Club News

 

December 2009

Club Christmas Party

On Friday 4 December, the NP Tae Kwon Do Academy hosted it's first club Christmas Party.  The evening was a great success with students from all of the rainbow, junior and adult classes bringing along family and friends.  This was not only an opportunity for everyone to relax and enjoy themselves after a very busy year, but also to present the medals for the overall colour belt students based on the colour belt tournaments held throughout the year.

The night began with students arriving and face painting for the rainbows and juniors by Face Painting by Maria.  After a few games courtesy of the DJ it was time for the medal presentations with Mr Purves presenting the trophies to the winners.  Finally after the buffet, the instructors ran the raffle and then it was time for the party to begin and an opportunity to seem some interesting moves on the dance floor!

Well done to all of the winners on the night;

  • Aman Shivdas (Bannatynes Juniors), Rainbows - Silver
  • Callum Hunter (Kelty), Rainbows - Bronze
  • Craig Morgan (Kelty), Peewees - Bronze
  • Morgan Dow (Kelty), Peewees - Bronze
  • Josh Anderson (Kelty), Peewees - Bronze
  • John Woodrow (Bannatynes), Adults - Silver
  • Lee Wallace (Bannatynes), Adults - Silver

November 2009

Nunchaku Seminar

On Saturday 21 November Mr Purves along with Black Belt Instructor Louise Purves attended a Nunchaku seminar ran by Master Brown.  The seminar, was the second one of the day with the earlier session being ran for rainbows and peewees.  The seminar was attended by both juniors and adults of all grades and was a great introduction to the use of the Nunchaku.  The seminar began with some basic techniques to get to grips with it and then went on to cover some more difficult techniques challenging all of the participants.

The seminar was thoroughly enjoyed by all and was a great opportunity for the attendees to develop their martial arts knowledge.  A date for early 2010 will be announced shortly for NP Tae Kwon Do Academy to host one of Master Brown's seminars.

Colour Belt Grading

The final Colour Belt grading of the year took place on Thursday 12 November.  This was our biggest grading of 2009 with 60 students taking part including 13 white belts across the Rainbows and Juniors from Kelty and Bannatynes.  After a busy evening all of our 60 students were promoted to their next belt with a high standard being shown by all.  Congratulations to all that took part.

Final Black Belt League of 2009

The final Black Belt League of 2009 took place on Sunday 1 November at The Peake in Stirling.  The event was attended by 7 NP Tae Kwon Do Academy Black Belts including Mr Paul Gowens and Miss Lesley Mealing, our newest Black Belts making their league debut.  As always the day started of with the patterns section, where Mr Purves put in an impressive performance in the 4th & 5th Degree patterns which achieved him an overall bronze for the year.  It then moved onto 2nd Degrees, where Mr Andrew Miller did us proud and has taken the overall gold for this year.  For the 1st Degrees, Mrs Louise Purves won all of her patterns in the ladies section giving her the overall silver for 2009 and Mr Dougie Chalmers doing the same for the 1st Degree males and taking overall gold for the year.

After the patterns it was on to the sparring.  First up were Lesley Mealing and Louise Purves in the female heavy weight sparring.  Lesley made an impressive debut, with Louise also giving a strong performance.  The male heavy weights were next with Mr Purves taking overall bronze and Andrew Miller taking overall silver in the lightweight males.  Paul Gowens made his debut in the veteran lightweight sparring and Owain Barratt made his mark in the junior male heavyweight sparring with 2 wins from 3 fights.

The day then ended with destruction and special techniques, where Mr Purves took the overall bronze for male power.  Well done to everyone who took part throughout the year, and overall placings are noted below. 

