Taekwondo Chungdokwan Great Britain (TCGB)

Dear Instructors/Members,

Thank you to all Taekwondo Chungdokwan Great Britain (TCGB) members for your continued support, honesty and trust. This year we have seen progress in strengthening relations with our Chungdokwan friends at home and overseas. I personally have just returned from South Korea and presented Grandmaster Park Hae Man with a Christmas card on behalf of our association.

A special thank you to the TCGB committee for helping us meet the many challenges of 2018. I would also like to say well done to those candidates that have recently attended the winter TCGB Dan Grade promotion test in Swanmore.

2019 looks to be an exciting year – in particular, please make a note in your diary for the TCGB National Championships planned over two days, 23rd and 24th March at the Bracknell Leisure Centre. This will be a special event commemorating Chungdokwan’s 75-year anniversary. A special celebration dinner is also planned on the Saturday evening.

In 2019, we will continue to hold instructor/black belt meetings, while we are also planning to introduce instructor/black belt training sessions. The aim is to enjoy training together, learn and improve overall standards within TCGB.

The next opportunity for our members to meet will be at the TCGB AGM on Sunday 3rd February. Registration from 1pm at the Manning Room, Roman Catholic Church of St Ignatius of Loyola, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex, TW16 6QB. It would be great to see members and especially instructors and senior grades in attendance. Thank you again for your support and hard work. May we continue to train hard together and enjoy the challenges and learning that Taekwondo presents.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Grandmaster Mark Biddlecombe,
TCGB President

Short video from a training session last weekend, led by TCGB Sport Development Officer Master Dean Gibbs, where Southampton University Taekwondo Club (SUTKD) visited Chung Yong Taekwondo Academy (CYTA). Hard work and friendship.

There were over 70 participants at the TCGB All-In-One Seminar in Swanmore on Saturday. A huge thank you to all the instructors that supported poomsae, sparring and self-defence sessions. So much knowledge within the association which you are passing onto the next generation!

Also, during the seminar, Technical Director Master Michael King and Vice-President Grandmaster Lindsay Lawrence recreated a photo from over 40 years ago (see below). This is the family spirit that makes Chungdokwan!

In preparation for the Chungdokwan Open 2018 in Ireland, TCGB Vice-President Grandmaster Lindsay Lawrence has arranged additional training at the Ark Academy on 15 and 29 September (12-3pm), as well as Tiffin School on Mondays (7-9pm) and Thursdays (6-8pm) from 24 September. The sessions will cover both poomsae and kyorugi. £5 per session. We hope to see you there – all welcome, even if you are not able to attend the competition.

Ark Academy, Bridge Road, Wembley, HA9 9JP

Tiffin School, Queen Elizabeth Rd, Kingston upon Thames, KT2 6RL

TCGB is looking to send a team to support the Chungdokwan Open 2018 in Ireland, 20-21 October (see flyer below), hosted by Master Sheamus O Neill. If any TCGB members are interested in competing (poomsae and/or kyorugi) or officiating at this event, please send an email to Natalie (TCGB Secretary General) via sec@chungdokwan.org.uk and we will look to coordinate plans.

Dear Instructors/Members,

Congratulations to all those who attained their goal at the Taekwondo Chungdokwan Great Britain (TCGB) Dan Grade Promotion Test last weekend. A special “well done” to the long-standing instructors of the association whose performances were inspiring and professional.

Overall, the standard has increased which was reflected in the high pass rate. I am confident that participants who just missed out this time will achieve their goal in the near future; December is the next opportunity to test.

Remember, the many routines of the grading must be well rehearsed. For example, patterns must be demonstrated without any hesitations. Practice until the performances flow without any conscious thought; without thinking about what technique comes next. This will demonstrate to the examiners that practitioners have been training hard and are confident in what they are doing.

Also, techniques must be demonstrated with a degree of power. Sharp actions with snap and twist. Simply “walking” through the routines, lacking the martial art “fighting spirit” is viewed as underperforming.

Thank you to all the participants, instructors, parents and committee members who have continued to support TCGB and making this event possible. I look forward to the next event and I am sure we can progress and develop further, together.

Train hard, enjoy the challenge and learning that Taekwondo presents.

Grandmaster Mark Biddlecombe,
TCGB President

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will come into effect on the 25 May 2018. We want to make sure that you will only hear from us if you want to. This means that as soon as these changes happen, you will need to have actively chosen to opt in to receive emails from TCGB via the mailing list.

We use emails to send updates to instructors and club secretaries about events and topics relevant to TCGB clubs. After 25 May, only those who opted in will continue to receive the emails to the TCGB mailing list. We recently contacted everyone on our mailing list to let them know. Please do ensure that you have opted in by 25 May so we can continue to keep you up-to-date on the latest news and events by email. You can email after this date to request to be added. We will continue to post news, events and other information on our social media pages and our website.

Please use this as an opportunity to invite all of your club instructors and those who help with organisation (e.g. club secretary) to join the TCGB mailing list. Each individual should send an email to sec@chungdokwan.org.uk requesting to join the mailing list. A simple ‘I would like to be included in the TCGB mailing list’ is fine. Please include the email address you want to be added if it is not the email address you are sending the request from.

If at any time you wish to be removed from the mailing list, please email ‘unsubscribe’ to sec@chungdokwan.org.uk.

A big thank you to Grandmaster Byeonghyun Shin for a fantastic seminar in Kingston today. A great Taekwondo practitioner – it was an honour for us all to train with you (and that’s what you call a warm-up ). We hope everyone enjoyed the training and learned something new. Also, thank you to Master Sheamus O Neill for supporting the event and Grandmaster Mark Biddlecombe, Grandmaster Lindsay Lawrence and Master Gerry Reilly for your continued dedication to the association and Chungdokwan. Rest up and we look forward to seeing you again soon!

Dear Instructors/Members,

Firstly, thank you to everyone who supported the TCGB Kyorugi National Championships 2018 in Bracknell and making this a successful event. A quick reminder – the Grandmaster Shin seminar is on Sunday 15th April in Kingston, less than 10 days to go!

Secondly, the latter part of the Grandmaster Shin seminar will be reserved for an Instructors meeting. Leading Instructors, Assistant Instructors and Master Grade (4th Dan) Black Belts and above will be invited to attend. The meeting will be conducted by Grandmaster Lindsay Lawrence and Grandmaster Mark Biddlecombe. This will be the final 20 minutes and training will continue for all other grades with Grandmaster Shin.