Unite TKD Black Belt Success

On Sunday 15^th June two of our students were successful in passing their 1^st Dan Black Belt in the Korean martial art of Tae Kwon Do.

Unite Tae Kwon Do has been open since October 2010 and this Black Belt promotion is a great achievement for the club. The two students were amongst the first students that joined us when we first opened and they have trained hard over the last 3.5 years to reach this point, both moving up from the junior class into the adults’ class when they became old enough. They have both also developed in their roles at the club as Assistant Instructors and we are extremely proud of their achievements. They are dedicated students and great role models for the other young people that train with us.

The Black Belt grading was held in Kidderminster and the students were put through a gruelling 4 hour examination of their physical fitness, proficiency in Tae Kwon Do and knowledge of the theory behind the martial art.

Congratulations to both of them!

For anyone wishing to find out more about the club they can take a look at our website www.unitetkd.co.uk or our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/unitetkd. 

Unite TKD celebrates its 3rd birthday!

On Monday 25th November Unite Tae Kwon Do  celebrated its 3rd birthday. 3 years?!! Can you believe it?! We can't- the time is flying by and by this time next year our very first students should already be the proud owners of black belts.

To celebrate our birthday we held a special birthday event, as has become a bit of a tradition at Unite. Last year we held a 1 hour sponsored Kickathon event, which was a great success. We hit our target of 1,111 kicks in the hour and raised lots of money for charity.

This year we are held another Kickathon and our aim was to kick our way to 1,234 kicks and raise money for The MS Society.

Around 100,000 people in the UK have MS. It affects two million more. The MS Society offers hope for the future by investing in research, and help for today through providing information, support and campaigning. A very worthwhile charity and one that our students were only too willing to support.

There was a fun, supportive atmosphere on the night of the Kickathon; with students cheering each other on and helping each other get through the challenge. The hall was a sea of orange- the colour of the MS Society logo.We smashed through the target of 1,234 kicks. It took a lot of sweat and there were some aching legs the next day, but there were lots of smiles too. Of course, we brought birthday cake along and some of the students and parents also brought along extra goodies to reward everyone for their hard work. 

The money is still coming in, but hopefully we should hit our target of £1,500. We will let you know the final total shortly!

We'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone that came along and kicked, held pads and supported the students. Also, to our lovely photographers and "clickers" (those counting the kicks) and Jo, for the amazing bunting and decorations. We were touched to receive some lovely gifts from our Assistant Instructors on behalf of the club, so a big thanks to them too!

Well done everyone! We're two very proud Instructors who are very lucky to have such great students and support. Looking forward to the next year- make sure you're part of it!

Nunchaku Workshops March 23rd 2013

On Saturday 23rd March Unite hosted another Nunchaku Workshop. It had been nearly a year since Mr Ballard came over and taught the last weapons workshop and a return visit was long overdue judging by how much the students enjoyed the sessions.

22 students took part over the 2 workshops despite the snowy weather and freezing conditions outside. Mr Ballard, 5th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do with TKDSOE, taught a range of techniques over the 3 hours; including spins, back passes, waist passes, neck passes, under leg passes!, wrist rolls and strikes, amongst other things. At the end of the junior workshop teams competed against each other to perform different techniques around a set course in the fastest time. The adults finished their session by devising and performing some team forms.

Well done to everyone that took part and a big "thank you" to Mr Ballard for teaching the workshops. 

The next weapons workshop coming up is on Saturday 20th April. This will be a Kubotan Workshop taught by Mr Neill, 2nd degree black belt in Ju Jitsu and 1st degree black belt in TKD. please speak to an instructor if you are interested in attending.

Events Diary 2013

Unite Tae Kwon Do kicks off 2012 with two successful workshops...

Self Defence Workshops


On February 11th Unite TKD hosted two, well-attended self defence workshops for junior and adult students. The workshops were taught by Mr Terry Neill, a red belt in Tae Kwon Do, but also an accomplished 2nd Dan black belt Instructor in Ju Jitsu.
The workshops covered techniques transferable to the TKDSOE grading syllabus, including: take downs, sweeps, wrist locks, ground defence, throws and knife defence. Each workshop finished with a pressure test drill in which each student had to defend against the other students using techniques they had learnt and practised earlier.


Unite Instructors, Sarah and Kai Wilson, were really pleased with everyone that took part. Sarah said, “Everyone that attended came away with some effective techniques they can use in their training. It was brilliant to see even some of our newest white belt students dealing confidently with attackers in the pressurised end drill. Well done to them! A big thank you also to Mr Neill for sharing his passion for self defence.”


The club plans to hold further self defence workshops in the future.


Click HERE for a link to the video of this workshop.

Escrima workshops


On January 27th Unite hosted two weapons workshops taught by Master Russell Perks, Mr Matthew Ballard and Mr Cameron Lowe. In 2011 Master Perks gave Unite students an introduction to the stick and knife fighting art from the Philippines. The event was so successful that another workshop was sure to attract students eager to learn more. 38 students- adults and juniors- attended in total, including lots of new white belt students.
Students covered lots in the sessions; including coordination drills, single stick disarms, double stick and stick and knife drills. The juniors also got chance to hit Mr Ballard, which they all seemed to enjoy very much! Luckily for him he was wearing protective armour.


Unite Instructors Sarah and Kai Wilson are definitely looking to put on further weapons workshops in the coming months, as it adds something different to their students’ knowledge base, but also provides transferable skills that they can use in their Tae Kwon Do training.


A big thank you to Master Perks, Mr. Ballard and Mr. Lowe for a great weapons class.


Click HERE for a link to the video of the workshop.