​Another fantastic grading was held in Totton under the watchful eye of our grading examiner Mr Daniel Lammin (6th Degree). This was one of the larger gradings that Swain Taekwon-Do have had, with 19 students being tested. The requirements included fundamental techniques, patterns, set sparring, free sparring and theory.

Before covering the results I want to say a massive thank you to those black belts who helped out on the evening, we really can't do it without you volunteering your time; and also to Ben Rosie who came along to be a partner for some set sparring and free sparring, as well as lending a hand with the refreshments stand.

Congratulations to all those who passed their grading, and good luck with learning your new techniques!

• Lyla Mumford - P.U.M.A. Grade 1 (Purple Stripe)
• Alfie Workman - P.U.M.A. Grade 1 (Purple Stripe)
• Ian Kimber - P.U.M.A. Grade 2 (Orange Stripe)
• Imogen Klaassen - 9th Kup (Yellow Stripe)
• Eloise Klaassen - 9th Kup (Yellow Stripe)
• Ethan Smith - 9th Kup (Yellow Stripe)
• Phoebe Metcalfe - 9th Kup (Yellow Stripe)
• Phoebe Haverly - 9th Kup (Yellow Stripe)
• Daniel Deans - 9th Kup (Yellow Stripe) CREDIT
• Luce Adele - 9th Kup (Yellow Stripe) CREDIT
• Millie Se-Upara - 8th Kup (Yellow Belt)
• Alex Harris - 8th Kup (Yellow Belt)
• Ollie Whitaker - 7th Kup (Green Stripe)
• Carys Metcalfe - 7th Kup (Green Stripe) CREDIT
• Lauren Hayes - 7th Kup (Green Stripe) CREDIT
• Scott Harris - 6th Kup (Green Belt)
• Emma Bennett - 6th Kup (Green Belt) CREDIT
• Daniel Standen - 6th Kup (Green Belt) CREDIT
• Wayne Miles - 5th Kup (Blue Stripe)

Swain Taekwon-Do students had another fantastic day at the PUMA English Championships held in Swindon on the 7th July. From the schools we had four students and one instructor competing, as well as three black belts attending the whole day as officials.

Although only a small number of entries, we came away with a good number of medals; so well done everyone!

• Phoebe Metcalfe
  • White belt patterns
• Carys Metcalfe
  • Bronze - Yellow belt patterns
• Lauren Hayes
  • Bronze - Yellow belt patterns
  • Bronze - Yellow belt sparring
• Miss Rachel Rosie
  • Gold - Black Belt Sparring
• Mrs Jenny Swain
  • Gold - 3rd & 4th Degree Black Belt patterns

A massive thank you also needs to be extended to Mrs Hallett, Mrs Rosie and Mr Swain who all gave up their days to help officiate at the event. Competitions can't run without officials, so thank you!

We also have the PUMA Junior Championships (October) and the PUMA British Championships (November) coming up this year. It would be great to see many more of you enter!
For extra competition focused training check out the PUMA Squad training dates on the PUMA Facebook Page.

Mr and Mrs Swain represented P.U.M.A. at the 10th edition of the Holland Cup in Pijnacker, The Netherlands on May 25th and 26th as part of a squad of 20 competitors. They had also been invited to be ambassadors for the competition, to reflect their commitment and successes at the competition in previous years, which saw them featured on promotional material before and at the competition.

The Holland Cup is a 2-day competition which sees blue belts and above competing on the Saturday, with blue stripes and below competing on the Sunday after a team event of hand picked international competitors.

Mr and Mrs Swain had a very busy day! They were part of a 5-person P.U.M.A. team pattern which won a silver medal in the first event of the day, beating the multiple time champions from the Netherlands on the way to the final. Straight after team patterns Mr and Mrs Swain were back up for the pair event of prearranged sparring. They performed a tweaked version of the routine that earned them a bronze medal at the 2018 European Championships, to beat teams from the Czech Republic and the Netherlands on their way to securing a gold medal!

A short break followed before Mr Swain was up again, this time in Individual Male 4th-6th Degree Patterns. In his first round he was drawn against the reigning World Champion, and was unable to to progress further. The next category saw Mrs Swain earn her second gold medal of the day, this time in Individual Female 4th-6th Degree Patterns.

The afternoon was not much quieter for the pair. Mrs Swain joined the P.U.M.A. Coaches working ringside with other squad members as they competed in sparring. Mr Swain on the other hand joined the officials, working as an umpire on the centre ring and was even given the opportunity to take on the role of centre referee for some of the Male Sparring Categories (his first time at an international competition)!

Mr and Mrs Swain also took the opportunity to train at Mr Kool's school on the Monday morning practising patterns and fundamental techniques alongside other international competitors, under the watchful eyes of two top international referees: Mr de Vries and Mr Brider.

More photo's can be found in this P.U.M.A. Facebook album.

If you are interested in taking part in international competitions in the future the next steps are regular attendance at P.U.M.A. Squad sessions and competing at National Championships. You can find the dates for these on our calendar or the P.U.M.A. Facebook page, or speak to Mr Swain.

On Saturday 11th May P.U.M.A. hosted a sparring seminar with multiple time World Champion and New Zealand coach Mr Carl van Roon.

