{"id":12230,"date":"2022-03-28T12:02:46","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T10:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.kct.pl\/?p=12230"},"modified":"2026-09-16T14:36:52","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T12:36:52","slug":"english-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kct.pl\/en\/english-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"English Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t\n

On 5 March 2022, our adventure with the English Championships began at Balice Airport. Read the accounts of our trip to the English Championships.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

On 5 March 2022, our adventure with the English Championships began at Balice Airport. At 3:45 in the morning, we met in the airport terminal and went together to check in our luggage. On the way to security, Darek realised that he had not taken his belt from home. Considering that we were going to the Taekwon-do English Championships, the belt could prove to be quite a useful item, so Dariusz called his father and asked him to make another trip from home to the airport and bring him the forgotten item. After waiting about 30 minutes for the belt, we went through security. Once everyone had successfully passed through, the duty-free area appeared before us, where such delicacies as bottled water for PLN 9.50 could be bought. Our friend Filip decided to take advantage of this opportunity. The rest of the group showed no interest in shopping, so we smoothly proceeded to passport control and sat down by the gate. To our surprise, despite having tickets for a Ryanair flight, a plane in Buzz livery was waiting for us on the runway. As soon as boarding opened, we lined up to show our passports and boarding passes. At around 6:30, we were all seated in the Boeing 737-8200, which safely transported us to London Stansted Airport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We got off the plane a few minutes after 8:00 universal time. We were welcomed by English weather and the absence of a requirement to wear masks in public places.  After passport control at the British border, we set up camp in the middle of the English airport terminal, as we still had plenty of time before the coach that was to take us to central London departed. Some went to explore the toilets, while others tried to connect to the airport Wi-Fi. At around 9:30, we started making our way to the bus station, from where a National Express coach took us to Baker Street. After a roughly two-hour journey, made more pleasant by Wi-Fi access and USB ports that allowed us to charge our phones, we got off on the street known from the stories about Sherlock Holmes. From there, we had to walk to Paddington Station. For about half an hour, we bravely marched with our suitcases along London’s uneven pavements. Near the station, we encountered activists handing out alternative milk, but in our hurry we did not take the opportunity to try it. Once we reached Paddington Station, we set up camp under a healthy-food kiosk. While waiting for the train to Worcester, we again had some time to ourselves. Some went to the toilet, others took photos, and still others decided to buy decidedly overpriced smoothies. To this day, Zosia and Emilia regret spending about \u00a34 on them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to the resourcefulness of our club president, we managed to catch an earlier train to Worcester and did not have to wait long at the station. We boarded a train resembling the Polish Pendolino and began the final leg of our journey to Worcester. After roughly two hours, we got off in Worcester and began our pilgrimage with suitcases to the hotel. Once we received our hotel room cards, it turned out that hardly anyone knew how to use them, and only around the fifteenth attempt did we manage to open the doors (later we got the hang of it and only 2\u20133 attempts were enough). There were televisions in the rooms, but no channel was broadcasting ski jumping, so we could not watch Stefan Kraft win the Raw Air series on the Norwegian hills. After familiarising ourselves with the hotel, we went for a walk around Worcester, saw the cathedral (probably the only historic monument in this small town), walked along the river and wandered around the English equivalent of Krup\u00f3wki looking for a shop where Grzesiu could buy socks, as he had forgotten to bring extra pairs. In the end, we went to Tesco, where a shelf of Polish food caught our attention. Winiary mayonnaise cost \u00a31.75, and a Vifon instant noodle soup cost 65 pence. After shopping, we returned to the hotel, where, after a short rest, we went down for dinner. Whoever could eat, ate, and whoever was watching their weight only looked on. After supper, we went to our rooms and politely went to sleep, because the next day a battle task awaited us: we had to thrash the English. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 7:30, we met for breakfast. Those who could ate something, while some were waiting to be weighed. Our friend Piotrek realised that he had forgotten to bring his mouthguard from Poland. Fortunately, Dariusz always carries at least three with him, so he lent one to his younger colleague. After the adventures of moulding the mouthguard and packing equipment into suitcases and small backpacks, we set off for the University of Worcester Arena. Those who had weight categories rather than height categories wanted to be weighed, but it turned out that this was not possible. Well, only black belts could do it, so of our cheerful group only Dariusz qualified; the rest were to be weighed just before their categories began, which was a rather strange idea. The competition was scheduled to start at 10:00, but began half an hour earlier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As usual, it began with formal patterns. We did not expect to take significant places in this category, but thanks to their dynamism and perfect knowledge of the patterns, Micha\u0142 Klimek and Miko\u0142aj Chrz\u0105szcz took home the biggest trophies, leaving the English performances behind. After the patterns came the fights. Those under 15 fought in a format resembling our semi-contact, while the older competitors fought in something that tried to be light-contact, but hooks and uppercuts were not allowed, so the exchange of hand techniques was very limited. In the junior girls’ category, Zocha confidently won all her fights and received the biggest trophy. Unfortunately, Stefa and Honorata ended their fights at the quarter-final stage, but in Tag Team, together with Zocha, they went all the way and won gold. In the junior boys’ blue-belt middleweight category, we had as many as three representatives. Unfortunately, the draw arranged things so that Pawe\u0142 faced Piotrek in the quarter-final. Pawe\u0142 won the bout and then faced Filip in the semi-final. Ultimately, Pawe\u0142 Wojciechowski took first place, Filip Winnicki third, while Piotr Garde\u0142a went home without a trophy. The boys still hoped for the Tag Teams, but despite the large number of people in the category, they were the only team, so instead of fights they received their five pounds back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miko\u0142aj Chrz\u0105szcz, who despite weighing 52 kg had to fight in the -64 kg category, had only one opponent, whom he defeated. Micha\u0142 Klimek and Grzegorz Pajda competed together in the red-belt lightweight category. In his first fight, Micha\u0142 faced a very tall competitor from England, but the belief that he was simply a Szymon Grzebyk who kicked worse allowed him to win the bout confidently. Fortunately for us, the draw arranged things so that the boys from Krak\u00f3w met only in the final, where they ended in a draw and decided to kick spinning techniques at each other in extra time. After a very even round, it was a draw again, but the chief referee voted for Micha\u0142. In this way, Micha\u0142 robbed Grzesiu of first place in the fights and claimed the second-biggest trophy for himself. Our senior coloured belts, continuing their run of winning everything, also won the Tag Teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time the women’s red-belt fights were held, the scales had run out of power, so the English judges, following the principle that one does not ask women about their weight, did not weigh our girls before the category began. Gaba went first, with three people in her category. She won her first fight because her opponent did not show up. The second, final fight was much more interesting. Despite receiving two minus points for throwing hooks, all the judges voted for the competitor from Krak\u00f3w after the two-minute round. Emilia, competing in a higher category, had two fights, which she also won, becoming the English champion. For the Tag Team, the girls were paired with a friend from England, who turned out to be Czech. In the first fight, our international brigade won 17:0, and in the final the scoreboard showed 29:3. The team consisting of Gabriela Kowalska, Emilia Fiutowska and Kat Korelova received gold medals and admiration from their opponents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our only representative among the black belts, Dariusz Pazdan, was clearly displeased by the fact that the fights consisted of only one two-minute round. Despite this inconvenience, he managed to take third place. In the Tag Teams, he competed with a Scotsman and a German of Argentine origin. Unfortunately, due to the group’s insubordination, they failed to secure a podium place.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The competition ended shortly after 16:00, so we still had quite a lot of time to explore Worcester. After returning to the hotel, we washed and headed into town. Part of the group went to eat at a Mexican restaurant, while the rest went to McDonald’s. After eating, we went for another walk along the river and returned to the hotel. There, we rested for a while and went down for dinner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, we woke up in good spirits and went down for breakfast. Once we had eaten, we finished packing our suitcases and set off for London. We wanted to be clever and catch an earlier train from a closer station, but it turned out that our tickets did not work that way. So we travelled to the more distant station. After arriving, we waited for a while and boarded our transport as soon as it pulled in. We travelled for about two hours to the now-familiar London Paddington station. From the station, we walked to the hostel. We thought we would have to wait for our rooms until 17:00, but the receptionist immediately gave us room cards. Once we had settled into the hostel, we decided not to waste time and set off to explore London. