Please note that the Sunday morning class is not running during the summer school holiday period this year. The following Sundays will not be running:
- 3rd August 2008
- 10th August 2008
- 17th August 2008
- 24th August 2008
- 31st August 2008
Published: 28/01/08 By: paul.linsell
Please note that there will be no Tae Kwon Do class on the following Thursdays and Sundays because the hall is unavailable:
- Sunday 3rd February 2008
- Sunday 10th February 2008
- Thursday 14th February 2008
- Sunday 21st September 2008
Published: 28/01/08 By: paul.linsell
A belated congratulations to Paul Linsell on gaining 3rd Dan. I also recognise some names of students that were juniors when I was last in UK reaching black belt, well done to you too. It is refreshing to see that your Taekwondo web site is still updated regularly and is a good example to others on how to promote their club. It’s good to see you still have close associations with the other local clubs and have taken part in some international events. Paul Linsell and Rhys have been involved since the very beginnings of Swarm many years ago, thank you for your dedication to Taekwondo. I have moved on from Ascension Island and left behind 7 St Helenian and 1 South African black belts from 2nd – 3rd Dans to carry on TKD in Ascension and St Helena. I moved to the Sultanate of Oman 2 years ago and help occasionally train the Omani blackbelt team, I managed to get roped into teaching a class of Irish and American female school teachers and after visiting my wife’s home in the Philippines and collecting a load of new TKD equipment from the Filipino squad will set up a new beginners class at the local school. Teaching martial arts publicly has only recently become legal in Oman. I don’t compete these days but practice sparring regularly with my Rottweiler puppy (see attached, he is a lot bigger than that now!!!!!! No longer a lap dog and most definitely a full contact fighter!!! My most challenging student yet!).
Best Regards to you all.
Master Paul Straker 5th Dan WTF TKD
Sultanate of Oman 30/12/07
Published: 08/01/08 By: paul.linsell
Please note that there will be no Tae Kwon Do class on the following Sundays because the hall is unavailable:
- 3rd February 2008
- 10th February 2008
- 21st September 2008
Published: 04/01/08 By: paul.linsell
Please be aware that the club will not be running on Sunday 23rd December, Thursday 27th December and Sunday 30th December.
The adult's class will resume in the New Year on Thursday 3rd January, and the junior class will resume on Sunday 6th January.
Published: 08/11/07 By: paul.linsell
Please note that from Thursday 25th October 2007 onwards the Tae Kwon Do class will be held at the Emsworth Community Centre instead of Havant Leisure Centre. The Tae Kwon Do class will be held in the "Mountford 3" from 7:30pm to 9:00pm.
Also, due to low attendance levels, the Tuesday evening class has been cancelled at the Havant Leisure Centre as of 18th September 2007 onwards. We are considering the possibility of providing 2 adult classes each week at the Emsworth Community Centre depending upon demand.
The kids Tae Kwon Do class will continue to run on Sunday mornings at the Havant Leisure Centre, until further notice.
Best regards,
Paul Linsell
Published: 10/09/07 By: paul.linsell
The Swarm Taekwondo lessons start back on Thursday 4th January 2007 at the Horizon Leisure Centre, Havant, Hampshire. 8:30pm in the Small Hall.
Published: 19/12/06 By: paul.linsell
Belgian Technical Open, March 2005
By Alex Chadha, Swarm Taekwondo Club, Havant, Hampshire, England.
This year, the Belgian technical open was held in the small and seemingly insignificant town of Alken. Insignificant, you say?! How wrong I was. Not only because it was the town chosen for this international competition but more for the fact that Alken is a brewery town! He he.
Anyway, this year, as Sabri and I were the only ones from Swarm attending (i.e. Graham and Master Winteridge weren?t judging) we had to make our own way. I travelled by car/ferry and ol? Sabri by Eurostar. Once in Hasselt (which was the town in which we stayed, a few minutes drive from Alken), we eventually met up with the rest of the British team and all sat down to dinner in the restaurant of the Hotel.
The next morning we made our way to the competition hall where, upon our arrival, joined the many other competitors, our comrades in arms so to speak, in.....a queue! Oh well.
Eventually we filtered into the hall (which had the distinct smell of Sauerkraut! I assumed its purpose was to accommodate the German team. It couldn?t possibly be for all of us..... could it?!). After finding out what time we were due to perform our poomse much of the remaining time was spent lazing around listening to music and ?hanging out? with our fellow competitors. The events of the day included individual poomse, mixed pairs (the synchronised performance of poomse by a man & a woman), team synchrony (in teams of 3, 5 and 8) and, the most serious event of all..... POOMSE TO MUSIC!!!!! Hmmmm...