​Six members of Swain Taekwon-Do took the opportunity to enhance their skills, alongside around 90 other students from P.U.M.A. and other associations. The seminar covered some basic footwork drills (which Mr van Roon made look effortless but took a lot of coordination), some timing and reaction drills, ideas on how to control an opponent when sparring. There was also a brief question and answer session to dig into Mr van Roon's sparring and instructing philosophies even more.

Photos of the event can be found in this P.U.M.A. Facebook album. 

Mr and Mrs Swain were also invited to an additional session for senior squad members on the Friday night getting some personal guidance from Mr van Roon.

Everyone really enjoyed the session, and there are plenty of things we can bring back to classes and our own training.

Keep your eyes open for exciting opportunities to expand your training by signing up to the P.U.M.A. events mailing list on the right of this page: https://puma-uk-events.com/contact/. You get a free National Squad training session for signing up!

ur Little PUMAs have recently been tested on their Taekwon-Do skills, and latest theme work of Discipline. Mrs Swain has done a great job in preparing the class for their latest grading in front of Mr Swain, with everyone successfully earning their new grade, belt and theme badge!

Two of the Little PUMAs will now be moving up to the junior class while the rest start work on their next theme of Memory for the following three months - good luck to you all!

Congratulations to:

• Ella - Purple Belt
• Alan - Purple Belt
• Ethan - Orange Belt
• Ian - Orange Belt
• Rhys - Blue Belt
• Lyla - Black Belt!
  

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The point stop and team championships is an event which hadn't featured on the PUMA calendar for a few years, but this year it made a come back - much to the enjoyment of everyone there.

Held on Sunday 24th March, in Newbury, over 200 competitors from 23 schools took part, overseen by 43 officials. From Swain Taekwon-Do we had eight competitors, making three teams, and Mr Swain going along as a Referee.

I was very proud of how well everyone performed, many in their first competition. Although I am even more proud of how well you all worked together, looked after each other, and supported each other throughout the competition. I look forward to seeing you at the next one!

• Our junior female colour belt pattern team did really well in their first ever competition and narrowly missed out on a medal
  • Carys, Georgia and Lauren, as newly promoted yellow belts, were even up against teams of green belts & blue stripes!
• Our adult female black belt pattern team put in a really good performance too, against some very strong teams
  • Chrissy, Miss Rosie and Mrs Coles had a tough job with a last minute change of pattern, but performed very well.
• Our adult female black belt sparring team had a great day picking up a silver medal!
  • Well done Miss Rosie, Mrs Coles and Mrs Swain
• We also had three entries into individual sparring
  • Ben Rosie - adult male colour belt sparring, earning a bronze in a large category
  • Miss Rosie - adult female black belt sparring - bronze
  • Mrs Coles - adult female black belt sparring - bronze

On Saturday 16th February P.U.M.A. hosted its annual International Open championships. Approximately 435 competitors from 6 Countries (England, Wales, Netherlands, Italy, USA and India) descended on Swindon for the day.  The officials worked tirelessly to run 6 squares through a very long day.

Swain Taekwon-Do contributed 4 competitors - two students and two instructors. It was a great day with some very strong performances, and as ever we are very proud of our students who entered.

• This was Daniel's second competition, and earned himself a Silver Medal in sparring!
• David was in his first competition, and earned himself a Bronze Medal in sparring!
• Mrs Swain earned a Gold Medal in patterns, and then spent the day as one of P.U.M.A.'s coaches for the rest of the day
• Mr Swain earned a Gold Medal in patterns, and then spent the day as a Referee.

We would love to see many more students testing themselves with competitions, and there are plenty of opportunities coming up to develop your skills, including:

• Red & Black Belt Training - 17 March
• Point Stop & Team Championships - 24 March
• PUMA Squad training - 31 March
• Spring Junior Championships - 28 April
• PUMA Squad training - 5 May
• Carl van Roon Seminar - 11 May

On Saturday 21st January, Mr Swain, Mrs Swain and Miss Scott attended a breaking and special technique seminar taught by ITF Breaking World Champion and New Zealand Coach - Mr Brendan Doogan.

It was a fantastic session, Mr Doogan's passion for the art and knowledge came through easily. We learnt lots that we can put into practice while teaching for those of you who want to get improve their breaking and jumping. We also had a lot of fun jumping onto crash mats... anyone know where I can get (and store) some of those cheaply?

Mrs Swain has written a full report of the session for the PUMA Events Website, to give it a read, click here.

The first National PUMA squad training session was held in Yate on Sunday 20th Jan in Yate.  Mr and Mrs Swain were there preparing for the Open Dutch the following weekend; and were pleased to be joined by two students: Miss Scott and Miss Rosie.

It was a tough session, but great preparation for the competitions coming up this year.  If you're interested in taking your patterns and/or sparring to the next level speak to one of the senior grades about the upcoming sessions.

For a full write up of the session take a look at Mr Swain's write up on the PUMA Events page, where you can find lots of other interesting reports too: https://puma-uk-events.com/2019/01/21/national-squad-20-jan-2019/

More photo's from the day can be found on the PUMA Facebook page here!