New to this year is the Master's Shield, this is a competition for all ITF Wales members colour and black belt with three divisions. Every medal won in the English, Scottish, Welsh and UK Opens count and the student with the highest total of points at the end of the year will be the Shield winner, the inaugural winners are:

Masters Taylor and Prewett then awarded the Ely and Fairwater students of the year who were as follows:

Master Prewett then closed up with a thank to you to everyone who has helped out throughout the whole year and donated all the raffle prizes (star of which was Mrs Gill Wakely's Santa cake) with a special mention to all the hard work done by Mrs Sue Phillips and Mrs Tracey Fenton. The floor then filed up as the music started and everyone had a great time bopping and grooving on the dance floor and were still going strong after the bar closed and it was time to go. One final word of thank to Mrs Clare Matthews IV who organised yet another great Awards night and we wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

In the after noon there was only Lanny competing and she was up first in the combined 13-17 dan patterns, receiving a bye into the semi final she performed very well in both rounds to win through to the final, here she picked up her level and again and won a  well deserved gold. In sparring there were only two females so LAN faced a taller and heavier opponent, moving well and trying to spar she was soon getting frustrated with the pulling and tugging of her dobok which went unpunished, losing her temper and receiving a warning for it in the break she calmed down and went back in composed winning points, finally after having her hair grabbed, head yanked back and punched in the back of the head the opponent was warned and from that moment on Lan chased her to pile up the points and was delighted picking up her second gold. Finally entering the special technique she found out that she was up against the boys - some who were a foot taller than her, knowing she wasn't going to win she still gave it a go and went out in the eliminator (no one made the the scissors kick which made her feel better).

Leaving around 4pm after the obligatory victory photo we headed into Dublin and found a nice Chinese to have a nice meal in before some site seeing in the dark down O'Connell street. Later we headed off to catch our 9pm ferry, fortunately  we had a another quite smooth crossing and got into Holyhead around midnight which then saw the guy and gals crash out in the car and wake up 4 hours later as we entered Wales. A very long and tiring but fun weekend away was the final conclusion and well done to all of you for performing so well and also thank all the members of RITA who made us feel welcome and especially Mr Floyd Keane VI whose friendly banter made all the competitors feel at ease despite being mocked.

Sophie Collins II	Fairwater	¼
Victoria Phillips II	Ely	1
Tom Harris I	Ely
Lanny James I	Ely

The event started with team pattern with each team performing a pattern then being scored, with nerves still settling all the teams performed well but it was Ireland and England who progressed - in the final Ireland well deserved their first place.

Next up was sparring with each team fighting each other gaining 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw and first team to 6 points won. Wales excelled here and won all three of their fights and this meant they won the sparring event.

Finally in destruction Wales put in a good performance but despite 3 out of the 5 team members breaking and amassing 20 points it wasn't enough to win the event which left them runners up. (3 points for a board, 1 point for a tile and 6 points for a brick)

This left the final results as below and England were this years Four Nations winners.

The competition ended with the medal and trophy presentation and some speeches before a live band provided the music and the dance floor filled up - with the die hards all being encouraged to leave at gone 2am it was a late night but a thoroughly enjoyed one - we would like to say thank you to the organisers as it was a great  time and of course to all team members who provided such high quality entertainment.

