The first national level taekwondo competition of 2020 took place in Ebbw Vale, Wales. The BTF Junior & Veterans Championships are often used by many international competitors to gain valuable mat time as part of the preparation for the European Championships later in the spring.
This event was no exception, particularly in the veterans categories where active members of the England and Welsh squads were in attendance. This gave many of us the opportunity to catch up with old friends who we have competed with and against.
The England Veterans Team from the 2019 World Championships meet up again (Steve Fedor, Kai Wilson and Reuben Thorley)
Catching up with Shaun Parkin and Steve Fedor, England Veterans team mates from 2017, 2018 and 2019
I had a very successful competition with a Gold in the Veterans Patterns. This required me to get passed fellow England team mate Steve Fedor in the semi-final to then come up against Carlos Anziani from the Welsh national team. This is not the first time I have met Carlos on the mat, though these have all previously been in the -80kg sparring. I was pleased that my 4th Dan pattern of choice Ul Ji was smooth enough, though it still needs a significant amount of improvement for international competition.
Veterans Patterns Semi-Final against Steve Fedor
Medal winners in the BTF 2020 Championships Veterans Patterns
The sparring was more of a disappointment in that all the other competitors pulled out due to injury. As older competitors this is not unusual, we often have some underlying issues that we are trying to compete through. I am no different, I have knee issues due to reconstructive surgery and a neuroma in my foot that means I can't really feel my right foot properly at the moment.
As I was the only competitor left still in a position to compete I was awarded the Gold medal by default. Not quite how I would have wanted it.
The +80kg sparring was still able to go ahead though. Now that phones have exceptional cameras and filming capability we all try and film our fights so that we can review it for training later. On this occasion the video review was more about working out how the knockout occurred.
Shaun Parkin produced another knockout in his match against Steve Fedor.
Reviewing the video evidence with Steve Millis (England Coach) and Billy Illaya
Officiating in the special technique area.
After competing many of the black belts then get involved in supporting the competition for colour belts by getting changed and becoming officials.
I got involved in officiating the special technique and centre refereeing a number of sparring matches.
After the competition had ended someone spotted me and Jacob messing about and took a few shots.
Messing about after the competition
