On Saturday, 26th April 2025, we competed in the 41st GBTSDA (Great Britain Tang Soo Do Assoc) 2025 National Championships at the David Ross Sports Village, Nottingham University.
Our team of 12 joined almost 380 competitors from around the country to compete in categories of weapons (bo-staff, dagger, and sword), sparring, individual hyungs and team hyungs at gup and dan levels. Supported by family, friends, other club students, and instructors.
In addition to competing, many senior-grade students and instructors assisted the event as timekeepers, scorekeepers, judges, and other roles, donating their time to ensure a safe and enjoyable competition for all participants.
Since the 2024 Nationals, many of our students have been promoted in grade, so the standard of competition for them was much higher this year, but they all rose to the challenge and achieved great results. Most notably, Miss Holmes not only moved from the junior to the 17+ adult category but also rose in rank this year to 2nd dan, putting her in the 17+ ladies 2nd/3rd dan division, quite possibly the toughest division of the competition.
The day started with the weapons divisions, here the team had success with Mr Oliver Russell being awarded 1st for sword, Ms Laura Vanhulle a 1st for bo-staff and Mr Dockerill a 2nd, just missing out on a 1st in bo-staff in a very close division. Our 2nd gup ladies then all proceeded to gain podium positions with Susie Morris and Philippa Collins both gaining 2nds while Kate Latimer scored a 3rd place in bo-staff.
Midday saw the official opening of the Championships, led by KCN Khan, head of GBTSDA and 8th dan Assistant Grandmaster of the WTSDA (World Tang Soo Do Assoc).
As holder of the 2024 Gup Grand Champion award, Greg Ozog returned the cup for this year’s competitors to aspire to.
Sadly Greg was not competing in this year’s competition to defend the title. However, he still managed to come away with an award for being part of the most productive ring of the day, acting as timekeeper for gup divisions.
This year, we entered two teams into the team hyungs competition. Mr Oroz, Miss Holmes, and Miss Rutherford competed in the dan category while Susie, Philipa, and Kate competed in the gup category. Competition is always tough, especially in the dan category, but we were successful with a 3rd place in the gup category, repeating their success from the 2023 National Championships.
In the afternoon gup session Rich Morris (5th gup) achieved a 1st in sparring, despite nursing an injured knee followed by our three red belt ladies each picking up a sparring trophy: Susie Morris (1st), Kate Latimer (2nd) and Philippa Collins (3rd). Nathan Morris then proceeded to also score in sparring with a 3rd place position.
Ms Vanhulle is also a previous National & Regional Gup Grand Champion, and was competing for the first time since being awarded her 1st Dan black belt at the beginning of 2025. Facing a stronger dan division, she again produced a top performance to gain 1st’s in weapons and hyungs and a 3rd in sparring. Another first for Ms Vanhulle was serving as a scorekeeper for gup divisions.
Mr Dockerill successfully added a 1st place in hyungs to this earlier 2nd in weapons.
Miss Rutherford returned to the Nationals this year after a break in 2024 to take her GCSEs, now also competing in dan divisions she pulled off an impressive 1st in sparring and 3rd in hyungs.
Mr J Ozog faced a tough division but still manage to come away with a 3rd in hyungs, like other senior grades, he also served as scorekeeper.
Mr O Russell achieved great results by taking 1st’s in weapons (sword) and hyungs before running into very tough competition in the sparring in possibly the most physically demanding division. Mr Russell also continued to serve as a judge for gup divisions.
In addition to competing, our instructors and students help with the running of the day. Master G Russell continues to expand her judging experience as a corner judge and center judge for both dan and gup competition rings, while Master R Russell is responsible for the organisation of trophies. Mr Rutherford, while also competing, acted as score keeper throughout the day.
| Name | Grade | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rich Morris | 5th Gup | Sparring | 1st |
| Kate Latimer | 2nd Gup | Team | 3rd |
| Sparring | 2nd | ||
| Weapons | 3rd | ||
| Philippa Collins | 2nd Gup | Team | 3rd |
| Sparring | 3rd | ||
| Weapons | 2nd | ||
| Susie Morris | 2nd Gup | Team | 3rd |
| Sparring | 1st | ||
| Weapons | 2nd | ||
| Nathan Morris | Cho Dan Bo | Sparring | 3rd |
| Laura Vanhulle | Cho Dan | Sparring | 3rd |
| Hyungs | 1st | ||
| Weapons | 1st | ||
| Will Dockerill | Cho Dan | Hyungs | 1st |
| Weapons | 2nd | ||
| Emily Rutherford | Cho Dan | Sparring | 1st |
| Hyungs | 3rd | ||
| Jakub Ozog | E Dan | Hyungs | 3rd |
| Oliver Russell | Sam Dan | Hyungs | 1st |
| Weapons | 1st |
