Rayners Lane Taekwon-do Academy

Kick It Report by Lyndsey Sainsbury

March 9th 2003 saw the return of the kick it tournament in Gravesend, and Rayners Lane Tkd Academy had a very impressive haul of medals at the end of the day .

Due to the ever-improving organization of this regular tournament, the day went very smoothly. The pattern divisions were up first , In the junior divisions Dev Patel won a silver medal for his impressive performance in the blue belt division. In the Adult divisions Justin Goh showed fine form in the yellow belts group and won a gold. David Lane continued the medal winning trend and comfortably won a silver in the adult green belts patterns division. In the Adult red belt division Parvez Sultan impressed the crowd and Judges with his performance and scooped a gold. The Academy's instructor , Stuart Anslow picked up a silver in the black belt patterns division, drawing the patterns divisions to a close and the sparring divisions commenced.

Competitors from white to green belt competed in point sparring form, and combatants from blue belt upwards took part in continuous sparring. The sparring divisions were split up by belt, age, gender and weight .Despite this, some junior divisions were very large, (one junior white to yellow belt division had twenty-two competitors!) This would make winning medals in these divisions a formidable exercise. The sparring divisions started with the black belt continuous sparring, setting an appropriate behavioural precedent for students to aspire to, and Stuart Anslow won a gold medal this division.

The junior divisions were then started up and Rayners lane got a gold and a silver in the yellow belt junior high divisions, these were collected by Firooz Nadire and Kumayl Nazerali respectively. The Yellow belt junior middleweight division saw Farid Ahmad win a gold in his division. In the Junior ladies yellow belt middle weight division, Sonal Lakhman gained a silver in her first tournament. In the blue belt junior divisions Dev patel won a bronze in the junior high divisions, as did Sushil Punj in the junior middleweight divisions.

In the Adult sparring divisions, Rayners Lane tkd continued their adding to the pile of medals as Bako kadir won a bronze in the middle weight white/yellow belt point sparring. Bernard Rebello also won a bronze in his yellow/green belt division . Justin Goh continued the trend by winning his second gold medal of the tournament in the yellow/green belt adult division . Parvez Sultan also won a second medal this time, a bronze in the adult red belt continuous sparring division.

To top off this impressive haul of medals, Rayners Lane Tkd was placed top of the overall medal table with 35 points this time, and awarded another trophy.

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A Personal Perspective Of Kick It by Justin Goh

As usual we were late, once out the house (hoping that we hadn’t left anything behind) we all had to run. I could’ve taken my bike but someone was already on his way to the school with it. When we arrived we were hurried into the car and the day was underway.

Stopping off at the service station I had the chance to check I had all my equipment with me, luckily this time unlike the last I did. Everyone else was also really excited as for some it was their first competition. Albert minus a head guard was half asleep as he wondered what the day had in store for him as he was one of the people for which this was their first competition.

When we arrived we weighed in and quickly got changed as the organiser Kam Bains, laid down the rules and the order of events for the day. He also announced that our club had won the overall winners trophy for the last ‘Kick It’ which took place in November last year.

After a few of the juniors went off to do their patterns it was my turn. Patterns are not as physically demanding than sparring but are ten times nerve racking. Stepping onto the mat with all eyes on you(especially the black belts!!) is one of the hardest things to do, and if you’ve never done it you just wont understand how it feels until you have.
Once I finished my pattern I sat down and watched as the rest of the competitors go through what I just had. Once that results were announced we went back to the stand and watched the black belt patterns and sparring. This was were everyone watched on of the hardest fights of the day, our schools assistant instructor Mr. Gautum against another black belt, who happened to be just a tiny bit bigger than he was. After a well fought match Mr Gautum unfortunately lost due to a close decision. Club instructor Mr. Anslow did a little better winning his sparring division and silver for patterns.

After a break for lunch sparring for all divisions started, the juniors were first and after a while came back with big smiles on their faces as most had won. When my division was called I grabbed my stuff and went over to the mat, funny enough all people in my division were from my club so in a way made it even harder than usual.

After a few tight round sparring I finally it was all over and we all tiredly sat down and watched as the middle and heavy weights competed. Once all sparring divisions were finished trophies were handed out to all winners and runners up. I managed to get two medals so I was pleased at my performances on the day.

The club as a whole performed well as we won numerous patterns and sparring divisions, and once again won best overall club – that’s two in a row!