Quest Taekwondo's competition draws the crowds - great video
Published on: 8th March 2012
Quest Taekwondo - based in Silsden, Keighley, Bingley, Baildon and Greengates - hosted the largest grass roots Taekwondo competition in the UK in the last 5 years.
Over 500 Taekwondo athletes - from as far south as Canary Wharf in London and as far north as Hamilton in Scotland - competed in Sparring and Patterns. The competitors, aged from 4 years upwards (the eldest being 61) competed for 2 rounds of 2 minutes in sparring and were required to perform 2 complex patterns for their skill (belt) groups and were evaluated by a panel of 5 judges.
Quest Taekwondo, headed up by Head Coach Rick Simpson (4th Dan) and Master Mike McKenzie (7th Dan) showed off 40 of their own athletes at the competition, from Silsden, Keighley, Oakworth, Cullingworth, Bingley, Baildon, Shipley and Greengates. The competition was also attended by West Yorkshire Sport, who have put together a promotional video with some clips from the event.
The notable high standard of Quest Taekwondo's training was evident with the results that followed. Most of Quest Taekwondo's kids and adults won, showing off both skill and experience of their ring craft. A summary of results was as follows:
WON Natasha Burdock, Silsden
WON Jamie Kidd, Silsden
WON Liam Burdock, Silsden
WON Luke Jones, Barnsley
WON Daniel Moody, Barnsley
WON Hannah Priestley, Cullingworth
WON Ellie Bowden, Cullingworth
LOST Daniel Priestley, Cullingworth
LOST Tammy Keat, Huddersfield
WON Ellis Kirk, Huddersfield
LOST Sam Mason, Baildon
WON Jake Barnett, Baildon
LOST Gemma Simpson, Baildon
WON Zak Spencer, Baildon
WON Toby Long, Baildon
WON Charlotte Williams, Baildon
WON Rebecca Weir, Baildon
WON Andrew Bower, Baildon
WON Sean McGinnis, Baildon
WON Jakub Jarocki, Baildon
WON Harry Blundell, Baildon
WON Liam Exley, Baildon
LOST James Ramplin, Baildon
WON Karl Harris, Cottingley
LOST Jason Spear, Cottingley
WON Vanessa Clarke, Cottingley
LOST Garry Watt, Greengates
WON Cameron Chapman, Greengates
WON Jason Mann, Greengates
LOST Kallum Pearson, Keighley
LOST Shoaib Kesic, Keighley
LOST Lucy Southwell, Keighley
WON Sam Finnigan, Oxenhope
Quest Taekwondo also have a Player League Table, partly aimed for fun but also to gain more competitiveness amongst its athletes. With over 50 athletes involved, it only publishes the top 10. Each competitor gains points every time they enter a competition, and gain more points based on the number of matches won and medals earned. As it stands for 2012 the league table is as follows:
|
Pos |
Name |
From |
Competitions |
Points |
|
1 |
Liam Burdock |
Silsden |
6 |
35 |
|
2 |
Zak Spencer |
Baildon |
6 |
28 |
|
3 |
Liam Exley |
Baildon |
5 |
21 |
|
4 |
Rebecca Weir |
Baildon |
6 |
21 |
|
5 |
Natasha Burdock |
Silsden |
3 |
20 |
|
6 |
Ellie Bowden |
Cullingworth |
4 |
19 |
|
7 |
Jamie Kidd |
Silsden |
5 |
19 |
|
8 |
Sam Finnigan |
Oxenhope |
3 |
17 |
|
9 |
Jake Barnett |
Baildon |
5 |
14 |
|
10 |
Toby Long |
Baildon |
3 |
11 |
Most notably competing for Quest Taekwondo was Silsden's and Great Britain's Junior star Natasha Burdock, age 14 and a 2nd Dan Black Belt, who successfully defeated 5 x British Champion Abigail Stones from Liverpool Academy. It was a momentous achievement for Natasha, who until now has come 2nd best to Abigail whenever they have faced each other in competitions for the last 6 years. "There were tears" said coach Simpson. "Natasha's been knocked back by this girl so many times. She's the only person in the UK that Natasha's never beaten before, and Sunday she reached that milestone". Simpson hopes this achievement will spur Natasha onto greater success on the continent.
Natasha is competing for club and country at the Dutch International Open Championships in Eindhoven on 18th March, alongside club mate Jake Barnett, 15 from Baildon, also a 2nd Dan black belt. Head Coach Rick Simpson is taking both athletes over to the competiton as they compete for recognition points for their bids to represent Great Britain in Major Championships in 2013. "the hard work for 2013 all starts now" explained Simpson. "There is only one route to competing in the European, World, Commonwealth or Olympic Games, and that is through your country's National Governing Body, which we are proud members of. You can't just apply for the team and expect to get picked - you have to compete all over the world and be recognised, which doesn't come cheap for their parents". Natasha's dad has shelled out over £7,000 in the last year in training fees, travel and hotels around the UK and Europe to enable his daughter Natasha to get this far - into the Great Britain squad. To compete for a placet they will need to do this all over again by competing around europe. Quest are pleading with the public to offer any form of support they can for Natasha, particularly financial support to get her to these events.
Natasha competed in Sweden in February, and during March will be competing at the Dutch Open (Eindhoven) and Belgian Open (Gent), and will hopefully gain some valueable qualification points. At just 14 years old in the 14-17 year old category, and nearly 5kg under the lowest weight group it is amazing how Natasha is still able to compete so effectively against her european rivals. Her hard work and dedication are depicted perfectly by how she has given up her school holidays to train with the Great Britain Academy (as reported last week), given up many hobbies and interests by training in Taekwondo instead to ensure she is as sharp as physically possible.
Having trained with Quest Taekwondo since she was 8, which began at an after school club at Hothfield School in Silsden, Natasha's training regime involves stretching every morning before school, stretching after school, training for 2 hours 4 evenings during week days, and training for 2 hours every saturday, as well as competing almost every 2 weeks.
Quest Taekwondo are offering beginners and first timers a free session at all of their clubs during March and April. For further information contact Rick Simpson on 07977 065357, visit www.questbradford.co.uk or email Rick@QuestBradford.co.uk.
