Monday 26th of September 10am-4pm

Tuesday 27th of September 10am-4pm

Come along to have a chat and get more information about the club!
The taster sessions will be:

Wednesday 28th of September 6-8pm

Sunday 2nd of October 1-3pm + socialising at pub afterwards

Both the taster sessions will be held upstairs in the University Sports hall. If you can’t make any of the taster sessions you are more than welcome to come to any of the regular training sessions to give taekwondo a go

Normal training begins Monday 3rd October and continues throughout 2011/12.

Monday 8:30pm-10pm
Thursday 6:30pm-8:30pm
Saturday 3pm-5pm

Directions to the sports centre:

Soon start of term!

The summer is drawing to an end and a new university year is looming. This also means that the Newcastle University Taekwondo Club “season” is just around the corner! The committee is busy planning a new exciting program for the coming year and I’m really looking forward to seeing old and new faces at training. We want to continue being a sociable club achieving high standards at grading and hopefully we will be able to compete in a lot more competitions this year, raising the standard even further.

Anyone can join, from total novices to experienced black belts! I would like to welcome everyone to the taster sessions in Fresher’s Week (see website for times) and to our regular training starting the 3rd of October!

Hopefully see you at training

Sofie x

2011/2012 Exec

Club President
Sofie Vaula

Club Secretary
Rihards Sobols

Club Treasurer
Tai-Tak Kung

Club Social Secretary
Dante Cufino Robb

Club Communications Officer
Marvin A Wereko

Looking forward to 2011/12!

Everyone is welcome! If you have any questions, please contact us!

Fitness and Power: Monday’s sessions are usually fitness sessions, this involves a lot of running, kicking, sit-ups and sparring. Don’t let this put you off! It’s a lot of fun and you’ll feel great afterwards! Along with fitness will come power, taekwondo is an excellent way to improve your strength.

Acrobatics: You don’t have to look very far on Youtube to see that taekwondo have probably the best acrobatic kicks in the martial arts world. I myself am very keen on acrobatic kicks and flips and would be happy to help anyone improve in this area! Here is just one example:

Progress and Sparring: There a 9 belts before blackbelt in taekwondo and you can attend a maximum of 3 gradings every year. On certain occasions if you show a lot of progress you will be double-graded. We don’t expect most people to grade 3 times a year, but most people do grade occasionally in order to move up the belts. Sparring is a prominent part of taekwondo and most people really enjoy it! If you do enjoy it then make sure you come to the student nationals later in the year!

Flexibility: Tae kwon do involves a lot of kicking, which inevitably leads to flexibility. We do some stretching in sessions, but it’s also up to you to stretch in your own time to get the most out of your legs! Let us know if you need any advice on stretching.

If you have any concerns at all, please contact us, taekwondo is great fun!

Have a great Summer and see you in September!

One last message from me just to say thanks very much for a great year! The club has come on leaps and bounds and I’m sure we’ve got a great few years ahead!

It’s been a privilege and honour to be president this year and it’s now time to pass over to next year’s exec: Alex Hawke will be the President, Sofie Vaula the Secretary, Natasha Charlton the Treasurer and Rory Fairbairn the Social Secretary. I have a good feeling I’m leaving the club in good hands!

Thanks again to you all for a great year!

Rob McKeon

Taekwondo club leave their mark

Extract from the Newcastle University Courier (original) By Daniel Colman

Newcastle University takewondo club made the long journey down to Aylesbury for the 24th BSTF Student nationals.

The team’s competition got off to a poor start in the patterns competition as the new knockout format worked against our competitors, with many of Newcastle’s team being knocked out in early rounds by eventual winners.

After disappointment in the patterns the team was eager to make an impact on the sparring competition an area where Newcastle is widely recognised as a strong team.

However the knockout tournament got off to a bad start as Karla Butterworth, a silver medallist last year, was beaten by a point in a close match.

Shortly afterwards Michael Gilbert was felled by a head kick from a strong opponent as he attempted to win the fight in the final few seconds. Hiram Ma won his first round match in dramatic style before being beaten in a close encounter in the quarter finals before Lewis-Reiss Bowyer got the team’s first bronze medal after a close semi final fight.

This was followed by bronze medals from Dan Coleman and David Kung, who were both beaten in close fights in their category’s semi final; whilst Daniel Xu and Waiel Yonos suffered unfortunate injuries preventing them from progressing to their respective finals.

The Newcastle Uni girls made their mark on the competition with gold medals from all the remaining competitors.

Emily Hutchinson defeated a gold medallist from the previous year in a strong performance, whilst Emma Neal and Sofie Valua both achieved well deserved gold medals with excellent performances.

The remaining boys, however, were not to be overlooked. An unlucky Josh Maqsood was narrowly beaten in his final, whilst an incredible competitive performance from Alex Hawke saw him emerge brusied but victorious with a further gold medal.

The team ended the competition in sixth place out of around 20 universities; a good result considering the injuries in the club and the decline in size this season.

The strong result can be attributed to a great coaching regime from fight coaches Kye Tompkins, Ben Shaw and Scott Abley from Chi taekwondo and we look forward to another successful year ahead.

We’re looking forward to the next student nationals in 2011, if you want to be involved, please get in contact.

It’s also a great way to archive the history of the club in the future. I’m hoping that future committees will takeover the website and keep it up-to-date.

Hope everyone likes the website. If you have any ideas or feedback, please let me know!