Lions stand their ground in fierce arena

 In 2007, we had attended the same event and, to be honest, were not impressed by the contact levels - in true form, the members that attended last years' event bought home various medals, as they did this year. We had made sure all members knew they would have to dig deep and fight using hard contact levels to win. The London Opens attracts some quality fighters and awesome coaches to boot, so the odds were stacked against us. I saw I.T.F. Vienna's top coach, Mr. Dennis, coaching students, as was I.T.F. Canada's top coach, Master Hogan. There were many other top names from the U.K. there such as Silvio Simac - oh well, onward and upward, I thought!

The day started okay, but the running order soon went to pot, which meant a longer day was ahead. The first gold was won by Daniel Doran - this made the L.T.S.I. team sit up and think they would have to knuckle down if they want to win, especially as he is the youngest fighter from the camp. Other juniors were on the floor, but luck was not on their side as results went against them - however, most made it into the next round, which was good news and a boost for their confidence. Another junior medal winner was Jade Doran, who won a bronze in sparring.

There were some bad decisions given, but this is expected at big events - this event had 500 competitors in it and most were the cream of every organisation in the U.K.

The Black belts were up and I.T.F. England team members had turned up. The heat was on and we saw some hard fights unfold. It seems that at these events, there is no such thing as a two punch rule which we enforce at all our events. I remember chatting to a parent who said "I have seen pub fights with less contact then here" - he was right, but this is what happens at other events too.

The next medal returned was a gold from Adam Aliousalah, who fought some great rounds. Our next fighter up was Elliott Moulster who fought hard but was seeded into silver position in his section (and won a nice black eye in the process!). Michael Hillier was next up and secured another bronze for the group - at the same time, Alicia Chapman won silver in ladies Black Belt sparring.

The L.T.S.I. prides itself on the fact that, at our events, contact levels are controlled and you always get a good round of kicking -some in the U.K. just teach how to be 'punch happy' which to me means you should be doing boxing, not Tae Kwon Do. The running order went to pot as I personally feel all event organisers should have the under 13's tournament on in the morning (like we do). We ensure that each group assigned to the rings do patterns then spar straight away on the same ring (but, then again, who are we to complain!).

The action was good on the day, but very tiring. I pitied the Black Belts who waited all day to take part and officiated beforehand. As usual, the L.T.S.I. provided 8 umpires even though we only entered 13 students, which proves we are a group that will help where we can. There are events we will not touch due to unfair decisions and poor running but, in this case, we will return next year as we like the idea that our students have to pull out all the stops to achieve their medals at this event. One thing we were confused with was there was no mats used and no head guards in some instances - of course, our students were told to wear their head guards, as this is compulsory for our members as their safety is important.

We are proud of the team performance, as winning is not important but attending these events and doing your best is. Well done to all medallists and better luck next time to those unsuccessful members. We look forward to the L.T.S.I. Invitationals in September 2008.

Submitted by Mr. C. Snow, 5^th Degree

Senior Coach and Chairman of the L.T.S.I.