Topping off another successful year, last weekend saw 11 of our students travel to Ebbw Vale in the Welsh Valleys for the GBTSDA Regional Championships. Joining hundreds of Tang Soo Do students from GBTSDA clubs across the nation to compete in weapons, individual and team Hyungs (forms), and sparring.

The highlight of our success was Susie Morris, a local childminder and mum, collecting three individual 1sts. Competing as a red-tag belt, Susie is only one step away from becoming a black belt candidate. Susie was crowned the Gup Grand Champion by BKCN Khan, assistant Grandmaster of the World Tang Soo Do Association (WTSDA), for the best overall performance in the Gup (coloured belt) divisions. On top of this, she also combined with Rich and Phillippa to obtain a well-deserved 3rd place for their team form.

Despite having very little time to practice together due to school and college work, our young black belts Jakub, Emily and Will pulled off an impressive 1st place in the Dan (black belt) team form category.

Any of our students can represent us at national and regional championships. This time our team ranged from 10 to 50 years old, from green belt right through to 2nd Dan black belt, and from all walks of life. Three of our students were competing for the first time, including our youngest Alicja, all of them giving their best. No doubt several of them will go on to represent GBTSDA at the WTSDA World Championships in Chicago next July.

Their overall achievement was 5 gold, 6 silver, and 3 bronze in the individual divisions.