IT HAS been a busy couple of weekends for Barry-based Rising Dragons Tae Kwon Do.
On Sunday, January 29, the club headed to Cheltenham for the Global Tae Kwon Do International, English Open.
The event started with the patterns section for all grades. In the girls yellow/green belt category, Ella Bedford performed a clean routine to come away with a silver medal. In the girls red belt patterns, Lucia Cunningham and Brooke Baker matched each other step for step and came away with gold and silver respectively.
Moving onto the fighting divisions, Charlie Rogers and Maddison Allen worked their way through the competition eventually meeting each other in the final of the blue/red belt light weight category with Charlie receiving the gold medal and Maddison taking silver.
Cameron Evans fought through to the final of the blue/red belt light heavy category, coming away with a silver medal.
In the black belt sections, Cody Jacobsen won gold with Joel Wells winning bronze in the light weight category and Cian Allen winning silver and Joel again taking bronze in the light heavy category.
In the men's black belt division, Matthew Bennett stepped up a class from light to middle weight and came away with a very strong bronze medal, putting on an exceptional performance against larger fighters.
Oakley Allen, Evie Harvey and Harley Jacobsen, still quite new to competing in tournaments, put on great displays in all their categories and showed ever-continuing improvements.
On February 5, the club headed North to Solihull to take part in the 2017's first Lordswood Combat Tri Series Tournament. This is a new event for the Dragons and is mostly attended by well trained kickboxers.
The Rising Dragons stepped up to the test and, although coming away with one third place trophy in the point fighting categories for instructor Bradley Halford, it showed areas where the students need to develop their skills and thinking so next time they'll be more prepared.
In the continuous sparring categories, the students performed much better with a third place for Cameron Evans, a second place for Cody Jacobsen and an excellent fourth place performance by Cian Allen in their categories and a second and third place for club instructors Bradley Halford and Matthew Bennett in the men's group.
If you would like more information on the club and the days they train, contact Joanne Halford 07921 915559 or email JoanneHalford@hotmail.co.uk
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