Last few days at home and getting ready/packing for Manchester. Just sorting out the boring stuff, how big is my bedroom, plugs for tv, laptop, play station etc. and how many wardrobes for me!

Great seeing all my friends and catching up, the Prom was great as I got to say goodbye to everybody I have gone to school with.
To James and Michael, thank you for the speech, it did bring a tear to my eye. We have been friends for ever and long may it continue.

Last day at work today in the Kiln Rooms, Spennymoor, would like to say a big thank you to Peter for the job and to all the staff and customers. I will miss you all and even if I say so myself I make the best coffee.

Got Dad sorting out the real boring stuff. house contents insurance, doctors, dentists, internet, television licence etc.
Going training as usual tonight and will also be going on Saturday to say goodbye and thank you to my team-mates and my coaches.
I have completed the first part of the journey towards my goal and I am beginning the next part of my journey and I know that you will all be there supporting me.

I will be calling to the Scorpion Cup on Sunday (on the way to Manchester) to catch-up with everybody and say my thanks to all the people who have helped and supported me.
A big thanks to the ASDA customers and colleagues in Spennymoor for all the support and I will keep you updated via the news letter and will arrange to come into store again to say thank you and visit.

Thanks to Alan King, Daniel and all the sports team at Bishop FM.
Thanks to the Northern Echo, Northern Echo Local Heroes, especially Will Scott.
Thanks to Durham County Sports.
Thanks to Mark Solent – Ivy House Clothing Spennymoor
Thanks to Spennymoor Town Boys
Thanks to all the people of Spennymoor and County Durham who have supported and followed me.

So next stop Manchester and the Great Britain Academy and meet up with my coaches and team mates.
Looking forward to the next steps knowing I have a great team and support behind me.

Thanks everyone

Jamie

Good weekend at the Dutch Masters even if the Saturday was a bit of a long day.

Up at 4:00am, left home at 04:30 and arrived in Holland for 08:30 (Dutch time). A quick transfer and the fast train to Rotterdam saw us arrive at the venue 09:45, so only really a 4 hour trip.

We arrived in time to see my sister Simone fight her first fight of the day and win her semi-final and then win her final. Well done Simone, your first overseas competition and you win the gold.

I did not have a fight until 14:00 (2:00pm) and had my first junior match against a Dutch player which I won by technical knockout, when leading 13-1. My next fight was supposed to be in about half an hour but it got moved. So eventually I was back on the mats late evening 20:00 (8:00pm).

I then had my first senior fight of the day, a semi-final against another British player and recorded a comfortable win; I had a bye in the first round. One fight later I then had my junior semi-final and again produced a victory. This left me with two finals to fight, in the first final the senior category the player pulled out and decided not to fight. He was not injured and did not give a reason for pulling out so I was awarded the Gold. My next fight (four fights later) was my junior final and I won on golden point after a hard fight, which included a power cut in the middle of the fight.

So a good weekend with a couple of good performances.

We flew back on Sunday night and arrive home at 23:00 (11:00 pm) so a bit tired. I had a day off Monday and then travelled to Manchester on Tuesday to train at the National Academy with the Junior Development team.

I had a great time at the Junior Development Training Camp last week. Did a lot of tactical work and trained with a great group of people. The training was more focused that last time and the camp gives you an idea of what you need to achieve to become a full time player, with the coaches being able to give more in depth information and instructions.

So a great week’s training and only two weeks to the national championships. I have a full programme of training for this week including a number of sessions in Doncaster. Tonight I am training at the University with Scott, Ben and Kye.

I even got a mention on the BTCB website

The plan for the store visit is coming along nicely and I have a number of volunteers to help with the bag pack and have a couple of fun sessions lined up.

Steady week of training this week and building on the time spent at the Junior development camp last week. This week I have my last two exams and leave school and then the British Nationals at the weekend.

I have a full training programme based on my final preparation for the Nationals and will be sticking to the plan. Today is a day off and I am going to the Metro Centre, Newcastle shopping with a couple of my friends and then back to training tomorrow, Sunday.

Looking forward to a long summer of training I am off to Korea in July and will be there for the best part of the month. Really looking forward to the time in Korea and will be working extra hard whilst I am there to take advantage of the opportunity.

