20th ITF Scotland National Championships

The 2020 edition of the ITF Scotland National Championships were held over the weekend of 29th February – 1st March, at the Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell. As in previous years the two-day event started with the Pre-Junior competition for up to 13 years on Saturday, and Juniors, Seniors and Advanced Seniors, as well as competitors with Additional Support Need’s competing on Sunday.

This year’s championships once again saw an administrative collaboration between the National Association; ITF Scotland, and Allied Association; TKDSL. With Master Gordon Wallace 8thDegree and Mrs. Gillian McIlvaney 5thDegree administrating the event via Sportdata Event Technology (SET) software, alongside support during the championships from Mr. John McIlvaney 6th Degree, in arena management and Master Alexander Dunbar 8th Degree who was charged with overseeing the umpires throughout the course of the competition.

In advance of this year’s event, we held a national umpire course three weeks earlier, in preparation for the umpires to become familiar with the SET software. The course was the first step in continuously training and developing our National Umpires to the highest level, parallel with the ITF. This course has a great impact on the event, with all schools taking part putting forward umpires for the competition, allowing larger ring councils on the day, which in turn meant more hands-on experience for the umpires with the SET technology.

We also would like to acknowledge the participation as Jury Presidents of Master David McNairn VII and Master Heath Denholm VII.

Once again registrations were handled by Sportdata Event Technology (SET) to align ITF Scotland with mainstream ITF tournament administration. And for the first time as an organisation we had six (6) fully electronic rings set up, with an additional three (3) for special technique on day one of the competition. This allowed for a streamlined, professional and high-quality event to be delivered. This would not have been possible without the previous investment in both the technology, and the time given by the team of IT professionals who have continuously worked in the background over the past few years to evolve our national event to its current standard; Mr. Chris Forbes I Degree, Mr. Craig Rennie I Degree, both of whom were present over the course of the weekend to oversee the IT.

The competition itself drew 570 competitors from 42 schools across Scotland from both the NA and AA, including 4 schools from the north of England, and 2 schools from Wales also making the journey to take part.

Registration commenced on Friday evening with many competitors taking the opportunity to register early, allowing for any small corrections to categories to be made. On the morning of the competition the registration was completed for those who were unable to make it the previous evening.

Saturday started with an official welcome and opening from Mr. Adam Paterson IV Degree; Chairman of ITF Scotland. The umpires presented the first day’s participants with participation medals, before the tournament started at 09:30 with Patterns for under sevens and Special technique for the 11-13s and as each category passed all age groups and grades swapped events until all categories finished with sparring on schedule at 16:45.

On completion of the events, the organising team deconstructed and reformed the arena ready for Day Two, with four (4) full sized competition squares, two (2) special technique rings, and a power area.

Sunday started at 09:00 with Junior Patterns, Advanced Senior Power Test, Senior Special Technique and our brilliant Additional Support Needs Students. Our ASN’s were directed on the mat by Senior Umpire Mr John Munro V and Jury President Mr John McIlvaney VI. The ring council comprised of umpires who have experience are running their own ASN classes, for some of whom their students were taking part in the categories. We were also privileged to have a guest of honour in Mr. Dave Rhoney, a board member from Disability Sport Scotland, there to oversee the ASN events and present medals to the winners of these categories. Mr. Rhoney was encouraged by the courage and perseverance of the competitors and commented on the standard of the event, that pathway of inclusion for these athletes was of the highest level.

First Honourable Grand Master Thomas MacCallum IX Degree was also present, as guest of honour throughout Sunday's competition.

The morning passed with all Patterns, and most of the Power and Special Technique completed, before a lunch break and the rings being readied for Sparring competition. Throughout the afternoon a fantastic spectacle of high energy sparring was given, especially from the Junior Black divisions which were very well represented, with all contenders clearly there to win. This year our national championships was a ranking event for all black belt divisions, and as such we included four new “open weight” sparring events, for 14-17 M & F, and 18+ M & F respectively, in order to provide extra mat time for these competitors in preparation for the up-coming European Championships in April. The 2020 ITF Scotland Championships closed just before 5pm with some spectacular sparring in each of these categories.

ITF Scotland and TKDSL would like to thank all competitors, coaches, umpires and supporters for a memorable championship in such a highly competitive manner but with such good sportsmanship, courtesy and friendship among everyone.

Additionally, we would like to thank our photographer for the event, Mr. Bill Irvine for giving up his time over the course of the weekend. And express our thanks to both Ms Malgorzata Rogaczewska (Polish Taekwon-Do Association) and Mr. Grzegorz Ozimek (Top Ten Sport Poland) in helping us with replacement medals for the event at such short notice.

Top Clubs List

GMAC Martial Arts

Boydell Blackbelt Academies

Braveheart Martial Arts

Overall Competitors
7 years & under Female: Ava McVey Master Hutton Fitness 2 Gold, 1 Silver
7 years & under Male: Ethan Massey GMAC Martial Arts 2 Gold, 1 Silver
8 - 10 years Female: Madison Croall Dunbar Blackbelt Academy 3 Gold
8 - 10 years Male: Ethan Dickie David McNairn Blackbelt Academy 3 Gold
11 - 13 years Female: Neve Orrick Hwa-Rang 3 Gold
11 - 13 years Male: Gavin Shaw Boydell TKD 4 Gold
14 - 17 years Female: Lara Torrance Braveheart Martial Arts 3 Gold, 1 Silver
14 - 17 years Male: Jack Shaw Boydell TKD 2 Gold, 1 Silver
18 - 35 years Female: Katie Humphries Master Wallace Blackbelt Academy 4 Gold, 1 Bronze
18 - 35 years Male: Zach Obike Erskine TKD 2 Gold, 2 Silver
36 years & over Female: Rebecca Doan Boydell TKD 3 Gold
36 years & over Male: Bill Chilton Aberdeenshire Blackbelt Clubs 2 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
ASN 13 years & under: Lennon McAvoy GMAC Martial Arts 2 Gold
ASN 14 years & over: Bradley McKenzie GMAC Martial Arts 2 Gold