard it certainly didn’t
show in her performance, winning gold in both her patterns and sparring
category. Speaking later she said, “It is never nice to face a team mate on the
mats (her final was against the Ladies team vice-captain Amy Ridgard), but I
think I responded well to the pressure of today’s event.”
Emma’s husbands and co instructor Alex Collett was last of
the SCTKD crew to compete. He put in a fantastic performance in patterns, but lost
in the final after making a mistake in his moves. Next came sparring and a
chance for retribution as his first opponent was the same person he had just
faced in the patterns final. Needless to say Mr Collett was motivated and
progressed comfortably through his rounds until the final. The final was exceptionally
close, and following a draw in the judges’ decision it came down to technical
marks – who had fought the more cleanly and obeyed the sparring rules. Mr
Collett came out on top of that and was awarded the gold medal.
His weekend didn’t stop there, however, as on Sunday he took
part in the Birmingham Half marathon and completed the course in a personal
best time of 1 hour, 38 minutes and 44 seconds.
Speaking after the competition on Saturday he said: “I’m
thrilled with mine and everyone from the clubs performance today. The club is
going from strength to strength and win or lose all of our members conducted
ourselves well today and should be very proud of themselves”.
If you are interested in joining Sutton Tae Kwon do please
contact Mr & Mrs Collett by email at sctkd@hotmail.com
or check their website for further information www.sctkd.co.uk
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