13-17 - green belts saw Sarah Jones go out in the first round of patterns against the eventual gold medallist but in sparring she upped the tempo to make it to the final and lost out to  a more determined opponent but was happy to pick up silver. In the red belts we saw Lanny James, Ryan Davis and Ben Hull all up against each other in patterns, with Ryan and Ben unfortunate to meet in the quarter final Ryan's sharper pattern moved him through - with Lanny easily taking her rounds those two eventually met in the final where Lanny was able to up the level just a little more to edge out Ryan 3-2 on the vote and take gold leaving Ryan with silver. In sparring Ben lost his semi final on a very close decision in a very frenetic bout and had to settle for bronze. Ryan made easy work of his group dominating every round and picking up a well deserved gold. In the female blue/red sparring Lanny emulated Ryan's feat and picked up her second gold of the day. In the black belt group we saw Lee Crews, George Crews, Gareth Francis, Conah Prosser and Delme Pezzack all compete in the same group. With a large group all of the boys were in for some hard work, Delme and Gareth unfortunately went out first round, Lee and George were both put out in the second round only leaving Conah to progress which he did well right through to the final, here we saw two very good competitors put on very good displays but the final decision went against him and Conah had to settle for silver but it was no small effort to win that. In sparring Conah lost his semi final in the -51kg and got bronze, Delme fought very well in the -58kg against a much taller, older and very experienced  opponent and did well to stay in the fight gaining valuable experience. Finally Gareth fighting in the -63kg for the first time had his hands full with a very good and experienced opponent and can be happy with the bronze he won although losing the semi final.

18+ yellow belts saw Sharon Collins perform well in patterns to pick up a silver and then in patterns she showed us more of the killer instinct to finish off her opponents and pick up a gold. In the green belts Daniel Neale performed well through he early rounds of patterns but was unable to pick it up a notch in the semi final so ended up with a bronze. In his sparring he did well again in the early rounds and made it through to final, a very hard fought final ended with a draw and the fighters having to come back up - unfortunately for Dan his opponent was able to dig that little bit deeper and do enough in the extra time to win the gold - but a well earned silver by Danial. Last up were the black belts in the male section Tom Harris performed well through early rounds, in patterns he reached the semi final and was narrowly beaten but in sparring he made it to the final and found himself up against not only and older and much more experienced opponent but someone who used to instruct  him when we was a young green belt - over coming his nerves he fought very well and took the fight to a 2-1 decision - although losing he was delighted with his performance. Finally in the female section Cassie Lund went out in the quarter final of patterns and Sophie Collins worked her way through to the final - after two very good rounds of patterns the decision went 3-2 against her but she can be happy with a well earned silver. In patterns the girls fortunes were reversed with Sophie losing her quarter final and Cassie making her way to the final this time, with a very physical bout and losing her focus Cassie was unable to get back the points she gave away to her opponent and had to settle for silver and a lovely shiner to boot.

At the end of a very long day everyone could be very pleased with themselves as they had performed well and won quite a bit too, with more than 300 competitors from 60 schools it was a big event. On announcement of the overalls Ely's Lanny James was awarded the 13-17 colour belt overall. Finally Fairwater School had 2 gold, 3 silver and a bronze which left them 15th on 13 points and Ely School with 4 gold, 7 silver, 6 bronze and an overall had 32 points and finished 2nd overall. A very well done to everyone who competed.

Sophie Collins II	Fairwater		¼
Cassie Lund I	Ely	¼
Lee Burridge I	Fairwater	r2	ne
Tom Harris I	Ely
George Crews I	Fairwater	r2	ne
Gareth Francis I	Ely	r1
Conah Prosser I	Ely
Delme Pezzack I	Fairwater	r1	¼
Lanny James	Ely
Kane Collins	Fairwater
Bethan Pezzack	Fairwater	¼
Ryan Davis	Ely
Ben Hull	Ely	¼
Daniel Neale	Ely
Sarah Jones	Ely	r1
Thomas Jenkins	Ely
Daniel Jenkins	Ely	¼
Sharon Collins	Fairwater

The first of the Welsh team up was Cassie Lund in the I dan female patterns, Performing well in her first round she beat the Bulgarian and moved into round 2 where she faced a Japanese opponent, unfortunately she was unable to advance further as her opponent was very solid in a  close round. Next up was Tom Harris in I dan male patterns, starting off against Austria Tom performed well and moved through to the second round. next up he faced the Chilean and again kept up his good work and moved through to the 1/4 final. here he came up against the Kazakhstani, despite another good performance by Tom he was unable to beat the Kazakhstani who went on to the final. In the female II dan patterns Sophie Collins face a Canadian in round 2, giving a good first pattern the Canadian was able to keep it up for the second and narrowly edged Sophie out. The final patterns competitor was Richard Taylor in II dan male patterns who faced a Czech in round 2 but was unable to raise his performance enough against a very solid Czech.