  • 4th & 5th Degree Patterns - Bronze, Mr Nik Purves
  • 2nd Degree Patterns - Gold, Mr Andrew Miller
  • 1st Degree Female Patterns - Silver, Mrs Louise Purves
  • 1st Degree Male Patterns - Gold, Mr Dougie Chalmers
  • Male Heavyweight Sparring - Bronze, Mr Nik Purves
  • Male Lightweight Sparring - Silver, Mr Andrew Miller
  • Male Power Destruction - Bronze, Mr Nik Purves

October 2009

Club Success at Final Black Belt Grading of the Year

The final national black belt grading of the year took place on Saturday 17 October at the Mariner Centre in Falkirk. A number of the Bannatynes Club black belts graded and congratulations to the following:

  • Andrew Miller promoted to 2nd degree, Level 1
  • Louise Purves promoted to 1st degree, Level 3
  • Kevin Whitelaw promoted to 1st degree, Level 2
  • Lucy Stark promoted to 1st degree, Level 1
  • Owain Barratt promoted to 1st degree, Level 1

It was a busy weekend with Mr Purves and 4 of his black belts attending the final red belt and above seminar of the year on the Sunday. This was a very well attended event not just for black belts, but also red belts. After extremely enjoyable and informative seminar hosted by Master Brown, it was time for the black tags to be assessed for grading including our very own Lesley Mealing. Lesley was then invited to grade along with a number of other black tag candidates and after a long afternoon's grading she was promoted to 1st degree black belt.

UTF Scotland First Aid Training

Mr Purves and black belt student Mr Paul Gowens ran the first UTF Scotland First Aid Training on Saturday 10 October with assistant instructors Mr Andrew Miller and Mr Owain Barratt.  The course was attended by 10 Black Belt instructors and covered Heartstart training which is a scheme from the British Heart Foundation for developing CPR skills.  After a short break the course went onto cover basic First Aid Training which has been tailored for martial arts.  The course was a great success and had great feedback from everyone who attended.  With the potential for changes to the requirements for sports centre hires next year, this will ensure that all UTF Scotland instructors are well prepared.  This was also the first time that a course like this was able to be participants without a charge.

September 2009

Black Belt Technical Seminar

Mr Purves and 4 of his black belt students attended the first UTF Scotland Black Belt Technical Seminar held by UTF Scotland President, Master David Brown (7th Degree) on 26 and 27 September.  The Saturday was for 3rds, 4th & 5th degrees and concentrated on all of the technical aspects of the senior grade black belt patterns.

Mr Purves was then joined on the Sunday by Andrew Miller (2nd Degree) and then later in the day by Mr Dougie Chalmers, Mrs Louise Purves and Mr Paul Gowens (1st Degree).  The first part of the Sunday was spent going through the lower grade black belt patterns and then the attendees were given a demonstration of some of the senior grade patterns with Mr Purves performing Ul-Ji with two other 4th degrees.  After a quick break, the seminar concentrated on generating power, something that was then put into practise on the pads.  Finally, the seminar was also an opportunity for the newly promoted black belts to confirm, including our very own Paul Gowens who confirmed to 1st Degree black belt.

Club Open Night

The annual NP Tae Kwon Do Academy open night took place on Thursday 17 September in Kelty Community Centre.  This was our biggest open night yet with 60 students taking part and around 80 spectators.  The aim of the night was to showcase to the parents what their children have been learning in class as well as some demonstrations for the black belts.  The night kicked off with a quick warm up, then the rainbow and junior students demonstrating their power with some punching drills.  Following on from that 5 yellow belt students (Cammie Ross, Morgan Dow, Aaron Woodrow, Gemma Prest and Kayleigh Mealing) performed Dan Gun and the 2 green belt students (Josh Anderson and Katie Wilson) performed Won Hyo.  After the patterns, they were joined by the rest of the rainbows and juniors to demonstrate the some kicking techniques.

It was then time for a rest whilst the seniors took over.  Firstly, 5 seniors performed Yul Gok (Andrew Miller, Louise Purves, Dougie Chalmers, Lesley Mealing), then black belt instructors Mrs Purves and Mr Chalmers performed Kwang Gae.  Mr Purves then joined the demo by performing 4th degree pattern Ul Ji.  After the quick break, it was back to the rainbows and juniors to demonstrate some sparring.  They were then joined by some of the black belts, who also demstrated some sparring.

The night then came to an end with some destruction (including a flying side kick from Mr Purves jumping over 5 of his students!!) self defence courtesy of Mrs Purves, Miss Mealing, Mr Chalmers, Mr Miller and Mr Gowens and some flying high kicks from the rainbows and juniors.

