Latest News
30th Year Celebration of Choi Kwang Do Seminar
Choi Kwang Do UK has recently celebrated 30 years!!! Grandmaster Jo Choi held an International Seminar and Showcase of Excellence in London. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students to train with the founder as well as to celebrate UK’s 30th Anniversary, as it was Sahjonim’s last quinquennial Seminar.
Over the week Sahjonim held classes, seminars and held competitions. Students and instructors from all over the world attended including those from Bridge of Don, Newtonhill and Logie Durno schools. The London schools continued with their own training classes throughout the week which everybody was welcome to, and our instructors learnt new drills and got to train with a host of people at different belt levels. And whilst this was all going on, there was also a 1st-3rd Dan grading held which Ms Kira Mcbain tested to 2nd Dan in! And a private 4th Dan and above grading which only Grandmaster Choi and Grandmaster Periera examined, and Mr David Keith tested to 4th Dan! Pil Seung!!!
And during the competitions, Mr Gardiner achieved 3rd places in Pattern and Speed Drill and Ms Mcbain achieved 1st place in Speed Drill and 3rd place in Pattern- amazing!!! They both competed against many others in each of their age groups and proved how hard they have both worked and prepared and performed on the day by winning trophies! Team Scotland (consisting of Master Debz Rafferty, Master Harrison Rafferty, Master Stott, Ms Boylan and Ms Mcbain) also placed 3rd in the Team 5 competition!!! Pil Seung!
Grandmaster Choi, at 76 years old, performed brilliantly in his classes demonstrating that there is no age limit to CKD! His techniques and strength are incredible to watch and he has inspired so many to strive to their best and achieve what some maybe never thought possible for themselves.
See a selection of photos taken from the week, videos will be uploaded shortly.
Recent Gradings
We have recently held 2 gradings in the last month- our first in-class grading on Monday, February 26th and another grading today Sunday, March 25th. Well done to all who tested!
Here is a photo of the February students and their new belts and a selection of photos from March’s grading.
Exciting Announcement!
We have 3 new members joining the Leadership Team and Instructor Team!!! Ms Emily Moore and Mr Thomas Ziegler have both become ‘red suits’ and Mr Evan Mundie a ‘blue suit!’ They will each still train within the junior class whilst learning the ropes of how to assist as well as following a programme of goals which will then allow them to progress through the Leadership and Instructor programmes, and as they gain more experience and become older they will be able to move on to their next levels!
Ms Moore and Mr Ziegler will work alongside the existing members of the Leadership Team- Mr Clark Leslie, Ms Daria Munteanu, Mr Jakub Skiba and Ms Yoma Omaruaye who will be a great support to them whilst they begin their training.
And Mr Mundie has also started to train within the adult class to allow him to train at a more senior level and be able to manage his time between training, learning and assisting.
We are delighted when students approach us or show an interest in assisting and want to learn something new and develop their knowledge and understanding of CKD along with their regular training. It is a great support and benefit to Bridge of Don CKD having such a strong Leadership and Instructor Team and we are excited to start off the year in this way! Pil Seung!
December 3rd Colour/Tag Grading
A massive congratulations to all our students who tested this weekend! You all did a fantastic job and worked very hard with your training in preparation for the grading! And a big shout out to our newest white senior belts who did brilliant at their first gradings! See below 2 videos, the first is Ms Moore and Ms Munteanu performing their highest speed drills and the second video is Ms Mcbain and Ms Smith performing their highest- Il Dan purple tag.
Black Belt Testing
We had three of our students Dan testing on Sunday, November 5th! Mr Jack Begg to Il Dan and Mr Scott Ewen & Mr Jamie Garrow to Ee Dan. The three of them did brilliantly and have each put in countless hours of training to get themselves prepared for the testing and impressed the examiners and audience with their techniques, skill and effort and are very deserving of their belts!
Pil Seung!!!
Thank you very much to the examiners- Master & Mrs Macarthur of Newtonhill CKD and to the floor commander Kwanginum Stott and to Ms Boylan for her assistance, both of Logie Durno CKD.
And a big shout out to the audience for creating a brilliant atmosphere and for cheering on the three students and helping them through a tiring 3 hour grading! See a selection of photos and videos from the day.
Our next colour/tag grading will be held on Sunday, December 3rd.
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- Brilliant execution of heel kick!
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- The 3 Dan testers performing twisting kick
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- Techniques
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- The AI/Is were asked to join the floor for patterns!
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- Mr Ewen clearly showing how much effort he is putting in to his grading!
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- Getting ready to perform defence drills
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- Mr Begg & Ms Mcbain Bada Chagi
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- A solid heel kick!
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- Spinning Kicks during shield attack
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- Mr Begg being presented with his new Il Dan black belt
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- Belt tying
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- Mr Garrow being presented with his new Ee Dan black belt
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- Mr Ewen being presented with his Ee Dan black belt
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- Pil Seung!!!
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- Well done to the three of you!
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- Mr Gardiner being presented with his Ee Dan certificate after testing in October
Upcoming Black Belt Dan Testing
We are looking forward to our next Black Belt testing which will be held on Sunday, November 5th at the Alex Collie Centre from 12-4pm. Mr Jack Begg will be testing to Il Dan and Mr Scott Ewen and Mr Jamie Garrow will both be testing to Ee Dan. We will also have visiting instructors helping examine, floor command and assist on the day!
Ms Omaruaye joins the Leadership Team
We are pleased to welcome one of our junior students Ms Omaruaye to the Leadership Team! She has worked consistently hard since re-joining Choi Kwang-Do in 2015 and is now at green belt rank and has shown a great interest in not only furthering her training but also helping assist in class. And she now wears a red suit and is working on her Leadership training programme- Pil Seung!
Mr Gardiner’s Ee Dan Grading
October 8th 2017
Mr Gardiner along with 8 Westhill CKD students Dan tested to Il and Ee Dan ranks! It was a long afternoon for all the students as they performed all the techniques and syllabus they have learned from white belt to their highest belt and they then finished off with power tests and 4-directionals. And finally they were presented with their new belts. A massive Pil Seung to all!!!
3rd September – Colour Belt and Tag Testing
On Sunday 3rd September Bridge of Don CKD will be holding a colour belt and tag testing. The venue will be Alex Collie centre starting at 1pm. It would be great to see family and friends of those testing to give them some encouragement and support.
Choi Kwang Do International Celebrates its 30th Anniversary in Atlanta
Dave
Kira
Choi Kwang Do International celebrated its 30th anniversary in Atlanta between the 17th and 23rd July. During these celebrations our very own Mr Dave Keith and Miss Kira McBain took part in the Showcase of Excellence individual contest. Miss McBain won 3 medals. Gold for “Speed Drills”, silver for “Shield Attack” and bronze for “Patterns”. Mr Keith took bronze in “Shield Attack” and “Speed Drills”.
