On the 5th-6th October Students from Region 1’s Trenic Academies travelled down to Swindon to compete in the ever successful UKITF British Championships. Over two days students set to step to the ring and battle it out for the very prestigious British title, fighting of stiff competition for the UK and our overseas friends from Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.

After a prompt and well organised weigh-in the cadet divisions were called to warm up and prepare for their categories. All Trenic students were eager to jump onto the ring and after weeks of hard club training and junior squad sessions, were confident in their ability and raring to go!!! It was fair to say that the cadets defiantly set the tone for the day, convincingly winning 4 out of 5 sparring divisions and putting on great performances as the crowds watched on in ore.

Up next were newly promoted black belts Harry Evans and Harry Hetherington. Competing in their first black belt and ranking championships, this was a huge leap for the talented young lads and what they lacked in experience they made up for in class and determination. In the -50kg and -55kg categories each fought hard, earning well deserved silver medals respectively and setting them both nicely for a successful competitive black belt career.

This was also a very proud and exciting day for Trenic members; Gavinder Sidhu and Matthew Brunger, who were each presented with their 5th Degree promotion by Master Nicholls and line of fellow Masters and International representatives. The good news continued as Master Nicholls presented Mr Kiros from Ethiopia with his Masters promotion, a great achievement for a humble Master and devoted Instructor.

After the last of the juniors had finished, the adults were left to rest and reflect on the day’s events as they prepared themselves for competing the following morning. After a hearty breakfast and team talk the troops were set for battle, arriving early at the event to warm up and mentally set themselves for the day.

Adults competing included; Lee Hollingsworth, Matt Brunger, Lawrie Cornwell, Gavinder Sidhu, Luke Dempsey, Reece Nicholls, Jamie McAvoy, Prit Sidhu, Aaron Mather, Jay Gilbert, Gemma O’Connor, Steve Maeght and Kup competitors Fran Almeida-Davies, Ryan Hamdy, Richard Gbamin , Ayoob Ibrahim and Ahmed Akbari.

All Trenic Academy adults, yellow tag through to 5th degree black performed their patterns well and were a credit to their club and instructors. Yet this was only the start to the day and as the competitors began to pad up you could feel the anticipation and excitement flooding the room. After hard fought battles and tactical point scoring bouts the day was over, leaving the team positive in their performances yet returning to the Dojang with areas to improve.

To round the day of, the UK squad accepted a last minute challenge from the Netherlands to compete in a revenge team challenge, following the convincing 5-0 victory the previous year.  This time the Netherlands team were fired up and it was shaping up to be an exciting climax to the day. Trenic competitors Luke Dempsey and Reece Nicholls were selected to be part of the 5man team along with fellow members from UKITF Scotland and Ga-Jok Academies. With the crowd cheering on and coaching from experienced competitor Lee Hollingsworth the team focused down and fought off the Netherlands winning 4-1. This was an exciting end to a great weekend.  

List of Results

Lee Hollingsworth              -  Gold (Sparring)

Lawrie Cornwell                 - Gold (Sparring), Silver (Patterns)

Matt Brunger                     - Silver (Patterns)

Gavinder Sidhu                 - Bronze (Patterns), Silver (Sparring)

Prit Sidhu                             - Silver (Sparring), Silver (Patterns)

Reece Nicholls                   - Gold (Sparring)

Luke Dempsey                  - Gold (Patterns), Silver (Sparring), Silver (Special Technique)

Jay Gilbert                           - Gold (Sparring)

Gemma O’Connor           - Silver (Sparring), Silver (Patterns)

Jamie McAvoy                   - Gold (Sparring), Bronze (Patterns)

Aaron Mather                   - Gold (Sparring)

Steve Maeght                   -Silver (Sparring)

Harry Evans                        - Silver (Sparring)

Harry Hetherington         - Silver (Sparring)

 

Richard Gbamin                 - Bronze (Patterns), Bronze (Sparring)

Ryan Hamdy                       - Bronze (Sparring)

Fran Almeida-Davies      - Gold (Sparring), Gold (Special technique), Bronze (Patterns)

Ayoob Ibrahim                  - Gold (Sparring), Bronze (Patterns)

Ahmed Akbari                   - Bronze (Patterns), Bronze (Sparring)

 

Jason Morrison             - Silver (Sparring)

 

Dolci Grove                         - Gold (Sparring)

Katie Hetherington         - Gold (Sparring)

Coby Esegbona                 - Gold (Sparring)

Karen Abdu- Abdallah    - Gold (Sparring)