3 new gallery updates have been added. 2 new galleries from our GMAC fun day, photos supplied by Joe Turnbull and Mrs McIlvaney, and certificate images from our Tactical Edge Grading.

After the recent gradings we would like to congratulate the following students on their promotion:

Friday 20th August

Jim Scougal to 9th Kup

Keiran Cain, Jordan Cain, Hannah Wilson, Robert Wysocki and Matthew O’Rourke to 7thKup

Chloe  Flannigan and Aaron  Muir to 6th Kup

Craig Burns, Kathleen Hutchison, David  Pearson to 4th Kup

Sunday22nd August

Natasha  Cheyne, Take  Hirooka and Gaku Hirooka to 2nd Kup

Ewan  Glidden, Tia  Fairley, Megan Thorpe, Declan Laird, Alexander Barclay and Aaron Walker to 3rd Kup

GMAC Martial Arts would like to congratulate the following students from our Tactical Edge class who successfully passed Basic Grading one.

Iain Stewart, Kieran Sherlock, Scott White, Stewart Mackay, Keith Kirkwood and  Michael Calvert.

Latest Little Ninjas and Kickin Kids Graduation results from 8th august, congratulations to all who took part.

Promoted to Nifty Ninja
Murray Davis

Promoted to Speedy Ninja
Toby-Jack McCart and Dylan Haddow

Promoted to Cool Ninja
Ross Nelson

Promoted to Top Ninja
Fred Stoddart

Promoted to Quick Kicker
Shauna Flannigan

Promoted to Ace Kicker
Abbie Cate Rodgers

GMAC martial arts would like to thank everyone who attended today’s 1st GMAC Fun Day. The day was a great success with well over 100 people, students and family, in attendance.

The day involved some light training and games and a very successful BBQ of which I don’t think there was anything left. A full account of the day will be published shortly.

Photo from today’s event will be added to our gallery shortly.

A number of new galleries have been added to our photo gallery section, click the link above to visit. We have also removed the ITF Scotland galleries from the recent ITF European Championships.

A copy of the ITF Scotland gallery can be found at www.itfscotland.com

GMac Bellshill is closed on Monday 19th July due to the Cultural Centre being closed for the bank holiday. All other classes are on as normal and the Bellshill class will resume on Thursday 22nd.

Congratulation to the following successful students at our grading on 2nd July

Promoted to 8th Kup  ( Yellow Belt ) Matthew O’Rourke

Promoted to 7th Kup ( Yellow Belt Green Tags )  Hugh Quinn

Promoted to 6th Kup ( Green Belt )  Michael Quinn, Christopher Quinn

Promoted to 5th Kup ( Green Belt Blue Tags )  Ryan Sherlock

GMAC Martials Arts would like to congratulate the students who took part in our recent Graduations & Gradings held  recently in Wishaw and Livingston.

Taekwon-Do Grading 6th June 2010.

Hannah Wilson promoted to 8th Kup ( Yellow Belt )
Jordan Cain promoted to 8th Kup
Kieran Cain promoted to 8th Kup

Robert Wysocki promoted to 8th Kup

Chloe Flannigan promoted to 7th Kup ( Yellow Belt Green tags )

Ross Strathearn promoted to 6th Kup ( Green Belt )

Ethan McKenna promoted to 5th Kup ( Green Belt Blue Tags )
James O’Pray promoted to 3rd Kup ( Blue Belt Red Tags )

Little Ninjas & Kickin Kids Graduation 6th June 2010.

