Asda Athletes

Had a great weekend in London at the London Prepares event and the Olympics is going to be fantastic. The Excel venue is a fantastic venue and lay out is brilliant. So jealous that we they didn’t do -58Kg at the test event, as I would have loved to have competed at the Excel.

Congratulations to Aaron Cook on his gold at -80Kg at the test event.

It was really good to experience the event as an athlete and go through all the process for accreditation and backstage access. I did an interview with the BBC School report team which you can see here.

I fly to Paris on Thursday morning with the rest of the GB team and will compete on Sunday. A bit different from arriving late Friday night/early Saturday morning with Dad.

Training is going well and I am building towards Paris in December, it is decided I will only fight -55Kg Juniors in Paris and keep my focus on the Junior division as the weight difference is going to be too big a gap. After Paris I will be moving up to -59Kg at juniors and means that I will also be doing -58Kg at seniors.

I am now settling into the Academy life and enjoying the life style of a full time athlete. It is fantastic to be working with some of the best taekwondo players in the World on a daily basis and the support staffs ensures that I am progressing and keeping to my targets.

Next week I am going to London to watch the ‘London Prepares’ Invitational Taekwondo even. It should be a fantastic event with a number of major world stars appearing. Unfortunately the event is not open to the public and only for four of the Olympic weight categories Male -68kg and -80Kg and female -46Kg and +67Kg, shame as I would have loved to have fought at -58Kg.

I have still attended a couple of competitions in the UK including the Scorpion Future Championships and the British Master Championships, it is strange to attend the events and not compete but it does allow me to keep in touch with all of my friends in Taekwondo.

Training is going well and I am building towards Paris in December, it is decided I will only fight -55Kg Juniors in Paris and keep my focus on the Junior division as the weight difference is going to be too big a gap. After Paris I will be moving up to -59Kg at juniors and means that I will also be doing -58Kg at seniors.

I am now settling into the Academy life and enjoying the life style of a full time athlete. It is fantastic to be working with some of the best taekwondo players in the World on a daily basis and the support staffs ensures that I am progressing and keeping to my targets.

Next week I am going to London to watch the ‘London Prepares’ Invitational Taekwondo even. It should be a fantastic event with a number of major world stars appearing. Unfortunately the event is not open to the pubic and only for four of the Olympic weight categories Male -68kg and -80Kg and female -46Kg and +67Kg, shame as I would have loved to have fought at -58Kg.

video clip of last minute of third round v Ukraine.

I had a couple of days off after the Junior Europeans and visited my old senior school to promote Taekwondo. I visited the Spennymoor Comprehensive School and spoke to 140 year 8 students, it was strange going back to school and answer questions about “taekwondo”. My club instructor Russell Shaw came and did an introduction and talked about my career so far. It was really strange hearing somebody talk about what you have done so far and you forget how proud the people who have helped you are of what you have done. It makes you think a bit about what you have actually done and does make you wonder.