T-UK Umpire Course - Manchester

On Sunday 8 March, the Trident Taekwon-Do Academy in Sale played host to the T-UK Umpires Course. Master Archer, President of T-UK, and Master Ridley, Vice President, were our Instructors for the day and there was a good turnout with 25 participants in attendance.

The day started in the class room with Master Ridley running us through the jobs required of each of the four classes of umpire. There were questions from the group, which were answered by both Masters and a fair amount of interaction between those participants who are slightly more experienced at umpiring and those who were attending the course for the first or second time.

After a short break for lunch we moved downstairs to the dojang to put the theory into practice. We split into two groups with Master Archer taking one and Master Ridley taking the other. Patterns judging was broken down so students were looking at the various different parts of the pattern on their own before finally putting it altogether. There were discussions as to how people judge patterns with tips given that some umpires have found useful.

Overall it was a very informative day with students having fun whilst learning the finer points of being a T-UK Umpire. I am sure that all students will have taken something away from the course, either to assist them in a future role officiating at a tournament or in their time as a competitor.

We then moved on to sparring with some students looking at the role of corner judging and how to score points and others taking on the role of centre referee and looking out for things that needed to be
given a warning or even a foul.

Thank you to the Trident Taekwon-Do Academy for hosting and to Master Archer and Master Ridley for sharing their knowledge with us.

Miss Jayne Heywood III

Publicity Officer for the Northern Reagon