For Rick Simpson, the dream of lifting the British Taekwondo National Championships overall team trophy began around 20 years ago, when he first set out to establish his own club and imagined what might one day be possible.
At the time, that ambition was little more than a vision, but through years of developing athletes, coaches and clubs, and building a team culture, that vision finally became reality. Having earned 12 gold medals, 10 silver, and 12 bronze across the two days of competition at Manchester Velodrome, Apex were crowned the overall team champions for the first time in their history, as well as claiming the Novice Team prize.
“I had a vision of what I wanted to do when I set up my own club for the first time. I was dreaming of being on that podium holding that team trophy,” Rick says, reflecting on the weekend.
Rick began his Taekwondo journey under the guidance of Quest Taekwondo before going on to establish Horizon Taekwondo in Keighley just after the turn of the Century. The evolution of that work has eventually led to the current structure, with five Apex clubs stationed across the North of England.
The Apex approach has been shaped by years of experience in understanding what makes athletes develop and, ultimately, what makes a team successful. That process starts with creating the right environment within the club, developing good Taekwondoists and allowing those who show the desire and ability to compete to progress into the fight team.
“When people walk through the door sometimes you just see someone and after 20 minutes of a class you know that they’re going to be a class act.
“You just get excited and can’t wait to enrol them onto the fight team and for them to do their first inter-club sparring day and their first championship.
“You know there’s a really good fighter in there that’s ready to come out, and when they’re ready, they’ll come out. I’m sure most coaches have the same kind of excitement when they see people coming through the door.”
That philosophy has been developed over many years and has extended beyond Rick’s own clubs through the wider Apex structure, including his close working relationship with Rooji Karim and Apex Taekwondo Greater Manchester.
Their partnership grew from shared values and a common vision for athlete development, with both coaches working together on helping to create an environment in which athletes could progress, while coaches and former students could also develop into leaders themselves.
That production line has seen the formation of three further Apex clubs, with Carrie Hilton taking charge at Apex Bolton Dragons, Mohammad Khoshghad at Apex Bolton, and Ashley Roach at Apex Chorley.
The results of that long-term approach that Rick and Rooji have instilled have been evident at the National Championships for many years, with Apex consistently establishing themselves among the leading teams in the country, and rarely missing out on a top three spot in the team standings over the past ten years.
Having finished as the second-placed overall team last year, their eyes were set on top spot heading to Manchester, and after more than 20 years as a coach, Rick has finally achieved that dream.
The breakthrough did not come by accident, with the Apex team setting clear objectives from one year to the next and continually looking at how the programme could yield greater results.
“Over the years, we set ourselves targets of what we needed to do better next year to improve on this year.
“We’ve got lots of careful planning in place for our fight teams so that we can forecast how well we’re going to do.”
By the time the team arrived in Manchester, Apex had already won all five of the open championships they had entered this year, giving Rick, Rooji and the coaching staff a strong indication that they had the quality and depth to challenge for the overall title.
Even then, the Nationals brought their own uncertainties, with injuries and withdrawals affecting the team and several athletes facing challenges that could easily have disrupted their preparations.
For Rooji’s club in Greater Manchester, those challenges were particularly significant. As we reported last month, the club had to leave its regular training venue of the last ten years earlier this year, forcing athletes and coaches to find alternative ways to prepare for one of the most important competitions of the year.
The wider Apex team knew what Rooji’s athletes had been dealing with, and rather than allowing those circumstances to divide the group, the experience became another reason for the team to pull together.
The circumstances meant that expectations were adjusted, with the emphasis placed on making sure they arrived in Manchester confident, united and ready to enjoy competing.
That mindset proved important, particularly for athletes who had spent the preceding weeks adapting to conditions that were far removed from a normal competition build-up.
“They’ve just worked harder. They haven’t had the training facilities that other teams have got.
“They went in with lower expectations, and there was more focus on being more confident and just going there to enjoy the competition. And I think in enjoying it, they’ve actually performed quite well.
“For them, they’ve been quite united in their team ethic. They’ve been behind everyone, the crowd was behind every single athlete. There was no rest time. It was all day long chanting and cheering.”
The response from the wider Apex team was equally important, with athletes supporting one another throughout the Championships and coaches drawing on the experience of former competitors who have themselves come through the club’s pathway.
While Apex thrived as a team, there were a number of individual performances that caught the eye from Apex athletes across the weekend.
Among those was that of Valeriia Semeniuk, who has been part of the club for two years after arriving in the UK from Ukraine as a refugee and taking up Taekwondo for the first time.
Having previously been a gymnastics champion in Ukraine, Valeriia adapted to a completely new sport and environment before going on to become a National champion, a journey that Rick believes embodies the determination and attitude he wants Apex to develop within its members.
“I just think that Valeriia’s attitude and determination is just a fantastic beacon for everyone else. She’s had to escape her country, move here, learn a new language, integrate with people she’s never met before in a different country.
“She was a champion gymnast in Ukraine, now she’s taken up taekwondo for the first time since moving to the UK and two years later she’s national champion.”
Rick was also keen to highlight the incredible determination of Aleena Hassan, who claimed gold in both the Junior and Senior Novice divisions after refusing to give up Taekwondo when the demands of her studies, chores and family life almost forced her to step away.
Aleena was one of those effected by the closure of Rooji’s club in Greater Manchester, but her dedication to Taekwondo has seen her selling cookies at the club to fund attending competitions, as well as persevering through a tough run of results on the club event circuit to come back with a point to prove, and she did that in style at the weekend.
Rick also highlighted the performance of his son Jayden Simpson-Kidd, who won gold in the Advanced cadet category as he continues to embodying the very spirit of Taekwondo during his athlete journey.
“Jayden’s journey’s been quite a weathered one. When he was younger, he had really, really bad problems with asthma.
“He wanted to do the Taekwondo competitions, and obviously as his dad, we wanted him to do competitions, but it was always a physical challenge for him to get through a whole match because of those problems.
“So he didn’t really win a lot when he was younger but he’s won the Nationals three times in the last four. And this is showing that perseverance, one of the tenets of Taekwondo, that perseverance to just keep going.”
Those stories add to an extended list of stars that have come through the ranks at Apex and gone on to represent Great Britain internationally, with a number helping to inspire the next generation back where it all began for them.
Multiple national champions and GB Talent Squad athletes Ellie Bowden and Gina Bene-Hamill were part of the coaching team across the weekend, adding to the list of Apex alumni who continue to be the leaders and mentors for the stars of tomorrow.
That is why the Overall Team Trophy represents much more than a successful competition season. It is the result of a philosophy that Rick, Rooji and the Apex community have developed together, built around strong clubs, patient athlete development, committed coaches and a team culture in which people are encouraged to progress when they are ready.
Twenty years after Rick first imagined himself standing on the podium with the National Championships Team trophy, he and Rooji lifted the Overall Team Trophy aloft in Manchester. The journey to get there has included returning champions and first-time winners, athletes who found their place as coaches, clubs that have grown together and, this year, a period of genuine adversity that tested the team’s to its limits.
That’s why winning the 2026 Overall Team Trophy is not just a measure of competitive success, but it is also a reflection of the club-building philosophy that Rick and Rooji have pursued, and of the people who have helped turn that original vision into a reality.
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