Alloa School of TaeKwon Do

SMAC Website

2011-01-20T03:36:00.000-08:00

Hi all,
This blog has kind of fell off the radar a bit. As I'm sure most of you are aware the Alloa School of Tae Kwon Do has been through some changes of late and is now part of a much larger entity known as 'The Scottish Martial Arts Centre (SMAC for short)'. As well as maintaining the world class levels of Taekwon Do instruction we have now expanded into various other martial arts as well as various general fitness class and more.Most of our regular updates are now available on Facebook and/or Twitter as well as lots of info on our Spiffy new website.
Head over there now to see what's going on.
www.smaconline.co.uk

The blog will be back. . . . keep your eyes peeled for more info.

Kind Regards
The SMAC Team

New Centre - NOW OPEN

2010-08-25T05:31:00.000-07:00

The Alloa School of Taekwon-Do has relocated to the state of the art Scottish Martial Arts Centre. The 3500sqft purposes built training facility has been hailed as one of the finest training facilities in the UK.

Its bright interiors and beautifully tiled shower and changing facilities are very welcoming for students. As far as facilities goes the centre can boast an Olympic sized Taekwon-Do ring, multiple bag rooms, fitness studio and strength and conditioning area and student lounge area.

Classes will run on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

CLASS CANCELLED

2010-04-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

WEDNESDAY 21st CLASS CANCELLED - WEDNESDAY 21st CLASS CANCELLED

Due to the church using the halls the class on Wednesday 21st April will be cancelled.

We apologise for any inconvenience this will cause and for the lack of notice - we only found out yesterday (Wednesday).

Students are welcome to attend additional classes on Monday and Friday to supplement their training.

WEDNESDAY 21st CLASS CANCELLED - WEDNESDAY 21st CLASS CANCELLED

Kick-a-thon helps Haiti

2010-03-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

The students of the Alloa School of Taekwon-Do took part in a sponsored kick-a-thon in aid of the Haiti Disaster. The students undertook the physically demanding event which raised over £600 for the red cross's work in the area. The cause is particularly close to the club as the president of the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) was killed in the devastation.

The Tigers class, for ages 3 - 7, also took part in a mini kick-a-thon which allowed them to show their parents the many kicks they have learned whilst shouting the name of the kick in Korean!

The junior class was next with some students achieving over 800 kicks in the short amount of time they had. However the stars of the event had to be Katie Riddell and Rebecca Clark, both achieving the most amount of kicks in the set time frame.

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-01T09:10:00.001-08:00

We would like to wish all our students and their families a Happy New Year, may it bring you health, wealth, happiness and some new belts!!

2010 will be a big year for the club - classes will start on Monday the 4th January

Taekwon!

CHRISTMAS PARTY TIMES

2009-12-21T04:11:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS PARTY

TIGERS CHRISTMAS PARTY

Monday 21st December @ 5:30pm

JUNIOR CHRISTMAS PARTY

Monday 21st December @ 6:30pm

AWARDS PRESENTATION

Monday 21st December @ 8:00pm

TEAM ALLOA @ AYR OPEN

2009-08-25T02:16:00.001-07:00

Well done to our students who went to the IASKA Ayr Open at the weekend. With every student picking up silverware it was an excellent day for the school.

Juniors Sean McGill and Dylan Christie almost met each other in the final of the tall boys semi-contact after impressive wins through the qualifiers, they were both very unlucky in their semi final matches. Dylan edged the all Alloa third place fight off with the match being decided in sudden death after two tied rounds. Sean won bronze in light continuous and was unlucky to miss out on the final after losing by one point in sudden death of his semi-final match. Mr McGill also picked up a silver medal in the team sparring.

Senior students Callum Murrie and Liam Ross also did well at the weekend. Liam won gold in the semi contact sparring in his first tournament. Callum took a double gold with wins in the semi and light contact sparring – once again affirming Taekwon-Do advantages over Kickboxing. Mr Paterson also jumped on the band wagon and took the gold in the Advance -75kg Sparring.

The Tigers are loose!

