CEO blog – March 2022.

A big spring “hello” to all our clubs and members – and hope, that with the impacts of Covid lockdowns in the rear-view mirror, most clubs are now fully re-opened across the Home Nations.

I’m thrilled to announce that British Taekwondo membership has jumped back up to 17,000 active members – a real testament to the dedication and drive of our club instructor family to recover from this awful period. We’ve also had lots of clubs re-opening, new clubs popping up and clubs re-joining us after seeing the difference we are making and the open and transparent way we are running things for the benefit of our community.

Our events calendar is also filling up nicely, and I want to wish our members the best of luck in competition, plus a big thank you to all our officials, coaches and supporters who are a credit to our martial art and sport.

As well as competitions we have several seminars, safeguarding & welfare sessions, plus training courses for our clubs, coaches, and volunteers to participate in. These are all key elements in ensuring that we deliver safe, welcoming, and high-quality experiences for everyone involved in Taekwondo.

We’ve also got the European & European Para Championships to look forward to in mid-May when some of the world’s best come to our shores for the first time in three years. And we get to see our own Olympic and Paralympic stars in action on home soil.

Get your tickets if you haven’t already!

It was wonderful to see our first Assistant Coach complete the new coaching award this month, with Steven Pettigrew from Cumbria Taekwondo Kendal, having the distinction of being the first person to complete the course. It was great to receive positive feedback from Steven and his mentor Bev Fallows Cumbria Taekwondo is celebrating its 50th year in 2022 and we are also celebrating our 40th year so it’s been really nice to hear member’s stories and memories from 1982 to now, with long-established clubs going strong, clubs re-opening following the tough last few years, and new clubs opening around the UK.

We’re really looking ahead to the expansion of our coaching pathway – it’s an exciting time to be in Taekwondo!

It was also great to get together with our Board for a recent two-day session of strategy development, meetings and board member training. For some it was the first meeting face-to-face and chance to meet the main office staff.

These meetings are a vital part of reviewing and updating our ten-year strategy and ensuring we’re able to support the team’s delivering the work on behalf of our members.

Please keep an eye on our website as it improves over the coming months, keep checking the calendar for events, support our campaigns, and keep sharing your good news stories with us on social media. We have lots of great things to shout about so please tell us!

As we move through the year and things begin to pick up pace, I encourage you to stay connected with our team at head office and colleagues across our technical departments.

Thank you all for your continued support of British Taekwondo.

Ian

Ian Leafe

Chief Executive Officer