BRIT Spirit Martial Arts hosted their first junior BRIT Spirit Martial Arts hosted their first junior Taekwon-Do competition at Tavistock Community College earlier this month.

Billed as the ‘Kids Christmas Kickabout’ the event saw children from across the region come together in a spirit of fun and sportsmanship to compete in a range of disciplines. These included sparring (controlled fighting), patterns (pre-set combinations of techniques), power testing (breaking boards and powerful strikes on pads) and high kicking.

The competitors ranged in age from 4 up to 12 years and travelled from as far afield as Newton Abbot and St Austell.

Brit Spirit Martial Arts will soon be celebrating their eighth year in their base at Tavistock Community College and recently joined forces with the British Taekwon-do Federation (BTF).

‘This is the first event of this type we have ever hosted and I honestly couldn’t have wished for it to have gone any better’, said chief instructor, Peter Smith. ‘We had youngsters there who had attended many competitions in the past, alongside children who had never pulled on a pair of sparring mitts before. They all treated each other with the utmost respect and, while they all competed, they supported each other and shared in each other’s achievements with true sportsmanship. The ladies acted like ladies and the gentlemen acted like gentlemen. It really was a joy to watch, especially in such young athletes.’

On February 24 they will be taking a contingent to the BTF National Junior Taekwon-do Championships in Ebbw Vale in Wales as part of the South West’s representation. This is just the start of their plans for 2018,’ added Peter.

‘In the past we had a very successful competition squad and we travelled to regional, national and international competitions all the time,’ added Peter. ’Unfortunately we had members leave to go to university, start families or for work commitments and this year we have been unable to enter all the tournaments we would have liked to. The Kids Christmas Kickabout was a chance to gently introduce some of our younger members into the fun and excitement of competition in a safe and low-key way, while meeting new friends in the martial arts world. It was a great day and we intend to make it an annual event.’