After a very early start and a very chilly one too, region 4  arrived at Stanstead Airport ready for our flight to Sardinia, after meeting up with Miss Burridge and the region 7 troops, Mr Welland, Mr chang and the Gassor TKD group we all boarded the flight and soon arrived at the hotel and after the rooms had been allocated the competitors were registered and weighed in . Then it was food and bed read for the competition.

Early the next morning we all arrived at the new venue and Mrs Richards and Miss Barnes went off to the umpires meeting, then the coaches Miss Burridge and Mr Richards had their meeting, then when the final coach arrived with the teams from Belgium and Spain , the tournament started.

First was the patterns Simon Richards and Adam Everett gave it their all and just missed out on a medal, Jake Thomas did himself proud and came away with a Silver medal and Sam then took Gold for his patterns so we were all impressed with the tally already.

Then came the sparring and we were all really impressed with the standard this year with some really good performances and with a scattering of World Champions competing it is really good to get some international experience before our home tournaments begin. First up was Simon Richards who fought really well and came away with a silver medal , then it was Jake Thomas''s turn and he fought his way to a well deserved bronze medal. Then came Adam Everett who battled his way to a silver medal after some stiff competition, and last but not least was Sam Richards who took gold in his category so everyone was happy with the results.

Later in the afternoon it was decided that there was to be a team tournament so UKITF Junior boys coach Mr Richards set about finding a junior boys team and an adult male team to enter. The junior boys team wasn''t too much of a problem as Sam, Jake, Adam and Billy Smith were all in the junior boys team that took part in Naples,so Liam Rossiter from Gassors Tkd joined the ranks, but the adult males were a little different as Mr Danny Welland was the only competitor from the Naples trip. So he approached Simon who was only too glad to join as was Aaron Gassor and Aaron Rose from Gassors Tkd which left them one short so Sam stepped in too. The junior boys narrowly lost to the Italian girls team in patterns so it was all on the sparring !!

Junior boys first against a very strong Italian team and they were all brilliant, Liam won the first bout so the team were elated , Jake was up next and narrowly lost ,Adam was next but despite fighting very well also lost, then Billy fought and won so two bouts each and the spectators were on the edge of their seats, last up was Sam and all depended on him (no pressure then Sam !!), he secured the necessary victory so the team won Gold !! We were all delighted and so were the boys as the Italian team included some of the top fighters in the world.

Adult males next and Spain had beaten Italy so the guys were in the final with a very good (and large) Spanish team, Sam was up first and fought  well and secured a draw, then Mr Rose and Mr Gassor also drew which were all really good results as the spanish team were definatley on form, Simon was next and lost to a much bigger chap though he fought well and last up was Mr Welland and although he fought valiantly lost to an ''on form'' Chistian Oriolani, so they very happily won a silver medal .

As the team trophies were awarded we were delighted to hear that Sam Richards had won joint Best overall junior male for his efforts which was well deserved. So the final tally for Region 4 was 12 medals with four competitors.

The last two days were lovely too as we could explore Cagliari and sample the local food and take in the sights relaxing after the competition.

We would like to say a huge Thank you to Miss Burridge for coaching some of the students and  for her help and support wherever we go and also to Ashley Nicholls because of her efforts organising these trips they are made so much easier as every eventuality is thought of which means seamless and hassle free trips which we really do appreciate.