21/11/2019
Some exciting news from Rick at Burns School of Black Belts...
Team England including 17 members of a local martial arts school travelled to Italy to take part in the WTKA World championships from Thursday 31st October to Sunday 3rd November.
The World Championships take place in Italy, in Marina di Carrara, Tuscany.
Everything takes place in the a huge venue called “CARRARAFIERE”
The Event hosts a massive 5000 athletes and approx. 40,000 spectators.
17 members of Burns School of Black Belts qualified throughout 2019 at various regional & national competitions to complete the 103 strong England Team, with approximately 80 parent supporters too.
Team BSBB are now well known on the competition circuit both nationally & internationally & it was great to see all the competitors & the parents interacting with the other country’s competitors and supporters. Martial Arts really brings out the best in people.
Team BSBB’s England Squad members have worked tirelessly this year in the gym to prepare for the World Championships putting in 5-6 days a week, early morning sessions & some gruelling 4-hour Squad training sessions. I am so proud of every single one of them for everything they have achieved on & off the Mat. Also massive thanks to our parents & supporters who have been with us every step of the way.
It costs approximately £1000 for each competitor to attend the world championships & this was helped by our main sponsor CBX Gym and fundraising events throughout the year. Each squad member had about half the costs covered and the rest is made up from the parents.
WTKA England had students compete in the following disciplines; Points Kickboxing, Light Continuous Kickboxing, Trad & CMX Forms, Kata, Karate, Muay-Thai and K1.
The competition was fierce with competitors from all over the world in various divisions, the competition starts with elimination rounds over the first 3 days and then all finals held on the Sunday.
"So many great memories were created over the week, but one really stands out to me! One of my Students Libby Davison was in a fight off for 3rd place on the first day of the competition, with 1.18 seconds to go she collided with her opponent, fell & damaged her arm and was unable to continue. She was winning 11-3 at the time and was 99.9% guaranteed the win. As it turned out after a trip to the hospital, she had broken her arm and was out of the competition. She had been selected for the Girls Team Fight but was unable to for fill these due to a FULL arm cast. Tegan Burns stepped into her place and the girls Team made it through to the finals & only missed Gold by 1 point. What stood out to me & everyone else watching was when they were presented with their Medals on finals day on the podium in front of all the spectators was Tegan Calling Libby up to the podium and giving Libby her silver medal. Now to me this shows TRUE Sportsmanship and to witness this brought tears to the eyes."
"On the mats the Team are there to do a job & WOW, were they on form. Off the mats it was all high 5’s & hugs as that is exactly how SPORT should be."
Molly McDowell – 3 x Gold
Harry McDowell – 7 x Gold
Claire McDowell – 2 x Gold
Laura Innes – 2 x Gold / 2 x Silver
Jess Innes – 2 x Bronze
Simon Collins – 1 x Gold / 1 x Silver
Lucy Collins – 5 x Gold / 2 x Silver
Millie Clark – 2 x Gold / 3 x Silver / 4 x Bronze
Lesley Davison – 2 x Silver
Libby Davison – 1 x Silver / 1 x Bronze
Bethan Rochester – 3 x Gold / 4 x Silver
Asha Bartoli – 3 x Gold / 3 x Silver
Jay Bartoli – 1 x Gold / 3 x Silver
Yasmin Burns - 1 x Gold / 1 x Silver
Tegan Burns - 1 x Gold / 2 x Silver
Mr Dillon - 2 x Gold / 2 x Silver
Mr Burns – 3 x Gold
Total – 69 Medals
Gold – 36, Silver – 26, Bronze - 7
