On Sunday 6 March 2022, Taekwon-Do UK held the first in a new style of Technical Courses, this one being aimed at 1st and 2nd Degrees and focusing on those pattern sets.

The course was held at the Trident Academy at Sale Rugby Club and there was an excellent turnout with students coming from Stratford upon Avon, Stockport, Chester and even Scotland as well as the local students. It was also nice to see some of the more senior grades still attending to work on the patterns below their own grade.

At the start of the course we congratulated Master Miley on his recent promotion and Master Archer presented him with a new Master’s dobok. Master Miley in turn presented Master Archer and Master Ridley with some gifts as a token of his appreciation for their support whilst working for his grading.

After a bracing warm up from Mr Crisp we then got straight in with first degree patterns with Master Archer and Master Ridley taking it in turns to take us all through each pattern in detail.

After a short break, during which we got to share in Master Miley’s celebratory cake, Master Ridley took us through the protocols for destruction and we practiced the breaks that students will be asked to perform when grading to second degree.

Mr Condie then took the first degrees whilst the second degrees and above went through Eui-Am and Choong-Jang with Master Archer and Master Ridley before we all came back together to study Juche with Mr Crisp.

We rounded off the day with Master Miley, Mr Crisp and Mr Condie taking us through the step sparring and model sparring protocols.

It was so nice to see so many students enjoying training together again, for the first time in a long time in some cases, and to have Taekwon-Do UK’s Technical Committee together to teach us all. It’s definitely been a bright start to 2022 and I look forward to great things continuing throughout the rest of the year.

Thanks as always go to the students who attended and worked hard throughout the day as well as the parents for bringing them. Next, thanks to Master Miley for hosting the course at the Trident Academy and for his input throughout the day and Mr Condie for travelling down from Scotland to share his knowledge. Last, but by no means least, thanks to Master Archer, Master Ridley and Mr Crisp for an informative and fun training session. The time always flies when we’re having fun as well as learning.

Jayne Heywood III

Publicity Officer for the Northern Region

T-UK Black Belt Technical Course