South Dublin Taekwondo

The 2015 Olympic Taekwondo calendar is likely to be one of major excitement with many of the worlds elite hoping to gain a place at the 2016 Rio Olympics. One of Ireland’s up and coming players, Jack Woolley (16) commenced his competitive calendar at the U.S. Open, held in the Orange County Convention Centre, Orlando, Florida from 20-25th January. The tournament was selected for a number of reasons including giving the fin weight player his first Junior outing at -55kg and first Senior open outing at -54kg with hopes of clinching some WTF & Olympic ranking points.
The event was the Panamerican ‘G-2’ status event for 2015, or ‘Grade 2’ which entitles players to double ranking points of other typical ranking events, and also it was pinpointed as a good start as it permitted viable players compete at both junior & senior events should they fit the age criteria. As Jack turns 17 in 2015, this will be his final year as junior, but also a transitional year into senior has been planned, which made the event inviting.
On 24th Jack commenced his sparring events in senior -54kg division which had 33 competitors from around the globe. In his first competitive bout as a senior he lined up against Adriano Pereira of Brazil which proved a tricky fight, which he won 19-16. In round 2 he faced off against USA National Team veteran Luis Reyes, who he beat 17-16, clinching his final decisive 3 points in the last second of the match. His third outing looked like it , may be the end of the road as he was up against renound German National Team Player Sergej Kolb who had been on fire in the preliminary rounds. Woolley & Coach Robert Taaffe formulated a game plan to negate all previous attacks witnessed in the morning, which worked massively in the duos favour as the young Irish player finished off the match early with a 12 point gap after the 1st kick of the final round, and an 18-6 scoreline. Now guaranteed at least a bronze in his first senior open tournament, Woolley proceeded to the semis against Japanese opponent Takaya Nakawaga which proved his final outing of the day on this great day for the youngster. Japan went through to final with a 13-6 victory. At the end of the Saturday event Woolley proudly took to the podium to claim his 3rd place bronze, where not long before taekwondo legends and idols Aaron Cooke, and Steven Lopez also stood to claim their bronze medals.
On 25th Woolley set out to recommence with the same momentum as the day previous, where he competed in his own age category event Junior -55kg. This was his first outing as 55kg, moving up from 51kg to align his weight requirements in both senior & junior categories. His division had 28 competitions from throughout USA, Canada, Mexico, Ecuador and Japan. The day proved to be a day of Jack vs USA, as each match led him to players of the host nation. In the first round Jack had one of his toughest tests of the week, facing the tall Qichen Tang who led to some further first round ‘hearts in mouth’. Jack found himself 8-0 down in round 1, but managed to fight back to seal a 13-9 victory. In round two, Kenneth Fletcher of the USA was the opponent. The young Dubliner found another gear and stomped home to a 16-2 victory, ending the match early with a 12 point gap. In the quarters the USA players & home support continued, but at this stage, young Woolley had rallied up some supporters of his own. Jack clinically defeated Pablo Ortiz of USA 30-18, once again finishing the match early. In the final Jack was up against David Kim of USA and went ahead leading in the first round. Jack extended his lead, only to have 3 points wiped off by a coaches video replay call invalidating his 3 points for ‘holding’. Jack dominated for the 1st two rounds, but the final round saw a major resurgence from the USA national team player, regaining the lead and winning 13-9. Jack clinched silver in the junior -55kg division.
The week in the states proved to be a very fruitful one for the South Dublin Taekwondo, and national team player. Plans for 2015 include possible participation at the Senior World Championships in Russia, and the Junior Europeans in Latvia, which will certainly be jacks last Junior outing.
Coach Taaffe surmised the week in the USA noting, “This was a well earned 2 ranking medals. We are delighted with the reception of the USA crowd who warmed to Jack and his sometimes unorthodox kicking style which clinched many of his 145 points scored over the 9 matches of the weekend. On day 2 of the event we had officials congratulating Jack on his ‘big brothers’ performance on day 1, as they didn’t realise Jack was competing in both events. Even the live commentators online gave him some valuable recognition. The senior event with electronic head guards really suited us. Jacks kicks are sometimes hard to see for manual scoring, the senior event saw many of these register, unfortunately in the junior event, with regular head protectors we didn’t have the same luck in the final with a few connections not seen by the judges. There are some good lessons learned, now it is time to work on them to enhance other aspects of game and strategy, and hopefully reach some further medals this year. The support from home was incredible with live updates from the ITU Circulated and live footage watched in late hours of the day.
Jack, 16 started taekwondo at 5 years old, and now holds a 3rd Dan Black Belt. He participates in all disciplines of taekwondo, including poomsae (patterns), he also reached the semi final of the U.S. Open Poomsae Championships, which was attained although his primary focus was on sparring. Poomsae remains a major part of his training as the leg control and conditioning permits for the kicking style required for his sparring style.