Region 7 Sardinia Success!
View all articles

Comments: 1

  10 students & 11 supporters from UK ITF region 7 including Stoke Gifford instructor Miss Burridge travelled to Sardinia, Italy on Sat 4th February 2012 to compete in the Mediterranean open.

The club was joined by a further 10 more students & instructors from UK ITF Cornwall & London. UK ITF partner group Gassor’s TKD from Wales also travelled with us. We all set off together from Stansted airport to arrive in Cagliari late Saturday afternoon. After a short transfer to the hotel all competitors registered & weighed in & then freshened up for dinner. We were all treated to a great three course dinner of pasta, pork steak & fruit. It was then up to bed ready for the next day of competition.

The day started well with Miss Burridge competing in 1st-5th Degree patterns & coming away with Gold. Phoebe Grandfield followed Miss Burridge’s success with a bronze in patterns. Billy Smith then went on to compete in patterns securing bronze & a bronze in sparring. Ben Chapman went on to obtain a silver in cadet degree boys patterns & followed this with an impressive silver in sparring. Callum Brown won a well deserved gold in patterns, followed by Ben Baker-Attwood achieving a gold in sparring also. Joseph Elson picked up a sliver in sparring & Kieran McDermott a bronze in sparring.Senior competitor Sarah Baker-Attwood pick up a hard fought bronze in sparring. Eventually late into the afternoon kids Esme & Myles started their first experience of international competition. After both performing really well Myles achieved a bronze in sparring & Esme after sparring some much larger girls came away with bags of experience & a participation medal. All students benefited from the differing styles of the Italians & Spanish that will put them in good stead for the future. As the day progressed into the evening Billy was chosen by UK ITF juniors boys coach Mr Richards to compete in the team sparring & patterns event. After only 30 minutes practice the patterns team were narrowly beaten by the Italian girls team. This left the team for the quest for gold in the sparring event, which with Billy’s help I’m pleasedto say they achieved. This left the medal tally for the club at 4 gold’s, 3 silver’s & 6 bronze. A big thank you to Mark Richards & Billy Smith for helping to coach the clubs students. An outstanding performance after a very long day for some young students in their first international competition.

The next day we were lucky enough to have a day to explore the town of Cagliari & the club enjoyed some great team bonding whilst taking in the sights of the beautiful city, with the aid of our tour guide Glyn Chapman. We all experienced authentic Italian pizza & were lucky to have a good but cold day of weather. The day was finished off by some celebration drinks in the hotel bar!

With a late flight on Tuesday the club had the opportunity to take a trip to a nearby beach where the kids enjoyed letting off some steam whilst the adults enjoyed coffee & hot chocolate at a beach café. We arrived back at the hotel in good time to board the coach back to the airport ready for the flight home.

We look forward to our next trip together. A big thank you goes to all the supporters & Ashley Nicholls for organising.  

Written by: Kerry Burridge - 10th February 2012
[Comments: 1]

Sorry, but you need to login to your account to add feedback.

Login now, or if you are not a member then apply to join here

Article Feedback: