Taekwondo Chungdokwan Great Britian (TCGB)

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.

The TCGB Committee would like to thank Master Stephen Butlin of Powerhouse Taekwondo for his many years of support and dedication as TCGB Tournament Coordinator. Master Butlin decided to step aside from the role this year, but has continued to guide our new Tournament Coordinator, Heena Shah, and aided preparations for the TCGB Kyorugi National Championships 2018. He has promised this is not a goodbye and will continue to attend events in the future. Master Butlin is pictured here receiving a special recognition award at the 2018 AGM from TCGB President, Grandmaster Mark Biddlecombe.

A huge thank you to everyone that supported the TCGB Kyorugi National Championships 2018 in Bracknell on Saturday 24th March. We hope you enjoyed the day and gained valuable experience. Particular praise to all the wonderful officials (led superbly by Chief Referee Master Darren Naraine), volunteers and first aiders. Without your support the event would not have been possible.

Team trophies were as follows:

Dear Instructors/Members,

Time has flown by; March is here already.

Fast approaching is the TCGB National Championships 2018 on Saturday 24^th March in Bracknell. I wish all competitors to try their best to win, enjoy the experience and demonstrate the spirit of the martial art. This long-standing event has been very successful and I hope this year will be no exception.

On Sunday 15^th April there will be a training seminar with Grandmaster Shin. We have booked the large sports hall at Tiffin School, Kingston to accommodate numbers and provide a suitable training area. It is important for members, and particularly senior grades, to meet Grandmasters and committee members at these special events.

I hope you can make the time to attend this seminar and encourage your students to attend. Grandmaster Lindsay Lawrence and I will also be in support. Details of events are on the ‘new look’ TCGB website.

Part of the TCGB plan for this year is to encourage students to meet and train together, to learn and build for the future. I used to conduct regular Black Belt training sessions. However, considering the fast-paced societies in which we live, and geographical difficulties, training sessions held once a month is very hard to arrange. So, one option is to make the most of the TCGB calendar. Most of the events are held regularly, on an annual basis.

Perhaps senior grades can look forward and aim to attend; Grandmaster Shin seminar, Pre-Dan grading sessions (x2), and the All-In-One seminar. This would give us the opportunity to meet and train together 4 times per year. The aim is to train together, work hard, grow stronger individually and as a Chungdokwan family. Above all, enjoy the time and capture the spirit of taekwondo.

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

Grandmaster Mark Biddlecombe, TCGB President

TCGB are delighted to announce a training seminar with Grandmaster Byeonghyun Shin (9th Dan) of Chungdokwan Korea on Sunday 15th April in Kingston, London (2-5pm). The seminar is open to all grades (£20 per person) and presents an opportunity to train with one of the great Taekwondo practitioners! The seminar is likely to be active and physical, with Grandmaster Shin renowned for his high technical standard and training. Don’t miss out, we hope to see you there!

TCGB President Grandmaster Mark Biddlecombe is planning to provide regular updates to our members regarding upcoming events and other Taekwondo news. Here is Grandmaster Biddlecombe’s first message following the TCGB AGM 2018.

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Dear Instructors/Members,

Firstly, thank you to everyone for your continued and valued support over the past year.

Following the AGM 2018, it was nice to see so many attend the event. This presented an opportunity for members to meet the TCGB Committee and hear first-hand, reports made from each party. To add, I would like to say a special thank you for all the hard work of the Committee.

We have finally moved the TCGB website over to the WordPress format to help better communicate with our members. Please let us know what you think – as you will see, there are still many sections to be updated and additional resources for us to provide, but we’re getting there at long last!