Little Ninjas

Innes Ian McClair ( Wishaw ) promoted to Nifty Ninja
Carmen McCormick ( Bellshill ) promoted toNifty Ninja
Kyle Yilmaz ( Bellshill ) promoted to Nifty Ninja

Harris Russell ( Wishaw ) promoted to Speedy Ninja
Mackenzie Shields ( Wishaw ) promoted to Speedy Ninja
Callum Gibson ( Wishaw ) promoted to Speedy Ninja

Ben Wilson ( Wishaw ) promoted to Cool Ninja
Lewis Wilson ( Wishaw ) promoted to Cool Ninja
Adam Burns ( Wishaw ) promoted to Cool Ninja
Eryn Cornfield ( Bellshill ) promoted to Cool Ninja
Ryan Haney ( Bellshill ) promoted to Cool Ninja

Dominic Burns ( Wishaw ) promoted to Super Ninja

Owen Brown ( Bellshill ) promoted to Top Ninja

Christopher Pahnke ( Wishaw ) promoted to Ace Ninja
Murron McGunnigal ( Wishaw ) promoted to Ace Ninja
Elise Gaynor Austin ( Wishaw ) promoted to Ace Ninja
Josh Brown ( Wishaw ) promoted to Ace Ninja
Jack Durie ( Wishaw ) promoted to Ace Ninja
Ben Snodgrass ( Wishaw ) promoted to to Ace Ninja
Cameron Snodgrass ( Wishaw ) promoted to Ace Ninja
Ailish King ( Wishaw ) promoted to Ace Ninja

Nicole Cornfield Graduated to Yellow Belt Taekwon-Do

Rebecca Burns Graduated to Green Belt Taekwon-Do

Kickin Kids.

Kian Pearson ( Wishaw ) promoted to Quick Kicker

Matthew Kusmider ( Wishaw ) promoted to Speed Kicker

Alex Steel ( Wishaw ) promoted to Cool Kicker
Amber Steel ( Wishaw ) promoted to Cool Kicker
Stuart Coombes ( Wishaw ) promoted to Cool Kicker
Amy Jane Anderson ( Wishaw ) promoted to Cool Kicker

Hubert Rudnicki ( Wishaw ) promoted to Ace Kicker
Aleksander Kyc ( Wishaw ) promoted to Ace Kicker
Shaun Murphey ( Wishaw ) promoted to Ace Kicker
Hayden McAvoy ( Wishaw ) promoted to Ace Kicker

Dana Jovetic-Rankine ( Bellshill ) promoted to Premier Kicker

Little Ninjas & Kickin Kids 30th May 2010

Little Ninjas

Scott Glidden ( Livingston ) promoted to Ace Ninja
Scott Hay ( Livingston ) promoted to Ace Ninja
Liam Boyd ( Livingston ) promoted to Ace Ninja
Eva Moohan ( Livingston ) promoted to Ace Ninja
Angus McDonals ( Livingston ) promoted to Ace Ninja
Bethan Turner ( Livingston ) promoted to Ace Ninja

Glen McLean ( Livingston ) promoted to Top Ninja

Kyle Barr ( Livingston ) promited to Cool Ninja

Kickin Kids

Ciaran Livingstone ( Livingston ) promoted to Ace Kicker

Omar Farooq ( Livingston )  promoted to Top Kicker
Mahoor Ahmed ( Livingston )  promoted to Top Kicker

Little Ninjas & Kickin Kids 25th June 2010

Little Ninjas

Carmen Cole ( Bellshill ) promoted Speedy Ninja
Ross Gillespie ( Livingston ) promoted to Speedy Ninja

Donatella Fargnoli ( Livingston ) promoted to Super Ninja
Nicholas Carter ( Livingston ) promoted to Super Ninja
Gregg Laurie ( Livingston ) promoted to Super Ninja

Kickin Kids

Jenna Russell ( Bellshill ) Graduated to Green Belt Taekwon-Do
Ross Malin ( Livingston ) Graduated to Green Belt Taekwon-Do
Harry Coleman ( Livingston ) Graduated to Green Belt Taekwon-Do
Mikha Rohrs ( Livingston ) Graduated to Green Belt Taekwon-Do

Ewan Rodger ( Livingston )  promoted to Top Kicker
Nathan Cameron ( Livingston ) promoted to Top Kicker

