Thurday 7th April 2011
2 days prior to the tournament, the day started at 10am for most as they departed South Wales for Bristol Airport. The team gradually arrived at Bristol Airport between 11am and 12pm.

Once all 26 people had arrived, we checked in for our 2.15pm Easyjet flight to Prague, passed through security (with Andy and Steve getting a personal pat-down from the kind security staff) and found a spot in the departure lounge for everyone to sit together. Our flight departed on-time with the whole group managing to get seats together and with a flight time of just under 2 hours, we arrived in Prague at just after 5pm (Czech time).

The next leg of our journey was the Airport Express bus from Prague Ruzne International (Airport) to Prague Hlavni Nadrazi (Main Train Station). After a few minutes of confusion finding the right bus stop (none of the party had a Czech phrase book) the bus took approximately 40 minutes to reach its destination.

Our next objective was to buy tickets and find the next train to Nymburk (pronounced “Nimboork”, apparently), which was not for an hour so we took the opportunity to grab some food. The train to Nymburk was a real experience for all – an old, compartmentalised train which the kids in the group nicknamed “The Hogwarts Express”.

After just under an hour, we arrived in Nymburk and were fortunate to find a taxi rank full of cabs to take us all the last 1.5 miles of our journey to Nymburk Sportovni Centrum (Nymburk Sports Centre) where we checked in, dumped our bags in our rooms and headed down to the bar for a drink to unwind. It wasn’t long before everyone was in bed after what had been an exhausting day.

Friday 8th April 2011
With one day until the tournament, Friday started with breakfast in the sports centre canteen, which was no frills but adequate and gave the kids a good introduction to Czech food. After breakfast, we split into smaller groups and took a walk into Nymburk.

Following our walk into Nymburk, a visit to it’s medieval wall and a coffee and cake in one of its cafe’s, it was back to the sports centre for some lunch, followed by an outside training session in the glorious sunshine. We spent an hour and a half on some light jogging, stretching, pad work and patterns. Nothing too strenuous, just enough to keep everyone loose and their patterns sharp. It was then back to the rooms and at 4pm everyone went down for the weigh-in. Everyone weighed in and fortunately all 10 competitors made their weight, so there was no need to move anyone up a category. The remainder of the afternoon/evening was spent on relaxing.

After dinner, the kids played pool, darts and table tennis in the games room while the adults relaxed in the bar. At 9pm, the coaches were called to a coaches meeting where we were given the draws for the following day and given an overview of how the competition would run.

All of our categories had a great blend of competitors from Czech Republic, Russia, Belarus, Cyprus, Canada, Slovakia and Slovenia. However, Daisy and Daniella were the only two in their sparring category, so (with their agreement) we requested that they be moved up a category to be part of a larger group. Otherwise, it would have been a shame for them to have travelled so far to only spar each other, which they do every week at training.

Saturday 9th April 2011
Saturday was the day of the tournament, which started with breakfast at 7am. Following breakfast, we headed down to the main basketball hall where the tournament was hosted. The hall was an impressive venue with tiered seating on both sides, four rings and flags from all of the competing nations hanging from the ceiling. As is now common practice for Taekwon-do Wales, we found an area of seating where we could all sit together and hung our Welsh flags!

After a brief warmup on the mats, the tournament kicked off with the Opening Ceremony. All 271 competitors from 31 schools and 10 countries lined up for an official welcome from the tournament organiser. With all the formalities out of the way, the competition kicked off in anger.

First up was Patterns, with everyone, including coloured belts having to do one designated pattern (chosen randomly by computer). For those that made it to the final of their patterns category, they had to do one chosen pattern and one designated pattern. Everyone did fantastically well, with special mention going to those that pulled medals.