August 2009

More Success at Final Interclub Competition of the Year

On Sunday 30 August 38 members of the NP Tae Kwon Do Academy took part in the final Interclub of the year at the Mariner Centre in Falkirk.  At the last count the competitors had amassed over 60 medals between them which is a great achievment for all 3 clubs.  A special well done to Scott McCusker, John Woodrow and Callum Hunter who took gold in each of the sections they took part in.  In addition to this we also had 12 students who were competing for the first time.  With the final tournament now over we await the overall results for the points earned over the year to announced.

Club Grading

The third club grading took place on Thursday 27 August with 51 students taking part in the grading ranging from the rainbow grading up to the adult grading.  The grading was a great success with all 51 students being promoted to their next belt.  Included in the grading were 8 white belts who were sitting their first grading.  Scott McCusker (Bannatynes) Craig Horan, Ross Horan, Brandon York and Callum Giffen (Kelty) Aidan Ross, Cal McLean, and Jack Sharp (Bannatynes Juniors).   Take a look in our photo gallery for some pictures from the grading.

June 2009

2nd Black Belt League

The second black belt league took place on Sunday 21 June at Dalgety Bay Sports Centre.  Mr Nik Purves, Mr Andrew Miller, Mrs Louise Purves and Mr Dougie Chalmers were among the 30 black belts who took part.  The Black Belt League allows black belts to compete in and develop themselves in patterns, sparring, power destruction and special techniques.  All four competitors did well, however we will need to wait until after the third league in November to see how the points add up for the year.   Take a look at the Black Belt League section of our gallery for some action shots from the day.

May 2009

ITF European Championships - Results

Our 4 representatives at the recent International Tae Kwon Do Federation (ITF) European Championships, held in Croatia, have done us proud bringing back 3 individual medals and 4 team medals.  Mr Nik Purves took bronze in both 4th Degree Male Patterns and Male Power Destruction.  Mr Dougie Chalmers took bronze in 1st Degree Male Patterns.  In addition to this Mr Purves also took Silver in Team Patterns, Bronze in Team Sparring, Gold in Team Special Technique and Bronze in Power Destruction as part of the Scottish Male Team.

In addition to this there were numerous other medals won by the UTF Scotland group including Gold medals in both black belt and colour belt sections and with the Scottish Ladies team also taking a European title for Team Patterns.

NP Tae Kwon Do Academy would like to thank the following for their support:

  • United Tae Kwon Do Federation Scotland
  • Carnegie Trust
  • All those who donated prizes to the fundraising raffle

Club Success at Interclub Tournament

The second Interclub Tournament of the year took place on Sunday 17 May at the Mariner Centre in Falkirk. 27 students from the NP Tae Kwon Do Academy took part bringing back a number of gold, silver and bronze medals to their clubs.  This is fantastic for all of the students and clubs and really builds on the success at the first Interclub of the year.  Among the 27 students there were 7 who were competing for the first time.  John Woodrow (Bannatynes), Callum Hunter, Flynn Reid, Kieran Elder (Kelty), Abigail Campbell, Rowan Beattie and Cammie Ross (Bannatynes Juniors). 

Club Grading Results

The second club grading of the year took place on Thursday 14 May at Kelty Community Centre.  This time 47 students sat their grading ranging from Rainbows to adults.  Congratulations to everyone who attended with all 47 students being promoted to their next belt.  Included in the grading were the following 13 new white belt students sitting their first grading.  Sam Black, John Woodrow and Fionnbar Lennihan (Bannatynes), Sophie Hill (Kelty), Scott Mather, Mya Watters, Georgie Watters, Abigail Campbell, Rhiannon Laing, William Mather, Lewis McGinley, Carey Parker and Owen Parker (Bannatynes Juniors).  Take a look at the photo gallery to see who took part. 

NP Tae Kwon Do Academy Represented at European Championships

At the end of May, Mr Purves along with three of his black belt students will be joining the 12 other UTF (Scotland) students who will be representing Scotland at the ITF European Championships in Croatia.  Mr Purves (Chief Instructor, NP Tae Kwon Do Academy) will be joined by Mr Andrew Miller (2nd Degree), Mr Dougie Chalmers (Instructor, Kelty) and Mrs Louise Purves (Instructor, Bannatynes Juniors).

