MEMBERS of the Okehampton Taekwondo School have achieved an outstanding set of results at their annual summer grading.

The 36 members of the Okehampton, Bude and Plymouth taekwondo schools (or BOP TKD for short), gathered at the weekend along with other clubs from Cornwall and Devon, for their highly anticipated grading session.

The results were rather exceptional, with five members gaining A passes and six achieving plus passes. The clubs achieved around a 33% above average pass rate, with a grade A pass being the highest accolade.

The five A passes for the BOP clubs were Amelia Piccarella and Kolin Parulski from Okehampton, Ethan Ensor from Bude and Charlotte Elliot and Andrew Peters from Plymouth.

The three clubs are taught by husband and wife duo Guy and Lisa Southard.

Guy, a 5th Dan in Taekwondo, said: ‘This grading is always the most unpredictable of the four that we have every year, as it comes at the end of the holiday period, so we never know what to expect from our students, whether they’ve been lazing in the sun or diligent with their training. It seems they haven’t wasted their time on the beaches around the area as they clearly have been preparing for this event.’

Lisa added: ‘August is a very quiet month for most activities, including taekwondo. Our last major event was the World Championships in July at the NIA in Birmingham where one of our students picked up a silver medal.

‘I think the Olympics has had a very positive influence on our students, particularly as Team GB did rather well in the medals at taekwondo. But, for us as instructors of the art, having a result like this is very rewarding, this is where we start preparing for medal success. Jade Jones — double gold medallist — first started in a small club and has now reached phenomenal success.’