Tamara Pitt-Pickvance, Jack Moore and father Brett all did enough to impress the fourth Dan judges and were awarded their seventh Gups.

Dale Bailey, Jacob James and William Douglas progressed to their blue belts. Big things are expected from these three.

Mitchell Fry put in a sterling performance to move to Blue two tips and Hollie Parkins put in more effort than was shown for a while to breeze through her Grading.

Connor Seaman continues to improve easily qualified for 4th Gup, just one off his Red Belt.

Erin Lawler shone on the day, performing every manoeuvre with excellent focus. Erin, and Ryan Edwards both displayed dedication to their training and Taekwondo.

Ryan’s enthusiasm for Taekwondo is reflected in his meteoric rise in the Club.

Seven Black Belts helped run a smooth Grading whilst fourth Dan Head Instructor, Murray Hicks officiated.

In the break between the passive and active parts of the Grading, Dean Conlan third Dan and PJ Dunstan Sho Dan Bo, put in a performance of Olympic Sparring with Dean explaining the scoring techniques.

Dean and PJ recently attended a Coaching Course in Sydney and are fully accredited Australian Taekwondo Olympic Coaches.

They explained best methodology and best sparring practices and then we resumed the Grading as the Big Bash commenced.

In ‘hosinsul’, getting out of holds, some of the girls were a bit too gentle, with a limited ‘counter’, but in sparring it was a different matter.

With lots of Black Belts to choose from, the Blue Belts enjoyed the selection, knowing that their opponents were able to control their responses.

Most blue belts got to spar a black belt and relished the challenge.

Our youngest black belts, Reece and Trent Stack, showed how to really perform breaks, with Trent blasting three concrete tiles and Reece executing a series of breaks through three boards.

PJ Dunstan performed a difficult knife hand break with ease.

PJ and Dean Conlan then demonstrated an MMA style of fighting afterwards, offering commentary on point scoring opportunities, then encouraged the students to have a go.

Overall it was a very successful grading.

Nambucca Valley Taekwondo trains at four locations throughout the Valley and welcomes people from 6-years to 60 and even some outside those parameters.

For more information please contact Pierre 4th Dan on 6569 9447.

Dean will be offering Saturday training specifically for those wanting to enter any tournaments, whether MMA or Olympic Taekwondo.