January

We have started 2023 brilliantly with Daisy winning Ladies Yellow Belt Patterns outright at The Midlands Championships and also gained herself a cheeky silver medal in Ladies Lightweight Sparring.

April

A huge Congratulations to Katie and Chris who travelled to Daventry to take their 3rd and 2nd Dan Gradings respectively. They both absolutely smashed it and passed with flying colours.

May

Congratulations to Isla who won the Grading Award for the May colour belt grading!

July

This month a team of 6 students travelled up to Coventry for the TKDI World Championships. Between them, we gained 6 medals, which is an incredible achievement for such a small club at such high level. Some of my students don’t have the luxury of a full time martial arts Dojang but still managed to beat some of the best fighters.

Daisy won Bronze in Cadet Girls Yellow and Green Patterns and Gold in Tag Team Sparring.

Matilda won Silver in Junior Yellow Belt Girls Patterns and Silver in Lightweight Junior Yellow Belt Girls Sparring.

Esther won Silver in Junior Blue Belt Girls Sparring – losing the final by only 1 point.

Hannah won Bronze in Youth Blue Belt Girls Sparring

October

We took part in the Sussex County Championships, our famous interclub organised by Master Karl James. Croydon, Crawley, Billinghurst, East Grinsted, Horsham, Brighton, Burgess Hill, Eastbourne and Lewes all attended and as usual, we came up trumps!

We won so many medals that it will take me an age to list them all, but here goes from memory! Practically the entire club entered, bar people who were away or couldnt make it.

• Joshua – GOLD boys patterns
• Sam – GOLD boys sparring
• Raj – BRONZE Mens sparring
• Ayann – BRONZE Boys sparring
• Zakai – SILVER Boys patterns & Sparring
• Effie – SILVER Girls patterns & GOLD Synchronised Patterns
• Amanda – GOLD Synchronised Patterns
• Matilda – GOLD Girls patterns, Synchronised patterns & Sparring
• Jayden – BRONZE Boys patterns & Sparring
• Max – GOLD Boys sparring, Tag Team Sparring & SILVER synchronised patterns
• Jack – GOLD Boys patterns and Tag Team Sparring, SILVER synchronised patterns & BRONZE sparring
• Essie – GOLD Girls patterns, sparring, synchronised patterns and tag team sparring
• Hannah – SILVER Girls patterns, sparring & GOLD in synchronised patterns and tag team sparring
• Ruby – GOLD Girls patterns, BRONZE sparring, GOLD tag team sparring
• Isla – BRONZE Girls patterns, SILVER sparring, SILVER tag team
• Finnegan – BRONZE Mens patterns, BRONZE mens sparring
• Daisy – GOLD Ladies patterns, SILVER sparring, GOLD synchronised patterns, GOLD tag team sparring
• Pau – BRONZE Boys patterns, BRONZE Boys sparring, SILVER synchronised patterns
• Alix – SILVER synchronised patterns
• Ella – BRONZE ladies patterns, BRONZE sparring, GOLD synchronised patterns, GOLD tag team sparring
• Paloma – SILVER ladies black belt patterns, BRONZE ladies black belt sparring, SILVER synchronised patterns, GOLD tag team shield
• Katie – GOLD ladies black velt patterns, sparring, synchronised patterns and tag team shield
• Barry – SILVER mens black belt patterns, sparring, tag team & GOLD synchronised patterns
• Dan – BRONZE mens black belt sparring, SILVER tag team sparring

Instructor Michele took a break from teaching as she was busy growing, birthing and surviving life with a little ninja of her own.

Welcome to the world Oliver, born in 2021. Michele returned to teaching in September 2021 and has been rebuilding the club since the pandemic hit the numbers very badly.

Time is very precious and She will update everyone on the club news when she gets a chance!

January came along with the Midlands Championships. A little too early for most, so instructor Michele went up with Melissa, Kaan and their mum. Melissa picked up a silver in tag team and Kaan a bronze in the same event.

In February, many students got ready to compete in the English Championships in March, and for the first time Lewes had 4 tigers enter this national competition!

