Hi All,

I went to visit my homestore, Asda Dagenham on 27th June. They have re-opened after having a bit of a facelift. The renovations have made the store seem even larger than it was before.

I was presented a cheque that Asda kindly donated to support me with my competitions and training and it is greatly appreciated, so Thank you to Asda and to Kevin and Colleen who made me so welcome in the store.

I am looking forward to going back to the store, to maybe do a Taekwondo demo to encourage youngsters into sport so see you all soon.

Hi all,

I am very busy at the moment training at home and club and catching up with my coursework and doing exms, but I was given an amazing opportunity by the Royal Parks to be an ambassador for the Chips in the Park initiative on the 9th June.

This is a great initiative to get kids fit at Regents Park, electronic chips are given to children who sign up to attach to there shoes and there are set routes for them to run which have timers embedded in the paths, then a login on the computer at home or school so the time they run in goes up for all to see meaning you can run on your own or with friends and compete with people you do not even know. I was asked to come along to help promote the chips, along with a bunch of school kids who tried the chips out, and Matt Roberts a personnal trainer to the stars, and proffessor at London Metropolitan University.

I had a great morning with everyone and was interviewed by sky sports along with some players from Crystal Palace FC I met Clare who is the Chief executive of the Royal Parks who also asked if i would like to run in the pulse3k for on the 10/10/10 which is for 7-16 year olds and starts in Hyde park i am really looking forward to running in this so i need to train for this too which is fine as i go running most nights after anyway.

Also I would like to Thank again Clare and Sara from the Royal Parks who sent me a gift after agreeing to being an Ambassador, a brand new Nokia N97.

I’m off to Sportsaid for work experience next week so I will keep you updated.

Just want to let you know I am back to training. As you know, I have been training with my team mates who are off to the senior European Championships in Russia tomorrow. They will be back on 18th May so will let you know how they all do.

Good luck to Joel Jackson, Davoud Etminani and Craig Brown hope you all get the result you deserve after the work you have put in. Also good luck to Cho and the rest of Team GB!

Hi all,

Sorry took so long to update.

Well, back from Belgium and I am happy with the performance I put in with my first A class Junior Gold Medal.

I think overall the weekend went really well, we drove to Belgium my coach and team mates and all of our supporters, we all took our own cars and it was a good weekend with great performances from everyone.

Fight 1 I was fighting the No 1 Irish National Team player in this weightgroup he was 17 years old so had a few years experience on me. This was a very good fight we both wanted to win so much and it finished in Golden point, which I won.

Fight 2 This was a close fight between me and the German player we both had sanctions against us which could have led to disqualification (this is when you have 1/2 point deductions for various things) if we were not careful. I beat him 10-6.

Fight 3 This was a tough fight against the Swedish national team player, we fought hard and I managed to pick up a serious injury to my foot and could barely walk let alone kick. My coach was very concerned but I won this fight and hoped my foot would hold up for the final.

Fight 4 FINAL I had the final against the No 1 German National player for this weight group, I have beat him before but this actually means nothing as each fight is so different and I had a bad foot so it was looking a bit grim for me as I was in so much pain.

I could only kick off of one foot and was losing the first and second round my coach said to me to open up and use both feet if I wanted to win so I opened up, took the pain and the Gold medal. 8-5.

I was very happy with my performance. I felt like I fought well and listened to Mike, my coach, well which is so important as he knows me inside out and he is my eyes in the ring too, he watches the other fighter to see if there is something I am missing so he can let me know.

Well, I have had 2 weeks off training on Mike’s instruction, He told me to look after my foot and just stretch as I needed to make sure my foot is healed and it is much better now, so back to training this week. My next big event is in June I am off to Austria so I am looking forward to that.

Hi all,

Well its Wednesday and tonight was my final training session before Belgium which is this weekend we are driving there, we will catch the ferry all being well with the strikes on friday morning, and then off for a nice drive to Belgium.

I fight on sunday so just some light stretching before the day and support my team mates.

