TAE Kwon-Do — Black-Belt Grading For Inverclyde Students
From left, Jason Harvey, Aiden Bradley, Master Boyle, Thomas Collins, Rebecca Foley and Ross Derrick.
INVERCLYDE Cho’s Tae Kwon-Do held its annual black-belt grading, overseen by Master Charles Boyle, 6th degree black-belt and academy chief instructor with senior student Ross Derrick, 3rd degree assisting.
Three students were grading for black-belt, but only two were successful. They had been training intensely since January and had also completed three pre-gradings in the previous two months, all to prepare for the gruelling four-and-a-half hour session. Students also had to undertake a teaching schedule to enable them to enter the black-belt ranks within AIMAA (Action International Martial Arts Association).
The morning started off with a 20-minute warm-up, leading into patterns, basic and advanced line work, sparring then on to pad work, self-defence, 3-v-1 sparring, 2-v-1 sparring and 2-v-1 self-defence, and finally to breaking boards. All students were on the floor for about four hours with only short breaks from time to time to take on fluids.
Students were also tested on their knowledge of tae kwon-do and had to submit a 1,000 word essay which was then passed to Grandmaster Hee Il Cho, 9th degree and president and founder of AIMAA, who also had the final say on whether or not the students had passed.
Anyone interested in learning traditional tae kwon-do, should contact Master Boyle at his full-time studio, Inverclyde Cho’s Tae Kwon Do, 11A George Square, Greenock, PA15 1PQ Classes are held from age three-and-a-half, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
