Wednesday 4 December 2013

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!




Monday 1 April 2013

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.