Mr Davis V
- Jul 19, 2023
- 2 min read

New Blackbelts at Banstead TKD

I don't have a history of providing school updates on a regular basis, but I do 'promise' to 'try harder' from this point forward.

Rewind to July 2022

This is how up-to-date I have been with school news and promotions, there was HUGE news in July 2022.

Actually, rewind to September 2009: a wee girl of 'just' 4 years old started in my very first TINY TKD class (we used the old Priory School hall back then).

GT worked her way through TINY TKD, then JUNIOR TKD (ages 7 - 12) then SENIOR TKD (Teens and Adults), twice a week, every week since 2009.

She entered many competitions, won many medals, and will continue to do so and she barely missed a lesson in all that time. The same would be said about anybody progressing to Blackbelt in ITF TaeKwon-Do, it doesn't come by poor attendance.

TKD instructor and student — Georgia, in 2022, as a 1st Degree Blackbelt

There have been other blackbelts from Banstead TKD, but Georgia is the first student to progress all through the classes from 4 years old through to Blackbelt, so it's worth an extra special mention.

Fast Forward to April 2023

It has been a busy year for Banstead TaeKwon-Do, hot on the heals of Georgia's Blackbelt from 2022 her brother Dan and friend Ethan (both 15) were eyeing up their grading for Blackbelt. Kevin and Conor, both adult students, were grading up to their 2nd Blackbelt level.

Kevin, Conor, Ethan and Dan attended a grading run by Senior Master R. Dennis (8th Dan) on April 29th 2023, among other students from other clubs and students hoping to grade to 3rd Dan blackbelt.

After a long, hot, hard, difficult, technical and tricky few hours the grading was over. All students would have taken part in Techinical Movements and Traditional Patterns, Free Sparring, 2 vs 1 sparring, self defence, power test, jumping kicks and theory.

Not all students at the grading were successful in passing to the next level of recognition, but the hope there is they would return with renewed focus and attention to detail and aim to re-sit their grading at another time.

The good news is...

Congratulations

Kevin passes to Blackbelt 2nd Dan (April 2023)

Conor passes to Blackbelt 2nd Dan (April 2023)

Georgia passes to Blackbelt 1st Dan (July 2022)

Dan passes to Blackbelt 1st Dan (April 2023)

Ethan passes to Blackbelt 1st Dan (April 2023)

Georgia, Dan and Ethan were all in TINY TKD, then JUNIOR TKD, then SENIOR TKD and all are great competitors and excellent examples of good teenagers in the community.

Ethan is my son.

My hope now is that my daughter can make the move to Blackbelt 1st Dan before too long.