However, March came, and as you all know, so did lockdown. The tournament was cancelled and as were all lessons! We took it in our stride and set up sessions over Zoom during the whole of March, April and May and some of June. Daniel definitely won the prize of most Zooms attended! He pretty much did every single one and was really helpful in sharing information. Kyon, Flint and Emils were not far behind when attending Zooms. Well done! It is not easy to keep training when things change so much.

In June, we were allowed 5 people outside, so jumped at the chance to do some face to face training. We trained in a field during a heatwave and also got rained on.

In July, Tigers and Juniors (under 16) took part in an online South East Tournament and did so incredibly well! Jemima, Layla, Sophie and Nick all picked up gold. Kaan and Jack picked up a silver and Melissa and Adam got certificates for taking part. From August we were then allowed up to 30 outside so lesson numbers started building again.

Wow! What an amazing year we have had at Lewes Taekwondo. Here is a roundup of our main events and achievements:

February came with the Midlands Championships in Kettering. Katie got an impressive pattern score in a tough all mixed grade female black belt patterns. She continues to improve every time she competes. Eli won two fights in the huge boys red belt lightweight sparring category. Chloe picked up a bronze in individual sparring and a bronze in tag teams. Melissa picked up the same accolades. Kaan won silver in tag teams. Laurie made the pattern playoffs. Marianne won silver in sparring, as did Mayan. Kristen entered her first competition, winning silver in sparring. Instructor Michele won foot destruction.

March saw students compete at the first national tournament of the year, the English Championships. Katie achieved an impressive bronze in ladies black belt patterns 1st Dan. Eli won a fight. Kristen brought home a gold in tag teams. Mayan won another silver in sparring and Ollie won a fight.

Many students also took a colour belt grading. Special mention to Alex, Lorraine and Zazi who all received A grades. Amelia received the grading award with an A*.

In April, we made the bittersweet decision to close Seaford and open a second class in Lewes instead. Dan was a huge help during this period of transition.

May saw many people attend our squad training sessions to prepare for the Welsh Championships. Ollie won a very impressive silver in sparring and gold in tag team. Jemima collected a gold in tag team. Lorraine a silver in tag team and Alex a bronze in tag team. All 3 students competed in their first pattern competition at a national level.

Many students took part in the June grading with A grades from Melissa, Adam and Sophie. Layla, Amelia and Zazi all received A* with the grading award going to Zazi.

In July, we hosted our inter-club tournament, the Sussex County Championships. We won SO MANY medals, that I will need some other time to get them all down!

September included the BTC Championships where 3 brave students took part in this tournament with multi associations. Eli competed, Mayan collected a silver in sparring and Katie put in another stellar performance winning bronze in black belt ladies patterns 1st Dan.

Well done to Lee, Sophie, Alex, Marianne, Laurie, Zazi and Amelia for receiving A grades. The grading award went to Alex and Layla received another A*.

In October, 5 students took Dan grades. Ollie, Dan, Heather and Chris went for their black belt gradings in Bristol and were successful in their endeavour. Katie took her 2nd Dan with a blinding performance. We also celebrated Hallowe’en in style, with Rowan coming 3rd in patterns in our mini club competition, Layla 2nd and Melissa 1st.

In November, we had a huge 11 entries to the British Championships with amazing results. Well done to Katie, Barry, Alex, Chloe, Emils, Zazi, Amelia, Marianne, Laurie, Mayan and Jemima for competing. Chloe, Emils, Zazi and Mayan all came home with a bronze in sparring. Jemima collected silver and gold in tag team. Amelia won silver in patterns and bronze in sparring and instructor Michele won gold in executive ladies black belt heavyweight sparring.

December’s grading award also went to Lewes, this time for Roxanne. Rachel also got an A*. Zazi, Amelia, Nick and Lee all received A’s and Jemima a ‘plus’ grade. This means that for the first time ever, all grading awards went to Lewes, out of 10 clubs in the South East.

Our Christmas Award Ceremony saw Daniel receiving Adult student of the year for his outstanding commitment to the club and finally receiving his black belt after years of putting it off! Chloe won most improved adult for her improvements in competitions and attitude in general, she is one determined lady! Sebastian won Junior student of the year for his outstanding improvement this year too, he focused incredibly hard on his gradings and did very well in his first tournament! Toby won most improved junior for the sheer change in his attitude to get his blue belt. Well done everyone!

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