On the 1st December GMAC held their final Taekwon-Do Grading of 2013.

We’d like to congratulate the following students on their promotion’s.

Promoted to 9th Kup;

Christopher McChesney.

 
Promoted to 8th Kup;

Jonathan Gamble & Robert Parsons.

Promoted to 7th Kup;

Lewis Fern, Ben Melrose, John Melrose, Skye MacGregor & Anna Scott.

Promoted to 6th Kup;

Jacob Ciantar, Natalie Pennycook & Jade Morrison.

Promoted to 5th Kup;

James Hilley, Shelby Bennett & Ross Kellechan.

Promoted to 4th Kup;

Bethan Turner, Scott Glidden, Robin McChesney & Daniel Brown.
Promoted to 3rd Kup;

Kyle McKay.

Promoted to 2nd Kup;

Lauren Watson.

Promoted to 1st Kup;

David Ferguson.

On Sunday 1st December GMAC held their final Little Ninja & Kickin Kid Grading’s of 2013.

We’d like to congratulate the following students on their promotions.

LITTLE NINJA’S

Promoted to Nifty Ninja (Yellow); 

Kevin Williams, Ben Waddell, Ethan Hubbard, Ryan MacTavish, Josh McAlaney & Shay Condron.

Promoted to Speedy Ninja (Orange);

Kyle Walker, Miles Anderson, Owen Phelan & Ruben Pearson.

Promoted to Cool Ninja (Green);

Jack Pllu.

Promoted to Super Ninja (Blue);

Diya Babu, Lois Lord & Sophie Hunter.

Promoted to Top Ninja (Purple);

Callum Houston & Fergus MacColl.

Promoted to Champion Ninja (Completion of Ninja Programme);

Poppy Lord & Lennon McAvoy.

KICKIN’ KIDS

Promoted to Quick Kicker (Yellow);

Alexander Skwierz, Kane Bennett, Madison Harvie & Jamie Adair.

Promoted to Speed Kicker (Orange);

Lee Dunn, Evan Kelman & Beth Shields.

Promoted to Cool Kicker (Green);

Connor Fyfe & Niamh Kellechan.

Promoted to Super Kicker (Blue);

Callum Neill.

Promoted to Top Kicker (Purple);

Kyle Jamieson & Callum Bruce.
Promoted to Ace Kicker (Brown);

Jon Rafferty, Lewis Gilchrist, Carmen McCormick & Kyle Yimaz.

Promoted to Premier Kicker (Red);

Fraser MacColl.

Promoted to 7th Kup (TKD);

Stuart Coombes.

On the 16th November Mr Mark Davies held a seminar for GMAC on Improvised Weapons.  The course was well attended with over 35 participants, with some travelling up from Newcastle to take part.

The afternoon started with a brief information session from Mr Davies regarding the benefits of using everyday items as defence weapons. After this the participants got straight into various confrontational scenarios that they could encounter and how to use some basic self defence knowledge to their advantage.

Mr John Munro kindly offered to be the attacker throughout the day and was put through the wars as Mr Davies demonstrated many simple yet effective ways to deal with standard attacks (at one point Mr Munro ended up knotted up like a pretzel!).

The participants used various tools throughout the day including plastic bottles, dog leads and pens to mention a few and all were very effective as improvised self defence tools.

We’d like to thank Mr Davies for another awesome seminar.   Watch this space for more in 2014.

Photographs taken on the day can be found on our Facebook Gallery page (link below).

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152048033888919.1073741855.195744053918&type=3

GMAC held the latest Black Belt Grading on Saturday 23^rd November.  17 candidates went forwards for the examination in front of the exam board headed by Grand Master MacCallum 9^th Degree.

The grading started at 10am and consisted of Patterns from Chon-Ji to Choong-Moo (all the coloured belt patterns), kicking techniques, 1-step sparring, self defence, sparring, 2 vs 1 sparring, destructions (board breaking), as well as a 1 hour theory exam consisting of 100 questions from white belt to black belt syllabus.

A special mention; At each Black Belt Grading the Examiner’s award (when applicable) a grading award to one student who has shown an excellent attitude and displayed not only good technique but also the 5 tenets of Taekwon-Do throughout the exam.  On this occasion Mr Kieran Cain received the award, and was given his result on the day in front of the panel.

The grading finished around 5pm, with a group photo.  With all candidates being told they would receive their results the following week at class.

We are please to announce the following promotions;

Euan McGill (GMAC Livingston)

Ethan McKenna (GMAC Wishaw)

Chiara Mullen (Glasgow East)

Megan Thorpe (GMAC Livingston)

Ross Strathearn (GMAC Wishaw)

Callum MacMillan (Glasgow North)

Heather Carter (GMAC Livingston)

Kieran Cain (GMAC Wishaw)

Megan Brown (GMAC Wishaw)

Lauren Kerr (Glasgow East)

Patricia Doyle (GMAC Bellshill)

Craig McDonald (Shaw Martial Arts)

Gary McAvoy (GMAC Wishaw)

Brian Alexander (Glasgow East)

James Murphy (GMAC Wishaw)

From that first day we walk through the door as a beginning student the goal of reaching black belt is set, the journey for each of us is an individual one, with many experiences along the way that shape us and enhance our learning.

“Coloured belt is like learning the alphabet; black belt is learning to read”. General Choi Hong-Hi

The ultimate goal is to always continue learning and improving our Taekwon-Do.

We would also like to say thank you to the black belts who attended on the day to give moral support and to encourage everyone taking the test.

Mrs McIlvaney receives the Defibrillator Machine on behalf of the academy.

GMAC Martial Arts held a life-saving Heart Start Course & Defibrillator training October, which was attended by over 30 students, parents & instructors.  The course was run in conjunction with the British Heart Foundation, and Scottish Ambulance Service.  The four-hour course covered life saving skill and how to administer emergency aid if someone suffers a cardiac arrest, via the use of a Defibrillator.

In June 2013 GMAC helped to organise a fundraising competition in aid of fellow Instructor Mr. Patrick Timoney who unfortunately fell ill during his Black Belt Grading and suffered a heart attack in November 2012.  The competition was held earlier this year to honour Mr. Timoney’s life and to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation as well as purchase Defibrillator (A.E.D. machines) to be given to each TKD association in Scotland.  With the success of the competition Mr. Timoney’s family were able to purchase six of these life-saving machine’s one of which will be kept in our Taekwon-Do gym in Livingston.

See photo’s below.

Our Kids / Youth Christmas party will be held on Saturday 21st December at GMAC TKD from 12 noon to 2pm.

The party will include a visit from Santa and a gift.

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This is open to all member’s and their sibling’s / friends from 12 noon to 2pm.

Tickets are available now via your instructor or via the website for £3.50

Please note there are a limited number of tickets available, be quick to secure them.

Facebook events page:  https://www.facebook.com/events/173343869531156/

GMAC are holding this years adults Christmas Night Out at Cambusnethan Masonic Hall in Wishaw on Saturday 14th December from 6.30pm.

This is night is open to all students, their partners, parents & friends 16 years & over.

Tickets are available now priced at £5.  These can be purchased via your instructor or via our shop website.  Please note there is a limited number available, be quick as not to be disappointed.

Facebook event page below:

https://www.facebook.com/events/255457204603274/

The latest version of ITF’s online magazine Taekwon-Do Generation, can now be viewed via the following link:

http://issuu.com/tkd-itf/docs/taekwon-do_generation_issue_01