Belgacem's School of Cho's Tae Kwon Do - AIMAA Scotland
AIMAA European Championships
Master Kirkwood and Mr BelgacemThe first ever AIMAA European Championships were held at Blantyre Sports Centre on Sunday 2nd, May.
This amazing AIMAA event was organised and hosted by Master John Kirkwood and brought together some of the best competitors from around Europe.
Belgacem's School of Cho's Tae Kwon Do had a strong squad of competitors at the event who joined the many excellent AIMAA Scotland students in proudly representing their association.
Our squad of Instructor and students at the event were Mr & Mrs Belgacem, Mr Walker, Mr Shaw, Miss Mallon, Miss Martin, Ross Martin, Paul Burns, George Morrison, Kinzie Mcmahon, Liam Walker, Blair Lindsay, Jack Airle, Jennifer Fleming and Scott Longmuir.
Mrs Belgacem - European ChampionThe European Championships kicked off with the Adult Black Belt divisions in Patterns, Point Sparring, Continuous Sparring and 1-Steps and it was here we picked up our first European title!!
Mrs Belgacem was fantastic in her patterns division and beat off some strong competition in her group which was made up of senior black belts, third degree and above.
Our Head Instructor later went on to place in THREE other divisions. She came second, along with Miss Mallon, in the 1-Step sparring division; second in the team pattern division along with two of her students Ross and Alannah Martin and then went on to win some excellent fights to take third place in the female black belt sparring division! Ross Martin also performed brilliantly in his own individual patterns section and placed second in a division that had a really high standard.
Mrs Belgacem had a fantastic tournament and was an excellent representative for our school and for AIMAA Scotland.
Miss Mallon with European Champion George Morrison
After the conclusion of the black belt divisions the tournament quickly moved onto the many exciting colour belt divisions! The overall standard of the European Championships was excellent and all of the competitors from white belt upwards really did give it their all!
Belgacem's School of Cho's Tae Kwon Do's junior students were excellent on the day and although some of them did not place on this occasion Mr and Mrs Belgacem are sure the experience will serve them well in the future. Liam Walker, Blair Lindsay, Jack Airlie and Scott Longmuir were all brilliant!! Larkhall student, Jennifer Flemming performed an excellent, crisp pattern to take third place in her division.
A special mention for young Liam Walker who has really began to truly embrace his training in preperation for his black belt test later in the year. His increased training has really brought him on and again at the European Championships he performed his pattern with strength, power and conviction, only just missing out on a trophy!
Young AIMAA Scotland students enjoy the day
Mrs Belgacem with European Champion Kinzie McMahonAnother student who had a fantastic tournament, which included winning a European Title, was Larkhall's George Morrison. George ended the day with three trophies including third in patterns, second in continuous sparring (losing to a fifth degree black belt with many years of experience) and the before mentioned European crown in points sparring.
Our school's other two European title winners on the day were Paul 'Heners' Henry and Kinzie McMahon. Paul Henry has only recently returned to the school after a long illness but performed his pattern exceptionally well to take the title in his division.
Kinzie McMahon was fighting in only his second ever Tae Kwon Do tournament and had to fight through many rounds to win his title. Kinzie received some excellent praise on the day for the way he performed with fantastic hand combinations and speed!
This was a fantastic AIMAA event for everyone involved. Mr and Mrs Belgacem would like to thank Master Kirkwood for hosting this event and also Mrs Kirkwood for the many many hours of organisation events like this require!!! We now look forward to the many AIMAA Scotland events that are planned for later in the year. Belgacem's School of Cho's Tae Kwon Do is exceptionally proud to be members of AIMAA Scotland.
SDSD
Print