With only a couple of weeks to go the four have been training hard not only in class, but also at Advanced Black Belt Training and Competition Training with Master Brown.  All four students will be competing in the individual sections and Mr Purves will also be representing Scotland as part of the ITF Scottish Male Team.  Good luck to all four students.

March 2009

Club Success at Black Belt Grading

The first national black belt grading of the year took place on Saturday 28 March at the Mariner Centre in Falkirk.  4 members of the Bannatynes adult club graded and congratulations to the following:

  • Mr Nik Purves promoted to 4th degree, Level 2
  • Mr Andrew Miller confirmed to 2nd degree
  • Mr Dougie Chalmers promoted to 1st degree, Level 2
  • Mrs Louise Purves promoted to 1st degree, Level 2 

On Sunday 29 March the first red belt seminar of the year took place at Bo'ness Recreation Centre attended by Mr Purves and Paul Gowens.  After a morning's seminar with Master Brown, Paul was invited to grade and has now been promoted to 1st degree black belt. 

Sparring Seminar

Mr Purves along with 9 of his students from the Bannatynes Club attended a sparring seminar along with over 100 UTF (Scotland) and Imperial students at Grangemouth Sports Complex on 8 March.  The seminar was hosted by Master Brown and taken by Master Maidana, 7th Degree from Argentina, Master Dalton, 7th Degree Master from Ireland and Mr Perez, 6th Degree from Spain.    After Master Dalton started off the seminar with quick warm up, Master Maidana took over and concentrated the first part of the seminar on foot work and kicking.  After a quick break, Master Maidana went on to focus on hand drills.  The seminar lasted around 3 1/2 hours and was attended by all ages and grades ranging from junior yellow belts up to adult 5th degrees.

February 2009

Club Success at First Interclub Tournament

The first Interclub tournament of the year took place on Saturday 28 February at the Mariner Centre in Falkirk.  15 NP Tae Kwon Do Academy students took part and came back with a number of medals including 8 gold.  This a great start to the year for the colour belt students.  There are 2 more Interclub Tournaments to take place over the year with awards for the top medal winners being presented at the Christmas Dance in December.

Referees Courses

The first referees courses of 2009 took place this month in Armadale.  Mr Owain Barratt and Miss Lesley Mealing attended the Level 1 Course along with senior instructor Mr Purves which covered  the paperwork that is used at competitions as well as the scoring and judging of sparring.  Mrs Louise Purves and Miss Lesley Mealing also attended the Level 2 Course which covered more on judging point sparring and colour belt patterns up to green belt.  This is something they will all be able to put into practise at the forthcoming colour belt tournament on 28 February.

Club Grading

On Thursday 5 March the first colour belt grading took place at Kelty Community Centre.  This was our biggest grading to date with over 40 students taking part across the junior and adult gradings.  Congratulation to everyone who graded and we are happy to announce that there was a 100% pass rate on the day.  Included in the grading were Ms Brenda Walker (Bannatynes Adults) who was promoted to black tag and also to the following rainbows and juniors who graded for the first time.  Liam Conroy, Alexandra Gemmill, Aman Shivdas, Aryan Shivdas, Daniel Beardmore, Cammie Ross and Rowan Beattie (all Bannatynes Juniors).  Connor Moodie, Kieran Elder and Callum Hunter (all Kelty Juniors).  Take a look at our photo gallery see everyone that took part.

1st Black Belt League

The first black belt league took place on Sunday 1 February at Bo'ness Recreation Centre.  Mr Nik Purves, Mr Andrew Miller and Mr Dougie Chalmers were among the 50 black belts who took part in the first black belt league of the year.  Mr Purves started the year well by winning all of his sparring matches putting him on track for gold again this year for heavy weight sparring.  Mr Miller took part in his first league as a 2nd Degree and Mr Chalmers had a great start to the year winning all of his patterns in the 1st degree male section.

January 2009

Advanced Black Belt Training

Master Brown held the first of the new advanced black belt training sessions on Saturday 24 January. Mr Andrew Miller, Mr Dougie Chalmers and Mr Owain Barratt were amongst the 50 black belts who attended the session which covered technical aspects of both coloured belt and black belt patterns as well as sparring drills and team patterns. The 2008 Black Belt League presentations were also made with medals for Mr Miller, Mr Chalmers and Mr Purves.