Glenrothes martial arts stars help bring home titles for Scotland

The team competed against others from England, Wales and USA in taekwondo patterns and sparred across five different age groups at the ITS International Team Taekwondo Championships.

This year the competition was held in Kidderminster, Worcestershire with the Scots coached by Glenrothes instructor Ross Fisher.

Over 60 percent of the squad was made up of students from Icon Taekwondo.

The teams ranged from girls and boys ages 8-11, 12-14, 15-17, women and mens teams up to 39 and veterans 40 plus.

Scotland had never previously won the event and despite being close on a couple of occasions, most years the event has been dominated by USA and England.

The Scotland squad all worked extremely hard this year and prepared well, dominating the competition with the majority of the age groups winning gold in both disciplines.

Steven Herd, Kinglassie Mitchell Hall and Dysart Community Centre club instructor, said the backing the team received was a huge boost.

“This is my third time competing in the British championship and my first time competing in the men’s Scotland team.

“I’ll never forget the feeling on the morning of the competition when the national teams were introduced into the arena.

“Standing in line beside the rest of team Scotland, the atmosphere was electric and every part of me was bursting with pride to compete for my country.

“And as the day went on all you heard from each category was ‘Scotland gold’.

“At that point we all knew we were bringing it home – we were unstoppable.

“At the end of the day as team Scotland grouped together for a team photo, from a far corner started the national anthem and the whole team belted it out.

“The entire arena came to a standstill.

“We came to do a job and do it we did.”

Scotland won the event with over 1300 points, in second place England were a good way behind with 850 points.

Ross Fisher added: “It was a great performance from Scotland and I’m extremely proud of everyone’s efforts.”

There’s no rest for Ross and the Icon students as they get ready to start training hard for the Scottish Championships which will be held next month.