20th July 2008 North Midlands Championships
The North Midlands Championships is an annual event held in Derby, open to all from across the country. The West Midlands clubs were all involved, and for the first time, a new face was amoung them.
Bewdley TAGB put it's first ever competitor forward in the first ever competition for the new club. Only 7 months old, the school has built up a dedicated team of hard working martial artists who have been training hard towards such events.
The brave student to enter was thirteen year old Ashlee Whale. Coming from a club of only beginners she had little opportunity to spar leading up to the competition, training only against her father Simon Whale, and Instructor Katie Billingham. Despite this she bravely donned her protective equipment and entered in Girls Middle Weight Sparring.
Her competitiors were of higher grade and came from mixed ability clubs, but in Ashlee's smaller club she had had much closer attention to her personal skills and strengths and was by no means the weaker competitor.
Young Whale fought valiently through the rounds, scoring many shots with her well polished techniques. In the last few seconds in the final of her division she lost out by only 2 points, taking a shot to the body from her larger opponent, but this one defeat was nothing compared to what she had achieved;
North Midlands Yellow Belt Girls Middle Weight Silver Medal
It is the first of many, both for Whale and for Bewdley TAGB. The club is now in training for the British Championships in October, and there will be many people looking out for Ashlee Whale!
Congratulations Ashlee
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