Mr Kenneth Wheatley instructing the class prior to the Grading

G.M.I.T @ Castlebar Sports News Months of preparation came to fruition last week as Greg Loesken presented his Taekwon-Do class for grading. Training twice a week since September the students have had to perfect movements and techniques as well as display a knowledge of the origins of this Korean Martial Art.

Mr. Kenneth Wheatley came down from Dublin for the assessment and gave the class some instruction and a demonstration of his own ability before the focus changed to the official grading ceremony. This section made for exciting stuff as Mr. Wheatley is a 6th Dan Black Belt and one of the foremost authorities in the Country.A large crowd attended in St Mary’s Hall and it was really a spectacular affair culminating in a demonstration of some timber breaking techniques.  

The class after the ceremony

Fourteen candidates presented for grading and it is a testimony to the hard work Greg, who is himself a black belt, has put in all year in the rigorous preparation that all 14 passed. Even more noteworthy were some of the individual achievements, especially that of Troy Glazer who was awarded a double grading. This is incredibly rare and means that he was deemed to be worthy of achieving the first grade for which he presented but also of the next highest level.

Three other students Catherine Casey, Chris Allen and Brendan Staunton had the honour of getting “A” grades. While David Reeves and Vincent Keane who were presenting for their Green Tag, (the highest level of grading on the day), were successful and also both managed to break their timber blocks following precise instruction in a knife hand strike which is quite a milestone in their progression.

Greg Loesken making a presentation to Kenneth Wheatley on behalf of the club

Following the ceremony Greg presented Mr. Wheatley with a Mayo Crystal trophy in recognition of all the work he has done for The Taekwon-do club throughout the years, while he in turn paid tribute to the great work being done by Greg and his students and the great strides they have made in becoming an active and progressive club.

St Mary’s Hall was also the venue for another event of note as Dawson Stelfox presented a Lecture on his experience of becoming the first Irish Man to climb Mount Everest. It was a great Honour to host him and the Mountaineering club is extremely grateful to him for giving his time. A large crowd showed up on the evening and it proved to be a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable evening for all so congrats to all involved in the organisation of the evening.

Vincent Keane having just broken his first timber