A very successful December 2007 Grading was held at Barna School for the Galway West Taekwondo School.
All who graded successfully achieved promotion to the next rank. Many congratulations to every student.
The following people were awarded Grade 'A's: Katie Kilbane,Mrs Marie Boyle, Mr. Michael Glynn, Mr. James Dunne, Dillon King, Seana Griffin, Maeve McDonagh, David Noone, Tom Mucha.

The Junior Grading Award, for the best grading performance was awarded to Seana Griffin. The Senior Grading Award was presented to Mrs Marie Boyle

Two Student of the Year Awards 2007 were presented to Cian Siggins and David Noone. These awards were decided by students and Instructors voting for the students they considered have behaved most according to the Tenets of Taekwondo : Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self Control and Indomitable Spirit. Many Congratulations to Cian and David.

This years contest was closely fought, and went down to the final tournament of the year - the Irish Championships in Cork. With Mr. Leon Brydone (Athlone) and Jason Daly (Loughrea) neck and neck, it was always going to go the wire. Jason was one point ahead coming into the Irish Championships. Unluckily for Jason, however, Mr. Brydone netted silver in Cork, thus passing his rival by one point and securing the coveted award. Mr. Brydone was presented a beautiful plaque by Mr. Fitzgibbon at the Athlone December grading, hosted by Mrs. Mannion.

The Competitor of the Year contest rewards consistency in competitions throughout the year, and has been very successful in aiding the development of the young Connacht stars. Jason Daly may have only just lost out this year, but the future should be very bright for this young athlete.

What an event - Saturday & Sunday - 24th/25th November held the most successful Irish International Championships yet. With competitors from eight countries there really was a true international flair this year, as ever. From the Connaught front, there was representation from Athlone, Galway, Loughrea, and Oranmore. With the standard getting higher every year, our competitors were well tested , but performed with great enthusiasm and determination to take a fine haul of silverware home, including two gold. The results were:

Darren Costello (Oranmore)- bronze
Evan Liu (Galway) - gold
Damian Saternus (Galway) - silver
Brendan Kenny (Galway) - gold, bronze
Eoghan Doyle (Galway) - silver
Mr Leon Brydone (Athlone) - silver

Great Southern Taekwon Do held the West Cork Championships on the 21st of October in Clonakilty,   County   Cork  . There were around 30 competitors from the IUTF in action with two from Galway - Evan Liu and Damian Saternus. Evan took silver and bronze places with Damian taking a silver place. Well done to both. Connacht Taekwon-do Schools will continue to support GST events in the future due to the fair and impartial judging and the efficient running of the event

Mr Jon Mackey of IUTF Dublin hosted this year's Leinster Championships once again. It was a very successful tournament with Connacht students excelling as usual.

Results:
Siobhan Casey (Galway) - silver
Brendan Kenny - gold, bronze
Jamie Anders (Athlone) - bronze
Shannon Molloy (Athlone) – silver, bronze
Jenny Fitzpatrick (Athlone) – bronze x 2
Leon Brydone (Athlone) – gold, bronze
Kevin Fitzpatrick (Athlone) - silver
Lily Mannion (Athlone) - gold
Sinead Carroll (Athlone) – gold x 2
Laura Costello (Oranmore) - gold
Evan Liu (Galway) - silver
Eoghan Doyle (Galway) - gold, bronze
Mr Paul Doyle (Loughrea) - silver
Ciaran Doyle (Galway) - bronze

The 2007 WKA Kickboxing World Championships were held in Karlsruhe , Germany from Aug 25th to Sept 2nd. Mr. Fitzgibbon and Mr. Brydone once again represented Ireland amongst an Irish contingent of about 200. There were over 2000 in total at the even competing in the various divisions e.g. light contact, semi-contact, etc… The Connacht competitors each competed in the light contact individual and team divisions. In the -75kg section Mr. Brydone fought bravely couldn’t quite get to grips with his opponent’s tactics. Mr. Fitzgibbon made it to the semi-final in the -80Kg section. After powering through two bouts, he dominated the scoring over his Belgian opponent throughout the two rounds only to receive an incredible split decision against him, leaving all onlookers stunned at the bad decision. Click here to see the match.

In the team event final, with Ireland 0-1 down, Mr. Fitzgibbon was sent out to retrieve the contest by coach, Mr. Dalton. He won the match using tactical counter kicks to raise Irish heads and level the score at 1-1. The next two matches were won by the Irish with the clincher taken by Mr. Brydone giving victory to Ireland at 3-1. This brought Mr. Brydone’s World Championship tally to two gold medals in a three week period with Mr. Fitzgibbon taking two gold and two bronze medals.

In the junior -45Kg category, a bronze medal was won by Loughrea student, Jason Daly. Jason trains with Mrs. Sandra Doyle and has had a great year in the Irish competition circuit. Kayla O' Connor (also from Loughrea) was another junior contestant from Connacht and put up great effort in this, her first World class event.

