Sun 23 Sept 2019 – University of Worcester Arena
Journey
Robin was a trooper driving down to Worcester this morning. Set off at 6.35am from Farmoor in the lashing rain. The boys and I slept though it while Robin ploughed through the rain. I woke up in a panic every so often each time we drive though a what felt like a lake! It was a straightforward drive without any traffic at that time of the morning and saved us the usual hotel expense for the 5 of us.
Parking
Forward planning allowed us to park up across the river opposite the venue and cross the bridge without having to fight through traffic and queues. McD’s to line the stomach while Robin found us seats to settle down. We knew traffic approaching the venue would be grid-locked so we took the A449 into Worcester.
Venue
Apart from the initial queue outside the arena around 8:45 prior to doors opening, the venue was well structured with ample seating area and good views of all 12 mats. Fortunately, black belts and blues stripes were schedule to be on areas with easy access and perimeter views. As always, only competitors were allowed onto the tournament area where the mats were placed in the usual grid formation.
This is the first competition for both TAGB and ITF Taekwondo students run by the British Taekwondo Council. I was interested to see if there'd be any obvious bias towards either side by any of the referees. But the day seemed to run smoothly and efficiently for all competitors.
As it turned out this was smaller than expected however it was a great competition with the addition of some new blood in the form of the ITF crowd.
Ethan & Tyler individual sparring
Both did awesome in their blue stripe category 😊 Both won all their fights with ease. Tyler lost by 1 point to get third place bronze. Ethan went on to win gold 😊 10-pointed two of his opponents by suddenly becoming an expert at head kicks; move over Jade Jones there’s a new Head Hunter in town. Don’t know where they suddenly crept in from - perhaps he suddenly sussed out that 3 head kicks with 1 additional point basically wins the round as its the first to 10. And probably learning from the previous comp who he lost out for the first time because of a series of 3-point head kicks.
We entered the boys in the competition about a month before their grading, so they remained in the blue stripe categories for the duration of the tournament. Then also fought up a grade with a team mate to form a Tag Team in the Blue belt category.
Tyler had a lot more confidence in this competition and went on the hunt for his opponents scoring numerous kicks against them. He took Bronze in the individual Sparring and Gold with Ethan in the Blue-stripes Tag Team event.
Both deservedly chilling out on their iPads waiting for Ashton’s category to start – obviously proud as punch with their shiny new medals.
Ashton individual sparring
Unfortunately, Ashton lost out in his middleweight category in the very first round. His opponent was a lot taller and has fought him before in previous comps. He went on to win silver. Also we lost count how many times his glove came off - once flying into the scoring panel of judges!
Ethan & Tyler tag team
Tag team sparring - the boys teamed up with a boy called Liam who’s from Warren Vice club. They won the first round comfortably by 17-7. Then continued on to become the gold team winners with 14-9. Very proud of the three boys. The videos I managed to record were from a distance because they were competing on area 9 which is in the middle of the arena.
Ethan and Tyler also teamed up with Lewis for a Blue Belt Tag Team, but unfortunately lost out. It was a little disappointing that the Tag Team events only gave medals for 1st & 2nd places
After re-watching Ethan and Tyler’s Blue Belt Tag Team fight with Lewis at least 3 times later that evening, I do feel strongly that the decision was wrong and we should’ve won that match by at least 5 points - all because of a series of poor decisions by the main referee on area 8.
Take a look at the video – and judge for yourself!
Ashton black belt tag team event
The poor sportsmanship from the black belt middleweight team was quite a revelation - to think they intentionally entered the category knowingly is just poor behaviour.
Shout-out
Praise to the BTC event organiser for resolving the situation as amicably and diplomatic as possible for awarding the two other tag teams, including Ashton’s, joint third place bronze medals.
Overall
So overall, the super Coopers all came away with a medal placement each, keeping up their track record for another competition 😊
Ashton Bronze Tag Team 🥉
Ethan Gold Individual Sparring 🥇Gold Tag Team 🥇
Tyler Bronze Individual Sparring 🥉Gold Tag Team 🥇
Designated driver
Top marks for Robin for driving the full 2hr journey home from Worcester while we were all fast asleep. Up until we pulled up outside Golden City for our post-comp takeaway 😋
Post-competition review
After re-watching Ethan and Tyler’s Blue Belt Tag Team fight with Lewis, I do feel strongly that the decision was wrong and we should’ve won that match by at least 5 points - all because of a series of poor decisions by the main referee on area 8.
Take a look at the video – and judge for yourself!
😡