Reilly Taylor ( Livingston ) promoted to Cool Kicker
Sam Fairley  ( Livingston ) promoted to Cool Kicker

Alasdair Hutton ( Livingston ) promoted to Speed Kicker
Shannyn Masterson ( Livingston ) promoted to Speed Kicker
Morgan Spence ( Livingston ) promoted to Speed Kicker

Taekwon-Do Grading 30th May 2010

Struan Taylor promoted to 1st Kup ( Red Belt Black Tags )

Alistair Bow promoted to 2nd Kup ( Red Belt )

Heather Carter promoted to 4th Kup ( Blue Belt )

Andrew Cameron promoted to 5th Kup ( Green Belt Blue Tags )
Harry Copping promoted to 5th Kup
James Meechan promoted to 5th Kup

Caroline Redmond promoted to 7th Kup ( Yellow Blet Green Tags )
Andrew Laurie promoted to 7th Kup

Please note we have had to move our Tactical Edge Class to a Wednesday night. The class will now run on Wednesday’s at 8:30pm – 9:30pm.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused with this class move.

Please see below the summer timetable for GMAC Livingston, all classes at Bellshill and Wishaw remain as normal.

Monday:

Little Ninja’s (class 1) 4.45-5.30pm

Kickin Kid’s (class 1) 5.30-6.30pm

Junior TKD 6.30-7.30pm

Senior TKD 7.30-8.30pm

Tuesday:

TKD Tigers (class 1) 4.45-5.30pm

Little Ninja’s (class 2) 5.45-6.30pm

Kickin Kid’s (class 2) 6.30-7.30pm

Junior/Senior TKD 7.30-8.30pm

MMA 8.30-9.30pm

Wednesday:

Little Ninja’s (class 1) 4.45-5.30pm

Kickin Kid’s (class 1) 5.30-6.30pm

Junior TKD 6.30-7.30pm

Senior TKD 7.30-8.30pm

Thursday:

Little Ninja’s (class 2) 5.45-6.30pm

Kickin Kid’s (class 2) 6.30-7.30pm

Junior/Senior TKD 7.30-8.30pm

MMA 8.30-9.30pm

Friday:

Little Ninja’s (class 2) 5.45-6.30pm

Saturday:

TKD Tiger’s (class 2) 10.30-11.15am

Sunday:

Tactical Edge 2.00pm-3.00pm

These changes take effect as of Monday 31st May 2010.

Congratulation to the following students who where successful at the recent GMAC  Taekwon-Do grading, held on Sunday 30th May.

Promoted to 7th Kup: Andrew Laurie, Caroline Redmond

Promoted to 5th Kup: Harry Copping, Andrew Cameron, James Meechan

Promoted to 4th Kup: Heather Carter

Promoted to 2nd Kup: Alistair Bow

Promoted to 1st Kup: Struan Taylor

Congratulations from all at GMAC.

We’ve recently changed the way our Gallery functions to allow for easier and quicker updates. Currently we only have two albums loaded up, Black Belt photos and the recent GTUK competition in Edinburgh.

More Albums will be uploaded over the weekend.

We aim to keep the Galleries up as long as people are viewing them, however with the large number of images we upload bandwidth sometime becomes an issue, our old site had 22 thousand images uploaded over the years. So save any photos you wish to keep our speak with your instructor if you would like a copy of any originals.

Due to demand we have started a number of new classes at our Livingston adn Wishaw gyms ( details below ). If you are interested in any of these classes please use the contact page to get in touch with us for more information or drop by one of our gyms.

Livingston.

TKD Tigers Saturday’s 10.30am – 11.15am

Wishaw.

TKD Tigers Friday’s 5.00pm – 5.45pm

Little Ninja’s Monday & Friday’s 6.15pm – 7.00pm

Tactical Edge Monday & Friday’s 7.00pm – 8.00pm

European Championships Logo

Final update from European Championships

Sunday is Team day during the European Championships.  All teams would be competing today, both Junior Teams, and Senior Teams.

