With the new school year, the LMKS Gladius Bolesławiec club and its athletes began another training and competition season in taekwondo. Including the club’s activities when it was still known as UKS Ilyo, this is already the 15th season for taekwondo practitioners from Bolesławiec. However, let us focus on the most recent period and the plans for the near future. After a season that brought poor results in 2012/2013, with just three bronze medals in Olympic Taekwondo at national-level competitions—two won by Wiktoria Knapczyk at the Polish Junior Championships and the International Polish Championships – Polish Open, and one by Kamil Serafin at the Polish Youth Championships—the following season was, proverbially, a rebound.
This year, Gladius athletes have already reached the podium five times. The first medals for Bolesławiec at the Polish Junior Championships in Łódź were won by Dawid Poznański in the -49 kg category and Kinga Rusinek in the +65 kg category. A month later, Jakub Owczarek, following the regional qualifying tournaments, won bronze in the 41 kg category at the finals of the National Youth Olympics (Jun. Mł.) in Wrocław. However, the best result was achieved by two already decorated Gladius athletes: Kamil Serafin, competing in the -74 kg category, and Paulina Stojanowska in the -46 kg category, won silver medals at the Polish Youth Championships (ages 18–21); both had already won several medals in previous years, including gold medals, at the Polish Championships and the Championships of Belgium, Serbia and Croatia, where they competed as representatives of Poland.
In addition to these most important medals, the youngest taekwondo athletes from Bolesławiec regularly competed both in domestic tournaments and in those held by our western and southern neighbours, always returning with laurels; reports and results can be found on the club’s official fan page. For more than 10 years, the club has led its discipline in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, maintaining the top position in the Ministry of Sport and Tourism’s youth sport system.
For the past two years, LMKS Gladius has also organized one of the largest sporting events for children in our city—the Christmas Taekwondo Tournament. Last year’s edition brought together 157 children from Bolesławiec and affiliated clubs, who competed against one another in fitness events. The next, third edition of the event will take place over the weekend before Christmas. However, this will not be the club’s only organizational initiative this year, as Bolesławiec will host the 33rd Polish Senior Olympic Taekwondo Championships on October 11. More details will be available soon.
Beyond the purely competitive aspect, the club’s athletes, as well as children who do not train regularly, take part every year in sports camps organized by the club: during the winter holidays in the mountains, while in summer they spend time by the sea, enjoying an active holiday. The club also cooperates with clubs in the Czech Republic and Germany, organizing joint meetings and events, which also helps break down language barriers among the participants. In previous years, the club hosted instructors from Korea twice; thanks to one of these events, our Bolesławiec athletes can be seen in a 2012 promotional film by the World Taekwondo Federation.
Taekwondo is an excellent alternative for children and young people nowadays: by training, they learn self-discipline, commitment and perseverance. It also offers health benefits through participation in sports activities, including posture correction, combating excess weight and other benefits, as well as improved physical fitness and motor coordination. These are factors that are increasingly important for the human body, particularly for young people who are still developing.
Enrollment is underway
LMKS Gladius has just opened enrollment for its children’s and youth groups. Training sessions take place three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, at Primary School No. 4 on M. Brody Street. The children’s group starts at 4:30 p.m., the youth group at 5:30 p.m., while the 25+ Kick & Fun group for adults and parents will resume on October 1.
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Link to the fan page: www.facebook.com/taekwondo.boleslawiec