First sparrer was Cassie Lund in -51kg female facing a Ukrainian in round 2, a hard fought match between both saw the Ukrainian narrowly win and eventually make the final. in -57kg male Tom Harris also drew a Ukrainian and put in a solid performance but was unable to raise it enough to beat the Ukrainian who eventually went through to the final. In female -57kg sparring Sophie Collins dominated her opening bout easily beating her Estonian opponent and moving into round 2, next up she put in yet another solid performance and took out her German opponent to move on into the 1/4 final. Here she came up against the Czech who eventually made the final and starting cautiously fought well but left it too late to pull back the the narrow point lead the Czech built up. In Male -85kg Wayne Brooks started his first round against Australia and totally dominated the round easily moving into round 2, here he faced the Czech and immediately took the fight to him, putting the Czech at unease as he kept the pressure up and built up a  good lead to win the round. In the quarter final he face the Russian and both fought well trying to break each others defence down and score points with right at the end of the round Wayne threw a big hit which gave him the lead but it instantly received a yellow card from the umpire despite the Russian not being knocked down or visibly hurt, this had the misfortune of deducting Wayne's point lead and then losing another point for the yellow card and it was a harsh way to lose out on making he semi final. The last sparring was +85kg male with Richard Taylor facing the Bulgarian, in a very physical round Richard did enough to get a draw, in the extra time thought he Bulgarians speed and fitness paid off with him winning the round to advance to round 2.

The final event was power which was only entered by Richard Taylor, unfortunately he never made it beyond the eliminator of the side kick against 3 boards, with only around 6 competitors eventually achieving this break.

The first UKTA Select Team challenge of 2007 took place at the Scottish Open in the Kelvin Halls this year.

The event saw ITF Slovenia bring a male and female team and ITF Scotland a male team to take on the UKTA male and female teams which Master John Taylor VIII has selected from the National Squad training session he has held this year.

Male team:               Johnny Chan Fook Tin IV (Huddersfield), Felix Lopez IV (Bury), Gary Bonser II (Burbridge), Richard Taylor II (Cardiff University), Wayne Brooks I (Ely) and Tom Harris I (Ely).

Female team:           Leanne Taylor II (Meopham), Sophie Collins II (Fairwater), Laura Orgill II (Burbridge), Victoria Phillips I (Ely), Valentina Iotchkova I (Oxford University), Cassie Lund I (Ely) and Samantha Taylor I (Aldershot).    

The male patterns round saw all teams perform well with ITF Slovenia winning both rounds and Scotland beating the UKTA. This left the Slovenes in the lead with Scotland second and UKTA last.  In the first sparring ITF Slovenia beat ITF Scotland to consolidate their lead. The UKTA faced Scotland next:

The final round of sparring saw UKTA take on ITF Slovenia:

This left the UTKA on top from the sparring with a win and draw, ITF Slovenia second on a win and ITF Scotland third with a draw.

In the female competition ITF Slovenia won the patterns event to take an early lead before the sparring started:

This gave ITF Slovenia a win in both events. 

After all the sparring was over the teams lined back up to hear the results announced. In the male section it was ITF Slovenia - Gold, ITF Scotland - Silver and UKTA Select - Bronze (the final two on 1 win 1 draw each but the patterns win taking precedence in Scotland’s favour). In the females ITF Slovenia - Gold and UKTA select - Silver. The competitors were then presented with their medals by Grand Master Rhee Ki Ha IX, thanked for their hard worked and then headed off to compete in the individual events for the black belt sparring at the Scottish Open where many picked up more medals after even more hard work giving them a very long, hard but worthwhile day.