Hundreds of Fans meet Ricky Hatton at Marton

GOLDEN SIGNATURES: Ricky on hand to sign golden gloves for his fans

 

 

FIVE hundred people turned out to see Boxing great Ricky Hatton at an event in Middlesbrough.

Former two-weight world champion Hatton was at hand at the Marton Country Club last Friday to greet hundreds of fans at the event.

Ricky said that he was very proud of his fan-base as they were able to get a closer look at the Hitman.

Ricky said: “Even though I’m retired, it’s a privilege to come to places like Middlesbrough where 500 people turn up to listen to me talk about my career, even when I’m not in the spotlight as much. It makes me feel very proud.

“What I’ve found about the North-east over the years is that people are very passionate about sport.

“You always get a good reception up here and I think that’s a testimony to why I’ve done more sportsman’s dinners here than probably anywhere else in the country.”

The event was put together by Pride and Respect to celebrate the career of the legendary boxer, who won theWBA, IBF and IBO Light Welterweight  titles as well as the WBA Welterweight title in an illustrious career.

Hatton had fights with some of the biggest names in boxing history, including Floyd Mayweather andManny Pacquiao, before retiring in 2012 with a record of 45 wins and just three losses.

And this was the chance for those at the Marton Country Club to get a closer look at the Manchester-raised boxing legend.

Pride and Respect Organizer and events promoter Tony Robinson was ecstatic with how the event went and said it was the biggest thing they’ve ever held.

Tony said: “It was fantastic, it couldn’t have gone better with 500 people there.

“Ricky is a true British sporting icon, we could have probably filled the room twice over.

So it’s great when one of the biggest names in British boxing history comes to Middlesbrough.”

MEETING: Hatton takes photos with fans at the Marton Country Club

Rehabillitation Of Sportsmen: Should Offenders Be Allowed Back In The Game?

ON March 26th 1992, boxer Mike Tyson was sentenced to six years of imprisonment for rape which rocked the boxing community.

Coming out of jail in 1996, Tyson would return to the ring and go on to regain the World Championship from Frank Bruno.

Now if Mike Tyson, one of the biggest stars in sports, was allowed to continue his in-ring career – then why has Ched Evans not been allowed the same luxury?

Evans himself was convicted of rape, has been released from prison but has been denied to return to competitive football for the likes of Sheffield United and Oldham due to major outcry from fans and even members of parliament.

However, Evans has always maintained his innocence and has shown no contrition for his crime.

I will take a look as to how and why, in the last twenty years, attitudes have changed and why Evans is being denied the chance to return to the game and is it justified?

Ched Evans was jailed for five years after raping a 19-year-old.

Ever since his release, he’s attempted to get himself back in the game with old club Sheffield United.

However, a petition signed by 150,000 surfaced saying that the club’s attempts to sign the player was “a deep insult to the woman who was raped and to all women like her who have suffered at the hands of a rapist”, which led to the club pulling out of the deal.

In December, Hartlepool United manager Ronnie Moore announced he would like to sign the striker in the club’s attempts to stay in the football league.

But following outcry from supporters on social media and Hartlepool MP Iain Wright, the club quickly stated that they wouldn’t sign the Welsh International.

The nearest the striker has come to a club was Oldham Athletic, who had previously signed former convict Lee Hughes upon his prison release.

After a few of their sponsors ended their ties with the club and public outcry from the likes of Labour leader Ed Miliband speaking out on the signing, they too pulled out.

So looking back, what are the factors that have been effective in putting a halt to Evans’ plans?

One huge factor is time, with Evans looking to get back in the game almost immediately after being released.

David Cameron said it best in an interview on BBC North West Tonight: “Perhaps he needs to do more to put back in to the community some sense of atonement for what he’s done before he restarts his career.”

With him heavily exposed in the media limelight, there’s little chance right now that any deal he makes will go down without public reaction.