Still working on the in-store visit and back pack and will be catching up with the store next week, before I go to Manchester on Friday.

At the nationals I will be fighting both Junior and Seniors and they are both on the Saturday, so hopefully I will have lots of ring time and deliver some good performances. The Nationals are held at the National Cycling Academy, Manchester this year and really enjoy competing at the Velodrome.

Two sessions today, really hard work and pushed to the limit with some quality spars.

Enjoyed the sessions early morning start for a Sunday (well 9:00am) and a steady drive down and then two good sessions. 11:00am to 1:00pm and then 2:00pm to 4:00pm.

Well after a couple of weeks of hard training since the Dutch Masters, I am ready for the British Nationals this weekend. Heading to Manchester today (Friday) and weigh-in is at 5:00pm this afternoon. Once we get weighed in it will be off to the Hotel to chill out and get ready for Saturday. I am competing in two categories Saturday, Junior -55Kg and Senior -54Kg. Preparation all done weight is good and just ready to get going.

It will be strange at Nationals this year as quite a few of the senior Great Britain team players are not playing as they are only just back in training after the World’s. Still it is the biggest number of competitors ever (550) for the Nationals and includes Pee Wees (under 10’s) to Veterans (over 35’s). In both categories I will be competing on Daedo electronic body armour (my favourite electronic kit) and will be looking to regain my British National title.

Scott (Senior -63Kg) and Simone (Childrens +42Kg) are both competing so hopefully we can have a successful weekend all-round.
I finished school yesterday (Thursday) and wish all my year colleagues from Spennymoor Comprehensive 06-11 to good luck for the future and thanks for all the memories.

Back from Manchester and had a great weekend. Met up with loads of my friends and had a great time. To top it all off I won the Junior -55Kg and the Senior -54Kg titles. After the disappointment of last year it is great to be British National Champion again and even better to win the Senior title at my first attempt. I have now won the National title five times and won it at Cadet, Junior and Senior level.

It was also a good weekend for my brother Scott who won Bronze at Senior -63Kg and my sister Simone who won her first National title at Children’s +43Kg. So a great weekend with all of us been successful. # http://www.britishtaekwondo.org.uk/index.php?pagename=british-taekwondo-control-board-news&news_id=490

So now the hard work of the last few months’ is starting to pay off. Hopefully I will get an invite back to train with the Junior Development programme and then selection to represent Great Britain at the Junior European Championships in Cyprus.

Well done to my other Chi team mates Sophie Ward (Gold) Jade Slavin (Silver), Matthew Donne, Steven Johnson and Gavin Davison (Bronze). So Chi Taekwondo has had a really successful National Championships.

The BTCB Nationals are now over and I am having a bit of a rest this week. Light training and only done two training sessions this week. I will be stepping up with the training plan next week to ensure that I am ticking over and preparing for the next competitions.

I completed my last exam on Wednesday (22nd June) and that was my last time at school. We have the school, Spennymoor Comprehensive 06-11 Prom night next Tuesday (28th June) and I will get the chance to wish good luck and say goodbye to a lot of my friends. We are going to Wynyard Hall, which is a fantastic 19th century mansion. We have a limo booked to pick us up and take us to the venue and then collect us.

This Saturday 25th June I am in ASDA doing a bag pack and looking forward to meeting the ASDA colleagues and customers and thanking them for the support I receive.

To promote the bag pack the local radio BishopFM sports show promoted the bag pack on the mid-week support show and is also giving it a mention on the Saturday sport show.

We have also promoted the bag pack around Spennymoor and a number of shops and business in Spennymoor are kindly showing a poster based on my ASDA newsletter in their windows.

I am proud to announce I am now a full-time Great Britain Athlete and will be moving to Manchester to train at the Great Britain National Taekwondo Academy.

This is a great honour and will provide me with the opportunity to continue my development as a Taekwondo player.

I would like to say thank you to everyone who has supported me over the years and enable me to progress to this level. All the hard work is really starting to pay off for me.

www.britishtaekwondo.org.uk

Big thanks to Fay and all the ASDA colleagues today and the customers of ASDA Spennymoor.

Also thanks to my friends and family who came along and did the bag pack with me.

Thanks everybody, Jamie