Winners of Patterns medals were:

Daisy Wilkins – Youth Female I Dan – Silver
Jasmine Szade – Youth Female I Dan – Bronze
Danielle Cambell – Youth Female 2 to 1 Kup – Bronze
Lewis Ryan – Youth Male 2 to 1 Kup – Bronze
Harry Wilkins – Youth Male I Dan – Bronze

with the following students being unlucky not to get medals:

Morgan James – Youth Male 2 to 1 Kup
Owain Withers – Youth Male 2 to 1 Kup
Evan Thomas – Youth Male 2 to 1 Kup
George Denman – Youth Male 4 to 3 Kup
Shaunna Ryan – Junior Female I Dan

Next up was Special Technique, which for Youth categories was Flying Side Kick and for Junior and Adult categories was Flying Side Kick, Jumping Front Snap Kick, Jumping Turning Kick, Jumping Reverse Turning Kick and Jumping Back Piercing Kick. Everyone from Taekwon-do Wales really struggled with this event as qualifying heights and distances were far too large for the heights of the kids. Everyone had a go however, with lots of smiles all round but no medals.

Finally came Sparring, with each match consisting of one 3-minute round. Those that made it to the final had two 2-minute rounds to contend with. Without fail, everyone from Taekwon-do Wales left everything they had on the mats during the sparring rounds. There were some tears, injuries (Danielle was unlucky to take a kick to the knee 20 seconds in to her first round, which ruled her out of the rest of the tournament) and even the odd panic attack, but there was also no shortage of passion, determination, controlled aggression and technique on display either.

Winners of Sparring medals were:

Shaunna Ryan – Junior Female A 46kg – Gold
Lewis Ryan – Youth Male Minus 32kg – Gold
Daisy Wilkins – Youth Female Minus 50kg – Silver
Danielle Cambell – Youth Female Minus 50kg – Bronze
Jasmine Szade – Youth Female Minus 38kg – Bronze
Morgan James – Youth Male Minus 32kg – Bronze

with the following students being unlucky not to get medals:

George Denman – Youth Male Minus 44kg
Owain Withers – Youth Male Minus 38kg
Harry Wilkins – Youth Male Minus 38kg
Evan Thomas – Youth Male Minus 32kg

The final events of the day were the Ceremonial Finals for a number of adult categories, with outstanding displays of patterns and sparring predominantly from the Czech National Team, but with additional finalists from other countries. The standard on show in these finals were motivation for everyone involved with Taekwon-do Wales to aspire to.

The remainder of the day was seen out with celebratory drinks and pizza in the bar.

Sunday 10th April 2011
Sunday was a relatively late start, with everyone heading for breakfast after 8am. Following breakfast, the group checked out and attempted to get cabs to Nymburk Train Station. Unfortunately, cabs are not particularly abundant on Sunday mornings in Nymburk and so we all decided to make the most of the glorious weather and walk the 1.5 miles to the station. From Nymburk Station, we caught the train to Prague, where we arrived at lunchtime. After storing all our baggage at the left luggage in Prague Main Train Station, the group split up to spend the afternoon in Prague, which is a wonderful, picturesque city with some incredible architecture.

After meeting back up at the station at 5.30pm, we caught the Airport Express bus to Prague International Airport, where we arrived 3 hours prior to our 10pm flight. Having spent an hour sat waiting to check-in, once check-in opened we passed through security with no incident and found the nearest fast food restaurant in the departure lounge. Following food, we spent the last of our Czech Koruna in the duty free and headed to the gate to board our flight.

The flight back to Bristol was considerably quieter than the flight out, probably due to the fact that everyone was thoroughly worn out, but nonetheless our flight arrived back in Bristol 10 minutes earlier than scheduled. After disembarking the plane and passing through passport control without issue, we all collected our bags to find that some of them had been tampered with (presumably by baggage handlers) and that some people had had items stolen. After reporting this to airport staff and the police, we all said our goodbyes and headed for the car park and the hours drive home.

Taekwon-do Wales would like to thank the organisers of the Czech Open 2011, Czech Taekwon-Do ITF Federation and specifically Mr Ondrej Vrabel for their hospitality during our time in the Czech Republic. The tournament was extremely well run, very professional and friendly and all our students and parents had a fantastic time.

Full results can be found here.

Taekwon-do Wales Rogerstone’s photo gallery can be found here

Taekwon-do Wales Fleur-de-Lis gallery can be found here

Czech Taekwon-do Federations Photo Gallery can be found here.

Taekwon!

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