Aquila Taekwondo 1600

If you’d have told Kuzey Akses at around 3pm on Sunday that his Aquila Taekowndo Team were going to win the Novice Team Award, he most likely wouldn’t have believed you.

While his team had fought valiantly on court, they were narrowly missing out on making Finals on the second day of action at EIS Sheffield, before everything slowly started to come together as the day drew to a close.

One National Champion soon turned into two, before a gold rush at the end of the day saw six Aquila members take the title in their division, and handing them their first piece of team silverware since scooping the same prize back in 2019.

The elation on the faces of Akses and fellow co-owner Terry Cooper were plain to see as they were handed the trophy, which was a just reward for plenty of years of hard work and graft in their Brockley base.

Speaking after receiving the accolade, Akses said: “We knew we were having a good day, but then it was almost like a gold rush towards the end with six golds in a row, which made us start believing that something could be going well today.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been up there in terms of like competitiveness with other clubs,
COVID contributed towards that as well, it was just a block, but we’ve rebuilt now.

“Sometimes we go into tournaments looking at the stats and the numbers, how big is our team versus others, it really wasn’t like that this year. I didn’t really expect anything but that’s sometimes that’s when the best stuff happens, and not when you’re there’s pressure to achieve.”

Byron Pakes (-53kg Male), Wren Costerton (-41kg Female), Maksym Kryvylo (-78kg Male) all earned themselves a National Title to contribute towards the Team victory on Sunday, while Edirin Alawuru (-59kg Female), Aselia Aliusheva (+73kg Female) and Joris Plauska (+30kg Male) also proved themselves to be stars of the future in their own categories.

Every athlete and every National Champion as their own journey to the top, and the Aquila stars were no different, with Akses keen to shine a light on all of his athletes, and those that have overcome setbacks to take their place at the top of the tree on the weekend.

He continued: “Every individual had a bit of a story behind them, and we’re just running from ring to ring like this is your story and let’s get that done. Every individual performance just played into the overall team trophy result. And it’s just the icing on the cake really, or the cherry on top.

On Costerton’s success, he said: “This was her last chance before she stepped up to A-class, she had lots of bad luck, but this year she got it over the line. She’s been working hard and had some bad luck each year, but this year we really, really knuckled down.

“This was the objective, our plan for this year to get the nationals done, and she actually got the golds this time.

“Byron and Jaz Pakes. They’ve been on a two-year mission, they decided to knuckle down two years ago and putting themselves forward for competition after competition.

“The wins started creeping in one by one, and then it just came together really well for them. We’re moving them up to a class because they need a new challenge now.”

While there will be plenty of focus on the athletes in the middle of the court, the trophy presented at the end of the day is testament to the commitment of everyone associated with Aquila, and especially the dedication of their coaching team in producing the next generation of talent in this country.

Not only does Akses teach at his own club, he is also part of the British Taekwondo Sports Performance Programme, where he helps shape the stars of tomorrow at our regular Sport Performance Camps.

To walk away with a National prize that underlines that commitment to nurturing talent, Akses was left to reflect on his own personal journey over recent years, and how that paid off in style across the weekend.

“That’s probably the most pertinent point, winning the Novice Team award, it is the future of the sport, it’s not the glitz and the glamour of the A class, but it is the future, and it’s showing that the club’s got a bright future ahead of it,” he added.

“All the things I’m learning myself from the Sports Performance Department, the work I’ve been doing there, it definitely has an effect.

“I think I’m bringing a lot of the A-class training into the B-class arena, which is paying off in in their results because they got B-class fighters fighting in the style of an A-class fighter.”

Speaking on Monday afternoon, Akses was still evidently beaming with the National recognition, with the Team Trophy only fuelling the hunger for even more success in the years to come.

“There’s been a lot of team trophies over the years, but obviously the National team trophy means most. It makes us believe we’re pushing in the right direction, but we’re certainly not complacent because we know the standard is very, very high across the country.

“I’ve already been telling people that probably don’t care, but it’s not every day that this sort of thing happens! So if anyone wants to listen to me, I’ll be telling them how it went.”