Click here to go to the Tournament site

What a great start; a brand new venue full of facilities which made a nice change, congratulations to the decision maker of that one.

As always lots of very nervous looking competitors amongst a huge number of black belts, almost as many judges as  competitors this time which equals very little stoppage time as the day progressed.

A smaller number of people entering this year meant that the day passed very quickly, but I felt that the lack of people was very obvious in the category sizes and scope; and I think some would have felt robbed as a result. However, I witnessed many surprising results where the lower grades prevailed and, as always, it was a privilege to be a judge for the day.

I would like to extend my thanks to the judges on my ring without whom my job would not have been possible and I am sure that the other centre referees would do the same if writing this message.

As always the Championship committee had done such a great job and proved once again that they operate a well-oiled machine. All in all a successful day, measurement of which is by the lack of complaints, injuries and volume of smiles.

Well done to all!

Tang Soo

Individual Club Award

Most Improved Student

Once inside I discovered that I was not alone as the hall had equal amount of black belts and Masters to competitors. What a fantastic support community we have, although I suspect it was a little scary for the little people present.

Wayne did an excellent job of explaining the rules and the purpose of the day, which was to eliminate some of the nerves for both the Competitors & Judges for the big day on April the 21^st. It also gave the parents an opportunity to ask any questions which will assist their understanding and hopefully mean we have zero complaints on the day.

As always the standard was amazing, such big spirit from such small people and the judges were second to none, so a big Thank you to them.

I look forward to seeing you all on the 21^st for more of the same.

Good luck

Zoe White

As from the 1st April 2012 the hall for classes at Chipping Sodbury will change to the following address:-

Dodington Parish Hall
Finch Road
Chipping Sodbury
BS37 6JZ

Please support this event as much as you can. The TSD Union is attempting to get some publicity via Combat magazine etc. They have invited them to attend/send a representative.

The Details are:

Date: Saturday 25th February
Time: 1pm – 4pm
Venue: Nunnery Wood Sports Centre, Spetchley Road, Worcester, WR5 2NL

Cost: £5.00 pp

The subjects to be covered will be:-

Self Defence, Weapons law in/of UK & Human body and it’s vulnerability, Yuk Ro, Fighting Techniques, Kicking Techniques, Knife Hyung

Joan is organising this event for charity. She has between 12 and 14 different styles training on the day.

In Joan’s words, “I have some great Instructors coming along so it will be a fantastic day.”

View the event poster:

as a pdf

as an image

For more information email Joan Connor at
shotokan.tigers@hotmail.co.uk

Our family have been regular visitors at the childrens hospital in Bristol for the last 9 years. When my mum told me about a charity abseil for the grand appeal I wanted to do it to help the people who saved my brothers life on many occasions.

I thought it would be easy, but when I got to the top it was a different story!! It was so high! I was on the verge of giving up but thought i couldnt let myself, Dyl or the hospital down.

Mum said she would come with me, so I went for it.  I was terrified! I lay down on my stomach and slowly lowered myself over the edge. As I cried and sobbed my way down the building, I could hear the people below cheering me on, and mum was next to me telling me she was proud.  When I got to the bottom I was so proud of myself, must have been my Tang Soo Do spirit   I can’t wait to do it again next year!
 
Ashleigh Hughes
 

Bradley Stoke Club

In July this year Dragon Tang Soo Do entered a raffle to win sponsorship of the Cadbury Heath Youth Football team. Kristie Evans and Jamie Prideaux were offered the chance for the Kingswood Club to sponsor the team exclusively but decided that it would be more beneficial to enter as an association. There were 40 raffle tickets for sale for a price of £25 each, and it didn’t take Master White much convincing to get involved! So with a one in 40 chance of winning, and the raffle some time away, all was forgotten about it until Kristie received the exciting phonecall to congratulate us on being the new sponsors!

The sponsorship deal will last for the whole of the football season and will act as fantastic advertising for the whole association. Kristie has created leaflets containing information about Tang Soo Do as well as links to the website and contact details. These have been passed on to the club manager to hand out to enquiring parents and children. Hopefully they will assist in gaining us all some new students over the course of the year! The club sometimes appear in local newpapers thus giving us wider broadcasting, and we will be featured on their website when it is up and running.

I’m sure you will join us in wishing them the very best for the upcoming season.

As you can see, they are looking very smart in their Dragon Tang Soo Do strips!

After an epic 6.5 hour drive we met up with our fellow warriors at the campsite and proceeded to put up the tent in wet and soggy surroundings. This was overlooked by the smug group of happy campers in the campervan! We had the last laugh though as 16 of us shoe horned our way in for the team talk later on in the evening!

Morning of the event started off with bacon sarnies and inevitable rain, but that didn’t dampen our spirits, and after a quick group photo we headed off to the middle of nowhere!! Quickly got signed in, tattooed, and tagged, and looked on in horror at the muddy soaking wet competitors who were arriving back looking slightly worse for wear and telling horror stories of hanging off cliff edges! Our time was soon called so we headed off to the starting point, wished our team mates well before nearly choking to death on yellow smoke! Ran blindly to the top of the hill and as the smoke cleared, I could see bodies flying down the hill, taking people out on their way down like skittles, it became apparent to me, that we were in fact quite mad!

Over the next 6 miles, we proceeded to run through fire pits, climb over 7′ walls, swim through streams, dunk our heads under the most repugnant smelling water imaginable, crawl through tunnels filled with cow dung and such delights, climbed over cargo nets, jumped through tyres, waded through swampy water, crawled under nets through mud, climbed over hay bale mountains, got mildly electrocuted, and a whole other amount of demoralising obstacles, only to be redeemed by the foamy slide near the end………now that I could have gone on all day!! Best picture of the day has to be Steve’s face at the bottom!

Rob Garlicki was the first of the ‘top guns’ to cross the finish line in a fantastic 1.04, followed by Scott  1.07, Jamie 1.19, Matt Moriarty 1.36. Aaron 1.37, Ben 1.50, Steve 1.51, Rob Burgin 1.51, Chris 1.58, myself 1.58, Tris 2.21, Matt Ball 2.21, and Lauren made it to 9k but sadly didn’t make it over the line due to asthma. Well done guys x

After showers and a quick nap from me, we headed over to che’ Tris for a much deserved BBQ, had a great night, made me pleased to be part of such a friendly group of people, had lots of laughs, and no sore heads in the morning which was a bonus! (Don’t worry Aaron, what goes on in the lakes, stays in the lakes!! ) Headed home on Sunday after goodbye’s and promises of doing the 10mile next year!

I’m really proud of the team raising over £600 for Little bridge house Children’s hospice. I have been going to Little bridge for family respite breaks for the last 7 years, and I can’t begin to describe to you how deserving this charity is of the money raised. It really is a fantastic place, and such a lifeline to so many families. The atmosphere is one of happiness, quite an achievement considering the nature of it, just shows what a fantastic job everyone is doing there. There is still time to sponsor us, just click on the link below, would be most appreciated xx

Jenny Hughes, Bradley Stoke Club

http://www.justgiving.com/top-guns