Students and instructors from Grandmaster Howard’s Taekwon-Do school put on a spectacular display of their Taekwon-Do skills at our New Year’s demonstration. The show took place at St Joseph’s School for the Deaf on the Navan road, Dublin 7, and was attended by guest of honour Grandmaster Howard.
After bowing to Grandmaster Howard and reciting the code the demonstration started with our youngest students, the Taekwon-Do Tigers (6-8 years) showing off their newly acquired skills. They performed their 3 step punch, basic blocks, pad work, and jumping kicks. They finished off with a fine display of their developing flexibility.
Next up were the Taekwon-Do Dragons (9-11 years). The white belts performed a lovely 4-directional punch as a team. The yellow belts showed the purpose of a pattern by performing Dan Gun against real attackers. There was excellent team pattern performance of Dan Gun by the yellow belts too. The children showed off their sparring skills with some lovely combinations. The Dragons wowed the audience with the height of their over head kicks and great improvements in their flexibility.
The children’s display really showed the development of their technique, flexibility and jumping ability. It was great that all the parents and relations who were in attendance could see the progression from Tigers to Dragons, and that the programme is all about developing the children over the long term.
After the young children it was time for our Taekwon-Do families. Families of parents and children who are training in our school took to the floor to show the joy of practicing Taekwon-Do together. They were followed by some of our teenagers and adults who showed off their breaking skills with both their hands and their feet.
After such a great show up to that point the black belts were under pressure to raise the bar. But there was no need to worry, as our black belts and instructors set out on a spectacular finale. A great team pattern display of Gae Baek was followed by an impressive jump over head kick by Mr Nowak. This was followed by a fast and furious display of tournament sparring which all the children in the audience loved.
Then the audience were treated to the highest level of breaking techniques. Mr McSherry performed a beautiful blindfolded jump reverse turning kick. Mr Fox showed why he has two European medals in power breaking by smashing his way through stacks of tiles with his forefist and back hand. The final break had the audience with their hands up to their mouths as Mr Fox broke timber with his finger tips.
The show ended with a huge wave of applause. There was great feedback from the families and friends and the path of progression and advancement in skills from white belt to expert was clear for all to see.
Well done to al the students of Grandmaster Howard’s Taekwon-Do School who took part in the demonstration.
