UPCOMING EVENTS & LATEST NEWS

Monika Markowska is now WAKO Full Contact World Champion	Cho's Tae Kwon Do instructor, Monika Markowska is now WAKO Full Contact World Champion after wining the final in Dublin, against the Polish National champion. It has been an amazing year for Monika, who has won the Irish Open, British WAKO, and ISKA European titles in the last year. Monika was delighted to have won the title, she had worked so hard for. Monika regularly wakes up at 6.00am to train and then trains again after work. She has also been travelling to England to train with the British coaches and to Ireland to train with Mr Jimmy Courtney, who has been a great help to her in attaining her dream of a World title, Monika would also like to thank everyone at Leonis Boxing Club.
GRANDMASTER HEE IL CHO VISITS EUROPE	Our president and founder, Grandmaster Hee  Il Cho visited Europe in September to conduct black belt testing's and seminars in Ireland and Scotland. The seminar in Ireland was attended by around 450 students, which included 16 students from Cho's Tae Kwon Do Jersey. Grandmaster Cho entered the hall to tremendous applause from the students and around 150 people watching. Even at 71 Grandmaster Cho showed he has lost none of his speed, technique and agility. He truly is the most incredible martial artist on the planet! Grandmaster Cho spoke throughout the seminar about his philosophies and his struggles growing up, he also said that everyone should keep an open mind and this was extremely important, if we as students are to continue to learn and grow as people. During the seminar Grandmaster Cho, covered various aspects of Tae Kwon Do, from the traditional aspect to footwork to kicking and stretching At the testing in Ireland, around 70 students graded from 1st degree to 4th degree black belt. Cho's Tae Kwon Do Jersey had 8 students grading, they were Simon Todd and Alexandra Barnes who both tested for 2nd degree and Nathan Fischer, Sylvie Pierre, David Gouveia, Stephen Gardener, Hannah Gardener and Anette Christensen, who all tested for 1st degree black belt. They all did an excellent job and we are all extremely proud of their performance.
New ISKA European Champion	On Saturday, 17th September, Monika Markowska fought against Andree Warbrick over 6 rounds x 2min rounds and won a unanimous decision to win the ISKA Full contact European Title in the Weston-Super-Mare. ISKA - is the International Sport Kickboxing Association and next to WAKO is one of the biggest kickboxing federation worldwide. The title adds to various titles Monika has already won recently, including Irish Open light contact title and the A.I.M.A.A. and WAKO Britsh full contact titles. The ISKA title fight was a good test for Monika, who will also be representing the British WAKO team in the World Kickboxing Championships - Light Contact Championships in Macedonia in October and the WAKO World Kickboxing Championships - Full Contact Championships in Dublin in November. Monika has recently been working with the best WAKO British team coaches through attending monthly squad sessions in the UK, and they were in her corner for the title fight on Saturday and were also extremely pleased with her performance on the night. She has also been improving her hands by training at Jersey Leonis Boxing Gym and would like to thank the coaches and everyone there for their help. Monika was also absolutely delighted with her showing and said she was looking forward to the challenge of competing against the very best fighters from all over the world in the upcoming World Kickboxing Championships.
Scotish National Championships RESULTS	Cho's Tae Kwon Do Jersey Club, brought home 47 medals including 16 golds, from the Action International Martials Arts Association Scotish National Championships, in Motherwell, Scotland during the Bank Holiday weekend. 30 students from the club attended the event which attracted more than 300 competitors from all over Europe, from different Tae Kwon Do federations and other martial arts styles. Head Instructor of the Club, Robert Fernandes, was extremely pleased with the all the students efforts, particularly the younger students who were brilliant, everyone trained really hard for this event and showed great spirit, determination and teamwork to win all those medals at a National Championships is amazing and we are all extremely proud of their achievements.   JUNIOR PATTERN DIVISIONS BENDAKAI TODD 5YRS WHITE-ORANGE BRONZE LEON PIERRE 7YRS GREEN/PURPLE SILVER MERELITA TODD -10YRS WHITE/ORANGE SILVER JAMES FERERRIA -10YRS GREEN/PURPLE SILVER BENJAMIN FRITSCHI -13YRS GREEN/PURPLE GOLD ELLA TODD -16YRS GREEN/PURPLE SILVER HANNAH GARDENER -17YRS BROWN/BLACK SILVER     ADULT PATTERN DIVISIONS MICHELLE KENT WHITE-ORANGE GOLD WIOLETA CELINSKA DROZD GREEN-PURPLE GOLD JACKI GARDNER GREEN-PURPLE SILVER ANTHONY DAVIES GREEN-PURPLE GOLD ALESSIO AGOSTINIS BROWN-BLACK TIPS GOLD KELLY HAYWARD 3RD DEGREE + BRONZE     JUNIOR POINT SPARRING DIVISIONS BENDAKU TODD 5YRS ALL BELTS SILVER MEREGHTA TODD -10YRS WHITE-GREEN BRONZE MARK GRANT -10YRS BLUE-RED SILVER ELLA TODD -15YRS WHITE-GREEN SILVER HANNAH GARDENER -15RYS BLUE-RED SILVER     ADULT POINT SPARRING WIOLETA CELINSKA DROZO +63KG WHITE-GREEN GOLD MARTA BOMBELKA +63KG WHITE-GREEN BRONZE SYLVIE PIERRE -63KG BLUE-RED GOLD NELIA CASTRO -63KG BLUE-RED SILVER KELLY HAYWARD +63KG BLACK BELT BRONZE MONIKA MARKOWSKA +63KG BLACK BELT BRONZE ANTHONY DAVIES -73KG WHITE-GREEN SILVER STEVE GARDNER +73KG BLUE-HIGH RED BRONZE STEVE GARDNER EXECUTIVE BLACK BELT SILVER     JUNIOR CONTINUOUS SPARRING BENDAKAI TODD 5YRS MIXED BELT BRONZE LEON PIERRE -7YRS MIXED BELT GOLD MERLITA TODD -1OYRS WHITE-GREEN GOLD MARK GRANT -10YRS BLUE-RED SILVER OLIVER AGOSTINIS -10YRS BLUE-RED BRONZE TANVI PATEL -13YRS BLACK BELT SILVER HANNAH GARDENER -15YRS BLUE-RED GOLD ELLA TODD -15YRS BLUE-RED SILVER     ADULT CONTINUOUS SPARRING WIOLETA CELINSKA DROZD -60KG WHITE-GREEN GOLD MICHELLE KENT -60KG WHITE-GREEN SILVER NELIA CASTRO -60KG BLUE-RED GOLD MONIKA MARKOWSKA +60KG BLACK BELT SILVER KELLY HAYWARD +60KG BLACK BELT BRONZE ANTHONY DAVIES -65KG WHITE-GREEN GOLD ALESSIO AGOSTINI -80KG BLUE-RED SILVER STEVEN GARDENER -90KG BLUR-RED SILVER JOHN FERREIRA +90KG BLUE-RED SILVER SIMON TODD +90KG BLUE-RED GOLD SIMON TODD EXECUTIVE MALES GOLD

