THIRTY-SIX members of the Bude, Okehampton and Plymouth Tae Kwon-Do schools (or BOP TKD for short), recently gathered with other clubs from Cornwall and Devon, for their summer grading.

Gaining five A passes and six plus passes, the clubs achieved almost 33% above the average pass rate with the A pass being the highest.

Bude’s Ethan Ensor was one of those to receive an A pass as were two pupils from Okehampton and Plymouth.

These three clubs are taught by husband and wife duo Guy and Lisa Southard, and Guy, a fifth Dan in Tae Kwon-Do, was delighted with his students.

Guy said: “This grading is always the most unpredictable of the four that we have every year, as it comes at the end of the holiday period, so we never know what to expect from our students, whether they’ve been lazing in the sun or diligent with their training. It seems they haven’t wasted their time on the beaches around the area as they clearly have been preparing for this event.”

Lisa added: “August is a very quiet month for most activities including Tae Kwon-Do. Our last major event was the World Championships at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham in July where one of our students picked up a silver medal. I think the Olympics has had a very positive influence on our students, particularly as Team GB did rather well in the medals at Tae Kwon-Do, but for us as instructors of the art, having a result like this is very rewarding, as this is where we start preparing for medal success.

“Double Gold medallist, Jade Jones, started in a small club in Flint, North Wales so that’s what we aim to do here too.”