Now that’s not to say that there wasn’t an ounce of public backlash towards Tyson returning to the ring, but twenty years ago there was not a social media website called Twitter which gave people to the platform to post whatever they think at will.

In a recent episode of BBC Sportshour, Editor of Loaded Magazine and former News Of The World writer Martin Daubney explained how the media’s attitude towards Tyson was very different to recent cases like Evans.

Martins said: “The Evans case was very different to the Tyson incident because the media were actually championing his innocence.

“There was a feeling that Mike had been wronged and his reintegration back into boxing was very much eased by the fact that he’d had a very sympathetic media treatment will incarcerated.”

Twitter has been responsible for campaigns for AND against Evans getting back into football, and has even been responsible for naming the victim of the rape crime ten times since the incident took place.

I think it’s safe to say that Twitter has been a been huge factor in impacting the sporting world, which has been proven very true in other parts of the world.

Talk of the rehabilitation of sportsmen has also been at large in the United States of America, with two incidents with high-profile NFL players getting the nation talking.

On February 15th 2014, Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice was arrested for assault after striking his fiancee in an incident which was later released on film by TMZ.

The event led to the Ravens initially terminating Rice’s contract in September and the NFL declaring that Rice was suspended indefinitely from competition.

However, he was later reinstated and is now in the same position as Evans here in the United Kingdom… a free agent looking to get back in the game

However, Professional Marie Hardin of Penn State University, who was also a part of the Sportshour episode mentioned earlier, believes that the public reaction to Rice has given the NFL a wake-up call.

Marie said: “I do think it’s been a rude awakening here for the NFL in terms of thinking about the way the public now can weigh in.

“It maybe a small percentage of fans that weigh in publicly but they weigh in in a way that gets attention.

“And it’s certainty gotten the interest of the NFL.”

What’s also got the attention of the NFL is the arrests and charging of Indianapolis Colts’ Josh McNary for rape in January 2015.

The Colts handled the situation very well by putting out a statement calling for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to add McNary to the NFL’s “Commissioner Exemption List”.

What this means is that McNary is barred from practice and competition while an NFL investigation is under way.

Even with their big Championship match with the New England Patriots just around the corner (which he was expected to play in), the Colts had the “rude awakening” mentioned earlier and took measures to make sure that potential public outcry did not break out to such a great extent.

Just think, if the Evans case is so big here in the United Kingdom, how much do you think a case like this could escalate to in the United States?

As the attitudes have changed towards this topic, so have the times.

Never has the world been this democratized both on social and mainstream media.

So it’s clear that an incident like the Ched Evans was never going to be let down quietly and clubs are starting the get the picture about how strong public reactions can be.

I personally don’t believe that public opinion shouldn’t be so influential that it prevents someone, no matter who they are, from doing what they love.

But in the case of a high-profile sportsman, that sportsman should have known well enough than to expect an easy passage back in the game and who in their right mind should run the risk of public outcry and losing sponsors just to get him?

To borrow a quote from Daily Express writer Mick Dennis – Ched Evans should play again… but not at my club.

Martial Arts Montage!: T’ai Chi and Seiken-Do

Ladies and gentlemen, I have quite the treat for you guys. With the brilliance of Adobe Premiere and with old footage from my articles about the Teesside University fighting clubs, I’ve been able to put together not one, but TWO martial arts montage videos!

Firstly, here’s a video on the Teesside University T’ai Chi club I visited early on this year. The link to the original article is down below…
T’ai Chi

The second video is about the Teesside University Seiken-Do club which I also visited this year. The original article for that is down below too…

Seiken-Do

Teesside Students Take National Taekwondo Competitio​n By Storm

 

MEDALS: The team show off medals won at the National event.

TEESSIDE University’s top taekwondo fighers took a national competition by storm to walk away with 10 medals.

The Teesside University Taekwondo club took part in the National Open Championship in Surrey from the 21^st to the 23^rd of March, along with 80 other teams from around the nation.

The team, consisting of students from the University, were able to finish in the top 20 of the school standings and even won two gold medals.