I will update you when i return, hopefully i do well.

I would just like to take this opportunity to say ‘Thank You ASDA’ for the support you give me constantly and also for the workshop which I attended I found it very useful.

The workshop at Lords, gave me knowledge of how to handle the media when my time comes and also it was great to meet other athletes from different sports and to hear their training regimes and how they cope with school work and sporting life.

Another week gone by and off to Holland I went.

This competition was so close to the German Open after being home and only getting training for another 3 days, going back to school and trying to rest then I was on another plane.

I have been to watch this competition for the last 5 years, the fighters that attend are from all over the world, players like Steven Lopez, Yusef Karami and Servette all have competed here so now was my moment. The first time I have been eligible to compete and I was nervous, this was a mixture of elements, new daedo electronic bodyarmour which I have never used before, new arena, tired from last week and excitement. The day started well, my first fight was against a Belgium National Team player we were one of the first fights at 9am, and I beat him even though he had a beard lol….

The next fight of mine was against The German Open Silver Medallist who was German and I beat him too, this fight i felt comfortable and in control but I re damaged my injured finger again

My coach, Mike, had told me that he expected me to win two fights so I was now under no pressure just to enjoy the day, although that was not what I wanted I needed to win another fight to get the Croatian.

Fight 3 This player was Slovakia National Team, this was not a hard fight but winning would put me into the medalling position and give me the Croatian Opponent I wanted to fight

Fight 4 Yes, I can’t believe I was now standing in front of the Croatian National Team player that took my Number 1 European Ranking from me in the Cadet European Championships, I have dreamt about how I would fight this fight and prove that on neutral ground and referees that were fair and not biased that I would beat him, (although I know I did last time) to prove he is not a better fighter than me. My actual goal for the day was to get to this fight whether it be the first second or third, I have never felt so happy to be standing in front of an opponent and then to kick him as hard as I kicked him to see on his face that he did not want to be there, I know this seems mean but I hurt after the cadets, and I wanted to prove a point, also after the match we are still friends on facebook but there are no friends in the ring this is the difference between winning and losing. I beat him11-5.

The final – 5th Fight After a long day the final arrives, to be honest I wanted to win but I had achieved my goal beating Toni the Croatian from fight 4. I was not in tip top condition I was drained really I put so much into my fight 4 that when this one came, I fought hard and was winning 1st 2nd and 3rd round but 8 seconds from the end of round 3 the fighter got a head shot on me which gave him 3 points and this brought the score him in the lead my 1 point, so I won a SILVER medal.

I am happy with my performance this weekend, I was focused, well trained, maybe a bit tired but that’s part of learning how i should deal with events so close together.

This was a World Ranking Competition and I am so pleased to have fought 5 fights and won a silver medal.

Asda Athlete workshop next then off to Belgium in April.

Hi Well I am back, it was the most nerve racking competition of my career so far, this was because it was such a high standard of competition and some great players in my weight group.

The day started well, I fought Denmark national Team and won this with ease the score was 7-2.

My next fight was against Sweden, and after 3 rounds this was a draw so we had to go to Golden Point. This is when you have to fight one more round and the first one to score wins the match, unfortunately the referees scored against me so I lost. This player went on to win the Gold.

Losing in the quarter finals left me bitterly disappointed as this player won the Gold and I know that he was beatable, maybe next time…........

Well back to training for the week and then off to Dutch Open next Friday.

Friday is the day I travel to Germany, I have to be up at 4.30am and leave at 5 I am packed and ready to go.

I have trained hard as you know and I hope all of the hard work pays off, it is not just about me going out to Germany and winning it is about me stepping up to a new weight group and age group, I need to make sure that I put into practice all that I have been doing in Training, my goal is to make sure that I use my new techniques and to learn from other fighters, hopefully I will win too but that at the moment is not expected of me from my coach, what is expected is that I learn so winning would be a bonus.

I have the Dutch Open next weekend too so trying not to pick up any injuries will be a personal goal too as I do not want to slow myself for that or Belgium in April.

