Grand Prix VI Stage 2 - This turned out to be another successful competition for Fairwater students. Congratulations to all who attended. Results as follows:

English Open, Crawley: 8 students from our school made the trip to the the English Open this year, and on the day of the Grand Slam decider...now that is dedication! Well done to all the competitors but a particular mention to Kane Collins who received the under 13 colour belt individual award.

Grand Prix VI Stage 1: A successful start to the year for the Fairwater Team with nine students competing well in the first of three Grand Prix stages. Results as follows:

Congratulations also to Callum Hole who, although not quite winning a medal this time, is showing great enthusiasm and promise.

This weekend three Fairwater students attended the ITF Wales Umpire course presented by Senior Master Michael Prewett VIII.  The aims of the course were to update students' knowledge of judging in both patterns and sparring in order to ensure a high level of officiating at competitions.  As always Master Prewett spoke knowledgeably and passionately, and what he had to say will, no doubt, make a huge difference to the standard of judging taking place at ITF Wales events.  Congratulations to Sophie Collins II, Delme Pezzack I and Liz Prescott 2nd Kup who are now certified to be ITF Wales officials when eligible.

Happy New Year 2008 from all at Fairwater School of Taekwon-do

End of Year Awards
Fairwater students did well at this year's ITF Wales presentation evening with three students receiving trophies for the Grand Prix competition (as below) and Kane Collins also receiving the new Masters' Shield in the under 13 category.
A huge congratulations go to Sharon Collins and Daniel Anderson who were this year's students of the year.

End of year Grand Prix Rankings!
Fairwater School of Taekwon-do has had a very successful year in the Grand Prix competition:
Kane Collins 1st Under 13
William Barrett 2nd Under 13
Bethan Pezzack 6th Under 13
Daniel Anderson 8th 13-17
Valerie Barrett 3rd 18+

Sharon Collins: patterns GOLD; sparring GOLD (out of category by 13kg!)
Valerie Barrett: patterns SILVER; sparring GOLD; power SILVER
Bethan Pezzack: patterns GOLD; sparring GOLD
Daniel Anderson: sparring GOLD (it will take days for that smile to go!)
William Barrett: sparring  SILVER
Sophie Collins: patterns BRONZE; sparring SILVER (soz for getting it wrong Soph!)
Kane Collins: patterns BRONZE; special technique GOLD
Delme Pezzack: sparring GOLD
George Crews: sparring BRONZE
Lee Crews: patterns: GOLD; sparring SILVER
Liz Prescott: patterns SILVER
Leanne Flynn: sparring BRONZE
...and a big well done to Rhys, Kristian, Callum Flynn and Callum Hole who competed really well and showed that they have all the right stuff to be a part of our great team!

Eight members of the Fairwater school entered the final round of the Grand Prix on November 4th. Watched over by Senior Master Prewett, our team of black belt: Sophie, Tracey, Lee, George, Delme and Ben, and our ever-supportive mums and dads, everyone tried their best and a great time was had by all. Special mention goes to Callum Flynn for entering his first competition; he certainly demonstrated some great enthusiasm in sparring and received a BRONZE medal as a result! Results as follows:   Daniel Anderson: patterns BRONZE; sparring BRONZE
Liz Prescott: patterns BRONZE
Kane Collins: patterns GOLD; sparring GOLD
Bethan Pezzack: patterns GOLD; sparring GOLD
William Barrett: patterns BRONZE; sparring GOLD
Valerie Barrett: patterns SILVER; sparring GOLD
Rhys Prankard: no medal but a great effort!

15 members of ITF Wales enterered this year's XXII Senior and XIII Junior European Championships in Tallin. Competitors from Fairwater Taekwon-do were Sophie Collins, Delme Pezzack, Lee Crews and George Crews. All four of them came home with a bronze medal in patterns with the lads entering the first ever Welsh Junior male team. They all report that they had an amazing time, including the Mums who went to support ;) For photos of the event see the ITF Wales Website

English Open, Crawley: Congratulations to the Fairwater students who entered this year's English Open. 
Sharon Collins: patterns GOLD; sparring GOLD
Sophie Collins: sparring SILVER
George Crews: patterns BRONZE; sparring SILVER
Delme Pezzack: sparring GOLD
Bethan Pezzack: patterns BRONZE; sparring GOLD
Kane Collins reached the quarter finals in both patterns and sparring.  Well done for giving the others a chance Kane!!!

