Girls Who Fight are part of the ITF (International Taekwon-Do Federation). The ITF represent, promote, and work for the development of the practice of Taekwon-Do in all countries. We are also members of the ITA, Ireland’s biggest Taekwon-Do Association which is recognised by the IMAC and the Irish Sports Council.

Girls Who Fight Need Your Support

Despite being recognised by the Irish Sports Council we receive no funding from them. We dedicate ourselves out of love for our sport. This adds pressure as each of us try to balance school, college and work life. At times this can be very difficult and it is not easy to raise funds. We are training like professional athletes, attending a minimum of 3 international competitions each year, as well as additional training camps.

We are also at a disadvantage as we are competing in a sport where most countries receive government funding as well as bonus funding when they take home a medal. The Irish are hugely talented when it comes to combat sports but they are always overlooked when it comes to media coverage and government funding.

Girls Who Fight have European & World Champions

Maeve: Sparring – European Champion; Vice European Cup Champion; Bronze in World Championships 2013; Spec Tech – Vice World Champion; Vice European Champion.

Ellen: Best Overall Junior Female at Worlds 2013; Sparring – 2X World Champion; 2x European Champion; European Cup Champion 2014; Silver in World Cup 2012; Bronze in Euros 2013; Bronze in World Cup 2016; Patterns – World Champion.

Jenny: Sparring- World Cup Champion; Silver in World Championships 2013; Vice European Cup Champion; 2x Vice European Champion; Vice World Cup Champion 2016; 3x Dutch Open Champion.

Katie: Sparring – Silver at Dutch Open; Junior Female World Champion; Bonze in Team Sparring at World Championships; Patterns – Junior Female World Champion Team.

Sarah: Sparring – Vice European Cup Champion; European Champion; World Cup Champion; 3x Dutch Open Champion; Vice European Champion; Vice World Cup Champion.

Louise: 2x Best Overall World Cup Winner; Sparring – World Champion; Vice European Champion; Vice World Cup Champion; Spec Tech – 3x World Cup Champion.

2017 Calendar of Events

As a successful 2016 comes to an end, we are excited to plan next year and set out short-term and long-term goals. The main focus is to win gold in our individual and team events on home turf at the ITF World Championships 2017 in Citywest, Dublin next October. It’ll be a busy year of training and competing to maximize our results!

•First up in our calendar is the Dutch Open which takes place on the 30th of January.

•Next is ITA Cork Open 18-19th February.

•We plan to take part in the WAKO Kickboxing Irish Open, 2nd March – a huge competition and great opportunity to get extra competition prep for upcoming European Championships.

•ITA Dublin Open will take place on the 25th March, an important selection competition for the World Championships in October.

•ITF European Championships 2017 take place in Bulgaria from 20-22nd April.

•In preparation for the listed competitions we will be attending many national squad trainings and camps taking place in Dublin, Limerick and Cork.

•In addition, we plan to travel to Ukraine for the ITF Fight Evolution camp in July.  This is a 10 day camp in the Ukrainian mountains, hosted by multiple World and European champion, Katya Solovey and coach Oleg Solovey.