This July, five of our students – Will, Philippa, Susie, Nathan and Rich – travelled to Schaumburg, near Chicago, to join Team GB at the 2026 WTSDA World Tang Soo Do Championships.
The event drew around 1,800 Tang Soo Do practitioners from 17 countries, with competitors of all ages and grades taking part across forms, weapons and sparring divisions over several days.
Coached and supported by Master Gaynor Russell and Master Robert Russell, our team represented Ely & Witchford with real credit – and every single one of them came home with a medal.
The standout of the week was Susie, who won gold in both weapons and sparring, silver in hyungs, and was crowned Senior Female Gup Champion – the overall title for female coloured belt competitors across the entire championship.
Nathan also had an outstanding competition, taking gold in all three of his categories – weapons, hyungs and sparring – and just missed out on the Junior Gup Champion title on ranking.
In the black belt division, Will added gold in weapons, silver in hyungs and bronze in sparring. Philippa claimed gold in both weapons and hyungs, and Rich rounded off the team’s efforts with bronze in both weapons and hyungs.
Between them, the team brought home eight golds, two silvers and three bronzes. They were in great company – the wider GB team of 68 competitors returned with 158 medals in total, including five Grand Champions.
Ely & Witchford’s contributions were:
| Name | Grade | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rich Morris | 2nd Gup | Hyungs | 3rd |
| Weapons | 3rd | ||
| Philippa Collins | 1st Gup | Hyungs | 1st |
| Weapons | 1st | ||
| Susie Morris | Cho Dan Bo | Sparring | 1st |
| Hyungs | 2nd | ||
| Weapons | 1st | ||
| Nathan Morris | Cho Dan Bo | Sparring | 1st |
| Hyungs | 1st | ||
| Weapons | 1st | ||
| Will Dockerill | Cho Dan | Sparring | 3rd |
| Hyungs | 2nd | ||
| Weapons | 1st |
