The Tae Kwon Do Association of Ireland (TAI) held the "All Ireland International Tae Kwon Do Championships" in Dublin on Saturday the 6th of June.  The event was originally scheduled to run over two days, however due to people having restrictions attending the event over 2 days, it was amalgamated into 1 day event.  The championships brought together many associations within Tae Kwon Do. There was A.I.M.A.A, T.A.G.B, I.T.F, A.T.I, F.M.A, Warrior TKD, Irish Schools of TKD to name a few.

The event was a fantastic compilation of TKD practitioners all gathered together under one roof, leaving all politics at the door.  The abundance of talent was overwhelming and A.I.M.A.A won many titles at the event in all the divisions, to many to list in this report. 

The A.I.M.A.A National Squad was to merge with A.I.M.A.A Ireland to make an International team in the team events, however due to the amount of people competing and the time constraints the International Team event and Adult and Junior Point sparring teams teams were cancelled.  The squad were disappointed but understood this decision as our adults where still competing in their individual events at 8pm, and the continuation would have resulted in the event going on for a further 3 to 4 hrs.

The squad of Instructors and students from Scotland consisted of Master John Kirkwood, Mr John Kirkwood, Mr Ryan Kirkwood, Mr David Graham, Mrs Cecila Gough, Miss Kirsty Gough, Miss Kara Gough, Miss Tammy Sutherland, Mr Mark Russell, Miss Kayley Russell, Mr Eddie Kerr. Mr Adam Kerr, Mr Paul McCartney and Miss Lisa Aitken. The squad where accompanied by partners and parents making a total travelling to the event of 24 people.

The day kicked off with the young students undertaking patterns and then their sparring divisions, this was followed by Junior team patterns, and adults colour belt patterns. Next on the agenda was the adult colour belt sparring, which was followed by the adult Black Belt patterns, executive patterns and then finally the sparring. 

Our squad had some exceptional fights as well as delivering excellent patterns within their divisions. Mr Eddie Kerr and Mr Paul McCartney had a large division in their patterns division, but performed outstandingly and won 1st and 2nd place. Miss Kirsty Gough fought her way into the final in continuous sparring and took Gold and the Title from a TAGB fighter from Northern Ireland.

We also had Miss Tammy Sutherland fighting on the adjoining ring, she had a few hard bouts but went onto winning her division and the Title. Our Junior squad members Miss Kayley Russell and Master Adam Kerr did exceptional in their patterns and sparring, however Miss Russell missed out on a placement, whilst Adam gained a 2nd in his sparring, and was 4th placed in the patterns.

Mark Russell did an outstanding job in his divisions and achieved 2nd in patterns and sparring. Ryan Kirkwood also did and exceptional job in the sparring and was in the final with Sean o Donnell from A.I.M.A.A Ireland, Ryan did well and was pleased with winning 2nd in this division. Our next group up were our Black Belts, who had been waiting since 9.30am to participate, at his time it was nearly 6pm! Master Kirkwood, David Graham, Cecilia Gough, John Kirkwood and Lisa Aitken now took to their designated divisions for patterns and team patterns.

Master Kirkwood was up against some serious ITF practitioners, however blew them away with his pattern and took Gold, whilst John Kirkwood Jnr undertook his division and did the same by clinching the Gold. Mr Graham and Miss Aitken did an outstanding job and won 2nd place in the Black Belt patterns. Master Kirkwood and Mr Graham also took part in the Executive Black Belt division, which was split by rank. Master Kirkwood won Gold in the 4th degree upward division, whilst Mr Graham won Gold in the 1st to 2nd degree division.

As the night went on, we progressed onto the Black Belt teams, and then onto the Black Belt sparring. The sparring divisions were hard for all those taking part, as they had all and a very long day refereeing and everyone was tired. The areas where filled with A.I.M.A.A participants fighting for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Mr Daniel Farrell did and outstanding job and so did Mr Paul Healy in sparring. Mr John Kirkwood won his first fight and knocked his opponent out in 30 seconds! he continued onto the semi final and won this fight, however he was injured during this bout and was not allowed to continue. He was awarded 2nd place whilst his father Master Kirkwood fought in the final on an adjoining mat. Master Kirkwood did an exceptional job on the mat even though he had a major injury to his foot, but was beaten in the last few seconds and took 2nd place. 

By this time it was 8.30pm and the breaking was just starting. Miss Ashlying Ryan won in her breaking as did many other A.I.M.A.A Ireland Instructors. All participants at this stage where told that due to lack of time the International squad team event and point sparring team events for the Black Belts had been cancelled. We cannot wait for next years event and hopefully we can compete as an International squad then.

Master Kirkwood would like to thank the following A.I.M.A.A Ireland Instructors who had taken the time to travel to the event to compete as an International team. Our thanks goes to Mr Paul Healy. Mr Daniel Farrell, Mr Kevin Ryan, Mr Will Power, Mr Aeanus O'Connor, Shaun O'Connor, Mr Sean O'Donnell, Mr Gerry Long and Miss Ashlying Ryan.

Master Kirkwood and Mrs Kirkwood would personally like to thank the squad members and family members who travelled to the event. Your support, hard work is exemplary and this shows in the amount of trophies the squad has achieved since the beginning of the year, which is now over 250 trophies with over 100 National and International Titles!

Our special thanks to Master Darcy for being in attendance and supporting A.I.M.A.A competitors and Master Kirkwood. Lastly a special thank you to Master Pat White for inviting A.I.M.A.A Scotland to the event, it was a privilege to be at the event as it was most enjoyable. We received a nice message from Master White to the A.I.M.A.A Scotland squad and you can read this below

"I would like to thank all the A.I.M.A.A. Scotland Instructors for there first class help at the All Ireland Open International Tae Kwon-Do Championships.  I thank those of you who helped in judging and score keeping. I would like to thank your students for coming over to the championships and helping to give it that International feeling.

Once again many, many thanks to you, I do hope that your students enjoyed themselves on Saturday, they most certainly conducted themselves very well, which is a tribute to  Master Kirkwood" Master Pat White

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