The day started with Junior Female power:  The girls were up fourth or fifth in the draw.  Melissa Brown (Knifhand), Rachel Morning (Side Kick) and Sarah Farren (Turning Kick).  All were unfortunate not to break any boards.  They went straight over to the Special Technique rings afterwards and again were unable to score any of the techniques, although all were very close.

The junior boys were on for both special technique and power also.  With the Special Technique, Ross Penman was first up on the Nopi Chagi, getting within hitting distance but very unlucky not to make the kick.  Alexander Gray was on the Turning Kick, and again the same as Ross was very, very close.  Greg Spark had Reverse Turning Kick, and David Gray 360 Back, both were unsuccessful on this occasion.  Daniel Locke was last to go on the flying side kick and made the break, 2 points for Scotland.

The girls team sparring were up next, and Scotland was drawn against Hungary in the first round.  All the girls fought well to take the match 3-0.  Next round the girls had Romania, again the girls fought very well showing showing good tactical skills taking them into the next round against Germany in the Semi-Final.  Up first was Melissa, she started off very well taking some good points, but the German girls caught her with her elbow to Melissa’s cheek, meaning Melissa was unable to continue.  Rachel and Jade fought very well pulling the match to 2-1.  Sarah was up next and with good movement, and speedy techniques, especially with her hands, she pulled the bout to her favour, although in the last few seconds, she stepped out of the ring giving her a 3rd warning giving the match to the German.  The girls earned bronze, after a great display.

The junior boys were also on before lunch, and drawn against Ukraine first.  Ross was up first keeping the Ukrainian at bay with his side kick; Ross scored some good points to win the match.  Alexander was in the ring next again showing great movement and good scoring to take the second match.  Daniel Locke was the last fighter for the boys and again showed exceptional movement to pick his points from the Ukrainian.  Giving the boys 3 wins.  Quarter Finals with Romania.  All the boys fought well, taking the match to a draw after 5 fights.  Meaning each team put up again.  Romania had to put up first and choose their tallest and heaviest sparer. Scotland put in Alexander.  Both fought very strategically, taking fast point, although in the last seconds as with the girls Alexander received a 3rd warning, meaning the match went Romania’s way.  Very good effort from all the boys.

The senior men were up at the same time as the junior boys, against Norway, who were a very big team; most of their sparer’s were +71kg.   Gary was up first for the men, and a little to the fight threw a counter reverse turning kick.  After a few minutes the Norwegian gave the bout to Scotland, being unable to continue further.  1st match to Scotland.  Second up was Mark Boydell.  Mark fought well scoring some early points, but towards the end received a 3rd warning, match to Norway.  Next in was Adam, against a taller opponent, Adam had great movement in the ring, although on this round, was unable to outscore the Norwegian.  Next in was Michael Leask, showing good punching techniques against a much heavier and taller opponent, although was unable to pull the match Scotland’s way.

The ladies team were the last to spar, against Finland.  up first was Roxanne, showing good skills to score a head shot, along with some other’s but the Finn, kept away once she knew she was up in points in the last 20 seconds.  (The downside to the electronic score boards).  1st bout to Finland Next up was Lynne, who fought very well, pushing the Finnish girl hard, and putting her under great pressure.  Finland takes second bout.  Third up was Gillian, out kicking her smaller opponent to win the round.  4th bout was Stephanie, sparring very well, although losing out to a more experienced sparer.  Match to Finland.

The men’s special technique was up next; unfortunately they were unable to make any of the breaks.  Power test went well.  With Jeremy on Punch, Gary on Knifehand, Mark on Side Kick, Alan on Turning Kick, and Jason on Reverse.  Jeremy was first with the punch, hitting a little low – no break.  Gary broke one board and bent the second to earn 3 points.  Mark was too close on the side, and didn’t manage to break, Alan on the turning kick, destroyed the boards, Jason went high on the reverse.  7 points.