This year Sabri and I were competing in the same category. A category that, which we both learnt, is tough. Both Sabri and I performed out first poomse (not at the same time) and made it through to the second round. After the first round the category had been whittled down to about 20, and only 5 could make it through to the final. I was up to perform my second poomse before Sabri. I felt it went okay, but it was not marked very high. After a few more Dutch people (there were so many of them!) Sabri was up. I felt that Sabri?s second performance was sharp and powerful....but then, what do I know? Apparently nothing because no sooner had I made this judgement, the judges went and marked him as low as me! Very suspicious!!! Unfortunately, neither Sabri nor I made it through to the final, but then, neither did most of the Dutch competitors (one of whom cried). Small victory. Sabri?s final placing was 10th out of about 30 and I was 11th.
Other members of the team were achieving similar ?successes? whereas others were actually successful, for example, Des Day coming 1st in his category and Becki Hoare coming 3rd in hers.
Sabri and I left before the prizegiving but we did get to see poomse to music! In Sabri?s words it was: ?Ridiculous!?. Ah well... Eventually we met up with the team in (yes that?s right) an Irish bar. The drinks were expensive and Sabri finally decided that he doesn?t like Guiness. Eventually we wobbled back to our hotel rooms and sleep reigned (in most cases).
All in all, a considerably enjoyable weekend.
Published: 13/07/05 By: paul.linsell
Belgian Technical Open, April 2004
By Sabri Al-Safi, Swarm Taekwondo Club, Havant, Hampshire, England.
Having the opportunity to take part in a European-level Taekwondo competition is a great experience, and one that I can recommend anyone to train hard for in anything they are interested in. The Belgian technical open in Namur involved the showing of Poomse, the forms or patterns in WTF Taekwondo that are completed (hopefully) with accuracy, speed, power and skill. It makes use of orthodox techniques against imaginary opponents, in which strikes, kicks, blocks and stances are all criticised by a series of judges.
Travelling to Namur by car and ferry was admittedly not the most exciting part of the competition. The journey took the best part of a day, and by the time we had arrived at the hotel most of the anticipation had died away. The tournament itself took place the day after. Alex Chadha and I were competing from Swarm, and soon we realized that both our categories had a fair number of competitors? not a good thing.
Large-scale Poomse competitions, we discovered, were mainly a waiting game. Loads of categories, starting from young kids with yellow-belts up to old men and women of many years holding a black belt had to be gotten through, and our opportunities to impress were fairly near the end of these. Nevertheless, a CD-Player and joking about other competitors helped us through the worst of this, and before we knew it Alex, and then me, were on.
In such a competition, the competitors performed two Tageuks (patterns or forms) before the category was reduced in size to the better students, who then did a third one that helped determine their overall position. In my category, only one was performed before the first load of competitors were kicked out, due to its size. I performed reasonably well, considering I was against students mostly older than me, (some of whom were a higher Dan-grade), qualifying to do my second Taguek, but narrowly missing out on being allowed to do my third. Alex Chadha, however, performed at an excellent level for his grade to overcome most of the competition and achieve a Silver medal for second place in his category.
All in all, it was a great learning experience that has only helped to bolster my love of Poomse and willingness to carry it always to the next level.
Published: 19/02/05 By: paul.linsell
Well done to Sabri, Alex, Reece and Ben (from Swarm Taekwondo Club in Havant, Hampshire) for competing in the Taekwondo Southern League competition at the Meadowside Leisure Centre in Whiteley Village, Hampshire on Saturday 4th June 2005.
Reece won his sparring match despite loosing a point for punching his opponent in the face! Sabri won his sparring match and also took part in some Taekwondo refereeing and some power breaking. Alex lost his first match, but came back well and won his second match. Alex also took part in some Taekwondo refereeing and power breaking.
The results by club, for the Taekwondo Southern League on 5th February 2005 are detailed below:
1. ULTRA 211
2. BOS 177
3. OBTKD 132
4. Days TKD 110
5. WCD 88
6. Phoenix 77
7. Swarm 63
9. Gosport 44
The next Taekwondo Southern League competition is on 4th June 2005.
British Taekwondo Commonwealth are facilitating a BTC Instructor course on 27th February at Whiteley Meadowside
(?25 per Instructor) this course is compulsory for all (Commonwealth) instructors, however it is open to all Instructors.
Published: 11/02/05 By: paul.linsell
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