2009-08-08T03:04:00.001-07:00

The Little Pumas all grew into TKD Tigers on Friday when they received their graduation certificates from Mr Paterson and Mr Hutton. The Kids all took part in the demonstration class before they received their certificates which showed the parents and kids what the fun new classes will be like. The Tigers will start training for their first theme patch on Monday which will be 'Emergency Skills'. This will focus on Fire Safety, Road Safety, Water Safety, Beach Safety, 999 Skills and more! The Tigers will also be working towards their first Tiger Grade, 'Yellow'!

School News

2009-07-21T01:32:00.001-07:00

Class Closure

There will be no junior or senior class on Friday 24th July due to the seminar taking place at Mark Huttons Blackbelt Academy

Little PUMA Graduation

To mark the end of the Little puma course and the beginning of the TKD Tiger program all our little puma and tiger students are invited to take part in a demonstration class of the new tiger program. This will be taken by Mr Paterson and Mr Hutton from Glasgow and will show parents and students the amazing aspects of the new course. After this class little puma students will be invited onto the stage to receive a graduation certificate from the old little puma course and formally welcomed as TKD Tigers. All future classes will be TKD Tigers.

Junior and Senior Gradings

There will be a grading on Friday 31st July at the Alloa School of Taekwon-Do

This is open to all students who are ready to grade those students who have been on holiday should attend as many classes as possible before the grading.

WKA Kickboxing Fight Night

2009-06-23T07:35:00.000-07:00

For the first time the Alloa School of Taekwon-Do entered two students into a kickboxing fight night. The students, Shaun McGill and Andrew Ballentyne were head hunted by the WKA Scotland coach to appear on the bill at the Smith Hotel in Kirkintilloch.

This was an excellent way to boost confidence for the pair who qualified for the WKA Scotland team earlier this year. On the bill were many of the team who will accompany the Alloa pair travelling to Spain in October for the world championships. The bouts were a good indication of the level needed to compete at such a level and will inspire the boys to train hard over the summer. Both the boys were unlucky not to win their bouts, with Shaun losing out to one point in the last second of the bout. However as with all junior competition the experience you gain far more important than the medal.

All the coaches at the school would like to congratulate the boys and wish them luck in their training..

DEMO TEAM

2009-06-10T04:17:00.000-07:00

Well Done to all those who participated in last weekend’s Demo at the Dollar Gala, this was a fantastic day and those who took part (at very short notice) proved how good the school and its students are.

We were asked several times what the difference was between our school and other schools in Clackmannanshire. Several parents of students from other 'clubs' couldn’t believe the difference in technical ability, discipline and courtesy.

We are extremely proud of our students and with exciting times ahead of us we know our school shall continue to be the home of the best Taekwon-do students in the wee county.

School Information

2009-03-06T02:18:00.000-08:00

The School shall be closed on Friday 6th March to allow the church to use the halls for a special service. This has been on the school notice board for several months.

Training shall resume on Monday 9th March and will focus on preperation for the long awaited grading that has finally been confirmed for Monday 16th March.

Those looking to grade should make themselves known if they havent already.

Team UK Squad Training

2009-02-24T04:03:00.000-08:00

THIS SATURDAY 12.45-2.45PM

ST ANDREWS HIGH COATBRIDGE

THIS WILL BE TAKEN BY TEAM UK COACH MR GARRY BRADSHAW

LETS SEE A GOOD TURN OUT

Inter-club Success

2009-02-24T02:55:00.000-08:00

Inter-club Success Team Alloa travelled to Glasgow on Saturday to compete at the central Scotland interclub tournament. The Little Pumas, junior and senior students competed against other students from Stirling, Falkirk, Glasgow East, Glasgow South, and Coatbridge.

The Little Puma Class did extremely well we even managed to win a Gold medal at the High kick competition. Everyone else was very unlucky not to have won a medal but will be excited to receive there participation medal next week.

Those who didn’t win this time or haven’t yet been to a competition should know that if you train hard, behave and practise at home you have a great shot at winning at the next competition!!

<------- Just ask this man!

Our Junior Class were winning medals left, right and centre ring all day with some great efforts all round. The Boag brothers were unlucky not to have picked up a medal, as was Adian Declan and Harris (who missed out by 1 point!) Rebecca and Katie also were a bit unfortunate not to have a medal.

