British Taekwondo Championships

The British Taekwondo championships at Kelvin Hall was an experience, and I am glad I have survived to tell the tale. Don't know why I agreed to enter, seemed like a good idea at the time.

The first category was the Pattern. In all categories you don't know who you are up against, there is no ranking, just the luck of the draw and if you don't win your bout you are out. This is my Dan Gun pattern. Unfortunately I only got 2 out of the 5 votes from the panel of judges so the other guy scraped through 3-2. He later went on to take silver medal. Close but no cigar.

OK, you probably want to see me get beaten up in the sparring category. It was just a digital camera so no longer than a minute filming at a time, so a couple of videos below. I'm up against a green belt opponent.

Here's the second part of the round.

And the result.

With no rest we had to bout again to settle the tie. I had never felt so drained in my life. You might not believe this but I needed all my will to lift my leg high enough to kick and was seeing stars.

I gave it my all, but lost 2 points to warnings, one with a tired back kick that was too low, and then I fell over trying a high kick. The end result went from a 2-2 tie to a 3-1 win to the other guy. Close but no cigar.

Last minute decision I also entered the power category. We had never done it in class before and I think the coach got a surprise when she saw me lining up to break a red board, which is the hardest one to break. They start to teach power technique I think green belt and above but I thought I would have a go. I opted for a knifehand strike technique, or 'karate chop' to the uneducated. I didn't break the board and got 3 'No's from the judges. For about five minutes I thought I had broken my hand. Never again.