Last year was challenging for everyone and the TTA London clubs took lessons from 2020 onboard and continued to adapt throughout 2021. For TTA Barbican, Charlton, Peckham and Southwark that meant starting the year teaching students on Zoom!

While lacking many of the benefits of in person classes, Zoom enabled clubs to keep students engaged and focused on their taekwondo journey at the height of last year’s lockdown. The clubs experimented with a variety of methods to improve concentration, enjoyment and the quality of training, from taekwondo fitness sessions to additional stretching following each class.

As we slowly emerged from lockdown the clubs ramped up their activities in line with guidance in England. Children were able to return to in person training from the end of March and adults in April, with children’s classes moving inside in April and adults enduring the outside weather a little longer into May.

Returning to ‘normality’

The journey back to normality didn’t stop with the return of in person indoor classes. Instructors had to contend with new venues, reduced venue capacity and availability, socially distanced training and helping students get to grip with the contact elements, as restrictions were eased, that they had missed out on for months.

In late spring and early summer the TTA London clubs found that their junior students, for whom gradings have no or limited contact requirements, were ready to grade. To limit unnecessary mixing and travel the gradings took place within individual clubs and were filmed for Grandmaster Loh, 9th Dan and Chief Instructor of the TTA, to assess via video. Congratulations to all students who passed!

Over the course of the summer months normality slowly returned until, by the start of the autumn term, students were largely training as normal, albeit with some safety measures still in place. These included limited partner numbers, well ventilated venues and reduced sharing of equipment such as paddles.

A record London grading

As the clubs trained into autumn is was clear that many intermediate and senior students, and black belt candidates, were ready to grade. As all Covid-19 restrictions in England had now been eased it was agreed that Grandmaster Loh would travel to London for our first in person kup grading (white belts to black tag) in almost two years, and TTA London’s first ever locally hosted black belt grading.

Lots of hard work went into preparation for the gradings, which took place in three different groups across two venues over a weekend in late November. To increase safety all students were required to take a lateral flow test and report a negative result to their instructor before attending the grading. The testing allowed us to bring lots of TTA London clubs together for the first time in 18 months and proceed with all grading contact requirements as usual.

The weekend began with the all-London black belt grading on Saturday afternoon and was followed by a kup grading on Sunday morning for TTA Barbican, Charlton and Peckham students. It concluded on Sunday afternoon with a kup grading for TTA Southwark students from both the original Bermondsey club and the newer Tower Bridge kids club.

In total, 95 students from across the four London clubs were assessed. Congratulations to everyone who passed the grading: an incredible 14 Dan promotions and a record 81 kup promotions!

Looking ahead

We want to thank Grandmaster Loh for his instruction, insights and guidance, and Mr Bender (4th Dan, senior instructor for TTA London) for all of his help and leadership. While 2022 holds some uncertainty, we are confident we will adapt to the challenges that lie ahead. Pilsung!

Check out the photos of our most recent Black Belt and Kup promotions below: