A small but promising and determined selection of students attended last Sunday’s Scion Championships in Neptune Stadium, Cork. Spirits were high as competitors and supporting families got ready for a day of competition in Pattern and Sparring.
First up were the youngest and least experienced students of 8 years old. Nobody was prepared for what came next! Conor A.N., Donnacha and Jacob got us all excited with solid performances of their pattern with Conor A.N. achieving a silver medal. A super start for the club but it only gave us a glimpse of what the ‘Three Amigos’ had in store for us.
Next they togged out for sparring and sparring they did! All three fought their way into the finals and the roar of the supporters was immense when all of them secured Gold after super tough fights. “I think I saw a few little tears in some eyes,” Master Dalton exclaimed, laughing, “and I was not far off myself”.
Master Dalton stressed the importance of competitions as they are fantastic for building team spirit, confidence and most of all character. Dalton, a Master grade in both Taekwon-Do and Kickboxing and a top-rated international referee, explained that martial arts are one of the very few sports where all students interact, train and compete as a team regardless of age, gender or ability. This was shown with the next three students who were up with Oliver and Conor R. competing in the Adaptive section and Conor R’s mum Sinead competing in the mature adult ladies’ section (over 35 years), so you can see it is never too late to start!).
Sinead and Conor R. brought home three bronze medals between them. Oliver was on fire and did not ease off until he had gold medals secured in both of his sections. ‘Winning is not the main objective for entering my students into a competition’, explained Master Dalton, ‘but seeing the massive smiles on their faces is definitely a big bonus’.
The intermediate grades of green and blue belts stepped on the mats last. Little Anna, fought out of her skin and added a bronze medal in sparring to the bronze in the pattern section which she had already secured earlier. Iga, a talented assistant instructor to the club, put in a fine performance of skills during her pattern and was rewarded with a silver medal. She later added a silver and bronze in her two sparring sections. Saoirse had a very hard fight against a much bigger opponent and we were impressed by her unwavering determination and grit – a silver medal was the reward after a lot of sweat.
Fionn was up next and only narrowly missed out on a place in the final. He worked so hard and had to dig down really deep to bring home the bronze. His fellow Mourneabbey classmate Lucy had an almost identical fate with a super tough fight in the quarter finals and also securing a bronze medal. This showed real character by both and was a great inspiration for the younger kids who they had helped coaching and looking after earlier. ‘The fantastic support as always by the amazing families and friends alike make these outings a wonderful experience for all. Their care, passion and support does not go unnoticed. They keep us fed, watered and motivated during a long day of competition and we could not do it without them! Special thanks goes to Mr. Michael Roche of Access TKD Youghal and his son Mr. Sean Roche for officiating and coaching on our behalf as well as our ‘caretakers’ Mike and Kasia who bring around our banners and always look after everybody so well. But the highlight of Sunday’s event was seeing my younger kids taking on the roles of coaching and caring for our smallies. Lucy, Fionn, Iga and Saoirse did a fabulous job. A proud day once again for Taekwon-Do and Kickboxing Mallow!’
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