“Cambridge Tae Kwon-Do” and 46 students welcomed our President Master John Archer VII, Vice President Master Ian Ridley VII and our Regional instructor Mr Andy Crisp VI to our 2018 area Seminar.

There were 2 * 3 hour sessions, a morning session covering coloured belt material (which the Black Belts were welcome to attend) and the afternoon dedicated to the Black Belts.

The sessions kicked off at 9:30 stating with an infectiously enthusiastic warmup taken by Master Ridley aimed at waking up both the body and mind, after 30 mins everyone was suitably woken up and ready for the rest of the day.

Master Archer then took us through a detailed analysis of each pattern from “Saju Jirugi” to “Yul Gok” at which point Mast Ridley took the reins from “Joong Gun” to “Choong Moo”.

As students completed their grade level patterns they pealed of and joined a sparring session held by Master Archer. The session focused on how the mind is as important as someone’s physical ability and covered areas such as timing, feinting and counter attacks,

After lunch it was the Black Belts turn.

Master Archer took us through the 1st to 3rd degree black belt patterns in detail.

We then switched to set sparring with Master Ridley running us though practical drills and emphasising that although clean and technically correct techniques are important, they have to be combined with a level of aggression, power, multi-targeting, and natural flow to be effective.

We also had some fun with some self-defence practical exercises, like escaping from a leg grab.

Our final session was taken by Master Archer and followed on from the previous sparring session, but at a more advanced level, everyone was suitably exhausted by the end of this !

Thanks to Master Archer & Master Ridley for traveling down to us, to Mr Crisp for his ongoing regional support, Mrs Spiller and the team for hosting the event and the students who attended.

David Spiller III

Cambs Area Seminar !