London Open, July 2007: Well done to all the students who attended this year's London Open in Guildford.  Fairwater achieved 15th out of the 60 schools who attended.  Congratulations to our friends at Ely who achieved 2nd!

Welsh Open, June 2007: Another successful competition for Fairwater School of Taekwon-do.  This year, 15 students took part and almost all went home with a medal.  Results were as follow:
Sharon Collins (congrats on your first competition!): sparring SILVER
Kane Collins: patterns SILVER; sparring GOLD; special technique SILVER
Sophie Collins: patterns GOLD; sparring BRONZE
Bethan Pezzack: patterns GOLD; sparring SILVER
Delme Pezzack: patterns BRONZE; sparring GOLD
Valerie Barrett: patterns BRONZE; sparring GOLD
William Barrett: sparring BRONZE
Rob Miller: sparring SILVER
Ben Miller: patterns BRONZE; sparring BRONZE
Liz Prescott: patterns GOLD
Rhys Prankard: sparring BRONZE
Daniel Anderson: sparring BRONZE
George Crews: patterns BRONZE; sparring SILVER
Su Prance: sparring SILVER
Well done also to Adair Paez-Bastia.

Our team came an amazing joint 2nd place, losing by only a couple of points to our friends from Ely.  Well done guys, we'll beat you next time :)

Here are the results for this year's Grand Prix II.  As always, we are very proud of all our students who take part in competitions.
William Barrett: patterns SILVER; sparring SILVER
Valerie Barrett:  patterns BRONZE sparring GOLD
Kane Collins: patterns BRONZE; sparring GOLD
Daniel Anderson: sparring GOLD
Rhys Prankard: sparring BRONZE
Callum Hole: patterns BRONZE; sparring SILVER
Flynn Woodward: tbc
Congratulations to all the above and also to Patrick Barrett who, although not a medal winner, put forward his best effort against tough competition.

Congratulations to Sophie Collins.  One of our star pupils, Sophie Collins, entered the XV World Championships in Bled, Slovenia at the end of April.  Having recently turned 18, Sophie is now entered into the adult categories and we were delighted with her performance.  She was able to beat Estonia and Germany in sparring!  Well done, we are so proud of you Soph!

Success at the Scottish Open:  A huge congratulations go to the Fairwater students who made the long trip to the Scottish Open this weekend.  Results were as follows:
Sophie Collins: patterns GOLD
Delme Pezzack: patterns GOLD; sparring GOLD
Bethan Pezzack: patterns GOLDS; sparring BRONZE
Kane Collins: patterns SILVER; sparring GOLD; special technique GOLD
Ben Miller: patterns BRONZE

Congratulations to Delme Pezzack who has been promoted to first degree black belt at the recent black belt grading and seminar.  Congrats also go to our friends from Ely, Connor and Gareth, for their promotion to black belt; and to Darren on his promotion to third dan.  Well done guys, we are very proud of you!

Grand Prix I, 25th February - Fairwater School of Taekwon-do started 2007 with a very successful first round at the ITF Wales Grand Prix.  Eight students competed and everyone took home a trophy!  Results were
Kane Collins: patterns GOLD; sparring GOLD
Valerie Barrett: patterns BRONZE; sparring GOLD
Flynn Woodward: sparring GOLD
William Barrett: sparring GOLD
Rhys Prankard: patterns BRONZE; sparring BRONZE
Daniel Anderson: sparring BRONZE
Patrick Barrett: sparring BRONZE
Bethan Pezzack patterns BRONZE; sparring BRONZE

Seminar and Grading, 17th February - We were delighted to welcome Master Gary Miller to Wales for an informative seminar and successful grading.  Master Miller covered a wide range of topics from the creation of power to correct technique in set sparring.  Congratulations go to all those who graded successfully!