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, we went to Chinatown, where we began looking for a restaurant with a pay-once-and-eat-as-much-as-you-like arrangement. This cost us as much as \u00a312. Filip turned out to be the record-holder for portions eaten, continually going back for more like a model grandson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the filling meal, we slowly began heading towards the London Eye. On the way, we passed well-known landmarks such as Piccadilly Circus, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. When we reached the London Eye and boarded a capsule, we began taking photos. Coach Miko\u0142aj even went a step further and decided to record TikToks. Completing the circuit took us about half an hour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After getting off, we headed towards Buckingham Palace, where Queen Elizabeth II resided. Unfortunately, the Queen did not deign to wave to us from the window, but at least we saw her guards walking back and forth. On the way to the hostel, Grzesiu stopped by H&M to look for socks. His hunt was very successful, as he managed to buy a seven-pack. In the evening, we also went to the Tesco around the corner to buy supplies for dinner and breakfast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, we woke up in the morning and, right after breakfast, set off for The British Museum to see what the British had plundered from other countries over the centuries. For about five hours, we walked through various rooms and viewed exhibitions from different places around the world. Among other things, in the exhibition on ancient Rome, we found a bust of the Roman emperor Caligula, who during his reign declared war on Poseidon and ordered his troops to stab the sea with swords and throw spears into it. After visiting the exhibition on Japan, most of the group decided that they would rather go to Taco Bell; only Dariusz and Emilia clearly wanted to visit another fourteen rooms with Greek vases. Fortunately, they were in the minority and we headed towards food. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After eating, we went to buy souvenirs. The English prices hurt our wallets, but we took advantage of a promotion on magnets and bought seven for only \u00a310, while Pawe\u0142 used his linguistic skills to haggle the price of a sweatshirt down. Armed with souvenirs and poorer by a few pounds, we set off for King Cross Station, the station where cameras last captured Andrew Gosden on 14 September 2007, a boy who disappeared without a trace 14.5 years ago. Once we arrived at the station, we took a photo on platform 9 \u00be and entered the Harry Potter merchandise shop. It was expensive and only card payments were accepted, so probably nobody bought anything there. While at the station, we instead bought all-day Underground tickets to get to Tower Bridge faster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Underground was terribly crowded, and left-hand traffic did not make getting around any easier, but we managed to reach the bridge over the Thames as a whole group. We took many photos while walking, and after crossing to the other side of the river, we decided to make full use of our all-day tickets and ride on a double-decker bus. We reached St Paul’s Cathedral and really wanted to go inside, but it was already closed. Disappointed, we headed towards the Underground. Unfortunately, not everyone managed to board the train. Darek, Honorata, Micha\u0142 and Piotrek were left on the platform and had to wait for the next train, which fortunately ran every three minutes. We got off at Oxford Circus station and faced a dilemma: whether to wait for the missing part of the group outside H&M or perhaps next to a street musician. After a moment’s thought, we decided that the chain store to which Grzegorz owed his seven-pack of socks was more visible, and stood outside it waiting for our companions. Once reunited with the rest of the group, we headed towards the hostel. We left our unnecessary things there and quickly popped into a shop, this time one other than Tesco. In the evening, we had dinner together in the hostel kitchen, while Miko\u0142aj, Piotrek and Pawe\u0142 ordered burgers from MrBeast’s restaurant instead of cooking themselves.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the last day of our stay, we decided to see the changing of the guard in front of Buckingham Palace. For about 40 minutes, we stood and watched the Queen’s guards march back and forth. A band played for them as they did so. Once the guards had changed, we began walking towards the hostel, stopping for food on the way. Once there, we only had time to collect our things from the luggage room and immediately had to set off for Baker Street, from where our coach to Stansted Airport departed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We naturally had an adventure because we did not know exactly which side of the intersection, or which particular stop, the National Express departed from. Fortunately, a kind old gentleman pointed out that the airport coaches stopped at the next stop, and we ran there at the last moment. We arrived at London Stansted with plenty of time to spare\u2014so much that we even managed to eat at the airport Burger King. After passing through security, we had plenty of free time in the duty-free area, where we browsed English books and souvenirs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At around 18:00, we began making our way towards the gate. On board the plane, unlike throughout the rest of Great Britain, masks were already required, so we hurriedly began putting them on. A few minutes later, we were sitting on the plane, ready to return to our homeland. Before 22:00, we landed at Balice Airport. We were tired but pleased with our achievements and with the entire journey. We hope for more trips like this in the future, which combine sport and tourism perfectly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n