Banstead TaeKwon-Do

https://www.bansteadtkd.co.uk/post/warrior-open-2026

Have a quick read about our time at The Warrior Open at the beginning of March.

Well done to:

Edie
Hollie
Anna
DIL
LAKE
BILLY
BHAVNISH
NATALIJA
DARCEY
DHANESH
AMBER

WARRIOR Open 2026 Banstead TKD had some brave WARRIORS step up to plate and take part in the Warrior Open 2026. The Warrior Open is a tournament in Harrow, London, run over two days: Day 1 is for Blackbelts, and Day 2 is for colour belts, there are Sparring and Patterns divisions. Banstead TKD sent 11 people to take....

Sponsor Edie, money goes to Cancer Research. 2 min plank everyday in April.

Seaton House Mini Marsden March 2013 Seaton House is fundraising for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity

Banstead TKD students Josh and Hollie received their official ITF 1st Degree certificates on Monday January 26th 2026 after grading on November 16th 2025.

(I received my 6th Degree cert 😱)

I still have one more degree certificate to present to Anna.

January 25th at the Impact Colourbelt Invitational in Battersea. Thanks for organising

12 competitors from Banstead, 8 medals and lots of experience taken home for everyone.

🥇 x 2
🥈 x 5
🥉 x 1

Thanks to for coaching the team doing a great job. Thanks for Anna for being nominated umpire.

On to the next 👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼

https://www.bansteadtkd.co.uk/post/2025-most-improved-students

👊Most improved Students of 2025:

👧Tiny
👦Junior
👱‍♀️Teen
🧔‍♂️Adult

👓2 min read, go and have a look.

2025 Most Improved Students 2025 was a year of huge progress for many students and Banstead TaeKwon-Do in general. We had students entering more competitions that we hadn't attended previously, we had more teenagers achieving high enough skill levels to be selected to attend a Blackbelt grading - there was progress across the....

Awesome work team.

5 Competitions
15 Competitors (I am sure we can increase this number in 2026)
11 Golds
13 Silvers
8 Bronzes

Well done to all competitors in 2025, be proud for putting yourself on the mats.

The three highest scoring Banstead Competitors from 2025 are:

1st Place: Anna with 20 Points, 3 Golds; 3 Silvers; 1 Bronze
2nd Place: Ellie with 13 Points, 3 Golds; 1 Silver
3rd Place: Hollie with 12 Points, 3 Silvers; 2 Bronzes

Please read the short article for a breakdown.

2025 Competitor of the Year Competitions appear to be simplest method to objectively evaluate performance, even though competitions are a small part of the TaeKwon-Do curriculum. I don't force competitions on students but I look back at my time as a colourbelt and sometimes think I "should have done more", so for that reason s...

6th Dan 😱
🥋🥋🥋🥋🥋🥋

👴🏼It's been a while, but I did a thing. I've levelled up, but someway yet from The Final Boss, if that even exists.

I passed my first TaeKwon-Do grading when I was very nearly 21 (Grand Master Dunbar was my examiner), and 31 years later on November 16th 2025 I graded to 6th Degree Blackbelt under the meticulous eye of Master Russell Dennis VIII.

I "felt" under prepared and confidence was low, reality is though I had prepared well and looking back happy with my extended training towards this test.

I was pleased with my grading performance in general, certainly there were some areas better than others and maybe just one area that I had worked very hard to improve on but dipped below my personal standard on the day.

I challenged myself, made improvements, performed well and am pleased with my new standard from which I can now work with to help my own students make their own improvements.

🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼Extra thank you's to:

Master Russell Dennis : We trained together during the weekday mornings for several months before the grading. I really appreciate him giving up his time to help me prepare and improve all areas of my TaeKwon-Do

Nick Harris: we trained together on Sunday afternoons for a few months in lead up to the event, Nick passed to 5th Degree on the same day.

Steve Elliot: Steve went out of his way to really help with ground defence and was a great partner for me to practice on. He also helped with power test and he's great at spotting errors in detail.

Blackbelts at Cheam: Thanks to Mark, Sanjay, Nick, Grant, Abi who all helped boost confidence.

My OWN students at Banstead TaeKwon-Do: training together and allowing me time to practice a few things in class.

6th Degree Blackbelt in TaeKwon-Do. See you in class.