Kristian, who was attending his first competition put in a great performance at the high kick and took gold. Shaun followed up his impressive display at the WKA Qualifiers to take gold in sparring. Andrew Ballentyne took silver in his sparring category and Gary and David McNaughton devastated the competition to meet in an all Alloa/brother final with Gary edging the Gold. Ryan Davidson put in the performance of the day to take a Set. Gold in High Kick, Silver in Sparring, and Bronze in Patterns.

Our Seniors once again showed that Alloa is the number one class for adults to train with Jez winning Gold, Davie P silver and Calum bronze. Gary McNaughton Snr also managed to secure gold in white belt patterns - a really difficult category. Johnas who was mourning the death of his cat by flying his trousers at half mast was unfortunate not to medal in his second competition.

Scottish Inter-club Tournament

2009-02-13T04:28:00.000-08:00

Date: Saturday 21st Febuary

Time: 12.45pm

Venue: St Andrews High School, Coatbridge

The competition is open to all grades.

Little Puma's, Juniors, Adults

WKA Qualifiers - Success for Team Alloa

2009-02-13T03:41:00.000-08:00

Eleven students from the Alloa School of Taekwon-Do (PUMA) travelled
to Wishaw on Sunday to compete against kickboxing, karate, kung fu and Taekwon-Do students from all over the country in a bid to qualify for the WKA Scottish Kickboxing Squad.

Last year both instructors qualified for the team - this year 7 adult and 3 juniors competitors joined them hoping to travel to Spain later this year to compete at the WKA World Championships.

Junior Sean McGill put in an excellent performance to qualify for the point sparring section whilst fellow junior Andrew Ballentyne qualified for the same category at a different weight.

Ryan Davidson was unlucky not win his bronze medal playoff, facing opponents that were older, heavier and taller than him he put in an great effort.

From the Adults, Peter Emmerson, Adam Paterson, Johnas and Jez Haslam all qualified in their respective divisions.

The other students were unlucky not to qualify and will be looking to medal at the Scottish interclub championship later this month.

Tournement News

2009-01-23T04:42:00.000-08:00

WKA World Championship 2009 - Scottish National Qualifiers

This will take place on the 8th Febuary 2009 in Wishaw, Lanarkshire.

Point Sparring

Light Contact Sparring

Forms (Patterns)

Musical Forms

This tournement is open to all students blue belt and above at your instructors discression.

PUMA British Championship 2008

2008-12-18T04:07:00.001-08:00

Eight students from the Alloa School of Taekwon-Do (PUMA) travelled down to Swindon last month to represent the club at the 2008 British Championships.

This year saw the tournament being split into separate colour belt and black belt competitions. Despite this it was still the largest PUMA Competition to date.

Ryan Davidson took home Bronze in an excellent display of sparring against very experienced opponents. Graeme Boag also battled his way to a Bronze medal in the sparring division and has shown great potential at this tournament and at the Scottish Championships earlier this year. Shaun McGill completed the hat trick of Bronze Medals with a fine display of sparring in his first continuous event.

Alastair Boag demonstrated how commitment to training pays off after winning the Alloa Schools only Silver medal. The hard work he put into training saw him upgrade the Bronze he won at the Scottish Championships to Silver at the British.

Other fine performances were given by David McNaughton and Dylan Christie, David who was competing at his first British Championship was unlucky not to finish in the medals. Dylan, who won the championship last year, was also unlucky in his match - a few weeks harder training and it would have been a different story for both the boys.

Two Students from the school returned home from the tournament as British Champions. Gary McNaughton, in his first tournament south of the boarder battled his way to win Gold in the Sparring Division. This was an excellent display and was an improvement on the Silver and Bronze won at the Scottish October.

Andrew Ballentyne continued to show his dominance in his sparring division by adding the British Title to the Scottish title he won in October. He is without doubt a future star in the sport.

The British Championships are the highest level of competition domestically for a colour belt. The Alloa School are extremely proud of their students - medal or no medal. just by taking part you learn valuable experience that will help you in your training and future competitions.

Well Done Everyone!