Instructor Chris Black says that the effort that the team put paid off with the success in Surrey.

Chris said: “To achieve a top 20 finish out of 81 schools and clubs is quite an amazing achievement”.

“Such success like this will prove that hard dedicated work from all of us is very important.”

“The results have shown with this success that obviously the members are picking up on the basics very quickly”.

The University team were one of two teams representing the North-East Schools of Taekwondo, along with a club from Redcar.

The Marske team also won two gold medals, resulting in four National champions from the North-East being crowned.

Chris says success like this can provide a lot more interest in the sport and believes even more taekwondo success is coming Teesside University’s way.

Chris said: “It is very hard to win a medal at these events especially with the European championship credentials of some of the players”.

“Having only started the University club in October, it is a fantastic achievement.”

“We hope that even more national champions can come through in future competitions.”

The club is normally on from 7pm-9pm on Tuesdays at the Brittan Building.

To learn more about the club you can visit their Facebook page and the North East Schools of Taekwondo page for more information of schools around the North East and taekwondo clothing.

 

Battle Of The North-East Boxers: Stuart Hall vs Martin Ward

With myself being off from university for a couple of weeks, I felt it was nice to take a break from covering university sports and instead do a little post on a major North East boxing event. I’m of course talking about the fight between Stuart Hall and Martin Ward.

It was set to be a historic night for North East boxing! For the first time in history, two boxers hailing from the North East would fight for a World boxing Championship… more specifically the IBF Bantamweight Championship.

The champion Stuart Hall, born in Darlington, took on the Durham-born challenger Martin Ward at the Metro Radio arena in Newcastle for the right to be called World Champion. It was a night to remember for North-East boxing as with similar records, a close encounter was to be expected. The anticipation was building as the region and the nation feasted its eyes on these two local fighters with something to prove on the big stage.

BBC Tees’ Rob Law and Andy Bell were holding it down at ringside with the rest of the press as these two made their way to the ring. When the bell rang, fists were flying from both competitors. It was really anyone’s for the taking. But a clash of heads put the brakes on this battle.

At the end of the first round, Ward had received a nasty cut but still seemed raring to go for the second round. However, it wasn’t long until the ref decided to stop the match. The fight was declared a technical draw as  fans and boxers were enraged.

It was still a monumental occasion for the North East. There’s reason to have a gripe though. It’ll be a long time before a rematch is able to take place. With Ward unlikely to be ready for any quick rematches due to facial injuries, both Ward and Hall both need to make mandatory title defences which could take a long time to make happen. After which, both boxers may be moving on to different things. So seeing a match like this again may be a while away.

Also, Ward AND Hall are gonna be a little steamed. Hall would have wanted the chance to knock off Ward in a legitimate fashion and Ward obviously misses out on the World Title. However, I do think it still sends a big statement to the rest of the nation of the fact that two North-East boxers were able to get in such a state of success and that led to a match like taking place in the first place. And despite this fight, Hall and Ward both still have the tools to make it in further in boxing. But let’s all hope for a rematch despite such an anti-climactic finish.

 

Related Articles

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/mar/30/stuart-hall-ibf-bantamweight-title-martin-ward

http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/sport/boxing/martin-ward-deserves-another-crack-6897843

Help Send North-East Taekwondo Students To London!

A little piece up today folks, because the great North East Schools of Taekwondo need your help!

Compiled of students from all around Middlesbrough including the Teesside University club, the school need funding to aid their quests to get the hard-working students to the first ever English National Open!

They are hoping to send a huge team composed of Redcar, Markse, Saltburn out to Guildford, London for the open from March 21st to the 23rd.

The goal is £600 in 31 days to aid funding for coach costs and entry fees for the budding fighters wanting to take their Taekwondo skills to London!

Instructor Chris Black has encouraged people to get donating as this is a huge opportunity for these up-and-coming martial artists to compete in their first major competition ever.

