Had a great weekend in London at the London Prepares event and the Olympics is going to be fantastic. The Excel venue is a fantastic venue and lay out is brilliant. So jealous that we they didn’t do -58Kg at the test event, as I would have loved to have competed at the Excel.

Congratulations to Aaron Cook on his gold at -80Kg at the test event.

It was really good to experience the event as an athlete and go through all the process for accreditation and backstage access. I did an interview with the BBC School report team which you can see here.

I fly to Paris on Thursday morning with the rest of the GB team and will compete on Sunday. A bit different from arriving late Friday night/early Saturday morning with Dad.

Well it’s finally happened! during training at Dartford last week I clashed heads with a training partner and am now the proud owner of a cauliflower ear! To make matters worse I was training with my younger brother Jack last thursday and part way through the training I heard the strangest noise, yes it was my ear which then went to twice it’s normal size. So after a trip to the hospital I had it drained and then what appeared to be a button sewn on the front and also another button on the back of my ear lobe. This was done to keep a continuous pressure against my ear to stop the swelling re-occurirng. After 5 days or pain I final had the stitches taken away yesterday and I’m pleased to say my ear looks far better than I expected, so now I shall look rather silly because I will be wearing a head guard during training.

On a far happier note I received a cheque for £300 from Asda yesterday to top-up my funding. This couldn’t have come at a better time, I have the British trials in January and as part of my training I will be aattending two training camps 1 in France and the other one in Germany. So the extra money will go a long way to helping me pay for these trips, so a big thank you to everyone at Asda.

Training is going well and I am building towards Paris in December, it is decided I will only fight -55Kg Juniors in Paris and keep my focus on the Junior division as the weight difference is going to be too big a gap. After Paris I will be moving up to -59Kg at juniors and means that I will also be doing -58Kg at seniors.

I am now settling into the Academy life and enjoying the life style of a full time athlete. It is fantastic to be working with some of the best taekwondo players in the World on a daily basis and the support staffs ensures that I am progressing and keeping to my targets.

Next week I am going to London to watch the ‘London Prepares’ Invitational Taekwondo even. It should be a fantastic event with a number of major world stars appearing. Unfortunately the event is not open to the public and only for four of the Olympic weight categories Male -68kg and -80Kg and female -46Kg and +67Kg, shame as I would have loved to have fought at -58Kg.

I have still attended a couple of competitions in the UK including the Scorpion Future Championships and the British Master Championships, it is strange to attend the events and not compete but it does allow me to keep in touch with all of my friends in Taekwondo.

Training is going well and I am building towards Paris in December, it is decided I will only fight -55Kg Juniors in Paris and keep my focus on the Junior division as the weight difference is going to be too big a gap. After Paris I will be moving up to -59Kg at juniors and means that I will also be doing -58Kg at seniors.

I am now settling into the Academy life and enjoying the life style of a full time athlete. It is fantastic to be working with some of the best taekwondo players in the World on a daily basis and the support staffs ensures that I am progressing and keeping to my targets.

Next week I am going to London to watch the ‘London Prepares’ Invitational Taekwondo even. It should be a fantastic event with a number of major world stars appearing. Unfortunately the event is not open to the pubic and only for four of the Olympic weight categories Male -68kg and -80Kg and female -46Kg and +67Kg, shame as I would have loved to have fought at -58Kg.

video clip of last minute of third round v Ukraine.

I had a couple of days off after the Junior Europeans and visited my old senior school to promote Taekwondo. I visited the Spennymoor Comprehensive School and spoke to 140 year 8 students, it was strange going back to school and answer questions about “taekwondo”. My club instructor Russell Shaw came and did an introduction and talked about my career so far. It was really strange hearing somebody talk about what you have done so far and you forget how proud the people who have helped you are of what you have done. It makes you think a bit about what you have actually done and does make you wonder.

Hi Back from the Junior Europeans, I had four fights and unfortunately lost in the semi-final against Israel in the Sudden Death round. In the first round I beat Portugal 16-2, second round Ukraine 10-3, third round I beat Azerbaijan on golden point after drawing 15-15 in normal time. In the semi-final I played Israel and again went to golden point and this time lost. It was a very good and hard match and with a couple of seconds to go in normal time I was a point up but unfortunately got a deduction to make it 8-8 and sudden death. On sudden death it was very tight and on the electronic scoring system my opponent beat me to the kick.

Training finished, bags packed on target to make my weight and I am off to Cyprus this morning for the Junior European Championships.

Have had a great weekend at the British International Open watching my team mates rip it up including gold medals for Jade Jones, Martin Stamper and Bianca Walkden. Shame I could not fight, first British International Open I have never competed at, but focus is Thursday and Europeans.

Thank to my team mates, support team and coaches for getting me ready, now cannot wait to get to Cyprus and provide every one with a great performance.

Once we are in camp, I have to keep my focus so will not be posting updates but the competition can be watched live from Thursday at http://www.ejtc-pafos.com/

Thanks for all the support and good luck messages.

Jamie

Training is going well and I am completing the final preparations for the Junior European Championships. The Academy is really buzzing as we all are competing within the next couple of weeks with some competing this weekend at the British International Open and other competing at the Junior Europeans next week.

I am unfortunately not competing this weekend at the British International Open http://www.gbtaekwondo.co.uk/events.html, as I would fight on the Sunday, which will be only four days before my competition day at the Junior Europeans http://www.ejtc-pafos.com/

I fly to Cyprus next Monday and I am really looking forward to the competition.

When I return there is going to be a Great Britain v France National Team fight night held near my home town (Spennymoor) at Newtown Aycliffe, so I am hoping to have a medal to show the home crowd and also stay injury free to give me a chance of selection for the fight night. It will be a fantastic night with 9 players from each country competing.

Good luck to everyone competing at the British International Open and see you all in Manchester.

International Fight Night