Five students from Inverclyde Tae Kwon-Do gain blackbelt certification in Arizona on the 30th of July. Certified by the Action International Martial Arts Association and GrandMaster Hee Il Cho who is has been one of the most recognized figures in world of martial arts for the last 40 years.

 

The Inverclyde five have spent the last year training three sometimes four nights and most saturdays over the last year in training for there grading. James Lewis, Jordan Learie and Rachel Miller who were promoted to 1st degree black belt along with Gillian Boyle promoted to 3rd degree black belt and club instructor Charles Boyle was promoted to 5th degree black belt

 

The group also had three trips to Dublin over the last year to train with Master John Darcy which was a requirement from Grand Master Cho. With Master Darcy being Grandmaster Cho's european director and head instructor this gave not only the students but Mr Boyle the chance to be at the top of there game when it came to the grading.

 

With the junior student taking part in the Arizona State Open Championships on the Saturday it left them buzzing with energy for the grading on the Sunday. Starting at 11am the students met with Grandmaster Cho and Master Darcy before the grading and this settled any nerves the students had. Not for long though as the instructors from all over the US and Ireland started to appear the nerves started to build again. Once grandmaster Cho gave the order to line out signaling the start of the grading with a deep breath the warm up started and everyone started to enjoy themselves as they proved to Grand master Cho and the rest of the grading panel and the other instructors just what they could do.

 

Starting with warm up exercises the group then moved on to line work where they had to show all techniques from white to black belt curriculum, then moving on to patterns and self defence with one step sparring and two against one. Two hours into the grading the students were given a life line when most had a break with only two students at a time on the floor to show there sparring techniques. During the grading Grandmaster Cho was asking the students all sorts of questions about Tae Kwon-Do and their experiences through Tae Kwon-Do. Last on the agenda for the day was board breaking with all students having to break 10 boards each (adults 1", kids 1/2") with the students choosing there techniques Grandmaster Cho would determine how many at a time was to be broken, all student managed this no problems at all.

 GrandMaster Cho then sat (all of the 11 students grading on the day) everyone down and explained the importance of life to us all as Tae Kwon-Do practitioners, and how we should always aim to improve ourselves and help others.

 

The students then had a three week wait un till they found out if they had passed there grading or not. All students on the day should be very proud of themselves for they showed the true tenants of Tae Kwon-Do in achieving there next goal. Well done to everyone.

 

The rest of the Inverclyde students who are ready to test for there black belts will do so on the 8th of September when Master Darcy will visit Greenock and will also host a seminar while he is here Any Martial Artist in the area are more than welcome to attend this as it is an experience not to be missed