After an incredibly busy spring filled with gradings, competitions, and some fantastic achievements, things have started to settle down a little around the club. The warmer weather has certainly brought its own challenges, but it's been great to see so many of you continuing to train despite the heat. As we head towards the summer holidays, there's still plenty to look forward to, including our upcoming colour belt grading, the launch of our new club shop, and, of course, our annual Summer BBQ. Read on to find out what's coming up!

West Exe Venue Change

As of today (9th July), we're back in the Gymnasium at West Exe School! Thank you all for your patience whilst we temporarily trained in the Dance Studio at St Luke's. We know it was a smaller (and much warmer!) venue, so we're delighted to be back in our usual hall as we build towards our summer grading.

Hot Weather Training

The recent spell of hot weather has certainly made training more challenging than usual. Over the past few weeks we've had to adapt sessions by training outdoors, shortening classes and, on a couple of occasions, cancelling sessions altogether when temperatures became too extreme.

Thank you to everyone who has continued to train and worked so hard despite the heat.

Whilst the warmer weather continues, we'll do everything we can to make training as comfortable as possible by improving ventilation, adjusting the intensity of sessions where needed, and including plenty of drink breaks.

Please remember to bring plenty of water to every class!

July Colour Belt Grading

Our summer grading is now just around the corner, but there's still plenty of time to prepare. With classes returning to their usual venues and cooler temperatures forecast, now is the perfect opportunity to attend as many sessions as possible if you're hoping to grade this time.

If you're unsure whether you're due to grade, please speak to one of the instructors. Anyone wishing to grade must attend the pre-grading.

Pre-Grading

• Date: Thursday 23rd July
• Time: 6:00–7:30pm
• Venue: Dance Studio, St Luke's C of E School, Harts Lane, Exeter

Grading

• Date: Sunday 26th July
• Time: From 9:30am (arrival times for each belt group will be confirmed closer to the day)
• Venue: Cranbrook Education Campus, Tillhouse Road, Cranbrook, EX5 7EE

Please remember:

• Full traditional white doboks must be worn for both the pre-grading and grading.
• No jewellery may be worn.

A Note on Uniform

During the recent hot weather we've relaxed our uniform requirements slightly, allowing students to train in T-shirts where appropriate. However, we've noticed that standards have become a little too relaxed over the past few months, so we'd like to remind everyone of our club uniform policy.

Our expectation is that students wear a dobok for training. This can be your traditional white dobok, one of our new club doboks, or an official international suit. We completely understand that many of you prefer to keep your white dobok for gradings and competitions, so alternative official uniforms are absolutely fine.

During warmer weather, club or official TAGB T-shirts may be worn with dobok trousers. Shorts should only be worn when we have specifically advised that temperatures are high enough to allow them.

Finally... belts!

Your belt should always be worn during training, regardless of the weather. You've all worked incredibly hard to earn your grade, so wear it with pride! We've noticed quite a few belts being forgotten recently, so please make a conscious effort to bring them to every session.

We appreciate this may sound strict, but Tae Kwon-Do is built upon discipline and respect. Whilst training has evolved over the years, these traditions remain an important part of our martial art. Simple things such as wearing your belt correctly, removing it before eating or drinking, bowing when entering and leaving the dojang, and addressing instructors and senior grades as Sir or Ma'am all help to maintain those values.

Club Kit is Now LIVE!

We're delighted to announce that our brand new VX3 online club shop is now live!

This has been a long project, replacing our previous Adidas range with a fresh new design that gives us a consistent club identity moving forward.

The new range includes T-shirts, hoodies, quarter-zips, tracksuit bottoms, gilets, kit bags, caps and much more, all available to order whenever you like and delivered directly to your door.

To visit the shop, use the link below or head to our club website. Hover over the More tab and select Shop.

Click HERE to shop our new kit range!

Don't forget to sign up to VX3's emails to receive 10% off your first order!

Please note that doboks, sparring equipment and other TAGB items should still be ordered through Miss Searle.

Our Annual Summer BBQ is Back!

One of our favourite events of the year returns on Saturday 25th July, and we'd love to see as many of you there as possible!

Expect an afternoon of great food, games, catching up with friends, and our traditional (and always competitive!) game of rounders.

A huge thank you, as always, to Miss Searle's mum, Sam, for kindly hosting the afternoon and providing the BBQ. We simply ask everyone to bring along their own food and drinks. If the weather forecast is looking very poor, we will make the decision to cancel a few days in advance so everyone has plenty of notice. Otherwise, we will only cancel on the morning if the weather takes a bad turn.

Date: Saturday 25th July
Time: From 3:00pm onwards
Venue: Sandy Acres, Sandy Lane, Broadclyst, Exeter, EX5 3AN

To help us estimate numbers, please complete the short form HERE

As we move through the summer, we'd like to thank everyone for their continued commitment, enthusiasm and support. It's been fantastic to see so many of you progressing towards your goals, whether that's preparing for a grading, competing, improving your fitness, or simply enjoying your Tae Kwon-Do journey.

We hope to see as many of you as possible at training over the coming weeks, and we look forward to celebrating together at both the grading and our Summer BBQ. Have a fantastic month, and as always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to speak to one of your instructors.