Mr Fitzgibbon and a number of Connacht studetns attended a seminar with Mr Aidan Walsh (Dublin) on Saturday 18th August. Mr Walsh is one of the pioneers of Taekwon-do in the early 1970's and si largely responsible for the spread of Taekwon-do outside of Dublin at that time.

The seminar consisted of sparring drills including a mixture of both fundamental and advanced exercises. Mr Walsh particularly emphasised the importance of not over-reaching when punching and kicking, and of maintaining balance throught attack and defence.

The 2007 ITF World Championships ran from August 1st-5th in the National Indoor Arena (NIA),   Birmingham   . There were approximately eighteen IUTF competitors in attendance.

With only three competitors allowed from each country per section, this was truly an elite competition.

Mr. Fitzgibbon became the first IUTF member to ever get placed in patterns in ITF World Championships when he took bronze in the 5th dan section. In sparring, Mr. Leon Brydone (Mrs. Mannion's student from Athlone), represented Ireland on the senior male team, with Mr. Fitzgibbon captaining the team once again. Ireland defeated Canada easily in the first round to progress to the quarter finals where they faced a tough England selection. At this stage in the event the Irish team were down to 5 (from 6) due to one of the members (Mr. Colin O’ Shaughnessy) being knocked out in the individuals the night before. Ireland defeated England , but then had to wave goodbye to Mr. Sean Keane, who had to fly home early due to personal commitments, leaving Ireland to face a tough Dutch team in the semi-final with only four fighters. The team fought well bravely and won the necessary three fights to beat Holland and earn a place in the final to face Argentina . The final match proved to be an emotional affair for the Connacht instructors as they fought a tough Argentinean side. In the end however, the Irish male team was victorious and were crowned world Champions for 2007.  Not to be outshone, the Irish senior ladies team also took gold defeating the Japan team 3-0, so Ireland “did the double”.

As a result of their outstanding contribution to the recent fundraiser organised by the Connacht Taekwon-do Academy, Donagh Coffey and Evan Liu were each presented with a beautiful set of leather focus mitts by Mr Fitzgibbon.
Caption: Evan Liu tries out his new focus mitts with Mr. Fitzgibbon.

Laura and Jason Costello, students of Mr Fitzgibbon, travelled with the IUTF to the PUMA English Championships in June. In what was their first International tournament, they acquitted themselves admirably and were unlucky not to get placed. We look forward to their future achievements. The trip was partially funded by Mr Fitzgibbon's Academy.

Mr Fitzgibbon (captain) and Mr Leon Brydone, Athlone represented Ireland on the 3-person IUTF team in the six-nation International "Country Cup" which was held in Bochum, Germany. Both members took gold in team sparring, with Mr Fitzgibbon taking 2 x silver and a bronze in individual events. Mr Brydone took silver in the individual sparring.

The 2007 Connacht Championships were the best yet. The competition was preceded by squad training with IUTF chief instructor, Mr Dalton. This was a very informative sparring training session which got everybody warmed up for the tournament. As usual the home team did particularly well with at least two sections seeing all 3 places going to Connacht students.

The overall results were:

Male 2: Age 8 and under all grades
1st: Jordan Dalton (SW Tralee)
2nd: Matrthew Bradley (Coachford)
3rd: Kyle Ging Mendez (East Coast TKD)

Male/Female 1: Age 6 and under All grades
1st: David O' Connor (Loughrea)
2nd: Grace O' Sullivan (Killarney)
3rd: James Downes (Athlone)

Male age 14 and under L/weight:
1st: Luke Mansfield
2nd: Christopher Malvey
3rd: Dylan Soon (East Coast)

Male age 14 and under H/weight:
1st: Colm Conroy (Athlone)
2nd: Ciaran Doyle (Galway)

Males 17 and under white-green
1st: Richard Gill (East Coast)
2nd: Ferdia Watts (Galway)

Age 17 and under blue-black L/weight
1st: James Stack (Tralee)
2nd: Darren Soon (East Coast)
Tim Tierney

Males 18+ Green-red belt L/weight:
1st: John Higgins
2nd: Paul Doyle (Loughrea)

Males 18+ Green-red belt H/weight:
1st: Cillian GormanMales 18+ Green-red belt L/weight:
2nd: Barry Borophy (East Coast)
3rd: Eoin Mansori

Male ?
1st: Carl O' Brien
2nd: Ken Fuller
3rd: Shane Roche (Tralee)

Male : Black Belt L/weight
1st: Chris McCabe (East Coast)
2nd: John Spence (Listowel)
3rd: Cathal O' Connonr (Tralee)

Male : Black Belt M/weight
1st: Leon Brydone (Athlone)
2nd: Stephen Edwards (Tralee)
3rd: Barry Doyle (East Coast)

Male 18+ black belt H/weight:
1st: David O' Sullivan (Tralee)
2nd: Ben Halpin (East Coast)
3rd: James Whelan (East Coast)

