Red Star Sport Taekwon-Do has joined the Taekwon-Do Advisory Board. The TAB is the government recognised Taekwon-Do authority in Ireland, recognised by the Irish Sports Council through the Irish Martial Arts Commission.

In recent weeks we have had on-going meetings with the secertary general of the advisory board. Here is what being members of the TAB will mean for us.

1.Members can participate in “Introduction to coaching ITF Taekwon-Do” course in year 1
2.Members can participate in “Coaching Level 1” course in year 2 - National Coaching Development Programme (NCDP) coach education courses and awards, accredited by NCTC.
3.Members can participate in “Coaching Level 2” course in year 3
4.Participate in Irish Sports Council seminars and courses
5.Listing on Taekwon-Do Advisory Board (TAB) website - listing all government recognised ITF Taekwon-Do Schools
6.Regular advertising of all TAB recognised schools in print and digital media
7.Issue of TAB teaching licence to all affiliated instructors
8.Issue of TAB Recognition Certificate to all affiliated schools

Benefits of Irish Martial Arts Commission;

Ø Irish Sports Council Recognition;
Ø Access to advice and support on: child protection, insurance, coach education, competitions and anti doping;
Ø National Coaching Development Programme (NCDP) coach education courses and awards, accredited by NCTC up to Level 2

For us joining the TAB allows us to show our dedication to ITF Taekwon-Do, it also proves that we are dedicated to standard. Now, as a goverment recognised Taekwon-Do school, Taekwon-Do students and parents alike can rest assured of our commitment to running a professional association, where the Taekwon-Do student always comes first.
Other members of the Taekwon-Do Advisory Board include the Irish Taekwon-Do Association (ITA) and the Republic of Ireland Taekwon-Do Association (RITA).

Well done to everyone who took the belt test today, 24th April 2010. The test was as ever a very technical event with fundamental movements and patterns being scrutinised by our guest examiner Mr Jim Faulkner from the NITA/ITF Ireland. Congratulations to all who passed and to everyone who practiced and prepared themselves for their next level. We would also like to thank Mr Faulkner who made a substantial donation to our Korea fund, Mr Faulkner donated enough for us to purchase our Red Star tracksuit for Korea. Many thanks to him, a true gent of the art.

Mr Faulkner awarded 'A' level passes to the following students. Well done to them!

Erika Walsh
Leah Harris
Ciarán Clarke
Fiachra Walsh
Sophie Peppard
Leem Clarke

A selection of Red Star competitors recently competed at the Republic of Ireland Taekwon-Do Association of Ireland's ITF Open in Co. Waterford.
The team of nine performed excellently on the day with everyone placing.
Competitors from across Ireland took part in what was a highly professional event with some of the fairest umpires on show for the day.

Each ring had computerised scoring system as well as 6th degree or over A class jury president over seeing everything which is always a great way of catching biased umpires and making sure there are no mistakes made. Master Robert Howard was then double checking each ring and it went like clock work.

Our competitors proved themselves well in each category with plenty of gold medals. Our star performers were both Néidín Coulahan and Alvydas Jankauskas who took gold in both sparring sections, Néídin and Alvy were a cut above the rest. Also taking golds on the day were Erika Walsh and Lauren Bradshaw. Donna also took gold in red belt patterns. Winning gold medals in patterns at an RITA tournament is always a great achievement, these guys know their patterns inside out and it's great to see umpires with a solid knowledge of what they are scoring.

So well done to all those who made a great day of it. A special thanks goes to our friends in the RITA,to Master Howard and Mr Floyd Keane for the invitation. We'll see you soon.

Medal winners were;

Erika Walsh - Gold in patterns, silver in sparring
Lauren Bradshaw - Gold in sparring, silver in patterns
Ausra Jankauskaite - Silver in sparring
Donna Mackey - Gold in patterns, silver in sparring
Alvydas Jankauskas - Gold in senior black belt sparring
Christopher Mulvey - Silver in sparring
Neidin Coulahan - Gold in junior black belt sparring and Silver in 1st/2nd degree patternS
Fiachra Walsh - Silver in sparring

See all the photo's here

Red Star Sport Taekwon-Do attended the IUTF Leinster championships on Sunday 28th March. 32 medals were won out of 21 competitors after a great display of patterns and sparring.
On form again for double golds were Lauren Bradshaw and Erika Walsh. The champions league will really hot up towards the end of the year if both Lauren and Erika keep up their winning streak.
Competitor of the tournament was William Joyce. William, a yellow stripe, ended up in a section along with 1 red belt, 1 blue belt and 4 four black stripes. However with all the odds stacked against him, William battled his way through the division beating one of Connacht TKD's black stripe rising stars in the final winning a very well deserved gold. William proved that the belt around your waste is only as good as the training you put in, and spending the last year sparring the likes of Alvydas, Adam and Neidin he was always going to be that extra bit sharper.

Alvydas was in good form winning his section in the male -75kg section which saw Martin Moylan return to competition after a good 18 months off, Alvydas also won silver in his patterns. Néidín was also in good form as she won gold in her +60kg junior girls and Adam had to settle for silver in the junior boys. Donna also saw a return to gold after winning her patterns section. Other gold winners on the day were Alisha Wheeler and Chloe Walsh who sparred brilliantly through very tough sections. Well done to all our new 2010 Leinster champs but most importantly well done to everyone who took part in the tournament, we had a great day out packed with fun and lots of good craic! The competing is only secondary to all of that!

A big thanks to Ms Mary Mannion and all our friends in Athlone for hosting a great event.
The medal tallies are below, all photo's and some video clips will be uploaded as soon as our official Red Star photographer Derek Flynn has them sorted!

• Erika Walsh - 2 Gold
• Lauren Bradshaw - 2 Gold
• Chloe Walsh - Gold and Silver
• Alvydas Jankauskas - Gold and Silver
• Donna Mackey - Gold and Bronze
• Alisha Wheeler - Gold
• Néidín Coulahan - Gold and Bronze
• Adam Quinn - Silver
• Ausra Jankauskaite - Silver and Bronze
• Kate Cassidy - 2 Silver
• Casey Dixon - 2 Bronze
• Rory Gallagher - 2 Bronze
• Dylan Armstrong - Silver
• Laura Flynn- Bronze
• Martin Moylan - Bronze
• William Joyce - Gold and Bronze
• Luke McCarney - Siver and Bronze
• Leon Brennan - 2 Bronze
• Robyn Armstrong - Bronze