Obviously as you probably have worked out I am very competitive in everything I do so I will try to learn, and win….........

I will update as soon as I have fought on Sunday.

Fridays training was really good, it was a hard session working on the pads and sparring we all really pushed ourselves. Mike had planned his lesson as usual, ring craft, scenarios and intense padwork was the order for the night and it was a great session.

Looking forward to the weekend and having a game of golf with my brother on saturday morning then back to coursework on sunday afternoon after i have been to watch a local competition on sunday morning and back to training and school on monday.

No rest for the driven.

It’s Wednesday night I have just got in from training, it was a good session we worked on padwork and movement tonight.

We were also working on ring scenarios with our sparring, after the Manchester weekend a few new tips I picked up I have put into practice.

Just 5 more hard training sessions then 3 lighter training sessions before Germany, the lighter sessions are to make sure I stay sharp and do not make myself too tired before the competition.

The weekend went well up in Manchester, I saw a lot of great fighters and learnt a few new tricks for in the ring. As I was not competing in this weekend and was just watching it was really interesting to have a closed event which only a select few got to watch, there were no other distractions.

I spoke to Nigerian Olympic Medallist Chico who asked me what my dream in taekwondo was, my immediate response was ‘what you have achieved’ he replied to me you should aim a bit higher as he was a bronze medallist lol I had a long conversation with him and he has told me he would like to come and train at my club in Peckham, Fusion for a few sessions so that will be great training and a good experience.

I am back from the weekends competition with a Gold Medal. This event was not actually on my calender to do but after speaking with my coach Mike, we decided it would be a good one for me to do, as I needed to put into practice what I have been learning at training which is some new techniques and also after me making the decision not to go to the World Championships I felt that I needed to fight before I get to Germany. Germany is getting closer now its on the 13th March so lots more training for me at class and also out in my gym. I have deadlines coming at me from all angles as im sure anyone my age can understand, I have coursework that I have my deadlines to stick too, and also my regime of training that I cant afford to let slip either so its hard at the moment but I would not have it any other way. My team mates done well at Crawley too the younger ones from the club really showed spirit and really kept the Fusion flag flying high we all had a good day including Ondrej who is here from Australia he had a good day also winning Gold.

Its Friday tomorrow and I have a busy weekend ahead of me.

I am off to school as normal tomorrow and then I will be leaving school early to travel with Mike my coach and my team mate Joel to Manchester for a training weekend. The National teams of France and Belgium will be there training and there will be a competition area for sparrring set up, unfortunatley I am only there to watch learn and listen as I am only 14 and the athletes who will be there are seniors so I wont get to join in the sparring. I will be learning more about nutrition to help me achieve my goals I can train and practice but without the right nutrition a lot of the hard work will be wasted so this is a very important area of an athletes life.

I will probably get to train maybe in speedwork and as the British Team know me im sure I will be picking up analysis tips on my game they will be giving me I am really looking forward to it.

I will fill you in when I return let you know what I have been taught.

After a great performance at the British National Championships, I was recognised and selected to represent my country at the Junior World Championships in Mexico.

After much thought and discussion with my coach I came to a decision, which was to turn the great honour down, the reason for this was because I doubt that physically and mentally I would be prepared, most other countries selected their teams months ago and most have a had a chance to practice on the lajust epb system which I have not had a chance to do yet. Also I have only just moved from cadet to junior which is a real milestone and change in the gameplan. To represent my country means a lot to me, I want to go there prepared fully so that i bring a medal home which i will have the opportunity to do in another two years time Another disadvantage to me is that we would have been flying out to mexico 3 weeks from the phone call which is not enough time as I like to have 6-7 weeks preparation for a major event.

The British Team after I had made my decision were respectful towards my decision although they have faith in my abilities, sometimes you have to decide what is right for you and make big decisions which are very hard to make. This way I get to carry on with my 2010 plan which is to attend the Dutch Open German Open, Austrin open and Belgiun Open A class events at Junior level and gain valuable experience.