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

We had our largest group of students yet enter the P.U.M.A. English Championships on 1st July in Swindon - but there is still room for more. All but one of them were competing in their first ever competition which takes a lot of courage and deserves respect in itself.

It was a very hot day but all our students kept their cool and performed well. Other instructors even commented how well some of you did, which shows how hard you all are working. I am sure they all took away some valuable experience which will help them in their next competition.

Who did what?
Anissa Se-Upara - High Kick and Patterns
Sutti Se-Upara - Patterns
Erin Couper - High Kick, and a Bronze in Patterns
Pippa Read - High Kick, a Bronze in Patterns, and a Bronze in Sparring
Aimee Mansel - Bronze in Musical Patterns, Bronze in Sparring, and a Silver in Patterns!

These results put us in joint 17th (out of 33 schools) in P.U.M.A.s new competition league table, after the first competition. I'm sure we can climb that throughout the year.

Alongside our students, Mr Swain spent the day refereeing at the competition, while Mrs Swain spent time as a referee as well as competing - taking Gold in both Patterns and Sparring!

In April 2018 642 Athletes, along with 113 Officials and 166 Coaches arrived in Maribor, Slovenia to compete at the 33rd Senior and 24th Junior European Taekwon-Do Championships.  ITF-England took a team of 27 competitors, including 4 students from P.U.M.A. - Mr and Mrs Swain, Miss Hodson (from Oxfordshire) and Mr Gould (from Bristol).

For Mr and Mrs Swain the trip began, and ended, in many travel related headaches - from cancelled flights to delayed baggage and very late nights/early mornings!  Not the best preparation for a European Championships, however using a professional approach and "compartmentalisation" they made sure this didn't affect their performances at the competition.

After arriving in Maribor on Tuesday the team had the opportunity to have a light training session at Master Barada's dojang, the home of many international champions.  The hotels swimming pool and Sauna were also used to refresh the legs after travelling.  On Wednesday morning ITF-England had their registration slot, with all members of the team making weight first time - a relief for some who could then have their late breakfast; in the afternoon we had another training session at Master Barada's and a bit of down time before the competition started on Thursday morning!

The first day of competition saw Mr and Mrs Swain compete in Traditional Sparring and both their respective patterns categories; all on the raised centre stage!  Traditional sparring was their first event, shortly before lunch.  After beating the pair from Belarus in their first match, they lost to the Norwegian pair in the semi-finals - earning a Bronze medal, England's first medal of the competition!  Female 4th-6th Degree patterns was the first category on after lunch, with Mrs Swain easing past competitors from Ireland and Poland on her way to the final.  Mrs Swain took home a well earned Silver medal, coming up against a multi time World and European Champion (Silvia Farigu) from Italy.  The last event of the day was the Male 4th-6th Degree Patterns; Mr Swain beat competitors from Israel in Round 1, Ireland in Round 2 (on an additional pattern after a draw!) then Poland in the semi final, after which he was told he'd have to wait until the Gala Finals Night on Saturday for his last round.  The other finalist was 3x European Champion, and multi-time World Medalist Lylian Doulay of France.  Under the lights on centre stage Mr Doulay took his 4th European title, meaning Mr Swain matched Mrs Swains silver!

Sunday was the day for Team Events, with Mr Swain being drafted into the Men's sparring team shortly before flying to Slovenia!  First up for England was Ireland - reigning and multiple time World Team Sparring champions... With some clever coaching decisions England were victorious and into the semi finals against Russia. Unfortunately that is where the road ended with the Men's Team claiming a hard fought bronze medal, taking Mr Swains tally to 3 medals - and some light hearted bragging rights over Mrs Swain, for once!

An honourable mention must be given to Mr Gould (competing in his first European Championships) and Miss Hodson; both of whom gave it their all against some very strong competition. Unfortunately no medals for them this time, although they both have promising futures ahead of them!

In total ITF England took home 8 Medals: 1 Gold, 3 Silver, and 5 Bronze!  Plenty to build on for the World Championships in April 2019!

Many thanks to ITF England's equipment sponsors Mightyfist Europe who make top quality Taekwon-Do doboks and training equipment.  Photo's courtesy of The TKD Reporters, Mr Lammin and Mr Rowe.