2008-12-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas Party and Awards

Monday 22nd December

- Mini Competitions
- Prizes
- Games

(Please Wear your Doboks for class photographs)

All Your Friends and Family are welcome to join in the Fun!

Annual Awards

Student of the Year Presentation
Junior Competitor of the Year Presentation

Christmas Holidays

2008-12-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

The Alloa School of Taekwon-Do (PUMA) will be closed for the festive holidays on the following days.

Friday 19th December

Wednesday 24th December (Christmas Eve)

Friday 26th December (Boxing Day)

Monday 29th December

Wednesday 31st December (New Years Eve)

2009

The School shall be open from Friday 2nd January 2009.

We hope all our members have a fantastic Christmas and a very happy new year

Grading Results

2008-11-26T04:31:00.000-08:00

Excellent Standard at Grading

Well done to all our students who recently passed the November Grading hosted at the Alloa School.

There was a fantastic standard on display and grading examiner Mr Murphy VI Dan commented that this was one of the best gradings he had seen from the school.

Promoted to Little Puma Grade 1

Rebecca Clark (distinction)

Jordan Macpherson

Callum Douglas

Ben Kay

Teddy Crosley

Susie Lambert

Katie Taylor

Logan Ross

Mark Morrison

Promoted to 9th Kup

Sol Wardlor

James Craig

Thomas Craig

Steven Sneddon

Jack Monoghan

Kerry Kay

Paul Hanna

Callum Murrie

Promoted to 8th Kup

Gary McNaugton (Distinction)

David McNaughton (Distinction)

Katie Bell

Promoted to 7th Kup

Alisdair Boag

Promoted to 6th Kup

Ross Brydie

Andrew Ballentyne

Promoted to 5th Kup

Katie Riddell

haun McGill

Graeme Boag

Promoted to 4th Kup

Peter Emmerson

Promoted to 3rd Kup

Ryan Davidson

The Grading Award was presented to Mr Ryan Davidson who's grading was described by Mr Murphy as "perfection"

Well done everyone!

WKA World Championships Review

2008-11-18T07:27:00.000-08:00

From an interview with the local paper

The WKA World Kickboxing Championships drew to a close on Friday after a week of competition. The Tournament saw thousands of competitors from all over the world descend on Orlando Florida for one of the most prestigious martial arts tournaments in the world.

Instructors Adam Paterson (23) and Gary McGuire (27), form the Alloa School of Taekwon-Do (PUMA) based at the Alloa West Church Hall, were part of the Scottish Kickboxing Squad that Jetted off to Orlando a fortnight ago. The boys were confident ahead of the competition after their ITF World Championship Gold Medals last year.

The competition earns this prestigious reputation by being open to all styles of martial arts. National squads are selected form qualifying competitions in the respective countries which ensures only the best in the world are there to compete. The Alloa's Instructors earned their place in the Scottish National Kickboxing Team via the WKA Open selection tournament back in February.

The Duo travelled out ahead of the official weigh-in on the Sunday. The competition began the following day with both lads in action Gary, a local plumber, was first on the mats and successfully battled his way to the quarter finals of the tournament with impressive wins over a Welshman and Canadian. He was unfortunate not to make it into the medals after narrowly being defeated by an American opponent. He told the Advertiser, “I beat myself, in the end it came down to fitness and for me it just wasn’t there, elimination rounds are fought over two 2min rounds and by the end of the second I was exhausted. I was clearly ahead in the fight but he sneaked it in the last few seconds”. Despite missing out on the medals it was an excellent performance from the 27 year-old that beat the 2007 WKA World Champion on his way to the Bronze medal at the XIV ITF Taekwon-Do World Championships a year ago.

Adam was the next to take to the mats and faced a strong German opponent in his opening bout. Adam said, “My first fight was tough, it took me a round to get into the match but after getting my second wind I took control and got the win”. There was no let up in the standard of opponents in his quarter final match Adam faced an Irish competitor who was fresh from winning the prestigious Irish open. After two rounds it was the Alloa Lad that proved to be the better, He said “this was one of the toughest matches of the day as we were both similar in style, however having a few rounds under my belt I was able to outclass him.”