Female : Age 12 and under white-yellow belt:
1st: Triona O' Sullivan
2nd: Shannon Martin (Galway)
3rd: Charlene Peppard

Female : 17 and under green-black
1st: Maxinee Hand (IUTF Dublin)
2nd: Emer Curran (Caherciveen)
3rd: Lisa Liston (GST)

Femal age 18+ white-yellow belt:
1st: Fidelma Histon(GST)
2nd: Amanda Sawani (GST)

Female: 18+ green-red belt L/weight
1st: Anne-marie Martin (East Coast)
2nd: Catherine Enright (East Coast)
3rd: Jennifer Daniels (Loughrea)

Female: 18+ green-red belt H/weight
1st: Fidelma Histon (GST)Female: 18+ green-red belt H/weight
2nd: Deirdre Bhreathnach (Galway)

Female: Red-Black L/weight
1st: Carol Deasy (Mallow)
2nd: Jeni Field (East Coast)
3rd: Lisa Connolly (Galway)

Female : Red-black H/weight
1st: Moira McElligott (Listowel)
2nd: Anne Mahony (GST)
3rd: Ciara Aucoin (East Cost)

Patterns 1
1st: Evan Liu (Galway)
2nd: Damian Saternus (Galway)
3rd: Ethan Flannagan (Galway)

Patterns 9:
1st: Amanda Sawani (GST)
2nd: Ferdia Watts (Galway)
3rd: Fidelma Histon (GST)

Patterns 10:
1st: Paul Doyle (Loughrea)
2nd: Cillian Gorman (UCD)
3rd: Catherine Enright (East Coast)

A small group of Connacht Students competed in the annual GST National in April, which were held in Little Island Sports Complex, Little Island, Co. Cork. Ciaran Doyle (Galway) got the day off to a great start by taking two golds with other results as follows:

Mr Paul Doyle (Loughrea) - 3rd
Ms Lisa Connolly (Galway) - 1st, 3rd

Mr Fitzgibbon, with the assistance of Ms Connolly, Mr McGowan & Mrs Whelan, tested an excellent group of colour belts at the Spring Grading on 1st April. The standard was excellent with grading awards going to Saoirse Maher (Jnr) and Thomas Hogan (Snr).

Mr Fitzgibbon once again had the privilege to lead out the Irish team at Mr Johnny Blacks's (PUMA, UK) testimonial fight night on March 25th. Also on the team was Mrs Mannion's student, Mr Leon Brydone from Athlone. The four nation event consisted of teams from England, Scotland and Wales. Ireland easily put out the Scottish team to face England in the final. The Irish team fought extremely well, but had to settle for silver, although many of the spectators felt that the Irish deserved to win. Mr Fitzgibbon complemented Mr Brydone on his excellent performance, and anticipated that the young Athlone exponent would become a regular on the Irish squad in years to come, given consistent training.

Ghana, West Africa (known as the Gold Coast) was the setting for the 4th Intercontinental Championships, this time a rematch between Africa and Europe. The European team was made of Mr Sean Keane (IUTF), Mr Kevin Guy & Mr Richard Belle (Master Wolf's TKD Academy, UK), Mr David Pixton (PUMA) and Connacht's own Mr Fitzgibbon, captaining the team. IUTF chief instructor, Mr D. Dalton travelled as coach of the team, and was accompanied by Mrs P. Dalton. From the UK, Master Ted Wolf, Master Ray Gayle and Ms Lucy Wolf attended .

Coinciding with the Ghanian Golden Jubilee (celebrating 50 years of independence) a number of workshops were held by the various instructors to continue the development of the ITF within West Africa. The whole week was a tremendously enjoyable experience for the Europeans, largely due to the hospitality of the Ghanian people and specifically, ITF Ghana President, Mr Mohammad Mahadi.

The Intercontinental Championship was a hotly contested affair with the African team hungry for revenge after last year's defeat in Nigeria. The heat was a major advantage to the African squad but the high workrate of the European's took them by surprise as they were used to a slower paced match. Mr Fitzgibbon won his bout, with Team Europe winning out overall You can see Mr Fitzgibbon's match by clicking here.

oung Damian Saternus took part in the GST West Cork Championships recently (only his second tournament) and was delighted to take gold in both Patterns and Sparring. Originally from Poland, Damian trains four times a week with Mr Fitzgibbon, and his performance clearly shows the benefit of such dedication. Also doing extremely well, was Jason Daly, Mrs Doyle's student (Loughrea club) who took a gold and a silver.

A change in venue this year saw the 2007 Munster Championships being hed in the beautiful town of Killarney. With a strong contingent down South from Connacht, some formidable performances resulted in a repectable amount of silverware making its way to the West.

The results were as follows:

Mrs Mary Mannion (Athlone)- silver
Mr Leon Brydone (Athlone)- silver
Mr Alan Murphy (Athlone) - bronze
Shane Rabbitte (Galway) - gold
Laura Costello (Oranmore) - bronze
Jason Daly (Loughrea) - silver x 2