Chris said: “We have now over 20 students training hard in the club and we have 10 fully funded entries so from the Teesside University student union, but if we could get the price down or funding this may allow a few more to attend.

“The student union are very happy how big we’ve become in such a short amount of time.

“I hope that things will grow and we are here to stay.”

Definitely a great cause to donate for.

They’re an awesome group that has gained a lot of popularity in a short amount of time.

In the student union, they’ve become one of, if not the, biggest martial arts club.

And these students deserve the chance to show just what they can do on a national scale.

The link to donate and help send these fighters to London is down below. Just click on it, donate and help the cause.

http://gogetfunding.com/project/nest-students-first-english-open-championships-london

Facebook pages down below…

North East Schools Of Taekwondo: https://www.facebook.com/NestTaekwondo/info#!/NorthEastSchoolsTKD?fref=ts

Teesside University Taekwondo Club: https://www.facebook.com/NestTaekwondo/info#!/TeessideUniTaekwondo?fref=ts

Students Learn The Art Of T’ai Chi

DEVELOPING FORM: The club demonstrating a T’ai Chi form in certain stages.

Chinese martial arts are unlike many forms that have come and gone.

Hundreds of Chinese martial arts have emerged from the shadows over time and the majority of them aren’t actually used for use of combat at all.

T’ai Chi is a physical AND mental martial art, focusing on developing ones health rather than martial arts skill.

For this reason, many practitioners use this as a method to get fit rather than to use in combat.

Despite this, T’ai Chi is still a form of fighting that can hold its own against any average Joe.

LEARNING: Instructor Stephen Brown teaching attacks to the group

CHINESE martial art T’ai Chi has found its way to Teesside University as way to help students feeling the pressure of their studies.

The Teesside University T’ai Chi society was formed as a way to ease the minds of students with its work on health of the body and mind.

Stephen Brown has been instructing for 4 years at the club and he couldn’t wait to take instruction.

Stephen said: “I was in one of the classes and I’d already been doing teaching when one of the teachers left.”

“And I said “Well I’ll keep it going and continue to teach it” to keep the club going.”

“I’ve been doing it for 4 years now and it has been a great experience.”

FOLLOW THE LEADER: Members attempting to follow the moves showcased by Intstructor Stephen

Stephen has been studying yang style T’ai Chi for more than 10 years and has been studying chen style T’ai Chi for 6 years.

It is the Chen style that is taught in the club, which Stephen has a lot of differences from the yang style.

Stephen said: “From the chen style stemmed some other styles like yang style.”

“Chen style is gaining preference becauseit has more of a balanced nature to it whereas yang is very soft and gentle.”

“The chen tends to be of equal hard and softness so it has both ying and yang aspects.”

FLOW: Following the flow of the move with the instructor

Regardless of what style is taught, Tai-Chi is a style which really benefits those with an interesting in protecting themselves.

Stephen said: “T’ai chi helps with self-defence and when I say self-defence, the first thing in self-defence is the health of the body.”

“One can’t defend themselves if they can’t defend themselves against themselves.”

“It allows the user the ability to release one’s mind from the daily activities.”

T’AI CHI MOVES: Stephen demonstrates a form for his students to follow

Stephen continued the group on after was graduating with qualifications in Visual and Web Applications.

Stephen believes it is an exercise that can help ease stress levels, especially for students.

Stephen said: “If you’re a student and you walk away from studies and come back with a fresher mind, you can always tackle something.

“Now that’s difficult to do, because how do you walk away from something well if you go and do something and you study something else?

“You’re not resting the mind, but if you do something that’s a study of movement like t’ai chi is, there’s no serious difficulty in moving the body in co-ordination with one’s will, but doing it precisely is relaxing but not tense.”

CLUB UNITED: Club showcases their skills as one.

Member and current student Sean Wilkinson encourages students to get involved in order to ease the heavily loaded student mind like it has for him.

Sean said: “I think you should give it ago, because it does help your mind and your body.”

