The first A.I.M.A.A European Championships kicked off on Sunday the 2nd of May with over 500 Instructors, students and spectators in attendance! This event was hosted by A.I.M.A.A Scotland Director, Master John Kirkwood, who was joined by his friend A.I.M.A.A European Director, Master John Darcy.  Also in attendance was Master Kalcutt from AIMAA England, who was joined by over 100 A.I.M.A.A Ireland National and International Instructors and students. The event also welcomed A.I.M.A.A Jersey and A.I.M.A.A Huddersfield, as well as the many A.I.M.A.A Scotland Instructors and students.  Associations from out with A.I.M.A.A who attended was Master White of the TAI Ireland, Mr Cunningham of the GTF Scotland, Mr Williams of TKD Wales, Mr Shaw of Shaw's martial arts who brought many students to the event, making this a truly European and Taekwondo experience!

The Championships kicked off just after 10am and started with the Black Belt divisions of patterns, sparring, team patterns and one-step! The grades competing ranged from 1st Degree up to 5th Degree and the standard across the board was very high, with many of the Black Belts putting on a fantastic show of expertise, precision and power for all the lower grades watching!

Within the Black Belt pattern divisions we had competitors from Scotland, England, Poland, Wales, Ireland competing for the coveted title of "European Champion" The GTF Scotland squad, who come under their Scottish president, Mr Alan Cunningham had exceptional students participating in the pattern divisions. These students showed immense precision and timing in their patterns and are truly wonderful to watch. A.I.M.A.A Scotland Instructor Mr John Kirkwood performed "Moon Moo" on the day! Mr Kirkwood has been performing this pattern for over 11 years now and although he was carrying an injury to his foot, he still executed it with precision and power.

From the patterns we moved to team patterns and then onto the one-steps! The A.I.M.A.A one-steps are amazing to watch, when performed with power, speed and agility! The black belt teams did this and amazed the many watching them with precision and power in the one-step self defence! Master Kirkwood's students Miss Kirsty Gough and Mr Mark Russell took the European Title in this division and executed each move with accuracy, power and speed!

The black belt sparring started with point sparring for female and male competitors. These divisions saw fantastic fighters compete head to head, and everyone loved every minute watching fighters from Scotland, England, Jersey, Wales and Ireland and Poland compete! After the winners where crowned in point sparring then it was onto Continuous sparring and some serious fighting!  The bouts where hard and furious and many competitors ad long and hard battles to win the "European Title". A full list of winners can be found below!

From our fantastic black belt divisions we kicked off the Junior divisions with Junior colour belt patterns and then onto sparring. Many junior competitors took part and had a fantastic time competing on the day! We saw many smiling faces as they competed and won! Our adult divisions saw many fantastic fighters from the GTF, TKD Wales, Shaw's Martial Arts, and A.I.M.A.A. From the light weights to the heavy weight divisions we witnessed outstanding competitors, who not only showed a vast amount of skills in patterns and sparring, but in true sportsmanship towards each other!

The 1st European Championships was a huge success and we look forward to seeing everyone back next year on the 1st of May, 2010 for another major event within the martial art calendar! Master Kirkwood and Mrs Kirkwood would like to take this opportunity to thank Master Kalcutt (WMST),        Mr Alan Cunningham (GTF), Mr Gareth Williams (TKD Wales), Mr Gary Shaw (Shaw's martial arts), Master White (TAI) for their support of this event and for their friendship.  Also a special thank you to the countless Black Belts from these groups who helped out on the day as well as support it!

We would also like to personally thank our family friend Master John Darcy for joining us in Scotland. Master Darcy highly enjoyed the event and had a wonderful time in Scotland visiting Edinburgh and taking in the castle, before returning home to Ireland.

From A.I.M.A.A Scotland and Ireland we would like to personally thank the following Instructors for their support and for refereeing on the day! We have a unique family within AIMAA and one that unties us to support each other. 

We would like to thank the following A.I.M.A.A Members for joining us and supporting this championships: Mr John Kirkwood, Mr Robbie Fernandes & Miss Monika Morkowska, Mr Miah, Miss Quintella Walsh, Mr Jimmy Courtney, Mr & Mrs Phillps, Mr James Lawson, Mr & Mrs Belgacem, Mr O'Connor, Mr Ryan, Mr Gerry Long, Miss Amy Driscoll, Mr David Graham, Miss Cecila Gough, Mr Stanley, Mr James Farrell, Mr Daniel Farrell, Mr Will Power, Miss Aslying Ryan, Ms Miriam Fahey, Miss Lisa Aitken, Mr & Mrs Mc Caig as well as the countless black belt students and helpers who helped out on the day! If we have missed anyone's name out we apologise, and we thank you.

Everyone had a great event and we look forward to welcoming back everyone next year to Scotland. Please keep checking our A.I.M.A.A SCOTLAND. COM website for all our latest news, worldwide events and Scottish news

A.I.M.A.A EUROPEAN ACTION SHOTS!	A.I.M.A.A EUROPEAN WINNERS GALLERY!

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