A.I.M.A.A HAD AN OLYMPIC HOPEFUL!

The Olympic WTF committee threw open the doors early this year to allow non-WTF members to try out for a place within the Olympic squad. Over 1,000 hopefuls applied, and only 200 where chosen to attend the trails. A.I.M.A.A was very proud to have three students chosen to attend the 1st trails in England. The students where Instructors Mr John Kirkwood Jnr, Miss Monika Markowska, as well as Miss Kirsty Gough.
Due to the commitments required to go further within the selection, especially as all training will be based in Manchester, England. Mr Kirkwood withdrew his name from the 1st faze, but was very proud to have been selected out of all those who had applied. Both Monika and Kirsty both attended the trails, which was a full day of intense training and assessment.
It was great pride that A.I.M.A.A Jersey - Miss Monika Markowska has been selected to attend the next faze, which had have a more complex training and scientific assessment for her in store. Everyone in our club and  A.I.M.A.A wished Miss Markowska all the best for her next trail. Monika has previous WTF experince and has fought at International level within the Polish WTF team.
The Fighting Chance Phase 2 Assessment Camp, was on 27th March 2010 at the Elite Taekwondo Academy in Manchester,from previouse 200 talented martial artist, only 28 where invited to this stage.
The trial day -  include lots of excitiments - and a bit of disapointments the same time. The day started with 45min training sessions with the British National Team coaches followed up by sparrings sessions, Monika was matched against European Champion from WTF, and lost her match with the difference of couple points, the second match with the numeber one of ITF federation fighter  Monika went on to win the fight with a unanimous decision. The next few hours of the trial was full of body measurements, filling lots of different questionnaire forms, and a chat.
After that stage the WTF Fighting Chance - Officials were impressed with the high standard of participants, the level of effort put in, and the positive interest displayed by all investigating their Talent Transfer potential into Olympic Taekwondo. Unfortunately Monika on this occasion wasn't selected to the final 2 candidates for the British Fighting Chance Team.
Well done to everyone who got chosen from A.I.M.A.A you should be very proud of yourselves, as we are proud of you
(text kindly provided from AIMAA Scotland website..)

COMBAT MAGAZINE

In November edition of Combat Magazine Chos Tae Kwon Do Jersey was choosen to write a martial arts article!!.

Robert Fernandes of Cho's Tae Kwon Do Jersey Club was choosen to write a martial arts article. He wrote about exercises to improve kicking ability. Tae Kwon Do is renowned for it's kicking techniques and this separates it, from other martial arts. The article was entitled "Exercises to help you : improve your kicking ability", the piece was illustrated with great and detailed photos of Monika Markowska, and Jorge Basilo, showing excellent technique, flexibility and balance.