CONGRATULATIONS to our team on their incredible success at the World Championships in Croatia! 🇭🇷

Nine Liverpool students recently travelled to Novigrad, Croatia, as part of the GTI England team. After months of hard training in preparation for the tournament, our squad members really shone with some passionate, determined performances. We’re pleased to report that they absolutely smashed it, with every one of them bringing home a medal! The total haul was 18 medals: 13 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze 🙌

RESULTS:
🥇🥇 Olly Gargan – 2 x gold patterns & sparring
🥇🥇🥉 Jay Connolly – 2 x gold sparring & team sparring, bronze patterns
🥈 Liam Murphy – silver sparring
🥈🥈 Nikola Kliza – 2 x silver patterns & sparring
🥇 Eloise Williams – gold sparring
🥇🥇🥇 Owen – 3 x gold patterns, sparring & team sparring
🥇🥇🥈 Callum – 2 x gold sparring & team sparring, silver patterns
🥇 Connor – gold team sparring
🥇🥇 Stef – 2 x gold patterns & sparring.

The whole GTI England team had a great weekend, winning 51 medals, as well as a trophy for 2nd place in the overall black belt rankings 🏆

Regardless of the results, the passion and determination shown by each of our squad members has been incredible; not just at the tournament, but over the months of hard training that they have dedicated themselves to in order to achieve their goals. We are beyond proud ❤️

Well done to all the England squad members, and thanks to the GTI and the GTI Squad coaches for giving our students this amazing opportunity. Thanks to coaches John Newman, Alf Ferguson, Kirsty Kavanagh and Nicole Murphy, who were behind them all the way; particularly Coach Newman, for also taking on the mammoth task of organising the trip and all the logistics 👏

Thank you to everyone who supported the team’s fundraising efforts and helped them on their way to victory. Thanks also to the squad’s generous sponsors for helping to fund the new squad kit: Pi Accountancy, Whitetree, Talks With Toni podcast and Beard Construction.

Thanks also to Leanne Connolly for helping to organise the tournament (gaining an award from the official organisers! 🏅); and to the amazing team of supporters that cheered our fighters to victory over the weekend. Without a doubt, the GTI cheering squad was the loudest and proudest of them all! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Congratulations, everyone! Job done 🎉

A good day for the team at the 2024 GTI National Open!

We had 8 students taking part, and they all did themselves proud, winning 3 gold and 2 silver medals. Well done to our medal winners, and to Kal, Jay W and Ethan, who all fought really well, finishing just outside the medals

RESULTS: 2024 GTI National Open

Well done to our team for a great effort at the ITC UK Open today!

We had 12 students taking part; all worked hard and showed great improvement. They won 19 medals: 7 gold, 9 silver & 3 bronze!

Special mention goes to Kal, who was sparring competitively for the first time and did a great job! Well done also to Alin, who put up a really good fight but just missed out on the medals.

Well done, team! Thanks to our coaches for looking after everyone and to our cheer squad for all their support

RESULTS: 2024 ITC UK Open

We had six students competing at the ITFU British Open today, and they all smashed it!

Excellent performances from each of them, despite some tough competition. Everyone came away with a medal, with the total at 4 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze!

Special shout-out to Jay, who was absolutely amazing in the sparring, even though it was his first time sparring at a tournament! He really got stuck in and showed true fighting spirit to win the gold. One to watch…

It was a successful day for our team and for the rest of the GTI fighters, who fought hard and bagged another load of medals 

Well done, everyone!

RESULTS: 2024 ITFU British Open

Congrats to our little team who attended the GTI Junior Open in Cheltenham today! We had 8 students competing and we’re proud of every one of them.

16 medals won: 7 gold, 5 silver & 4 bronze!

Well done to everyone who took part!

Thanks very much to our coaches – Connor, Nicole and Callum – for looking after the team today. And thanks to everyone who came along to support

RESULTS: 2024 GTI Junior Open

>>> GTI England National Squad Selection

The GTI National Squad has been announced for the 2024 World Taekwondo Championships in Croatia this September! We’re very proud to have NINE Liverpool fighters selected to represent England: James Connolly, Liam Murphy, Nikola Kliza, Eloise Williams, Olly Gargan, Owen Gargan, Callum Edwards, Connor Murphy & Stef Davies. Well done, all!

We have a few fundraising plans to help the team with their expenses, so please help if you can!