With a Bronze medal guaranteed the 23 year old Taekwon-Do Instructor was feeling confident in his semi-final match. He faced a Canadian with a win sending him to the World Championship Final; however after two hard fought rounds he watched the decision go against him. “I was absolutely gutted, I thought that my semi final match was by far my best performance of the day, losing didn’t even enter my mind”. He said “It was made worse when one of the judges told me he couldn’t believe the other two judges scored it to the Canadian ( Who went on to win the Gold), but that’s what sometimes happens you’ve just got to accept it and do better next time.” The boys are using this as experience and are both aiming to take gold at the 2008 WKA World Championships in Spain next year.

Grading News

2008-11-01T07:01:00.000-07:00

Another step toward your Black Belt

The Next Grading will be at the Alloa School of Taekwon-Do (PUMA) on Friday 21st November

All students should be aiming to Grade and are welcome to attend additional classes on Monday, Wednesday or Friday to prepare.

Students should be revising their theory outside of the dojang and informing their Instructors of any areas they need extra tuition in.

Remember training hard is the only route to success.

Scottish Championships Results

2008-10-29T06:33:00.001-07:00

Team Alloa - Scottish Championships 2008

25 Competitors from the Alloa School of Taekwon-Do Travelled to the PUMA Scottish Championships in Glasgow on Saturday. The Competition was the largest yet with competitors travelling from Ireland and England trying to capture some Scottish titles.

Our juniors, as usual, dominated their divisions and if it wasn’t for some bad judging calls would have done even better. Sparring and Patterns were the main focus of the medal haul.

Our Little PUMA's did fantastically well in their first competition. They performed their little puma drills and high kicking superbly and all received medals for their hard work!

They also recieved their first Tournament Patch!!

In some of the most excieting sparring of the day, our adults did extreamly well in the coulour belt and black belt divisons winning 4 Gold, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze. The Adult competitors also dominated the field in the destruction event winning both hand and foot events cementing our reputation as the club of champions!

We should all be looking at this tournament as a learning experience, even if you did well there is always something to work on to become even better! Role on the British Championships!

Medal Results

Teddy Crossly(Bronze Special Technique, Medallist), Katie Taylor(Medallist), Ben Kay (Medallist), Callum Douglas (Medallist), Logan Ross (Medallist), Josh Kid (Medallist), Brain Morrison (Medallist), Dylan Christie, Andrew Ballantyne (Gold Sparring), Ryan Davidson (Silver Patterns, Bronze Sparring), Graeme Boag (Silver Sparring), Sean McGill, Alisdair Boag (Bronze Sparring), Katie Riddle, Adian Conlan (Silver Sparring), Gary McNaughton(Silver Sparring, Bronze Patterns), David McNaughton, Adam Paterson(Gold Sparring), Gary McGuire (Gold Sparring), Jez Haslam (Gold Hand Destruction, Bronze Sparring), Lynne Morrison (Gold Sparring), David Fishwick, Peter Emmerson (Gold Sparring, Gold Foot Destruction), Callum Murrie(Silver Sparring), Alistair Grant (Bronze Sparring)

Total Competitors 25

Gold Medals – 7
Silver Medals – 5
Bronze Medals – 6
Little Puma Medals – 6

Total Medals 24

Well Done!!

Upcoming Competitions part 2

2008-09-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

P.U.M.A. British Championships 2008

To be held at the Oasis Leisure Centre, Swindon, Wilts on Sunday 23rd November 2008.

Further information here as soon as it becomes available.

We are looking to organise a coach to travel down and compete, all students that are interested in travelling with the Alloa Squad should confirm there interest with Mr Paterson or Mr McGuire.

This is an excellent trip and our students that competed last year all did extremely well.

Upcoming Competitions

2008-09-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

P.U.M.A. Scottish Championships 2008

This year the Scottish Championships are being held in Glasgow on Saturday 25th October 2008. This year’s event is going to be the most exciting yet!

There will be a lot of Celtic rivalry with Mrs McInnes and her contingent from Northern Ireland and there is also a coach load of competitors coming from Devon!

The Alloa School has been one of the top medal scoring squads in recent years and we should all be aiming for gold medals!!