14th February 2019 marks the 12 year anniversary of our club.
We began as Halewood Taekwondo Club in 2007. Over the years, we’ve welcomed many new students and made lots of new friends. Our classes have grown considerably, with many new black belts developed and tournament champions crowned.
Thank you to all our students, coaches, volunteers and supporters for helping to make our club such a success! We couldn’t do it without you.
Well done to our tournament team for a fantastic day at the NWTKD North West Open Competition on 10th February. Our team of 13 students won 19 medals: 9 gold, 6 silver and 4 bronze!
In the junior yellow belt divisions, Nikola Kliza continued her winning form, taking silver medals in both patterns and sparring. Mikey Fitzgibbon and William Brennan gave solid performances in their sparring divisions, both winning silver medals.
Joseph Brennan and Oscar Booth both performed well in their individual and team patterns divisions. Oscar was competing for the first time and only narrowly missed out on a medal in the green belt patterns category, coming fourth overall.
Our four blue belt students dominated their divisions. Malika Nafees won two gold medals in patterns and sparring, becoming double North West Champion. Saad Jaffery and Harry Fowler both got stuck into their sparring bouts, fighting determinedly against some tough opponents to win well-deserved gold medals. Alan Johnson fought furiously, just missing out on the top spot and winning a silver medal. The fab four also took part in the team patterns event, each winning a bronze medal.
In the junior black belt divisions, Callum Edwards impressed the judges with his strong technical performance to take gold in patterns. In sparring, Callum had a challenging final fight against a very tall opponent, but he faced it with his usual style and spirit. After a fast and furious fight, he narrowly lost out and took the silver medal.
Amelia Fowler gave an impressive performance in her sparring category. She came up against some tough, taller fighters and some hard hitters; but she got stuck in each time and showed true fighting spirit.
Connor Murphy just missed out on a sparring medal , but was delighted to win a gold medal in team patterns along with Amelia and Callum. Not bad considering they only cobbled it together on the day!
Our team’s final fighter of the day was Phil Southern. Despite a break from competing, and despite having no one of his own size and grade to fight, he took on the heavier weights and fought strategically and skilfully to take the gold medal.
Well done to the whole team on a successful day! There were some very tough bouts, but we were pleased to see our students getting stuck in and showing great fighting spirit and determination.
Well done to our fighters for a great effort at the GTI English Open! The tournament was held on Sunday 27th January in Cheltenham. The standard of competition was very high, but our team of 6 stepped up to the challenge, winning 6 medals: 4 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze!
Little Olly Gargan was the smallest in his division, but he got stuck in against the bigger boys and came away with a well-deserved bronze medal.
Nikola Kliza dominated both her patterns and sparring events, earning two gold medals to become double English Champion.
Alan Johnson gave an impressive performance in his sparring category, pushing his opponents hard to take the gold medal (and a yellow card, but we won’t talk about that…!).
Callum Edwards faced some serious competition in the black belt patterns division, but impressed the judges with his strong performance and was awarded the gold medal. In sparring, he fought in the division above his own and challenged himself by taking on the taller lads. He held his own for several rounds, only losing out in the final to a tough and talented fighter, who was also several years older.
Owen Gargan and Connor Murphy gave solid performances against some tough competition in their patterns and sparring divisions. No medals this time, but a great effort from them both nevertheless.
Well done to the whole team on a great start to the year’s tournaments! Keep it up!
Congratulations to this year’s North West Spirit Taekwondo Student Award winners! It’s always a difficult task to choose the winners, but each of these guys is very well deserving. (Some award winners were not present at the Christmas Party to receive their awards, so we’ll announce those once we present them in the new year.)
A few of our talented 2018 Student Award winners
Awarded so far…
Best Newcomer
Nikola Kliza
Future Star Award
Mikey Fitzgibbon
Best Young Junior Male Competitor
1st place Owen Gargan 3rd place Zak Ahmad
Best Junior Male Competitor
1st place Callum Edwards 2nd place Connor Murphy 3rd place William Brennan
Best Junior Female Competitor
1st place Amelia Fowler 2nd place Nikola Kliza
Best Senior Male Competitor
Alex Hughes
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who supported our 2018 Christmas Party. Thanks to everyone who came along, to those who helped set up and to everyone who generously donated to the raffles. Special thanks to Deb & Rob Davies, Brian Killen and Leanne & Katie Connolly (we couldn’t have done it without your help!). Massive thanks also for all the cards, gifts & well-wishes. We are so grateful for all the fantastic people in our club and we are humbled by your kindness 🙂