As you may have seen over on our social media, Mr Ryu has been busy producing Korean headbands with the tenets on. These include the 5 tenets of ITF Taekwon-do, but also the 2 extras that were taught in a style Mr Ryu used to train in. Wearing headbands was common in those classes, but not too common today. Our headbands can’t be bought, only earned.
Headbands will be presented, along with certificates on or just after the 1st of every month. We know that some students might not want to wear headbands – we don’t mind what you do with them. They’re great for tying up sleeves for nunchaku practice!
There’s 7 to collect and if you collect all 7 you’ll be presented with a special headband.
The plan is to give out a maximum of 5 of these each month, spread across Dragons, Juniors, Seniors and Sandroyd School classes. So these are hard to win. You also can’t win an award 2 months running so it’ll take over a year to earn them all.
The instructor & helper team are consulted every month and nominations can come from any student, so if you’d like to nominate a student for an award, speak to one of the Instructor team.
June Awards
This is a double award so up to 10 headbands to kick start them. This was due to the first awards being delayed because of a manufacturing issue. These were really difficult as being the first ever awards, we had a huge list of nominees to decide from. Some very deserving students didn’t get an award as we could only choose up to 10 from 4 pools of students.
Honour
Alfie
Alfie is a huge part of the Unity Family. He’s at practically every lesson, whether that’s Juniors or Seniors. He lives and breathes Unity. He represented Unity in a recent competition and did the club proud. Alfie’s behaviour is never anything but honourable; he’s kind and helpful to students of all ages. It says a lot that we allow Alfie at just 9 years old into the Seniors class.
Mikey
I always hesitate giving awards to my children as I don’t ever want to show favouritism, but I don’t think anyone in the club could ever dispute this. Mikey has attended more lessons than anyone else and helped in 82 lessons. His dedication is unrivalled. Mikey always represents himself and the club in an exceptional manner. Every grading has been to very high standards, even after switching club and having to learn a bigger syllabus.
Courtesy
Edgar
When discussing the topic of Courtesy, 3 different members of the instructor team nominated Edgar. Edgar is super polite, courteous and respectful. He’s often the first to say “Yes sir” and always bows on the way in/out.
Integrity
Billie
Progression is written into our DNA as humans, so it’s natural that students are eager to grade as quickly as they can. Billie was definitely ready to grade in May, but felt that he wasn’t so he declined. We jokingly teased him a little and invited him to the do-over day, but he still felt he was not ready. Integrity comes in many different guises, but our team felt that this took huge integrity.
Perseverance
Jack
I’m sure Jack won’t mind me saying, but when he first started he found some techniques very difficult, especially jumping and spinning. Fast forward 8 months and he’s one of the first to volunteer to demonstrate anything. He recently had his second grading and did exceptionally well.
Self-Control
Fox
One of the team said to me “Fox is like a different person recently” and I think that’s true. When Fox first started, he was super shy and would just join in for a game. Over time he decided to join in the whole lesson and one lesson recently he joined us for a whole senior’s lesson. I can’t remember the last “Gabagooey kihap” – if you know, you know 😉
Milton
It would be fair to say that Milton could be a bit of a distraction for the class when he first started Taekwon-do. He’s come such a long way and I’m so proud of him! He’s got so much potential and I hope he goes really far. He’s become a great senior student for the class.
Oskar W
Oskar hasn’t been with us long and could be a bit mischievous when he first started. I lost track of how many press-ups we all did one lesson because he wouldn’t leave a pad alone, enough that we had to switch to a different exercise because we were past failure! He’s changed a lot the last few months and now demonstrates great self-control.
Courage
Millie
I have such a huge respect for Millie. She does Taekwon-Do on hard mode, but never shows it. I know I put her on the spot sometimes (sorry Millie), but she handles it so well. I can’t believe how much progress she’s making and I’m very excited to see her hit her next target.
Community
Sienna & Daisy R
Double trouble! Daisy and Sienna always enter the dojang with giant smiles. They both train multiple times a week and come to lesson early to help with the Junior class and in the case of Daisy, the Little Dragon’s class too. They help teach junior’s their new pattern, correct stances and hold pads. We often do “Show it Sienna” or “Demonstration Daisy Day” where they do all the demonstrations that day.