Last up today was the Senior Female team on Power 1^st then Special Technique.  Scotland went up in at the beginning of the group, as many teams were still sparring.  Stephanie was on Knifehand, Gillian on Side Kick, Roxanne on Turning Kick.  Stephanie went first breaking the knifehand with ease, Gillian broke confidently on the side, and Roxanne went through the turning kick with great determination.  Giving the ladies team maximum points.  Putting them in 1^st place.  The whole Scotland Team, then waited with baited breath on the other countries taking their turning.   The anticipation was so intense each time a country went through their techniques.  Until the last team to break Poland came up and went through each of the techniques to take them joints 1^st.  On to the tie-break.  First chosen out the hat was turning kick.  As it’s a tie, the boards are increased to 3.  Scotland had to break first, Gillian steps on the mat.  She measures up well, and pulls back ready for the break, she throws everything into the kick; the boards don’t break.  Next up Poland, again the boards do not budge.    Next drawn is knifhand.  One black board is put up on the holder.  Again Gillian is chosen to perform the technique.  Again she does the measure confidently and performs a strong technique, the board half breaks, giving Scotland two points.  Poland are next, and as with the Scot’s chose the same competitor to do the technique.  She measures up, the Scottish team, and coaches can barely watch.  No break.  Gold for Scotland.  The whole team descended to celebrate with the ladies team!  The celebrations had to be cut short to allow the ladies to do their special technique.  Nicole is on Nopi Chagi, Gillian on the Jumping Turning Kick, and Roxanne on the Flying Side Kick.  The team need 2 points to go equal second with Russia, Romania and Slovakia.  Nicole just misses the Nopi by a hair.  Gillian does well to score 2 points on the Turning Kick.  Roxanne goes over the Side, breaking the board, but the first tape was hit a broke.  No points on the Side.  2 points overall.  Scotland goes joint second.  The technique chosen was Nopi.  Russia went first and scored 2 points, Slovakia were next and again scored 2 points.  Nicole was chosen to hit the Nopi, again she was so close, she touched the board, but not enough to flip it for the two points.

A very successful European Championships for Scotland Team 2010.

Winning the following medals:

GOLD             Senior Female Team                            Team Power Test

SILVER          Gillian McIlvaney                               Ind. Senior Female +70 kg Sparring

BRONZE        Junior Female Team                            Team Pattern

BRONZE        Junior Female Team                            Team Sparring

BRONZE        Senior Male Team                               Team Pattern

BRONZE        Sarah Farren                                        Ind. Junior Female Power Test

BRONZE        Alexander Gray                                  Ind. Junior Male -63 kg Sparring

BRONZE        Iain O’Hare                                         Ind. Junior Male -58 kg Sparring

BRONZE        Gilles Brown                                       Ind. Junior Male +70 kg Sparring

Scotland’s Total:

1 Gold

1 Silver

7 Bronze

The Scotland Team for the 2010 European Championships would like to thank all the coaches, for all their hard work, and time put in training the team for these championships and look forward to training for the World Championships in March 2011, in Auckland, New Zealand

We’d also like to thank the supporters for all their cheering over the weekend, we hope their voice’s return soon!

Saturday 1st May.

Saturday as always is sparring day. Starting with the Senior Male Individual Sparring divisions, and also the Junior Female Individual Power. First up was the under 80kg Men, on Centre Ring.  Gary McGuire was drawn against an experienced competitor from Sweden.  Gary showed great determination to keep the fight tight and chased the points well, well, making it difficult for his opponent to score.  The result was very tight, with Sweden edging in front.

Next to compete in Junior Girls Power Test was Rachel Morning and Sarah and Sarah and Sarah Farren. Rachel was up first.  After setting all the boards heights, she measured up for Sonkal.  And destroyed the board on the hit. Next up was side kick, although after a bit of confusion, a small mistake from Rachel in not making the guarding block  prominent in the measure, the judges ruled a no break due to this.  Turning kick went a little low.  Total 2 points.

