We feel totally shocked and gutted today after learning of the passing of one of our former students, Philip Zhu.
Phil trained with us as a young lad from around 2011. He was a respectful, talented and dedicated student who always gave 100%, pushing himself and those around him. He earned his 1st Dan Black Belt in April 2015, aged 10; followed by 2nd Dan in October 2016. He was a skilled competitor and a massive part of our taekwondo family. Even though he eventually went on to concentrate on other martial arts, he did pop in once or twice to say hello and it was always a pleasure to see him.
Sending much love to the Zhu family and to Phil’s friends at The Combat Unit, where he trained in recent years.
Well done to everyone who took part in the ITF North West Championships today! You all did us proud
It was awesome to see a few first-time competitors joining the team and overcoming their nerves to have a go. Great effort from Kal, Isla, Jay W and Luis at their first comp
It was also a pleasure to watch our students growing in confidence; fighting hard, taking the knocks, but never giving up
We had 28 competitors today and they bagged 36 medals: 16 gold, 14 silver & 6 bronze! Great work, team!
Super-proud coaches here today after a great effort from the team at the GTI North West Open!
We had some first-time competitors and a few students competing in higher divisions after the recent grading; but everyone got stuck in and gave it their best shot.
Well done also to Jonny, Toby, Ríain & Sandra. They missed out on medals this time, but they all gave performances to be proud of.
Thank you and well done to everyone who helped with officiating and organising the tournament, and to all our coaches and support squad. The dream team!
RESULTS: 2024 GTI North West Open
Talia Murphy
BRONZE Patterns BRONZE Team Sparring
Thomas Bullock
GOLD Sparring GOLD Team Sparring
Tom Kelly
GOLD Team Sparring
Eoin Carney
SILVER Sparring SILVER Team Sparring
Erin Davies
BRONZE Team Sparring
Tilly Riley
BRONZE Team Sparring
Jacob Almond
SILVER Team Sparring
Jay Connolly
GOLD Patterns GOLD Sparring GOLD Team Sparring
Olly Kruk
SILVER Team Sparring BRONZE Sparring
Joe McNicholl
GOLD Sparring
Ava Pham
SILVER Sparring BRONZE Patterns BRONZE Team Sparring
Our students battled it out in Deeside today (sometimes with the refs as much as with their opponents!) and each of them gave a performance to be proud of! Our team of 20 students won 30 medals: 14 gold, 10 silver and 6 bronze!
A big shout-out to Dean and Ríain, who were competing for the first time; and to Owen & Rod, who also took part but missed out on the medals. Great effort, lads
Well done to everyone who stepped up to have a go. You did yourselves and your club proud
Thanks to OMA for running the event and thanks to our awesome support squad
