SIX medals were earned by members of Wyre Forest Taekwondo Club at the South Midlands Taekwondo Championship.

A small squad of just four travelled to the Surrey Sports Arena in Guildford to compete in the regional championships.

Hosted by the Taekwondo Association of Great Britain (TAGB), the event was smaller than usual, but still saw close to a thousand competitors vie for titles in a variety of events.

In the team were mother and daughter duo Helen and Jessica Giles, who found themselves in the same sparring division for the first time.

The pair started at a similar time, Jessica taking the lead and her mother decision to give it a go a short while after. The grade groups at this competition, combined with the fact that Jessica has just entered the adult category, meant they faced the possibility of coming head to head for a medal. Luckily the divisions were drawn such that they wouldn’t have met until the actual final, but this almost happened. Both women made it successfully to the semi-finals, and a mutual win would have seen the battle they had suspected. However this was the end of the road and they ended the event tied - both with a bronze medal.

They joined forces to enter the tag team event and had greater success, but as the adult tag team divisions are unweighted they found themselves up against some very tall opponents in the final. They were very proud to both come home with a silver from this event too.

Also competing was Tiny Tyler James, who showed huge improvements in his individual sparring and patterns, and went on to win a bronze in his final event as part of the Boys Peewee Tag Team Division.

The final medal of the day was from the power test event, where competitors use top of the range technology to assess their power with a variety of techniques.

Wyre Forest Taekwondo Instructor Katie Billingham was the runner up for the ladies division, achieving a silver medal.

With three more competitions to go this year, including KEMPComp, the first inter-club competition for the affiliated TAGB schools in the area, Billingham is hoping to get even more people involved in competitions.

She said: “So many people are put off because they think they wont win. The reality is that medals gather dust, but the lessons you learn last a lifetime.”

To find out more about taekwondo, contact Katie Billingham on 07885 293088 or visit wyreforesttaekwondo.com.