During the first week of October, Trent Hayden and his dad Ken travelled to Brighton, England to attend the largest Taekwon-do tournament in the world. The 2012 ITF World Cup was attended by 1560 competitors, and a total of 2421 participants including coaches and officials from 44 countries.  Many of the world’s best Taekwon-do competitors were in action over the four days of competition. Unfortunately for Trent, he was unable to compete due to a knee injury and had to be content with observing the action from the sidelines. Despite this, it was still a worthwhile experience just to be there, and renew many of the friendships that he has developed with people from around the world.

The action was very exciting with ten rings in operation, and the tournament was very well run. The “Finals Night” was particularly exciting with a stadium filled to capacity with cheering spectators, thumping music, and “live” video streaming to pay for view customers around the world.

Most of the time, we hung with the members of the New Zealand team and cheered for our friends across the Tasman. We continuously learn new things through our observation of the latest skills and techniques, and through our discussions with other people at major tournaments like this. It was a privilege to be there, and represent Australia and ILSHIM at a tournament of this international importance.