Fighting Chance 2012

Sport UK launched a talent identification program recently, with the hope of identifying world class martial artists that would be able to transfer their skills to WTF Taekwondo with the aim of bringing home a medal in the 2012 Olympic Games. This also offers the ultimate goal of a chance to become a full time, paid, professional athlete.

The first stage for applicants was an online form in which they were asked to give details about current and past success and why they thought they were good enough to be considered for a place in the 2012 Olympic Taekwondo squad. There were over 1000 applications processed by the Talent 2012 team, with around 200 people being offered a place in the talent identification days, held around the UK. Many TAGB members were successful and made it through to the second stage, most being current TAGB Squad members amongst others.

The second stage, which was a talent identification day, involved many different assessments. These included leg strength, flexibility, fitness and power tests and finally a combat test in which applicants fought a 3x3minute WTF fight in front of the Great Britain WTF Coach and Sarah Stevenson, Olympic bronze medalist.

The third stage involved a second identification day. During this day padwork and more sparring were assessed. There were around 40 people who made it through to this stage. TAGB members made up a good portion of this number, these were: Warren Vice, Tyrrell Belony, Andrew Deer, James Watson, Claire Sharples, Normi Jamalludin, Tasmin Clarke, Nikki Lynes.. They did fantastically well to get this far, making the TAGB proud. Special mention goes to Chris Welsh, 16 from Scunthorpe, who managed to get through to this stage despite being surrounded by a wealth of experienced international fighters from many martial arts.

The next stage is an 8 day residential boot camp at the WTF UK headquarters in Manchester, to be held in May. After this stage there will be a second residential trip to Korea for a few weeks before places as a professional athlete are offered to successful candidates. We are very proud to announce that three TAGB Squad members have made it through to the Manchester boot camp. They are: Warren Vice, Tyrrell Belony and Andrew Deer. I am sure all TAGB members will be routing for them in the hope they can continue to get through the selection process and have the chance of competing in the 2012 Olympics. These fighters have not got through by luck or chance, they have worked hard for many years, giving up endless weekends to train and compete all around the world. It shows that with strong committment, spirit and dedication, anything is possible.