Sarah was at the end of the draw, and had a wait before her turn to break, against same as Rachel had done, broke the Sonkal well, bent the broke the Sonkal well, bent the side.  The 3 points earned Sarah Bronze.

Straight after the girls Power, Daniel Locke’s division was called, he was half way down the draw.  He got off to a great start breaking the punch, 2 points.  Sonkal was tough, he hit a little low on the boards as with the little low on the boards as with the side kick.  Turning kick required more hip rotation, but the reverse more hip rotation, but the reverse turning turning kick broke to give him 4 points.

Onto the Junior boys sparring. First up was Alexander Gray in – 63kg.  With 25 in the group, he was drawn against Germany in the first round.  Alexander dominated throughout both rounds, comfortably winning the match.  Next up Norway, Alexander showed great ability keeping the Norwegian at bay with his side kick, through to Semi’s against Greece.  This was a little more closely contested, until the final 30 seconds when the Greek went out went out went out in front.  Win to Greece, Bronze medal for Alexander.

Gillian was up next in the +70 kg division.  Drawn against current World Champion Nyyti Korolainen from Finland.  Finland withdrew due to injury.  Gillian went into next round against Germany.  The fight started off tactically, with Gillian dominating it in the second round, win to Scotland, into finals later on in the evening.

Almost straight after Gillian, Daniel was up in the +70 Boys category. His first opponent was a very tall Latvian, who with his long legs, made Daniel work hard for his points,  very good tactics made this easy for Daniel, and the win went his way.  He was then up against Ireland, with no rest in between as the draw meant Daniel had to sparr his way into the round with all the other competitors.  Daniel kept the fight close through the first first round.  In the second round Daniel was tiring, and the Irish exploited this by putting more pressure on him, and scored two good punches. Win went to Ireland who eventually went on to win Gold.

Ross Penman was the last of the boys to spar today in -70kg. boys to spar today in -70kg. Switzerland was first opponent, both boys sparred in a similar style, with Ross picking the the the points from him.  Good win for Ross.  Next up was Ukraine.  Ross dominated trhough the match, keeping good focus, and out sparring his opponent to take opponent to take him into the quarter finals against Poland.  Ross kept the he Polish competitor fighting hard the match was drawn until last 30 seconds where the seconds where the Pole took two points to score it a 2-1-1 decision in Poland’s favour.

Next was the opening ceremony where one Representative from each country took center stage and welcomed everyone to the competition and wished them good luck for the tournament.  This was done on Scotland’s behalf by Mrs Jacqui Wallace (Team Pattern). Once the opening ceremony finish all the sparring finals for Senior divisions took place from highest to lowest weight , male then female. This meant Gillian was up in the second final.

Her opponent was Aleksandra Nowak from Poland.  Gillian had planned out the tactics with her coach Mr McIlvaney prior fight and stuck to them thoughout.  This kept the match close, and in the last part of second round second round turning kick and the Pole took match 2-1-1 stepping out the ring in the last 6 seconds to a rapturous “booing” from the from the crowd.had to settle for Silver.

Another successful day for Scotland taking the following medals: medals: Gillian McIlvaney – Silver (+70kg Sparring) Alexander  - Bronze (-63kg Sparring) Sarah Farren – Bronze (Power)

Friday 30th April.

Today the European Championships began.  As always the first day consists of Individual Pattern and Team Pattern for all divisions, along with the Individual Special Technique, and some of the junior sparring categories.

Today we have the following people/teams competiting:
Junior Female 1st Degree Pattern – Halle Stuart
Junior Female 2nd Degree Pattern – Sarah Farren
Junior Male 1st Degree Pattern – Ross Penman
4 Team’s for Pattern (Male & Female, Senior & Junior)
Junior Male Individual Special Technique – Ross Penman & Daniel Locke
Junior Female Individual Special Technique -  Sarah Farren

The day began with Halle up in Pattern.  She done well performing a very good pattern against her more experienced opponent from Poland.  Win to Poland.  Next up was Ross in junior male pattern.  Again drawn against Poland, Ross performed extremely well, although on this occassion did not get the win.  Next up in 2nd Degree Pattern, Sarah came up against, you guessed it – Poland!  Win to Poland.

Special Technique saw Daniel hit the Flying Side Kick for 2 points, this took him into joint 1st place, with 24 competitors in the division.  Daniel then moved down to joint 2nd place, and then down to joint 3rd, until the last competitor from Germany, performed his kicks.  Hitting four of the five techniques, to take him straight into 1st.

Team Patterns:  First up were the junior female team.  Who got a by into the second round where they met Poland who beat Russia in the previous round.  The girls had a little nerves beforehand, but on the ring performed well with little mistakes.  Poland through to Semi’s.

Senior Females were up after the Juniors, drawn first in the division against Finland.  Finland performed there optional pattern 1st with some mistakes, looking good for the Scottish ladies.  The ladies performed a flawless Ge-Baek, and went into the second pattern looking the favourites, the designated pattern was Choong-Moo.  Both teams performed very well, a small mistake in both.  Decision 3-1-1 to Finland.  Very unlucky.

Junior males up next against Norway, again the boys performed brilliantly, looking to have the decision, although making 1 mistake in the designated pattern.  Win to Norway.

Senior Male Team:  Drawn against Hungary in the first round, and sailed through into the second.  During the secoround the computer system failed, and the bout was done by manual scoring.  After a great performance by the Scottish men against Germany,the jury president took sometime finalizing the result, Win to Scotland.  Quater Finals the men came up against Poland, current European Champions.  Both team performed very strong patterns, on this bout the decision went against the Scottish.

Results for day 1:
Junior Female Team Pattern: Bronze
Senior Male Team Pattern:  Bronze

Up tomorrow:  Gillian McIlavaney, Ross Penman, Alexander Gray, Daniel Locke and Gary McGuire, all in individual sparring.

European Championships Logo

Thursday 29th April.

Morning Today started with weigh-in for those competitors competing in individual sparring division.  Atfer an hour’s wait Scotland were called to the weigh-in area.  Where all competitors made their respective weights easily.

During the weigh-in, those competitors not sparring in individual categories started the morning training session at the sports hall.

There were a few teams also using the faciities at the same time as the Scotland Team. The Patterns Teams had plenty of room to practice their routines, and those not in the Pattern Team, practiced sparring techniques.

The session went extremely well with everyone performing at a very high level.

The team also took the oportunity to check out the competition hall after the training session.  Mr Boydell was shocked at this point to receive a birthday card from the team.

We now have an two hours for lunch, and some free time, before our afternoon training session begins.  This evening will also include the Umpire’s meeting, and Coaches meeting.

A selection photos are available from our Facebook page, find the link on our home page.

European Championships Logo

Mrs McIlvaney is pictured on Swedish Assosiation Website, advertising this years European Championships.  This is the first time the Swedish Sports Assosiation has ever featured martial arts on their site.  Mrs McIlvaney is pictured sparring Petra Dydiszko from Sweden.

Follow link to veiw the article

http://www.rf.se/Nyheter/2010/EfterfragatTaekwondo-EMpahemmaplan

ITF European Championships Logo

*Wednesday 28th April*

This morning the ITF Scotland Team, consisting of 25 competitors, 3 Coaches,
1 Umpire, 14 Supporers along with Grand Master MacCallum, began the journey
to the European Championships held this year in Skovde, Sweden.

We began with a 10am flight, and arrived in Gothenburg around 12 noon (local
time).  The team had a coach waiting for us at the airport, to take us to
Skovde, around 2 hour drive.  All in all a very smooth journey, no hicups
along the way (1 small panic over a missing passport!  Eventually turned up
in her bag!)

This afternoon will consist of team registration and a training session
before dinner.

More updates to follow over the next few days.  Please check the Official website for more information on the championships.  You can follow the team on our faceook page also.