The Head Coach of TaeKwon-Do clubs in Newry and Silverbridge has spoken of his delight after ten club members were crowned Champions at European Championships in Wales.
Cathal Fegan, of Cathal Fegan Schools of TaeKwon-Do, attributes the wins to the can-do attitude of the club’s members, alongside the talent of its coaches.
At the Championships, which were held in Cardiff last month, the club returned 16 Gold medals, 18 Silver medals and 16 Bronze medals, alongside ten different European Champions.
The returning Champions were: Ethan O’Kane – Boys’ Black Belt Team Champion, Amy Bantleman – Girls’ Black Belt Team Champion, Ross Lynch, aged 7 who won the under 11s lightweight Gold, Liam Keegan, who retained his European Gold from 2023 to win Gold in sparring, Oisin McEvoy – under 14 European Champion, Molly Fegan – under 11 girls European Champion, Ignas Rimeikis, who won Gold in under 11 heavyweight sparring and Freya Sloan who won Gold in under 11 girls.
There was also Aoife Loye, who became the Adult Female Welterweight Black Belt Champion, and Rachael Carvill, who became the Junior Girl Heavyweight Black Belt Champion.
Aoife was also on the Team Ireland women’s team that won Gold, while Rachael was on the Team Ireland girl’s team that won Gold.
Aoife Loye
Cathal said: “The instructors and coaches are still competing at the highest level and bring it back to the students. We have 150 students across the clubs and out of that, around 40 compete between Silverbridge and Newry.
“We’ve a lot of parents that support us and drop everything at their own expense. It’s a lot for a mother or father to have children doing TaeKwon-Do between hotels and flights. So we do have good supportive staff and parents.”
With the World Championships coming up next year, the clubs are preparing to get their competitors trained up and qualify.
Despite what he describes as “phenomenal” success and growth for the clubs, Cathal says public bodies haven’t been forthcoming in providing support for the clubs.
“Across the board we have been growing, we started competing at the highest levels in 2012 and we didn’t get medals,” he explained.
“Now we’re constantly getting Champions. We’ve went from maybe getting a handful of Northern Ireland or All-Ireland titles to winning European and World titles.
“We have more World Champions in our club in Newry than any other club in Ireland, so we’re putting TaeKwon-Do on the map.”
Ross Lynch (7)
He continued: “We’re doing this with no backing from any council and no government backing. We keep asking Sport NI and they won’t answer our calls.
“The International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) is recognised across the world and they had 18 countries competing there and with us coming out on top, that should be opening doors for us, but unfortunately it’s not.
“With the Olympics on it’s hard to tell these guys they aren’t getting the same publicity.
“To have 25 students from South Armagh and Newry going over to Wales to beat the elites across Europe, there’s no other sport doing that.
“Hopefully it’s only a matter of time before local councillors, MLAs or MPs start to answer our calls and back us.”
Cathal added: “In Newry, Mourne and Down Council there’s just nothing, it’s a dead end. We have a full-time hall that I pay for every month, while there’s other clubs getting things totally free.
“I even applied for support for the rates and it got denied. We have maybe 15 nationalities in our club of different abilities and background. It’s hard to find another club like that.”
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