2025 was a year of huge progress for many students and Banstead TaeKwon-Do in general. We had students entering more competitions that we hadn't attended previously, we had more teenagers achieving high enough skill levels to be selected to attend a Blackbelt grading - there was progress across the board.

2025 seemed an appropriate year to introduce annual awards to recognise progress that I have seen in certain individuals. Everyone is eligible and progress can be objectively calculated in terms of various TaeKwon-Do criteria and then an element of the instructors' own opinions.

Most Improved Tiny TKD - Ocean

Ocean rarely missed a class in Tiny TKD during 2025, shows good behaviour that the others can follow, listens well and improved in all areas of her TKD.

Most Improved Junior TaeKwon-Do - Daniel

Daniel received a "Try Again" grading result early in 2025 and he then spent the next 9 months or so working hard with renewed motivation to improve his TaeKwon-Do. Every aspect of his TKD improved, most noticeably his kicking and his balance.

Most Improved Teenager - Hollie

At the start of the year Hollie was a 1st Kup (a coloured belt) and at the end of the year she was a 1st Degree Blackbelt, which is a great achievement. But there were other teenagers who did the same. Hollie is a keen competitor and at the start of the year decided to enter more tournaments of increasing scale, she went to the National championships, The Warrior Open and the Holland Cup and importantly there have been major improvements in her Patterns and her sparring style throughout the year.

Working towards her Blackbelt grading in November 2025 also saw Hollie make noticeable improvements in her fitness, kicking, power, theory and her general grit and determination (two very important attributes).

Most Improved Adult - Darcey

Darcey has returned to TaeKwon-Do as adult after a break from it as a teenager, and worked hard to improve in areas. Her return to competition was marked, apprehensively (and understandably), at the Impact Open in June, with a GOLD in sparring. Her understanding of the Principles of TaeKwon-Do has improved over the year as demonstrated in her Patterns performance.

CONGRATULATIONS

Well done to all students who worked hard throughout 2025 and I hope we all see 2026 as a year to set some goals work towards them.

Small Steps, achievable wins, consistency, Big Goal.

"You don't have to be The Best, you just need to Do Your Best"

On to 2026...