“Not only is it a physical activity it’s a mental activity.”

“After hours of doing this, your mind is completely clear and it’s still a martial and is used for self-defence.

Sessions are usually on from 2:00pm to 4:00pm every Sunday in the Brittan Building, but this can be subject to change.

To find out more about the club e-mail them at taichi@tees-su.org.uk.

Students Hitting Hard With Teesside University Seiken-Do Club

AT THE READY: Members prepare to strike at the Seiken-Do Club

NOW I know what you’re thinking… just what is Seiken-Do?

What is this martial art all about?

Well prepare yourself to be introduced to the longest running martial arts club in Teesside University history – Teesside University Seiken-Do society!

HARD-HITTING SHOTS: A member works on his striking ability

Starting nearly 20 years ago, the martial art was introduced by Roy Cullen as a way of combining his knowledge of the arts of Brazilian Jiu-Jistu and Jeet Kune Do into one form.

The constituent styles in SKD are Jeet Kune Do, Wing Chun, BJJ and Russian Systema taught within a framework including developmental psychology and encapsulated by teaching methodology.

Jeet Kune Do is the style that was used by martial arts legend Bruce Lee, who believed the majority of martial arts were too rigid and formalistic to be practical in scenarios of chaotic street fighting.

The Seiken-Do form was developed from Jeet Kune Do to become the ultimate defence when it comes to real-life situations you could find yourself on the streets.

FRONT KICK: Paul delivers a hard front kick to the pads

In fact, Paul Standen of the club believes that Seiken-Do is so distinct of an art that there is no real style involved and is based on improvisation rather than technique.

Paul said: “There is no style to this art.”

“Seiken-Do is a set of principles and you follow principles rather than a style.”

“We take a lot of arts and a lot of techniques from different arts and use them the way Bruce Lee did.”

KICKS EVERYWHERE: Brutal kicks dished out in the Seiken-Do class

During his time as a Teesside University as a consultant, Cullen started off a Jeet Kune Do class there which was later developed into the Seiken-Do club.

The club was the most popular martial arts class at the University for many years and has hosted some of the biggest names in the martial arts world for seminars as well as having students participate in MMA competition.

With other fighting clubs being formed, the club found itself overshadowed by the more well-known martial arts and saw a decrease in interest.

However, it stills remains a University society and club chairman Jack Serpell believes the art is a lot less restricted than them other forms.

Jack said: “Seiken-Do isn’t a sport as such.”

“It’s more of a defence art”.

“It’s so much more flexible and interchangeable than other forms.”

SELF DEFENCE: Paul teaches us about defending yourself against a weapon attack

Paul Standen has been fighting for nearly 30 years and has spent about 15 years in Seiken-Do.

He feels that the martial art is something that you could benefit a lot from in as early as your first session.

Paul said: “It’s a good skill, if you want something that you can do straight away and doesn’t take 5 years to get good at it.”

“After your first session, you can do something that’s significant.”

“It really is as simple as that.”

PRACTICE: The members work on their craft

The club is open to all Teesside University students and chairman Jack, who is a student himself, does not believe the club to be a huge burden on his studies.

Jack said: “The training times are very flexible for students.”

“We are training Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays and it’s really beneficial.”

“If you can’t make one night, you can always make another.”

There is a lot of flexibility as the club is on at 7:30pm to 9:30pm on Thursday, 11:00am to 2:00pm on Saturday and 12pm to 3pm on Sundays.

So there’s plenty of sessions during the week if you can’t make it one day.

To find out more about the club you can go to their Facebook page “Seiken-Do UK” at this link https://www.facebook.com/SeikenDoUK.

Stockton Wrestling Club Video Package

EVENING sports fans. My name is Tom Robinson.

Amateur wrestling has had a rollercoaster of a year in 2013.

It all started when the International Olympics Committee decided to drop the sport as an olympic sport for the 2016 games in Rio, Brazil.

