Members of the only Tang Sou Dao club in the island of Ireland attended the B.T.S.D.F. National Championships for the first time this June.

Kevin Austin, who started the Northern Irish club, trained under the instruction of Master Merrell and Grandmaster Loke, before returning to his native province. The club prospered and has been visited by Grandmaster Loke on several occasions.

Students from Whitehead Club with Grandmaster Loke,
their instructor Kevin Austin (3rd Duan) and senior Masters
and students from HQ. Training and Grading class the
day after the National Championships.

Earlier this year Kevin decided that the club was ready to send members to the National Championships. He wanted his pupils to 'socialise with the wider Tang Sou Dao family' and hoped it would be 'useful for individuals and the club to see the standard of other B.T.S.D.F. members.'

Seven competitors flew over from Northern Ireland on Friday 24th June 2005. The students were of all different ages and standards and all were competing in Forms and Sparring events. Also joining the group was Mark Humphries, an 8th Ji student, who Kevin had taught while working away in England.

The party from Northern Ireland stayed with Grandmaster Loke and his family throughout the visit and their hospitality was fantastic.'

Laura Cowan, 11, was 'very nervous at the beginning' of the Championship but gave a spirited performance to win 2nd in her category doing Basic Form Three. Inspired by Laura's success, the Northern Irish team went from strength to strength during the free-fighting part of the competition. Philip Cowan, 13, was awarded 3rd place after two highly entertaining fights against 8th and 9th Ji boys his age. He said he would 'love to go again….it was great fun'.

Laura and Philip's father, Stephen, was 3rd in the Veterans' 9th - 8th Ji free-fighting event. Mark Humphries came 1st in the same event to his obvious delight, bringing the total number of awards to four - an 'outstanding success' for so small a club.

Patrick Stewart, Edel Stewart and Finola Austin also performed well in their forms and sparring but unfortunately missed out on getting awards.

Kevin received a special award for outstanding performance. For Edel, 13, this was the best part of the trip: 'it was so great to see Kevin getting the trophy and for him to be rewarded for all his hard work teaching us.'

As for Kevin himself, he thought the Championships had 'raised the self-esteem' of all his pupils and had 'given them the bigger picture of the potential of Tang Sou Dao'. He said the club would 'definitely go again'.

There was certainly a feeling of optimism amongst the students the evening after the competition. Edel said she would like to 'work harder on [her] forms from now on' and Patrick, 15, felt he should, 'try harder during stretching'.

On Sunday morning, we all went to Grays for a class with Grandmaster Loke during which Mark, Stephen, Philip, Laura and Edel all graded.

Later that day we returned to Belfast after a very successful weekend. Patrick believed it had been 'a fantastic experience' - a thought echoed by all those who had gone on the trip.

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