FALKIRK’S Central Taekwondo Academy will have representatives on Great Britain teams at all of this year’s major championships – apart from the Rio Olympic Games!
Their selection is unprecedented. It's the first time a Scottish club has had athletes picked for all the major events.
Five of the club’s top players have been selected to represent the UK at events all over the world later this year – from Peru to Canada and Romania.
Twelve year old Natasha Wilson from Stenhousemuir has been selected for the GB Poomsae Team and will compete in the female cadet division at the World Poomsae Championships in Peru, South America, from 1 to 3 October. Poomsae is taekwondo’s version of patterns or forms, where techniques are judged on accuracy, speed and power. Natasha will be the youngest on the team travelling to Peru and she’s the only representative from Scotland!
The European Cadet Championships take place in Romania from 8 to 11 September and Central can also boast having the only two Scottish players on the UK Team. Neve Hogg, 11 from Larbert and Erin Shaw, 13 also from Larbert, will both make their GB debuts and will be trying to follow in the footsteps of clubmate Jordyn Smith who became Cadet European Champion at last year’s edition of the event.
Meanwhile Jordyn, 15 and from Carronshore, has this year moved up to the junior category. Despite competing against much taller and heavier opponents, she has already made a fantastic impression on the Junior Female -42kg division. Since March she has competed in international open events in Holland, Germany (twice) and Austria and managed to come home with a medal from all four tournaments. As a reward for this success she has been named in the GB Team for the Junior World Championships which take place in Canada from 16 to 20 November. Jordyn, who also became Cadet World Bronze Medallist in Korea last year, will be hoping to add another world medal to her incredible collection.
Tormod Davis, who is 17 and lives in Dunblane, joins Jordyn on the team for Canada. Ironically, Tormod joined Central Academy after moving to Scotland last year – from Canada!! Earlier this year Tormod took Gold at the Canadian Open and Silver at the Dutch Open which puts him in a strong position to achieve a medal back on his home soil!
Central Academy’s Head Coach David Bailey, who was recently promoted to 8th Dan Grandmaster in Korea, said: “To have athletes from our club competing all over the world for the UK is truly remarkable. We have had some real successes in recent years but having so many of our students competing at the highest level makes 2016 our best year yet! This all comes down to the hard work and dedication of our players and our team of very experienced and highly-qualified coaches who put in hours of work to get the best from the athletes and help them achieve their goals.
"Our dream is to have a Central member at the Olympic Games and the way things are going it seems we're certainly on the right track!”
Picture shows Neve, Erin, Natasha, Jordyn and Tormod.
Ends 25 July 2016
INFORMATION – David Bailey, 07812 580 898