However, on September 8th 2013 the sport was given a second chance when it defeated the likes of squash, karate and roller sports to recieve entry into the 2020 and 2024 games as an olympic sport.

I went to Stockton Wrestling Club, which is one of few amateur wrestling clubs left in the North-East.

It is has been around for 20 years and has produced wrestlers that have competed on a national scale and even beyond.

Teesside University Students Getting A Kick Out Of Taekwondo

PREPARE TO FIGHT: Members of the club showing off their stances

TAEKWONDO developed from the oldest known martial arts in Korea, but it is still one of the most hard-hitting fighting styles in the world.

Taekwondo is a martial art that emphasises the use of your feet as well as your hands in ways to end a fight.

In Korea, taekwondo is loosely translated to “the way of the foot and the hand” based on the Korean definitions of these three phrases.

Tae – “to strike or break with foot”

Kwon – “to strike or break with fist”

Do – “way”

Taekwondo was officially  introduced as a martial art in Korea in 1955.

It would then go on to be a full-medal Olympic sport in the 2000 Sydney Olympic games, after being a demonstration sport since 1988.

In 2012 Britain’s Jade Jones actually won gold in the London Olympics for taekwondo, making her the only Brit to ever win Gold for the martial art.

Teesside University have started given students a chance to study in the fighting style of Taekwondo.

The Teesside University Taekwondo Club was introduced in October and his gained a lot of members in a short period of time.

The club’s instructor is Christopher Black, who is hopefully that the numbers will increase with time.

Chris said: “We are a class to learn and educate in moral culture and learning the correct techniques to become experts in taekwondo.”

“With the backing of the SU, we are pleased that the numbers will increase and generate more interest and bring people to the classes.”

“It is great as you are guaranteed new starters every fresher’s week and new student year so always good to have fresh blood in the class and encourage the last years students to step up the grades.”

Chris is a  ITF 4th Degree International Instructor & Examiner, who started training at aged 9 years old has been training for 27 years.

He’s spent 20 years of instructing the original art of Taekwondo and has been instructing at universities for more than 15 years.

He’s also achieved success in both European and World Championships and is a ITF International B umpire and referee.

Chris believes that with the strict syllabus fighters must learn, university students can digest it as learning comes a lot more natural for them.

Chris said: “I really enjoy the fact that University students are in the right frame of mind to learn and you do find that they progress a lot quicker than outside classes.”

“Advantage really in taekwondo is the legs famous for amazing kicking ability, and the power of taekwondo cannot be rivalled by any other martial art.”

“Also, we follow true moral cultures and taekwondo is not just about sport events and it is a way of life that hopefully any student will also take into their working and family life.”

Chris believes that it’s crucial for students to focus on the learning aspects of taekwondo initially.

Chris said: “You must always understand that you need to learn the basics first before can do the more fun side of any martial art.”

“The ultimate advice I would say remember your instructor has worked hard for his/her grades and though many years’ experience, learning and their own mistakes they are the best way to master a art form and take everything you can from your instructor but always appreciate and respect them.”

“I believe that anyone can learn taekwondo no matter what age, size, mobility and dexterity.”

Chris encourages students to get involved with the newly formed club and learn the art of taekwondo.

Chris said: “We are a new club and in only 6 weeks we now have 22 registered members which show the talent and fun they are all having already.”

“We would like to become the biggest martial art club at TU!”

“We are friendly and confidence building, so come along and give us a try!”

The club are also taking a few students to Derby University who are hosting  for the weekend with a 6 hour open sparring seminar with the World famous ITF Japan Head Coach Mr Hwang Su IL (VI Dan).

He is famous for the man who was modelled with light animation for the computer game Tekken.

This will be an amazing opportunity to train with the former World Champion and learn some amazing new sparring tricks.

The club is normally on from 7pm-9pm on Tuesdays at the Brittan Building. To learn more about the club you can visit their Facebook page here and the North East Schools of Taekwondo page for more information of schools around the North East and taekwondo clothing.