• Sponsored kick-a-thon – Saturday 27^th July. All students are welcome to take part. Ask your family and friends to sponsor you for one crazy hour of furious kicking! A solid hour of pad work using a variety of taekwondo techniques. This event will take place during the usual two-hour Tournament Training class (start time approx 10.30am). There will be no lesson fee for those raising sponsorship; anyone not raising sponsorship is still welcome to take part, with their lesson fees going towards the fund. There will be prizes for the best kicks and for whoever raises the most in sponsorship. Sponsorship forms can be downloaded here!
  
• Football cards – just pay £2 to pick a team from the card and if yours is the winning team, you’ll get £30 prize money! Take a look at the cards next time you’re in class and pick as many teams as you like. We also have spare cards if you’d like to get your friends, family or work colleagues on board!
  
• Crowdfunding page – we’ve set up a Justgiving page for donations. If you’re able to spare anything to support the team, or even if you could just share the page, we’d be extremely grateful.

If anyone knows of any businesses that might be interested in sponsoring the team, please let us know.

Thanks!

>>> Class cancellations

There will be no classes on Saturday 15^th June due to the grading taking place. Apologies for any inconvenience.

>>> Tiger & Colour Belt Gradings

The next Tiger and Colour Belt Grading will be held on Saturday 15^th June at All Souls Church Hall. If you want to grade, you should attend classes regularly (ideally, at least twice per week) and make sure you know all the theory and practical requirements for your grade (as specified on your revision sheet). Please pick up your revision sheet in class if you haven’t already or find them online here.

The instructors will let you know if you are ready and eligible to grade; but if you have any questions, please ask.

Start time: Tigers 9.30am (please arrive promptly); Colour belts 10.00am onwards.

Tigers will need:

• An up-to-date licence (£25)
• Grading fee (£10).

Colour belts will need:

• An up-to-date licence (£25)
• White GTI uniform & belt (£39)
• Passport-sized photo (if grading for the first time)
• Grading fee (£25 for those taking grades up to blue belt; £35 for higher grades)
• Sparring kit (green belts & above only).

Please hand in your licence and grading fee by Friday 14^th June.

>>> Tournaments

Best of luck to those taking part in the GTI Junior Open in Cheltenham this Sunday. The next scheduled tournaments are:

• Sunday 30^th June – ITFU British Open, Solihull. Open to 9^th kups (yellow stripes) & above; ages 8 & over only. Enter online. Deadline: Sunday 16^th June.
• Satunday 6^th July – ITC UK Open, Birmingham. Open to all licenced students. More information.

Please see our Events calendar for a list of the year’s events.

>>> Merchandise Orders

We place our equipment and merchandise orders once per month. Please let us know if you need any uniforms, t-shirts, hoodies, sparring kit, kick pads, etc. Please take a look at our catalogue to see what’s available.

The deadline for the next order is Saturday 1^st June (payment required at time of order).

>>> GTI National Squad Training

Train with the GTI England team! You can work towards earning your own place on the national squad, or just go along and enjoy a good workout.

All licenced students (age 7+) are welcome. You will have the opportunity to train with some of the GTI’s best fighters and coaches; practise with new sparring partners; improve your fitness, stamina and sparring; build your confidence; and make friends with fellow GTI students from around the country.

Fees are £10. Please bring casual clothing (no uniform required), sparring kit and plenty of water.

Scheduled squad sessions (see our Events page for venue details):

• Sunday 23^rd June, 12:30-15:30 – Wolverhampton
• Saturday 13^th July, time to be confirmed – Cheltenham
• Sunday 22^nd September, 12:00-15:00 – Swindon
• Sunday 27^th October, 12:00-15:00 – Bridgnorth
• Sunday 24^th November, 12:30-15:30 – Liverpool
• Sunday 15^th December, 12:30-15:30 – Wolverhampton.

Note: squad selection is based on a minimum attendance of two out of three sessions, but this excludes the location furthest from you. This is in addition to other criteria such as tournament performance, attitude and skill.

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Thanks  

The GTI National Squad has been announced for the 2024 World Taekwondo Championships in Croatia this September!

We’re very proud to have nine Liverpool fighters selected to represent England: James, Liam M, Nikola, Eloise, Olly G, Owen, Callum, Connor & Stef.

Congratulations to everyone selected to represent the GTI England team!

The hard work is just beginning…

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.

A great young man, gone too soon

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!

RESULTS: 2024 ITF North West Championships

Well done to all those who graded this month! Everyone passed!