Today saw the second of our Zoom Seminars take place. 106 participants from across Scotland tuned in via the online platform to take part in the Sparring Session ran by current World Champion, and four times European Champion Miss Katrina Carr III Degree.
Miss Carr began the session with a brief introduction of her, and her achievements in both her Taekwon-Do and academic career to date. The 45 minute session was broken in to 3 distinct parts, beginning with a warm-up to ensure everyone was prepared, leading the participants through two relatively short but dynamic warm-up circuits that she uses as part of her preparations in her regular training routine.
The second part of the session focused on sparring drills and techniques that can be used firstly in a defensive scenario, as well as in a more attacking scenario. Throughout these, Miss Carr built the drills from the initial basic technique, in to drills consisting of up to 7 techniques. During which she highlighted the importance of dynamic movement and positioning in each section part of the routine. Each participant was tasked with working though these for set time frames, allowing for further direction and advice from Miss Carr.
After the physical part of the session, there was an opportunity to pose some questions to Miss Carr, most of these were sent in prior to the session, allowing for an interview style format. From the questions, Miss Carr discussed her journey in Taekwon-Do since starting at aged 8, touching on her normal weekly training sessions with her own instructor and coach Mr. Boydell, as well as the beginnings of her competitive journey. She went on to discuss some of her preparation processes for both Pattern and Sparring events, and spoke about some of her standout moments as a National Team member, highlighting amongst others memorable moments of winning European & World Titles in her own career. It was also humbling to hear her speak highly of her fellow team members, and the standout moments they shared together as a team. To end we heard some words of encouragement from her to those embarking on their own competitive Taekwon-Do careers.
We’d like to thank Miss Carr for taking the time to run today’s session.
