St Patrick's Day is a time for celebration and parades and since this year the theme of the local parade in Loughrea was sport and fun, it was an ideal opportunity to celebrate two and a half years of Loughrea Taekwondo Club. There was nervousness beforehand about whether we would have a reasonable turnout, whether the banner and flags would be ready but most of all would we get the traditional St Patrick's Day weather of hail, rain or snow - our traditional doboks would not be ideal for such conditions ! But guess what - the weather in Loughrea was beautiful; cold but bright and sunny. We assembled in the car park, all 18 of us (along with all the other participants ; many childeren from different schools and clubs and assorted vintage tractors and other vehicles). We added a bit of colour to our look with green hats and shamrock, and Irish flags painted on all faces courtesy of Issac's Mum.
Soon the parade was off. We marched proudly up the main street of Loughrea (between groups from the mini-rugby club and the Brownies) demonstating a few basic moves for the crowd. And at the end, in front of the stand and parade officials, we gave a brief demonstration of our art and Mrs Doyle accepted a small trophy acknowledging our participation in the parade.
Despite the fact that it was a Tuesday evening a good number of Galway students turned out for the fantastic opportunity to train with Master Maidana. A student of Master Galarraga, and the technical advisor to the Irish United Taekwon-Do Federation for the International Taekwon-Do federation, he travelled all the way from Argentina to teach in several venues around the country. Fortunately for us one of those venues was in Galway city.
We started with a good warm up and some light stretching exercises before we moved on to patterns training. Beginning with the two exercises Saju Magki and Saju Jirugi, He talked about technique and power and the importance of hip twist in generating power. Master Maidana stressed the importance of attention to the fine detail when performing patterns. He worked through the colourbelt patterns from Chon-Ji to Joong-Gun covering all in great detail. He made several observations which were informative and interesting, leaving us all with more knowledge to help us improve. We moved on to sparring techniques and using the kick shields we put together different techniques and worked on speed. He discussed the importance of partner work and how the person holding the kick shield was equally important as the person practicing the technique. The atmosphere was fantastic with humour and fun playing a big part of the evening. One of the things he stressed was the importance of the etiquette and the respect we need to have and display towards each other- this is what makes us truly martial artists and not just sportsmen. He was assisted by Mr Dalton, who introduced him at the start and thanked him at the end which came too soon- despite the fact that it was after ten when we finished. Mr Dalton commented on how every time he attends a seminar his love for Taekwon-Do is renewed, how it gives him fresh enthusiasm for teaching and how important it is to him to be a student as well as an instructor. He is certainly not alone in this. These kinds of training sessions are opportunities not to be missed by those who are serious about their training, there is a wealth of knowledge to be gained. We are lucky to have the I.U.T.F. working so hard for us to bring this knowledge to our door step instead of having to travel abroad and should not miss any opportunity to improve that comes our way.
Loughrea Taekwondo Club's first Christmas Party was held in The Meadow Court Hotel on Saturday 22nd December.
It was very well supported by the students and their families and turned into a very enjoyable night.
The food was excellent - there were christmas crackers and party hats.
After the meal Mrs Doyle presented the club's awards for the year :
Jason Daly received the junior competitor of the year award and Mr Doyle was awarded the trophy for senior competitor of the year.
Nathan Collins deservedly won the junior student of the year and Mr Doyle the senior student of the year.
There were also a few special awards of thanks for those who had helped with the club during the year - Ciaran Doyle, Mr Paul Doyle and Mr Gerry Daly.
Then the real reason why most had attended began - the Karaoke.
We had singers of all ages - many different styles - soloists, duets and groups........
And assorted dancing to accompany the music - congas and line dancing ...........
It can't be described properly in words, so see the photos for the true experience.
The music went on to the early hours of the morning and everyone there had a great time.
At the recent grading on 14 December all 14 students who took part passed. Congratulations to those who were promoted
On Saturday the championships kicked off with the black belt competitions. The standard was, as usual very high, with many competitors from all over including Germany, Holland, Italy, Belgium, and the U.K. Master Hogan and Master Wolf were there with the English competitors, and Master Leica was there with the Italians. It was a great day with plenty of talent on show, Eoghan Doyle took silver in his Patterns division, Ciaran Doyle did well but finished out of the silverware this time. The day ended with the announcement that Ireland was to face England in the final of the Celtic cup first thing on Sunday morning.
It was a little after ten when the finalists lined out on Sunday a six man English team led by Mr Richard Belle ( current world champion) faced a five man Irish team which was led from the front by Mr Sean Keane and included Mr Leon Brydon, Mr Jon Mackey, Mr David O Sullivan and Mr Kevin Larkin. Mr Fitzgibbon was the referee and took his place in the ring, doing a great job and being completely professional as always. The sparring was fantastic and exciting to watch with all competitors giving 110% for their team and an absolutely electric atmosphere which set the tone for the rest of the day. It finished 2 ½ points each and both teams had to nominate for a play off. Mr Richard Belle went in for the English and Mr David O Sullivan for the Irish. After a great fight Mr Belle emerged the victor. As always the teams finished as great friends and congratulated each other on a truly great competition. They set a fine example to all the aspiring young colourbelts waiting to compete.
Mr Marc P. from Germany did a fantastic display, performing his world championship gold medal winning musical Pattern to an enthralled audience which took them to their feet cheering and clapping when he finished. It was a spectacular display of beautiful technique and athleticism. Click here to see a video of this performance.
Loughrea competitors did themselves proud on the day with Mr Doyle and Laura Doyle both doing well but finishing out of the medals, and Mr Brendan O Connor winning a bronze for Sparring and David O Connor winning a silver. Congratulations to all - well done!
Congratulations to Jason Daly and Kayla O'Connor who took part in the world Kickboxing championships in Germany in August ’07. Jason got a bronze medal for third place in the sparring. Kayla fought very well but was unlucky.
At the Leinster Open Championships in October Loughrea was represented by 3 competitors. Mr. Doyle fought well to earn second place in the over eighteen sparring section green to black stripe
Congratulations to Kayla O'Connor who won third place in the patterns section of the Puma UK Championships in June. Well done Kayla, we're very proud of you.
Find out more about the Big Raffle to raise funds for our students representating Ireland at the world Kickboxing Championships.
The Doyle family attended a seminar given by Master Ogbourne (7th Dan) and Mr. Black (6th Dan). Click here for a report of this excellent event.
The Connacht Open Taekwondo Championships were held on Sunday 6 May in Gort. 8 students from Loughrea took part and won 6 trophies. Congratulations to all.
At the recent grading on 30 April all 15 students who took part passed. Congratulations to those who were promoted
Your instructor, Sandra Doyle, passed her recent black belt grading and has been promoted to 2nd Dan. Her 2 sons were also graded at the same time - Ciaran was also promoted to 2nd Dan and Eoghan was promoted to 1st Dan